Shunning Restaurants or Giving Feedback

My friends think I'm a bit harsh sometimes but there are a handful of restaurants that are "dead to me." Perhaps I am really silly and childish for shunning restaurants but I don't do this lightly. I only decide never to dine at a spot again when my experience has been so terrible, I cannot in good faith support the establishment any further. Here are a few things to think about before writing off a restaurant - or just being rude:

1. Give restaurants the benefit of the doubt. I am pretty patient; sometimes restaurants are new and they need to work out some operational kinks and sometimes they are busier than normal. I don't know if a line cook suddenly came down with the flu at the last minute or a place is lacking an expediter that day. If you dine at a place with great service, more often than not, the server will give you a status check and mention that the kitchen is running behind or apologize for a late order. If not, you're entitled to ask for a status update on a late item. Most servers are sweet about it.

2. Speak up rather than passively aggressively seethe in annoyance. Give feedback politely when it is warranted. However, always think about things from a restaurant's or server's perspective before lashing out. Ask yourself, "Is this really worth complaining about? Or am I just super hangry?"
I tend to keep my opinions to myself, but Nick is very good at providing constructive feedback to the server. When a server checks in on us with a, "How is everything?" Nick may kindly mention, "Well, this salmon is perfectly cooked and it's delicious. However, you might want to mention to the chef that there still are some big bones in the fish. Not a big deal - just thought he should know." Usually, the server apologizes and asks if we'd like something else, comps the offending entrée or provides a discount. We do not ask places to take a dish back unless something is inedible or undercooked.

3. If you have an egregious issue that a server cannot handle (or perhaps the problem is the server), politely bring it up with the manager. Never demand anything; the best question is to ask the manager, "I have this problem. What can you do?" Managers usually figure out how to make things better for you in a way that can appease you. But be fair! Your whole meal shouldn't be comped just because an entrée was lukewarm or because an appetizer was too late.

4. Don't provide a negative Yelp (or other) review about the service until you do those things. It's not fair to flame a restaurant when they've had no chance to try to explain a situation or make you happy. You can definitely critique the food in a fair way but a one star review for a poor parking situation, slightly slow service or a trite issue makes reviews useless. Also, you should never use a review or a blog as a threat to a manager to give you free things.

The reason why I have shunned a few spots in the past is because I had such terrible and disappointing experiences that could not have been improved and because quite frankly, there are so many awesome restaurants in Seattle, skipping a few won't kill me. If you hate a place, you never need to go back. Perhaps all of this seems like common sense but Seattle folks are really good at being passive aggressive.

So why have I shunned places at all?  One Belltown Mexican spot was so terrible, my friend almost got into a physical altercation with a manager and our poor server was in tears from the situation. I'm happy to say that the restaurant has since closed down. Another restaurant provided abysmal and slow service which was almost forgivable until they decided to give the last piece of a dessert I ordered to a local celebrity chef who was dining there - and then proceeded to tell me about it! The last I have shunned since prom because prom is supposed to be a special lovely night for a group of well-behaved teenagers. Despite making reservations well over a month in advance, the restaurant screwed the whole thing up and provided us such poor service, the diners next to us noticed and commented. My date ended up stealing a tall pepper mill to exact some revenge. I guess my restaurant grudges last a long time. But with age comes maturity and my friends and I no longer steal from restaurants when we're unhappy. :)

Best Vegetarian Dishes and Restaurants

Meat-eating haters can hate but going veg doesn't mean you're growing out dreadlocks and growing your own hemp and wheatgrass. Plus, even some of my most carnivorous pals have to admit that eating less meat can be good for you. Seattle is a super vegetarian and vegan-friendly town; even our steakhouses like El Gaucho can make a killer mushroom risotto. But after years of being a semi-vegetarian in a vegetarian family, I think I'm pretty qualified to make a list of what to eat and where to eat. My velociraptor meat-eating pals can even enjoy the food at these spots.

Best place for bún bò Huế: Moonlight Café
Sure, it's definitely a dirty hole in the wall with sticky seats but if you're craving Vietnamese, this is the spot for you. They offer both a meat-loving and vegetarian/vegan menu and their soups are top notch - like the vegetarian bún bò Huế. Their rice dishes, salads and summer rolls are amazing as well. An added bonus is that it's super inexpensive. One of my carnivorous pals loves it, craves it and suggests it as a lunch often almost every time we see him.

Best all-around bistro: Café Flora
This place has stuck around for years because it is really good and meets the "I don't crave meat afterwards" bar. It's not a hippie, earthy, shoot-me-in-the-head-I-need-real-food type of place; it's a place for vegetarians and vegans to go when they miss some dishes few vegetarian spots have. Their French dip and Portobello wellington are winners and they often have these artichoke cakes that are perfect for folks who miss crab cakes.

Best Magic Dragon Substitute: Bamboo Garden
Admit it. We all crave that not-found-in-nature and not-really-Chinese orangey-red sweet and sour chicken every once in a while. Bamboo Garden's is top notch and served with pineapple and bell peppers. They have other delicious dishes and stir fries; try the smoky, sizzling smoked salmon with black bean sauce (it's not anything close to smoked salmon but it's yummy), the chili pepper fried bean curd if you like fried soft tofu, the tofu skin hot pot in peanut satay sauce, almond fried chicken or the sautéed eel (really great mushroom). This lower Queen Anne spot has its own parking lot which is always a plus in Seattle and for my extra crazy friends, everything on the menu is vegan except for the fortune cookie.

Best quickie: Veggie Grill
Imagine my delight when I realized that I could get spicy buffalo wings with a side of ranch and celery. This fast-ish food joint is delicious and super nutritious with tasty "All Hail Kale" salad with blackened chickin (yes, that has an I and not an E), a chicken fried chickin dinner plate with gravy and cauli-mashed potatoes and other yummy snacks like crispy sweet potato fries. Avoid the school lunch-looking vegan and gluten-free mac and cheese because it's as disgusting and horrifyingly orange as that gluey school lunch mac and cheese. Unless of course, you're craving that.

Best weird-looking vegan mac and cheese: Plum Bistro
Plum Bistro is a vegan newcomer and it's amazing for those of us who don't indulge in the magic of cheese and dairy. Unlike Veggie Grill, their "mac n yease" is fantastic, even though it looks like a yellow, weird, chunky oily mess. Somehow when you eat it, it has a great texture. They also have a wealth of other delicious and fake-steaky dishes targeted at vegans who miss their meat.

Best seasonal "whatever the hell I feel like" menu: Sutra
Sutra's dining experience is a little on the slow side since they only do one or two seatings a day and you enjoy a reasonably priced multiple-course meal. The menu changes every couple of weeks and is hyper-local, seasonal, as organic as possible, entirely vegan and therefore super fresh and healthy. This place is definitely a tad on the earthy-hippie side and not a restaurant you'd stop by all of the time. However, it's worth a try when you're feeling like you want to eat something that tastes fresh of the garden and is uniquely prepared or if you think you need your aura cleansed.

Best watering hole with a side of pinball: Georgetown Liquor Company
I drank at this place several times before I tried the food and realized it was a vegetarian spot. It's a quirky bar with pinball, Donkey Kong, classic video game consoles and a ton of personality. Who'd have thought that they could serve up tasty sandwiches and enchiladas chock-full of fake beef?

Best "my meat-eating friends order it" burger: The Innkeeper
This Belltown joint has amazing guac and chips for everyone and super delicious pulled pork tacos for the meat-eaters. But I've been searching for the best veggie burger in town that has a generous patty (rather than those thin, crappy disks), a texture that doesn't crumble and fall apart with each bite and a patty that isn't just oats and hemp and crap because no one likes that shizznat; this place is it. I have no idea what they put in it but I don't care because it's ridiculously good, especially with a side of their veggie green chili. Every time I order it, a newbie asks me if it's really a veggie burger and then the next time, they order it. And order it and order it.

Best "say what?" BBQ: RoRo's
Vegetarian barbecue? WTF? Yes. Not a joke. RoRo's makes some pretty tasty barbecue in general but it's a place a vegetarian can get behind with their smoky pulled Portobello sandwich along with sides like cornbread, fantastic Seattle succotash and tangy, vinegary coleslaw. Sure, they only have one vegetarian main but most BBQ joints would like to shoot and serve up a vegetarian rather than offer a barbecue dish but this one is delish!

 

The Seattle Met's Nosh Pit also listed some of their fave spots. Check them out here.

Introducing the family to my fancy food nonsense: wd~50

My family is well aware of my penchant for great restaurants and fancy food but I don't often get to share the experience with them. When I'm with my parents, usually one of us cooks and we spend happy times cooking, prepping and eating together in the kitchen. Not everyone gets their mom to make them bún bò Huế but I do!

In December, I went to NYC with my parents and my brother to check out the city during Christmastime and to celebrate my brother finishing up his master's degree. I happily made reservations in one of my favorite foodie towns to introduce the fam to the food experiences I love.

It's been a while so I don't exactly remember what we ate at those places and some of the dishes are the family's vegetarian options. My mom did take home a menu at wd~50 but I don't have possession of it. I asked my family if they had wanted to partake in a tasting menu, knowing that this would be a special experience. To my delight, my family agreed to pulling out all of the stops there or as my dad enthusiastically exclaimed, "Let's go for it!"

Here's a photographic journey of an incredible meal.

A hamachi nigiri starter

The vegetarian starter

Sweet shrimp with chesnut, cranberry and these delightful, slightly crispy straws.

Cheese puffs... not sure what the rest is but I remembered the puffs were great!

Soup with caviar

This was awesome. I think it was mackerel with carrots.

My family's vegetarian option

Tender, delicious octopus baked with risotto

I also don't know what this is since it was the vegetarian option...

Crab toast with mint. It was crunchy and light.

Black bass with Asian flavors and root vegetables 

Vegetables, mushrooms & parsnip puree for my vegetarian family

Fish version of the dish for me!

Braised vegetables with these cheese puffs

No idea what this was... I see bok choy.

This was a palate cleanser but perhaps one of our favorite dishes of the night! A sorbet was hidden below a frozen cucumber disk. It was reminiscent of a refreshing pie in sorbet form.

A fluffy ice milk meringue and fruit presented like a fruit tart with nut crumbles.

S'mores! Recognizable but utterly and delicously different.

It was a memorable, enjoyable experience. My mother, who normally doesn't drink even had a little wine!  We had a lot of fun and I can still taste the food in my memories. Thanks Wylie!

Summery Vietnamese Noms Part 1: Chả cá

Our first meal in Hanoi

This week's 87 degree weather officially made Washington the hottest state in the nation which makes us only want to tell the weathermen to shut up so no one else moves up here and screws up traffic even further.

When it's warm, I like to eat something summery, fresh and cool. And from my last post, perhaps I have to eat something healthy.

Behold! Chả cá La Vong - also known as Vietnamese Tumeric fish with dill

We had some at the place in Hanoi where they charge at least six times as much as any other place because they are known for it. If you're in Hanoi, have some at either Chả cá La Vong or Chả cá Thanh Long which are the two most famous spots to grab this specialty.

The famous place... unassuming I know...

You cook it at your table in Vietnam

 

I've been making this dish a lot because it's really simple. In Ann terms, that means I can now make it without use of a measuring cup. It's a good eyeball recipe but I'll include some measurements for you.

 You need:

Fish & marinade:

• 1 lb of white fish (traditionally, we use catfish but I've been mostly using sustainably caught cod. Any flaky white fish like cod, halibut or tilapia works)
• 1 tablespoons of tumeric
• 1/2 tablespoon of ginger powder (or galangal if you have it)
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 1 clove minced shallots
• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• 1/2 tablespoon of sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon of fish sauce (nuoc mam)
• Enough olive oil to coat the fish - about 1/4 cup but use more or less, depending upon your preference

Mix the ingredients sans fish in a big bowl until you have what looks like a thick yellow, chunky oil. If you're lazy with the mincing, you can just toss everything without the fish in a food processor.
Slice the fish in smaller portions; 2-3 oz cuts. Add the fish to the marinade and make sure everything is well combined but be careful not to mush the fish. Put it in the fridge and let it sit for a minimum of one hour but you can also let it sit longer or overnight in the fridge.

Everything else:

• One onion - either red onion or sweet onion, sliced into half moons
• A small bunch of green onions. Whites chopped in small rings, and dark green part chopped in wide rings
• A bunch of fresh dill, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup dry-roasted unsalted peanuts, very slightly crushed
• A box of vermicelli noodles (bún) - boiled and drained. (If you're eating healthy, I found brown rice maifun noodles from Whole Foods which are pretty yummy. If you're eating paleo, you can use zucchini noodles, kelp noodles or any substitute.)
• Accompanying herbs: cilantro, mint, Thai basil, tia to

Nước chấm/dressing

• 4 tablespoons cup nước mắm (fish sauce) but adjust to taste
• 1/2 cup hot water
• Juice of two limes
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1-2 small garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1-2 tablespoons of mirin or rice vinegar
• Chili garlic sauce or Sambal Oelek, to taste (not the same as Sriracha - it's a chunky cousin but still the Huy Fong rooster brand)              

Dissolve sugar with the hot water, add the rest of the ingredients and mix. Taste it and see if you'd like it spicier or fishier or more vinergary. Set aside.
.

Saute the onions in a large pan until they're soft and throw in the whites and the light green parts of the green onions. Add the fish and gently sear according to the thickness of the fish until you get a nice sear and the fish is cooked through but be careful not to overcook the fish. You want it to have a nice sear on the outside but still be soft on the inside. This is about 2-3 minutes on the first side and another 2 minutes once you flip the fish if you're using small portions of cod. Once you plate the fish, sprinkle generously with the dill, sprinkle the remaining green onion and roasted peanuts. Serve with noodles, herbs on the side and nước chấm. People can add as many herbs and sprinkle as much dressing as they'd like.

The finished product

Notes:

• I like freshly roasting the peanuts a bit because you get better flavor from the nuts. You can just stick them in the oven for a bit or move them around in a hot pan for a few seconds.
• Some places (like Cha Ca La Vong) serves the fish cooked in the oil at the table or on a sizzling plate. This recipe uses a fajita platter so the dish is sizzling when it comes to you. I don't have a fajita platter or else I would have done the same.
• You can also serve this dish and the nước chấm with quick pickled shredded carrots and daikon (or use jicama if you can't find daikon).
• If you're eating paleo or trying to forgo sugar, you can skip it in the marinade. You might be able to use a little bit of sugar alternative like an agave syrup in the nuoc cham or splenda but try it out first to see if it tastes metallic or not. You can add additional rice vinegar and it might taste fine without any sweetener.
• Traditionally this dish is served with a fermented shrimp paste but it's incredibly pungent and most people cannot take it. See this recipe if you want to try the shrimpy version.
• I also made the dish and wrapped them in rice paper wrappers for a summer roll version of the dish. It was super delicious!

Cooked @ your table in Hanoi

So I guess we're supposed to eat better now...

I guess I have to stuff myself into a wedding dress at some point so I started boot camp, hot yoga and running again. All of that work is nullified if you aren't eating healthy foods either. Damn.

But I swear this blog won't get boring.

I made a super simple and refreshing dish last night for dinner that can be tasty, healthy and for you crazy people, gluten free and paleo.

Zucchini Noodles

This is so ridiculous easy to make, you'll have no excuses not to cook at home.

Bring a pot of water to a boil; salt it if you'd like.

Take a zucchini and simply strip it with a vegetable peeler or a mandolin lengthwise until you get thin strips of zucchini. It's easy to peel on one side, then flip it over, peel the other side and simply switch back and forth until you can't peel anymore. It will look like this:

You might not be able to peel all of the zucchini when it gets too thin in the middle; it's ok. Just leave the center bit for now.

Add to the pot of water like you would pasta but only cook it for 1-2 minutes so it's only a little tender. Drain and rinse in cold water to prevent the zucchini from continuing to cook. You can also do the same with orange sweet potatoes but sweet potatoes tend to break down more quickly and get soggy/mushier a little more easily.

If you want to be fancy, you can get a spiral vegetable cutter like this one but a vegetable peeler works well too.

You can serve the zucchini with any sauce you'd like or dress it up with a pesto:

Pesto, chimichurri or stuff you throw into a food processor

Pesto is ridiculously easy to make and I don't use a recipe or measure anything. You sort of throw things into a food processor and taste it.

If you buy a big package of basil, just throw the leaves in a food processor along with some extra virgin olive oil, a clove or two or garlic, a dash of salt and pepper and a handful of nuts. Traditionally, pesto is made with pinenuts but you can also use walnuts or almonds or whatever is on hand. If you're not eating paleo, shave a bunch of parmesan or romano in as well.

Let it go in the food processor until it resembles pesto. Taste it and see if it needs a little more salt or nuts or garlic you'd like a nuttier or more garlicky pesto.

You can even throw in the zucchini centers you couldn't slice and make a zucchini pesto.

A chimichurri is essentially an Argentinean pesto. Instead of basil, you'd blend parsley, garlic, oregano, olive oil, a dash of vinegar, salt and pepper and red chili flakes.

Play around with whatever herbs and veggies you have in your house to make your own pesto. I'll next try an Asian-inspired one with cilantro, peanuts, a dash of fish sauce and chili flakes.



YUMMY!

I tossed the zucchini noodles with a pesto I made with basil and almonds. It would have been paleo if I didn't shave parmesan in as well. This can be used as a pasta replacement for a main dish along with a protein or you can use it as a good picnic side dish or even a starter salad.

Happy healthy eating!

Baking with Booze

Incorporating alcohol into one's cooking and baking can make you seem like a lush... or it can be awesome! I am famous for my top-shelf jello shots but I also like baking boozy cakes and cupcakes. Baking also seems daunting and time consuming but it can be just as easy to bake from scratch or modify a mix as it is to bake straight from a cake mix; it just happens to be more delicious, fresher and better for you. I'm more of a savory cook than a baker or pastry chef so these recipes are easy enough for any dude to don an apron and bake away. Feel free to sip on any extra alcohol as you bake.

Chocolate Stout Cake

This is one of my favorites that I make for St. Patrick's day every year - although this cake is a delicious way to indulge any time of the year. I use this amazing recipe which has been foolproof each time. It results in an irresistibly moist, rich and decadent cupcake without being too sweet. Recipe notes:

• I've made it in the past using only whole-wheat flour which usually makes it denser and poundcake-like. If you want this cake to be on the lighter or fluffier side, you can use cake flour or use half all purpose and half cake flour.
• I subsitute sour cream with Greek yogurt because I eat a lot of Greek Yogurt.
• My favorite beer so far is Young's Double Chocolate Stout. It works really well and has a great and smooth chocolatey finish. I love Guinness but I didn't think it tasted as good and I've tried other Oatmeal Stouts and most recently, a Cappucino Stout but Young's has still been the best.
• This recipe makes A LOT of batter. It will easily make four dozen cupcakes or a bundt cake and two dozen cupcakes so unless you want to make a layered cake like in the recipe, you'll want to half the recipe.
• If you make a bundt cake, I use the slighty cooled chocolate ganache icing as an icing drizzle over the cake. This year, I drizzled the icing over the cupcakes, then frosted them with a Bailey's frosting using a modified version of this recipe. I added some cream cheese to the frosting because I like the richer taste and texture you get instead of only using butter.

Miracle Margarita Flan Cake

This cake is also incredibly delicious yet deceptively simple. You would think a fancy baker made it but you can enjoy it for Cinco de Mayo along with some margaritas or micheladas. I got the recipe from a great margarita cocktail book I got for my 21st birthday but I also found the recipe online here. It combines two delicious desserts - a caramelly rich flan with a coconut yellow cake - but tastes like a glorious margarita. Making this cake is like pure magic; it makes you seem like a fancy and skilled pastry chef but requires the skill of a drunken frat boy. And if you're taking swigs from the tequila bottle as you're baking, that may very well be you.
Go bake. It will be a fun and delicious alternate way to consume alcohol. If you're further interested in baking with booze, I recommend this book which my cousin Jennifer so generously bestowed upon me one Christmas. My dad isn't much of a dessert person so for his birthday one year, I made him a cake incorporating some of his favorite things: beer and nuts. He adored it and its hefeweizen icing goodness.

I said YES to many things at Willows Inn

Sometimes you enjoy a tremendous meal and it goes down in your head and on your tastebuds as one of the most memorable experiences of your life. We had such an experience this weekend that was a little more special than just the food... more about that later...

I bought Nick a new pair of skis this past Christmas and he got me a Willows Inn reservation. We had both been dying to eat at this raved-about restaurant and Nick knows that I prefer experiences over material presents.

We started with a couple of old fashioned cocktails which they make with a hint of walnut while we enjoyed the sunshine and view before heading into dinner. Willows Inn does a six course fixed dinner that seems to proceed endlessly because you are regaled with a ton of snacks and bites before and in between courses. Servers poured champagne glassed filled with local fresh, sparkling apple cider which was a crisp palate cleanser. Then a pretty wooden box was set before us which contained sunflower root baked slowly with locally foraged lichens and mosses to help impart additional earthy and smoky flavors. The root's texture was a little reminiscent of Vietnamese candied yams but its center was soft and rich like a roasted eggplant. The second bite was a crisp crepe surrounding a salty and sweet burst of cream and salmon roe brightened up with chives. Then we were served a slab of stone with something that looked like it was plucked from the woods; toasted kale with black truffles and rye. While it looked like fungus growing on a dried leaf, the kale chip was a heavenly salty crisp that could have perfectly accompanied a cold beer and some Sunday night football.

Oysters on river rocks frozen in water in a dish. Elegant & beautiful.

The next snack had a gorgeous presentation: a pickled oyster sprinkled with sorrel. Nick usually doesn't love oysters like I do but this was soft and creamy with a hint of the ocean and herbs without tasting murky. Keeping with the delicate shellfish theme, the next bite was a weathervane scallop in dill milk served with herbs that imparted a grassy flavor. We delighted in the campfire taste of fire-roasted shitakes that were impossibly juicy and smoky before getting served the most complex and buttery chardonnay from Walla Walla to kick off our actual courses.

Weathervane scallop with dill and milk.

The first course was a dish of organic ancient grains bound in watercress and dotted with geoduck. the dish was as bright as its springy kelly green color; the flavors were herbaceous, fragrant and light while the geoduck imparted a slightly salty chewiness.

It looks like rabbit food but it's delicious.

Then Nick nearly doubled over from an in-between course snack: salmon smoked over green alder. This simple piece was just lightly smoked to impart a delicate caramelly sweetness but balanced so it still retained a soft texture without being too dried out. It was amazing and in Nick's words, "Best piece of salmon I've ever had."

Perfectly, lightly smoked salmon caugh just off the island in reefnets.

We were then served a Poet's Leap riesling with crisp apple flavors along with the most delicious buttery wild onions, caramelized local mussels and toasted breadcrumbs. I was to try to emulate those onions at home... need to experiment. After that, we were served another simple and fantastic snack.: A loaf of whole wheat and rye bread with a sourdough started demonstrated expert baking with a crispy crust and an amazing light chewy and melt-in-your-mouth center served with salted sweet churned butter and a dish of herbed chicken drippings for Nick and onion boullion for myself. Bread can be the most simple and amazing thing and we were excited to devour this loaf.

Our next wine pairing was a bordeaux blend that was slightly sweet with a soft fruity finish that accompanied Lummi Island stewed stinging nettles with fresh milk cheese and magenta salmonberry shoots. The cheese was like a rich milky panna cotta and the dish was bright and floral with the stewed nettles that hinted faintly of a grassier spinach.

Those salmonberry flowers are all over the island.

We got a crunchy snack of halibut skin served with razor clams dusted with seaweed powder. It was reminiscent of a puffed Asian shrimp chip except it was sprinkled with chewy clams.
Our last savory course was served with the most berry and jammy pinot noir from the Willamette valley that was fragrant with a lingering marionberry finish. It wasn't too heavy and paired well with a sablefish served with trumpet mushrooms. They gave us what looked like a dragonglass dagger; it was a rock arrowhead type knife with a deer antler handle and was bound by deer sinew. It was certainly the most rustic cutting utensil I have ever used. The fish was rich, buttery and almost woody with a slight sear but barely cooked so it still melted in your mouth. The chewy mushrooms made this a great amalgamation of earth meets sea umami.

We cleansed our palates with a soft and fresh sheepsmilk frozen yogurt served in wheatgrass and dill. This tasted like the farm in a fresh and grassy way that is hard to put to words with my somewhat poor food vocabulary. It honestly tasted like cartwheels in a field on a bright summer's day.

We had a dessert riesling that was sweet, syrupy with honey tones but it was hard to finish the glass. I was focused on dessert of sweet potatoes served with whipped cream, a fresh melted marshmallow, pine and crunch from sugar and nut crumbles. The pine leant it a uniquely sweet and earthy flavor profile that was piney without tasting like Pine Sol. Then we topped off the most fabulous meal with flax caramels!

This meal ranked among my top meals of all time, if not the top. I've eaten at some of the most delicious and award-winning spots around but what made this restaurant a standout is what they do with fresh and hyper local ingredients. It was all healthy, hearty and absolutely Pacific Northwest fare without being gimmicky, using molecular gastronomy tricks or pulling out the stops with needless ornateness. It was as if Chef Blaine Wetzel woke up, made a fire, got the smoker going, rummaged through the garden, caught some fish and thought - I'll just throw this stuff together for dinner. Obviously it's much more meticulous and well-crafted than that, but we took a stroll around the island and noticed that there were little farms everywhere - goats, fresh egg signs, cows - as well as fishermen a few hundred yards away. We noticed salmonberry blossoms from dinner all around. There was an abundance of great produce and ingredients all around us on that island, which were carefully showcased for us in simple and delicious ways.

Another reason why this dinner was so memorable was just hours before while we were walking along a private beach, Nick got down on a knee and asked me to marry him. And I said yes.

 

 

The rest is just gratuitous food porn and includes our breakfast the next day. Enjoy. 

Baked sunflower root with lickens and mosses.

Picked oysters!

Kale chip

Crepe with salmon roe and chives

More kale chip - see why it looks like leaf litter?

Someone is excited for his oyster

Fire-smoked shitakes.

Course one. Simple, delicious, healthy.

Best. Salmon. Ever.

Smoke mussels with that amazing wild onion.

Bread porn.

More bread porn - a piece with butter and dipped in the bouillon.

Bright and delicious fresh cheese over stewed nettles.

Halibut skin chip.

Sablefish with trumpet shrooms.

Cartwheels barefoot in grass on a summer's afternoon. Seriously.

Dessert - sweet potatoes.

Flaxseed caramels.

Breakfast at Willows Inn... worth waking up early for!

Homemade granola over fresh yogurt.

Freshly baked rye bread crisp with salmon, dill and cream.

Poached eggs with creamed spinach and mushrooms

Ham. Nuff said.

Homemade english muffins.

Brekkie of champions.