Surprises of a Surprisingly Balmy Winter Weekend

We had planned to spend Sunday exploring the Columbia City neighborhood and catching the new Star Wars movie at the vintage movie theater in the area, Ark Lodge Cinema. Because it was such a nice day, Mike turned our plans upside down and suggested a walk in a park instead.

We first had lunch in the Georgetown area, which is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Seattle. The area does not seem fun and safe from the highway, but there are surprising pockets of really interesting shops and restaurants! Because we've been eating a lot of Asian foods at home and around our neighborhood lately, we were hankering for simple but well-crafted sandwiches. We headed to Hitchcock Deli the moment I found out that they cure their own meats and ferment their own sauerkraut.

Hitchcock Deli - Charcuterie Case

Being a huge Reuben fan, Mike was not going to pass up trying their hot pastrami sandwich with sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and Russian dressing. It was the lightest Reuben sandwich we've ever had. The meat was tender and the kraut was crunchy and mild. I had the Cuban B, which is composed of the house made porchetta and smoked ham, Swiss cheese, and pickles. It was heavier than the Reuben but very satisfying. The meats really make all the difference. Rather than wrestling with stacks of mass processed meats, you savor sufficient rich morsels that intermingle with other fresh ingredients. The meats are definitely fatty, but the sandwiches are so well-balanced with the other components of the sandwiches that we finished our lunch without feeling like taking a nap.

Cuban B with Potato Salad and Pastrami Sandwich

Pastrami Sandwich

Cuban B

While finishing up on our lunch we noticed an arcade across the street called Flip Flip Ding Ding. Of course we had to check it out!

Flip Flip Ding Ding Arcade

It's a fairly compact two-story pinball joint that serves beer. It's pretty divey, but definitely a fun place to play a few games if you're in the neighborhood.

Next, we headed to Seward Park across I-5 from Georgetown. Seward Park is a peninsula that juts into Lake Washington and faces Mercer Island. I had no idea that the park has the best views of Mount Rainier that we've seen so far in the city! This would be a great place for picnics in the Spring or Summer.

View of Mount Rainer from Lake Washington at Seward Park

View of Mount Rainer from Lake Washington at Seward Park

As we walked by the forest, we heard a constant hollow thumping. Naturally, we followed the sound and found that it was a woodpecker!

Searching for the Woodpecker

Woodpecker at Seward Park

I'm excited to see what other birds we'll spot at the park come spring time!

The Noble Pig

Noble Pig

Menu

After classes ended, I decided to finally treat myself to the much talked about sandwiches at the Noble Pig.  Noble Pig makes everything in-house, from the bread to the pickles and to the house-smoked meats.  They really take ownership of the quality of the sandwiches!

When I researched their menu, I knew that I had to try the duck pastrami to satisfy my duck addiction.

Duck Pastrami Sandwich with potato salad, chips, and housemade pickled veggies

Smoked Duck Pastrami Sandwich with Russian dressing and rye pickles

The duck pastrami tasted very earthy and the rye pickles gave the sandwich a nice crunch and tang.

The Noble Pig with spicy ham, pulled pork, bacon and provolone cheese

The Noble Pig sandwich was packed with porcine goodness and ended up surpassing the tastiness of the duck pastrami in my humble opinion.  But that's a bit unfair; this sandwich has 3 kinds of pork in it!  

I'm really curious about the delicious looking breakfast menu.  I might just have to fight some traffic in the morning to try it out!

Steeping Room for Lunch Again

Refreshing deliciousness.

Island Dream - coconut green tea shaken with pineapple syrup and pomegranate

Lemon Edamame - lemony edamame spread with scallion and cucumber, and a cashew Caesar salad

Light Lunch at The Steeping Room

A regular lunch for me is homemade Chinese food that is usually consists of a scoop of steamed rice, a serving of meat or seafood, and 2 kinds of stir-fried veggies.  Yes, I know, my packed lunch is fancy schmancy.  I'm very lucky, but I need to mix it up from time to time!

Sometimes I just want something simple for lunch, by simple, I mean something that is still different, special, and creative but has a clean non-fussy taste.  The Steeping Room is the perfect spot to satisfy that particular craving of mine.

Mojteato - Matcha with lime, mint, sparkling water and agave nectar

Lapsang Souchong Chicken Salad - tea braised natural chicken mixed with celery, green apples, scallions, and lapsang vinaigrette

Picnic Fare from Stone Village Market in Fort Davis

After two nights in Marfa, we headed to Fort Davis.  I found Fort Davis quite likable.  The landscape of the Davis Mountains is very varied throughout the scenic loop.  You have to drive through the full Loop 118 if you're in Fort Davis.  It's absolutely gorgeous, and you may just be given a friendly warning by a hot state trooper like we did for going slightly over the speed limit.

When we got into town, it was about lunch time.  We wanted to make sure that we had time to visit the Fort Davis Historic Site as well as drive the entire scenic loop, have dinner, and drive back on the loop for the Star Party at the McDonald Observatory.  We opted to grab some picnic fare at the Stone Village Market in town and to eat at the historic site.

I read a lot about how great The Get Go is in Marfa, but the Stone Village Market in Fort Davis (507 N State St, Fort Davis, TX 79734) is certainly superior in variety and freshness.

Stone Village Market; Deli Counter

Boy did we have a fantastic lunch!  Fickle Foodie had the roast beef on Jewish rye bread, mom and I shared a turkey with Monterrey Jack cheese on wheat bread, and we shared deviled eggs and bacon potato salad from Stone Village Market.  We drank Apple Sidra that we had brought along with us from Austin and ate peach empanadas that we had purchased from one of the vendors at Farm Stand Marfa that morning.

Picnic Spread-roast beef on Jewish rye, turkey and Monterrey Jack on wheat, deviled eggs, bacon potato salad, peach empanada, and Apple Sidra

Deviled Eggs from Stone Village Market

Bacon Potato Salad from Stone Village Market

Peach Empanada from a Vendor at Farm Stand Marfa

Fort Davis Historic Site

Lone Tree Seen from Loop 118

Scenic Loop 118

Action Shot on Scenic Loop 118

Blue Dahlia Bistro

Blue Dahlia Bistro

The last time I had super delicious open-faced sandwiches was in Vienna.  Ever since I heard about Blue Dahlia last year, I've been wanting to check out their yummy-sounding tartines. 

The ambiance is a mixture of Austin and Paris, which makes the experience quite charming.  Blue Dahlia bakes their own bread and makes the tartines from homemade whole wheat bread.

Mint Lemonade

I ordered the shrimp avocado tartine and had high hopes for it, but the taste fell flat.  If it weren't for the mango salsa, the tartine would be thoroughly bland.  The bread was too dense for the sparse amount of solid ingredients on the tartine.  I felt like I was eating 5 heavy chunks of wheat bread for lunch rather than dainty tartines or open faced Viennese sandwiches. 

I love nori and eat it all the time at home.  However, the nori does not work with the tartines.  The liquid from the salsa and salad leaked from the tartines and onto the nori before I touched anything so the nori was no longer crunchy.  This makes it very difficult and awkward to eat.  I tried tearing off pieces and putting on top of the tartine, but they didn't taste good together.  I tried eating the nori separately, but I gagged on a piece of nori triangle that I tore off because it was wet and clung to the roof of my mouth and slid to the back. 

Shrimp, avocado, roasted nori and tomato tartines with mango salsa

The bright side is that the ingredients are all very fresh and Blue Dahlia tries to use organic ingredients when available.

The Steeping Room

I wanted to go to The Steeping Room for the longest time.  The afternoon tea ambiance and the delicate and creative sandwiches, sweets, and drinks indicated by the menu all had the potential to get on my favorite things checklist.  The prices, well, not so much...

The dressing on the salad was delicious, the sandwich had clean flavors and was light, the mint tea was refreshing, and the orange tea cake was way too sweet.  The food is fine, but in the end, the meal was way too simple for me to plunk down hard-earned grad student money. 

Kasbah Cooler-Moroccan mint green tea, mint and pomegranate syrup, and rose water

Jasmine Tea-Cured Atlantic Salmon Sandwich with cream cheese and thinly sliced cucumbers

Orange Tea Cake

Unfortunately for me, I am intrigued by the other menu items: the simple but creative sandwich concoctions like the lemon edamame sandwich, the overly sweet desserts like the matcha dusted brownie, and drinks like the Mojteato. Thus, I will likely find my way back until I have satisfied my curiousity.  And of course, I'll have to try their afternoon tea at least once.

Little City Cafe

I've been trying to ween myself away from buying coffee and survive on tea or coffee from home.  That explains why I managed to work right next door to Little City Cafe without purchasing one cup of joe. 

Little City Cafe

One of the managers noted that they make a killer wasabi beef baguette sandwich.  That was enough to tempt me into their door. 

I decided to order a smoked salmon with pesto cream cheese on a ciabatta instead, and it was delicous.  However, it's definitely something we can all make at home.  And I guess that goes with all sandwiches.  One reasoning may be that it saves you time from making a sandwich yourself; it was not the case here.  The wait for this sandwich was ridiculous.  Apparently Little City is known for its inefficiency, but that hasn't diverted its clientele.  I would suggest calling in your order at least 10 minutes ahead, but they're prone to mess up phone orders.

Smoked Salmon with pesto cream cheese ciabatta sandwich with chips and Little City's salsa

Seventeen Seventeen inside the DMA

Fickle Foodie and I took a day trip to Dallas when the incredible Tutankhamun exhibit came to Texas Fall 2008 (I'm so behind on my food blogging!). That was an awesome trip that turned out to be pretty delicious too!

Seventeen Seventeen's menu gets its inspiration from the changing exhibits in the Dallas Museum of Art. This is an added incentive to musuem-goers who moonlight as foodies.

The East African-inspired menu was very alluring.

Raisin Fennel Roll and Butter with Fleur de Sel

We got our first taste of the exhibit-inspired flavoring with the raisin fennel roll. I'm not sure about fennel and raisin together. It wasn't undelicious, but it's an acquired taste.

Bolero Tea-with Mediterranean fruits, marigold and cornflower blossoms; Berry Lemonade

The beverages were light and refreshing, all the better for washing down the heavier taste of the dishes, especially the Soft Shell Crab on Garlic Naan.

We picked the tuna for starter because we were curious about the "mango noodles." Unfortunately it just means "thinly sliced mango" rather instead of "mango flavored noodles." Our misreading of the description deprived us of trying the East African style starter. We started off on the wrong foot and got something just mediocre. The tuna was flavorless and depended too much on the condiments on the dish although those ingredients have refreshing dispositions of their own and could not penetrate the cold exterior of the tuna.

Seared Tuna-with pickled mango noodles wasabi gelee and avocado "Sabayon"

The soft shell crab propelled our taste buds from slightly bored to tantalized. The smoked duck bacon was out of this world. The garlic naan was fluffy and powerful, which rather masked the meyer lemon mayo, but the ingredients worked magic with the crab. This was one heck of a sandwich!

Soft Shell Crab on Garlic Naan-with smoked duck bacon and mango-meyer lemon mayo

For dessert, we stayed on the East African theme, and ordered the Mango and Pistachio Clafouti. The "fried" ice cream confused me. It wasn't fried, and it didn't taste like ice cream. The dessert was a good idea that wasn't executed at the same calibur as the highlight of the meal.

Mango & Pistachio Clafouti-with green tea anglaise and "fried" ice cream

Even with the ups and downs of this lunch experience, I would still go back to see what new exhibit-inspired dishes chef Stephan Pyles will come up with.

Their current menu shows promise, and several items are variations of my Tut meal. If I visit Dallas before leaving for China, I would want to try:

East African Asparagus Soup with Vanilla Lobster

or
Gulf Crab Fritter with Citrus, Avocado and Thai Chili Essence

Tamarind Cured Beef Tenderloin with Local Watermelon, Feta, Olive and Spiced Walnuts

or
"BLT" with Jumbo Prawn Salad, Smoked Duck Bacon and Mango-Meyer Lemon Mayo

Note that they are closed beginning Friday, July 3rd and will re-open for lunch service on Tuesday, July 14th.