I fully intended to blog about last week’s Top Chef, but got the day after and didn’t feel like putting any effort into this blog. Now it’s Wednesday and another episode is coming on tonight, so there’s not much of a point in talking about what happened a week ago. I will make an effort to talk about it tomorrow. My picks to win Season 3, in order, are Tre, Hung, and Brian. I’ll go into the “why” tomorrow.

I was in Seattle for the past couple days visiting a friend. It was my first trip to the Pacific northwest, so I was definitely looking forward to exploring the city. I wish I would have had another full day to go to the Experience Music Project, but that will have to wait for another trip. We had dinner at Purple, a wine bar in downtown Seattle. I thought the atmosphere was nice but nothing extraordinary. Fairly typical of what you’d expect in a wine bar. The wine list was great. The only problem I had was being unfamiliar with Northwest wines, so I opted for a Washington flight. I thought all the wines were good, although none of them really jumped out at me. I think the worst part of Purple was the food. It wasn’t bad, just average and nothing that would make me rush back there for dinner.

On Tuesday, I met up with one of my fraternity brothers for lunch. It was great catching up with him since I hadn’t seen him since we graduated I back in 2003. We ate at Simon’s Cafe, a small restaurant inside an office building. They had some nice looking roast beef sandwiches, but I was feeling a little health conscious and went with a turkey sandwich and side salad. The food was good, and definitely the kind of place I wish campus had for lunch.

After lunch I ventured down to Pike’s Place market. I had only heard about people throwing fish, but had very little knowledge of what else was there. What I found was close to a “foodie” heaven with lots of gourmet shops and farmers selling local organic produce. My first stop was at a tasting room, originally named The Tasting Room, featuring wines from Washington. I wish the staff had been a little more chatty because I was curious to learn about Washington wines. From what I tasted, I liked the wines from Camraderie the best. Their syrah was good, although very different from what you’d find in the Santa Ynez valley. It wasn’t the full bodied power house that I typically associate with syrah, but that’s not a bad thing. I also had one of their blends called Grace, which was my favorite of the six I tried. I made sure to walk by all the fish merchants. It all looked heavenly, and I was even tempted to buy a couple pounds of fresh halibut cheeks and have them pack it for me to bring back to Santa Barbara.  The produce looked too good to pass up, however, so I bought some raspberries and rainier cherries.

For dinner on Tuesday, we went to a place in Belltown (ie, the hip area of Seattle) called The Black Bottle. They call themselves a “gastro-tavern” and feature small plates that are meant to be shared.  Some of the plates, like the broccoli, are actually quite large, but this is probably because each plate is $9.  So for $9, you expect a lot of broccoli.  I loved the atmosphere of the place.  The lighting was dim, and the tables were simple.  Each one had a single candlestick with a white candle.  We had hanger steak, mussels, lamb, and the aforementioned broccoli.  For dessert, we had tiramisu.  I really enjoyed that restaurant, and would definitely go back.

I had to leave early Wednesday feeling like I wish I had another day.  But, the cleanroom was calling my name, and I can’t ignore that temptress.