Eating And Drinking Around Seattle

Eating and Drinking Around Seattle

The Emerald City has long been a great food town but I have often thought of it as a powerhouse for mostly great seafood, vegetables and Chinese food. While the International District is chock-a-block with great Asian joints it is not that pleasant a place to navigate these days because of the homeless situation that has been ongoing during the pandemic.

However, I have to say that the dim sim at Harbor City where well worth the excursion. Tender and juicy steamed shrimp dumplings with carrots and peas, followed by just-full-on shrimp dumplings and cilantro and soup dumplings: yes, they were divine! Better than what I have had more recently in New York or San Francisco. They don’t have much of a wine list but who cares when the dumplings are this good!

Next Stop Vietnam

Having gotten my Chinese fix over with I moved on to Vietnamese and discovered a truly stupendous restaurant in Monsoon on Capitol Hill. Chef Eric Banh moved to the U.S. from Saigon as a kid and boy does it know how to spin the Vietnamese classics with modern flavors.

The green papaya salad with prawn, mint and peanuts is crisp and refreshing. Beef on la lot leaf is savory and the fried chicken wings are addictive! And while the banana cake may not be super traditional is divinely rich and overflows with banana flavor.

Onto the Meat and Seafood

The Flintcreek Cattle restaurant is an airy high-ceilinged place with a solid wine list and a nice mix of dishes. The duck confit was rich and delicious. I followed it up with crispy fried Garganelli pasta with a wild mushroom Bolognese topped with a sprinkle of grana Padano. The water of choice here is the perennially chic Mexican Topo Chico. The Belgian Endive salad with apples and pecans was a great way to end the meal. J. Laurens Brut Rosé Crémant de Limoux was a perfect match with almost everything we enjoyed.

The following night’s dinner at Rockcreek was all about seafood, a few oysters to start followed by Hawaiian Hamachi Crudo with sweet onion vinaigrette, pickles and Shiso leaf. Since one crudo is never enough for me it was followed by a more Latin American-inspired pairing of Hawaiian Tombo Tuna Tiradito with fennel, tomatoes, red onion, cilantro ad aji Amarillo. The Basque charmer Txakoli Rezabal made from 100 percent Hondarribi Zuri was great with all these dishes.

Before heading out my last night I grabbed a cocktail at the buzzy and swank Frolic Kitchen & Cocktails in the Motif hotel (where the rooms have stunning views of the sound)! Firepits abound and the bar had both indoor and outdoor seating.

The newly revamped El Gaucho in Belltown is a swank, elegant dark supper club of your dreams. Cozy booths dot the walls as a pianist plays softly. The Cesar salad is served tableside in a throwback to the olden, golden days. The Dungeness crab cakes were luscious and the bone-in ribeye—my second favorite after Porterhouse—perfectly cooked and too big to finish!

If you need a little hair of the dog the next morning, or just want a really good breakfast, Andaluca, at the Mayflower Park Hotel, has a very welcoming dining room. The eggs and the omelets hit the spot, as did the Bloody Mary! The Spanish restaurant is now open again serving paellas and other Latin-inspired dishes to go. When I was there Oliver’s Lounge was just doing cocktails but the sleek bar space is now open for both drinks as well as crab cakes, salads and burgers.