Weekend travel

There are people who vacation and like to shop, but I am someone who likes to experience a place by walking around eating my way through it. Thankfully there are so many creative, delicious places to try. And many use local ingredients as well. Even better!!

{Friday}

I arrived late Thursday night so we had a late start to the day on Friday.

My best friend Emily and I kicked off my sight seeing tour by heading down to Pike Place Market. There are so many options for great food and drinks in and around Pike Place. We skipped stopping off in ‘Original’ Starbucks location as the line was way too long and made a stop for doughnuts instead.

We kicked off our weekend of eating by each getting a doughnut from Daily Dozen Donuts. They make and serve mini donuts from their Pike Place Market stall. Emily got a Maple Bacon one and I got a Maple one. They were the perfect 2 bites to kick off the day.

  

Ultimately, we decided on getting our lunch from Pirosky Pirosky and taking it to Rachel’s Ginger Beer to get some drinks.

Pirosky Piroksy is located outside the Market, but in the area as it’s just across the street from it. They serve a wide variety of hand pies of both the sweet and savory variety. The walk up food vendor does not have

We continued to walk around Pike Place and then ventured into Downtown Seattle, ultimately wandering to the Pioneer Square area. But then we were in need of a refreshment so we stopped by Bar Sajor.

I enjoyed a glass of Chardonnay, while Emily had a cocktail and some oysters.

 

Taking walk, a bus, a monorail, and another walk ensured that we were hungry for dinner by the time we got back to Emily’s apartment in Lower Queen Anne. Plus we were beat!!! We had been on our feet for hours so getting some takeout from El Camion in Ballard was a perfect plan.

Winner, winner taco dinner!!

Since I was (kinda, sorta!) trying to be conscientious of what I was eating post Whole30, I focused on items that didn’t have cheese, beans, or rice. So I ordered the Shrimp Ceviche ($6.50), a fish taco ($2.00), and an Adobada taco ($1.45).

Everything was really good. I enjoyed the fish taco the most as it was really flavorful and I enjoyed that it was not a breaded and fried piece of fish, which is what I normally get when I order a fish taco.

I was shocked at how large the portion was for the ceviche. I expected it was going to be half the size that it was. It really is something to share with multiple people. It was served with tostadas, but I would have preferred for chips instead as the super crisp tostadas were hard to eat.

{Saturday}

Another day of great activities and great food with my best friend in a beautiful city!

We kicked the day off by walking up to Toulouse Petit in Queen Anne for brunch. Thankfully, we arrived right when they opened so we were able to grab a table quickly. A great ‘win’ as they get really busy because they are so popular being that they are consistently voted one of the best restaurants in the U.S.

I ordered the ‘Eggs Hussarde’ ($18/$15 during ‘Breakfast Happy Hour’), which is once of their 8 different Eggs Benedict options. It consisted of a toasted split English Muffin, Snake River Farms Ham, poached eggs, the Veal Shallot Pan Sauce, and a Hollandaise Sauce. I was so happy with my selection as it was one of the best Eggs Benedict dishes that I have ever eaten. (You can read a really in depth review of it HERE)

 

We continued on working our our way up and through the Queen Anne neighborhood that morning. We stopped off at Cupcake Royale for a bit of a snack. While some might think cupcakes are a fad I think they are classic so they are always a ‘must’ in my book. You just can’t go wrong with a cute handheld mini cake.

And the Maple Bacon cupcake that we split was so good. The texture had great flavor and texture, the frosting was thick and creamy, and you can’t beat the smokey bacon and sweet maple combo.

Last year, for my first Mother’s Day, Emily sent me Top Pot Doughnut shops’ cookbook. All of the donuts in there look mouth watering, so I was really excited to be able to sample the donuts in the book directly from the source.

We snacked on the doughnuts that we grabbed throughout the day. They were so good that I didn’t want the experience to end!

After a generous amount of food we took a long afternoon hike at Discovery Point. It was such a beautiful day that the walk along the sound was the best way to spend a few hours.

And, of course, work up our appetite again!

Weeks prior to my trip Emily created an email thread of all the restaurants that we should consider to check out while I was visiting. One of the places that she suggested was Revel in Freemont. I was hooked when I saw the menu so I was excited when we went here for dinner.

We split an order of shrimp cake pancakes, short rib dumplings, and a bowl of dungeons crab noodles ($16). I could have eaten another order of those short rib dumplings but we knew from the start that we wanted to split a dessert so we focused on that.

They create seasonal menus and ones focused on different themes. When we first looked at the menu in late January, the dessert theme was based on the Seahawks. This time it was focused on Dr Suess. We selected “In the Zoo” dessert which a banana

We ended the night by taking a trip to Molly Moon’s, a local ice cream shop in Queen Anne that specializes in great quality ice cream and unique flavors. I was tempted to get a single scoop of ice cream with their homemade hot fudge, but reigned myself in as I had already eaten quite a few rich things that day already. I sampled their seasonal Vegan Coconut Chunk and loved it so I got a kid’s scoop ($3) for that. The perfect amount and the perfect flavor.

 {Sunday}

We had discussed taking a ride on a ferry on Sunday but the weather was kinda grey, so we visited Freemont again. I liked what I had seen the night before, and I also wanted to see a few things in the area, like the Freemont Troll and Gasworks Park.

Plus, there the Freemont Sunday Market which features food trucks and different vendors so we could browse that while doing some touristy things. (I ended up buying Price the cuff-links that he wore at our wedding from a local craft vendor!)

 

Besides doing some shopping, we, of course, ate some delicious food. We checked out the different food trucks and decided on getting some Taiyaki from BeanFish.

Besides thinking that the Taiyaki was super cute… hello fish shaped waffle!… I thought it was a just a great hand-held meal, perfect for browsing the stalls. It was a fun way to kick off the day. Of course I could have happily eaten all of them, but I was satisfied with the savory K-Pop. But I still think I should have gone back for a Gimme S’mores or the Elvis. Okay, I should have gone back for all of them!

The general theme for the weekend was: eat, walk, eat, walk, eat… repeat.

It worked out really well as it gave us a chance to try a lot of great food and do plenty of catching up as we walked from place to place. I love days/weekends like that.

After Emily and I visited the Troll and went to Gas Works Park, Peter and their dog Aldo met us so we could all go for lunch.  We ended up at The Leary Traveler, where we enjoyed some food and hard ciders. It was a great pub with a nice selection of brews and food.

I enjoyed their Steak Frites ($15). The 6oz Bistro Steak was served with Frites, Caramelized Onions, and a Demi Glaze. The portion of the food was great for the serving, and the price. I felt like I was getting a great value for lunch as it was so filling, flavorful, and presented so nicely. The Demi Glaze was so good that it was so nice to dip the steak and the fries in it. I did request it medium rare and it came out very rare so I did send it back but a quick extra minute on the grill made it perfect.

It was a grey and rainy so we kept the rest of the afternoon pretty low key with some relaxing back at their apartment. All the walking and eating was catching up with us!

 

We tossed around a few ideas for dinner but in the end decided on the Steelhead Diner, which is located above Rachel’s Ginger Beer outside Pike Place Market.

I knew that I was in for a real treat for dinner as soon as I had one of their Crab and Shrimp Tater Tots. I was dreaming about them for weeks afterwards. I was hooked immediately. I was tempted to order another order. I couldn’t help falling in love with the flavors from the crab and shrimp and the creamy texture from the potato. The crunch from the deep fry was the perfect contrast from the soft filling as well.

They were promoting their restaurant week offerings so Emily decided to pick a starter, entry, and dessert from the selection. She enjoyed the soup, but didn’t love the entree, but still thought it was a good menu for the value.

I ordered the wedge salad which seems like a safe pick, but it could have easily fallen flat on it’s face as it’s base of ice berg lettuce is so very basic. But the salad toppings worked so well with the crisp and crunchy lettuce. I was pleasantly satisfied with the salad for dinner.

While Emily has a (slight-ish) allergy to walnuts and pecans, we still split an order of their Theo Chocolate Pecan Pie. It was a perfect combination of sweet chocolate with the toasted nuts. It reminded me of Thanksgiving, but with a delightful chocolate spin to the typical Pecan Pie. Plus, it was topped off with a generous spoonful of Bourbon Chantilly Creme.

It was so good that Emily happily suffered through the mouth itching!

{Monday}

Prior to going to the airport for my flight home, Emily took me over to Nielsen’s Pastries to get some Danish pastries. It was tough to pick something as their selection of pastries looked fantastic. I am a big fan of kringle, but I wanted to try something I hadn’t had before so I picked a Snitter, which was described as a flat cinnamon roll that is topped off with a bit of custard. Oh my god. It was so freaking good. Just like a cinnamon roll but 10x better. We each had a Snitter so 3 cost $8.25.

Before heading back to their apartment we grabbed iced coffees from Tully’s.

At the airport I grabbed a Mariachi Mac and Cheese from Beecher’s. They have an outpost at Sea-Tac so I was able to enjoy their “World Famous” mac and cheese. A very generous 8-oz cup was $6. I enjoyed my mac and cheese on the plane. It was really, really good, although it was cool by then.

The Mariachi Mac and Cheese uses the Classic Mac and Cheese base but also adds roasted Anaheim chilies and a blend of fresh veggies giving it a great South of the Board kick.

It was a wonderful way to end a great foodie weekend!!