Gastrolust

This week, Serious Eats posted my roundup of Vietnamese noodle soups in Seattle. An excerpt: I love the interactivity of Vietnamese soups, as most come with a side plate of herbs, vegetables, and lime wedges. It’s a must to taste the broth as presented, and then figure out how to spice it up, both with [...]

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It’s not on the menu, but for four bucks, you gotta give this a try. I was on assignment last visit to Phnom Penh Noodle House, so I didn’t get to try the legendary bone soup. The server smiled when I placed my order, as if welcoming me to the club of insiders. My soup [...]

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It’s been a couple of weeks since I promised to write about HA & VL in Portland. I just returned from a long loop of travel, criss-crossing the Columbia River many times in going back to Portland and then on to the Yakima Valley, Quincy, Wenatchee, and Leavenworth before returning to Seattle. I had an ambitious [...]

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Here are five quick bites, culminating with news about a national champion. Ivar’s is a Seattle institution. No doubt about that. And that institution was in the news this year, with stories about its underwater billboards. For me, the story is whether its food warrants a stop or not. This past year, I had chances [...]

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This Seattlest writer knows this site is about appreciation of Seattle. We love it here, for sure. But part of what we love is its proximity to Vancouver, as we’ve discussed before. And to that we must add its proximity to Portland. Dishin’ disappeared for a week because we were on a feeding frenzy down [...]

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I went a little cooking crazy last weekend. It was all part of an extended birthday celebration, an excuse to have friends over, and then a guest visiting for New Zealand. I need more such excuses. In addition to a root beer cake and orange-Szechuan peppercorn ice cream (a David Lebovitz recipe), I made four [...]

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I’ve been to quite a few pho places in Seattle, and I’ve finally found one that might be a consideration as my favorite. The simple-named Vietnam Restaurant is, in many ways, typical of other pho joints in town: cheap bowls of pho, cream puffs, bright lights, indifferent service, and nasty bathrooms. But as much as the [...]

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Saturday’s a super day to go to the University District for some shopping at the farmers market. And when that day happens to be dreary, I always find myself in the mood for some soup. Than Brothers is my default for comfort and convenience, but for variety’s sake, I decided to give nearby Pho Thy [...]

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When traveling the country and trying to avoid the Cheesecake Factories, Cracker Barrels and Claim Jumpers that clog the arteries, we get excited whenever we see a Martin Luther King street exit. The same can be said for exit 157 off I-5 in Seattle, where, just to the north, you’ll find a diversity of delicious [...]

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Last week, we described a soup-er stay at Alderbrook Resort & Spa. This week, we met Soup-erman—a chef who really loves to make soup. As we’ve turned the corner into summer and the weather is warming (at least a bit), what is it about soup that’s captured our attention? Too many diners overlook salad and [...]

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