Dining in Seattle

When one goes to a food bloggers conference in a foodie city, it is very hard to determine when to break away to eat the true city eats. When a few friends and I decided to attend the International Food Bloggers conference, the one thing we agreed upon was that we would actually agree the city we flew across country to visit. Problem being - we had way too many items to eat on a short time frame.

On night one, we visited Poppy, a restaurant located in Capitol Hill. Poppy offers a thali,” a platter served to each guest holding a variety of small dishes. This is my foodie dream come true. We started off with the suggested eggplant fries with sea salt & honey. To be honest, I was quite skeptical. To my very surprise, I loved these fries and I wish I could recreate them at home. On to entrees, we ordered two. The standout for me was the carrot ravioli with king boletes, sage and spiced carrot sauce.

When I started researching Seattle, I couldn't help but come across multiple Tom Douglas restaurants. He is absolutely the puppeteer of Seattle chefs. We visited more than one of Tom Douglas's restaurants on this trip but first was Etta's. A restaurant that showed the highest level of hospitality I have ever encountered in a restaurant, hands down.All restaurants should take a page out of Etta's book. So their food - funny story, I went in wanting Etta's famous rubbed salmon. One day before leaving for Seattle, my foodie boss suggested I go to Etta's without knowing I had reservations. Then he threw the curve ball - order the hamburger...I am in Seattle but he knows my love of burgers and I trust him. So I said bye bye mr. Salmon and ordered one of the best burgers I have ever had in my life and encourage anyone dining at Etta's to order the same. Oh  my \ god.

Moving on to a meal I couldn't leave Seattle without trying was Ramen. While I may eat a lot of foie gras and kobe beef, I am truly a simple girl with a heart to Ramen. It's where I learned I was a wannabee cook. At age 18, I always made my ten cent noodles gourmet while my friends looked at me with ten heads. I ordered Garlic Shouyu [chicken broth), Leslie ordered Tonkotsu From Hell [spicy pork broth] and Rachel got the special of the day Bacon Tonkotsu [pork broth]

Our final meal in Seattle was at Serious Pie. Now, my family was a bit sad when I came home with a few seafood meals on my belt, none mentioned in this post. Yet I am a burger and pizza girl at heart. What can I say. Tom Douglas - Serious Pie was all that. I had the buffalo mozzarella, red sauce, fresh basil. Leslie ordered the roasted golden chanterelle mushrooms, truffle cheese and Rachel ordered the soft cooked free range eggs*, smoked prosciutto, pecorino sardo, arugula. All three were amazing and we didn't want to leave with any leftovers on the plate.

Finally for coffee - if you are a Starbucks fan, make sure you plan your trip to Pike Place market during off times. I strongly suggest visiting other coffee joints while in town. I had a slight love affair with Espresso Vivace.

Seattle is a spot for foodies of all palates to visit. Make sure you do your research prior to visiting and plan out your meals. You do not want to waste one during your visit.