A posthaven for Eric…

It's pretty decent actually. Anyone have an even better suggestion for pizza in New York?

Sent from my iPhone

Compliments of Cafe Presse. This is so good. Damn, it feels great to be back in Seattle.

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My take on the classic salade nicoise: a bed of arugula/basil, thinly sliced cucumber, tomato, red onion, capers, kalamata olives, hard boiled egg, seared ahi steak, topped with dijon dressing, with a few chunk of focaccia bread.   I've gotten through 2/3rds of it so far.  I think this guy's gonna take a second sitting.

Update: It took until 5:50p but I finally finished it off.  Damn that was good!

This weekend I was back in Seattle, visiting my super special lady and I have to say, I ate really well this time.  I am going to share these places and thank the people who recommended them.  If you are in Seattle, you should definitely consider some of these spots.

1. Oddfellows Cafe
This is a new Capitol Hill bar/cafe by Linda Derschang (um... remember Smith, King's and of course.. Linda's?).  My good buddy, Will (pictured below with the saucy mustache) recommended it.  He says it is great for dinner and drinks at night but Saturday afternoon was his first time going there to brunch.  His avocado BLT was apparently pretty bomb.  I had to get the "Oddfellow" which is their take on the standard grilled ham and cheese (add pickled red onions, Gruyere, spicy mustard).  So good.  I also enjoyed the orange/currant scone with my coffee.

2. Tamarind Tree
Tamarind is the elite Vietnamese dinner restaurant in Seattle and one of my friend, Damian's favorites.  Saturday night was our second time there.  Tamarind is nice because they have the room for your large group (we had about 14 fools from the old Microsoft crew), they have good meat AND vegetarian (important for special lady) and finally, they are very consistent about the quality of their dishes.  The cocktails like my pomegranate martini aren't bad either.

3. The Continental
Taso's, as my lady lovingly calls it, may be my favorite breakfast place in Seattle.  I've posted about this place before and I have probably been there five times since.  This Sunday, we got the same thing we always get: the tomato pesto omelette for me and the spinach mushroom feta omelette for her.  They were great just like they were the last time we got them.

4. Poppy
So the Herb Farm's ex-chef, Jerry Traunfeld just opened this place at the north end of Broadway, in Capitol Hill.  We pass it on the way to see Slumdog Millionaire at the Harvard Exit Theatre and my girlfriend says she's heard great things so we tell Will and Manish to meet us after the movie.  After the movie is over, we roll up, scope the menu and see there is only one option.  It's called a thali and its a collection of 10 small dishes + a choice of two proteins.  Our group thought Traunfeld went 9 for 10 with this thali.  I especially liked the muscovy duck leg, the carrot soup and the swiss chard gratin with gruyere.  The main thing we didn't like was the mashed cauliflower but its hard to complain when there are 9 other things on your plate that taste great. 

So those are the spots I enjoyed this weekend.  The pictures below are of us eating at Tamarand Tree and Poppy.

Rick and Laurie stayed with us this weekend.  As you can see in the pictures, various activities were enjoyed by everyone, except Josh who had to work pretty much all weekend (lame).  

However, the best part of the weekend was the part that Josh actually could attend; karaoke Friday night at this crazy azn place, Karaoke Duet on 35th.  Of course I didn't remember to bring the camera, but if you were there, you know it was awesome.  Colin came and we saw Javier and Erin for the first time pretty much since leaving Suncoast (our high school).  This was not my first time doing karaoke but it was my first time doing it in a private room.  Basically, all the karaoke energy gets trapped in a small space and feeds on itself, leading you to get just real drunk and rowdy. 

Later that weekend, we also had BBQ at Blue Smoke and hit up that Lion King on Broadway, but the high point of the weekend was definitely established on Friday.   It was all downhill from there, but hey, it was still fun, so um... hakuna matata.

Grilled Provolone sandwich with tomatoes, olives and spinach, aside a bowl of butternut squash soup. Not bad at all.

Having french toast at The Smith by Union Square. Coffee and fresh air have nearly relieved my massive hangover. Looks like the long walk from Midtown was worth it, this is delicious...

At this spot in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle. Just ordered the Crab Club and the bloody mary's have arrived. Woohoo!

Woohoo! My first mobile post from my smartphone. Lets see if this works.

I can't believe i just waited 20 mins for this beautiful italian sub and now i am fooling around with posting a picture of it on my blog.