Restaurants | fabliss

Lola | Downtown Seattle, WA

lola… another tom douglas spot. we read numerous recommendations to come here for breakfast. so it made our list. before coming here, we glanced at the menu and were excited to try the golden brown pancakes and pork-maple sausage, vanilla mascarpone, maple syrup. nope. ran out. burn.

this was unexpected. even more, breakfast isn’t our “thing” since we arent egg lovers. ya know? we ended up ordering:

tom’s big breakfast – mediterranean octopus, squash, leeks, bacon, onion, heirloom peppers, sage, garlic yogurt, poached egg, toast ($18)
made-to-order doughnuts – seasonal jam, vanilla mascarpone ($8)
smashed garlic-fried potatoes ($5)

when we saw octopus as a breakfast menu item, we weren’t thinking “oh hey, for sure we need to get this”. it was our waitress who highly recommended this since the pancakes were unavailable. i think her exact words were “incredible”. how could you not get this? what if it ends up being like the octopus dish at asia de cuba (which we ended up loving despite initial hesitation)?

it was good but nothing mind blowing. i will say that the yogurt was a nice surprise. not sure why we thought the octopus would be crispy on the outside, softer on the inside… it was just ok. this dish is actually pretty pricey in my opinion especially since it’s short of spectacular and it’s…breakfast.

and now come the doughnuts! remember how i said i fell in love with these tom douglas doughnuts? here is where i got my first introduction! i’m telling you. love at first sight. they come out fresh and hot with two dipping sauces: seasonal jam (i had strawberry) and a vanilla mascarpone.

these doughnuts are a winner. these squarely shaped and amazingly soft “doughnut holes” are perfectly paired with the two dipping sauces which are not too sweet… a perfect spin to a classic.

smashed garlic potatoes were good. crispy on the outside. you can’t go wrong with potatoes.

service: pretty friendly. it wasn’t hard for us to get a reservation for breakfast/brunch (but then again we came here on a thursday morning). they were pretty accommodating when i asked to switched tables in order to sit next to a window to take my awesome pictures (jk).
ambience: warm tones. high ceilings. nice spot for brunch.
overall: despite the ok, expensive octopus recommendation, i have to say that i am a fan of this place because of the doughnuts. they were pretty much a saving grace for me. it was a bummer that the pancakes weren’t available but in retrospect…it was probably a good thing since it led me to order the doughnuts! i mean, yes, you could always go across the street and get the doughnuts at the bakery but the nice thing about getting them here is that you get to sit down and enjoy it with a cup of coffee. just sayin’.

Lola
2000 4th Ave
(between Virginia St & Lenora St)
Seattle, WA 98121
Neighborhood: Belltown

By fabliss | November 4th, 2013 | Food, Photography, Restaurants, Seattle, Travel | 0 Comments

Serious Pie | Seattle, WA

serious pie. restaurant #2 by tom douglas that we had to visit! reasons:

we love pizza.
it is open relatively late (until 11pm).
everyone (thousands of people) rave about this place.

we actually ended up coming here twice. this was the first place we went to after getting off the plane. since we loved it, we had to make b and stella try it. here are the pizzas we got, why and our thoughts:

sweet fennel sausage, roasted peppers, provolone
yukon gold potato, rosemary, pecorino romano
roasted golden chanterelle mushrooms, truffle cheese

pizzas here range from $15 to 17 and are meant to be shared. thin, crispy crust. a hungry guy (aka kyle) could put one pizza down by himself easy peasy. two pizzas between the two off us would have been too excessive. one pizza meant that we needed to get dessert (enter coconut cream pie).

the sausage w/ roasted pepper pizza (pictured above)! great pizza. awesome flavor. crunchy crust. we got this since our waitress recommended we get a “red sauce” pizza with our potato pizza (oil based? sounds disgusting. i don’t know how else to describe it. pretty much the opposite of red sauce). btw, that was such a good recommendation! i think this was an overall favorite.

we had to get the potato pizza because we’ve never had one before! plus, it was recommended by the waitress. it was pretty good but we wished it was better. it’s more on the mild side with no punch of flavor that we were looking for. still, it is good.

yeah, my friends hate me for doing this to them.

truffle mushroom pizza was my favorite (and kyle too)! mushrooms (check). truffle oil (check). bold truffle flavor. generous amount of mushrooms. so good. so so good.

food: kyle is a pizza-kinda-guy. sometimes i feel bad that i am so picky about the crust. i love crispy thin crusts but i am not a fan of burnt oven tasting pizza (my most hated is soggy, wilting pizza). obviously this limits me. anyway, the crust here is indeed crispy and some parts are burnt but surprisingly… i didnt mind! i think it’s because the pizzas themselves have a lot of flavor and go nicely with the crisp. go, serious pies! nothing better than a cozy pizzeria on a cold, cold night! i would recommend the truffle mushroom and the roasted pepper sausage pizza! pizzas are moderately priced…but still not bad.
service/ambience: waiting times are long here. especially since this is not the largest establishment. good thing, dahlia bakery is around the corner in case you want a pre-dinner bite. service is great! spot on with recommendations.
overall: i think when people see a restaurant with thousands of reviews…they come here expecting to be ridiculously blown away by the best pizza in the world. so i will answer the question i always ask people: is it the best? no. but it is definitely still a great spot in seattle that is worth trying. fresh ingredients and comes out hot. worth it.

Serious Pie
316 Virginia St
Seattle, WA 98121

By fabliss | October 28th, 2013 | Food, Photography, Restaurants, Seattle, Travel | 2 Comments

Dahlia Bakery | Seattle, WA

the dessert lover in me had to look up a popular dessert spot in downtown seattle. top on the list was dahlia bakery.

after spending a few days in the city and talking to locals about our “downtown seattle to do list” (new friends, happy hour patrons, bartenders, uber drivers, lyft drivers, waiters/waitresses, baristas,etc), we found out that dahlia bakery is one of 12 tom douglas establishments. who is tom douglas? um, just the chef of seattle! 12 popular/successful restaurants in one city. one chef/owner? stud.

dahlia bakery. we ended coming here 3 times in 5 days to get three things:

coconut cream pie – we first had a slice at serious pie (tom douglas’ pizza joint around the corner) and then became hooked! the special thing about getting the pie at the bakery is that it is available in a bite size!
fresh small donuts – first had these at lola… became hooked. do you see a trend?
chocolate eclair – kyle thought this was the best eclair he’s had. i know. i cant even tell you if that is true because i am not a fan of chocolate!

i would put the coconut cream pie and donuts on my top 10 desserts. no hesitation. i would note that the coconut cream pie is pretty coconutty. lots of shavings. i have heard the comment that it needs more coconut cream, less whipped cream and less shavings… i get it… but it’s still pretty awesome.

side note: kyle got the hazelnut tart. he thought it was ok. pretty rich. don’t eat one by yourself… you will feel sick. sharing is definitely caring on this one.

the donuts come with a vanilla bean dip and the homemade jam of the day! i’ve had both the strawberry and peach jams and they are freaking wonderful. although not really a traditional donut (they are pretty much square donut holes… but not cakey), i would consider this my favorite donut. can i even do that?! nothing beats fresh, hot donuts that melt in your mouth. dusted with sugar, these babies are on the messy side… but in the wise words of carl’s jr… if it doesn’t get all over the place, it doesn’t belong in your face.

tom douglas, you did us a solid with your bakery. that is probably why in our time here, we knocked out 4 out of 12 of your establishments. we were impressed.

Dahlia Bakery
2001 4th Ave
Seattle, WA 98121

By fabliss | October 23rd, 2013 | Coffee, Tea, & Bakeries, Dessert, Food, Restaurants, Seattle, Travel | 3 Comments

Pa-Ord Noodle | Hollywood, CA

similar to all of our other food adventures in LA, our hunger and indecisiveness led us to pa-ord noodles in thai town. this has been on our list for a while since it was featured on a top ten list of thai food in la (we read a lot of lists). so we ordered:

small beef boat noodles – $4 (what they are known for)
shrimp wonton soup w/ bbq pork – $7
rice with holy basil and crispy pork – $7

i have so much to say about this place and don’t know where to start! two important tips you must know before you come here:

tip #1: do not underestimate how spicy food is here. before ordering, i skimmed through some reviews that mentioned that they ordered “mild” spicy. i read this thinking “psh, wimps.” i. was. so. wrong. i repeat, mistake. it was painfully spicy. the thing is, we ordered everything medium. i will be honest… i actually sat there eating slowly and crying. pathetic. (kyle tried not to make eye contact with me)

i had to order a thai ice tea, eat tons of white rice, and take a lot of eating breaks. the guy next to us ordered a large spicy soup. no water. put it down in…i don’t know… 8 minutes? no tears shed. oh, did I mention he was white? beastmode. can i be him one day? kyle and i agreed that this was the spiciest meal we have had since coming back from thailand. we miss you, thailand.

tip #2: cash only. make sure you go to the ATM people.

ok into the food:

beef boat noodles – in the reviews that i have read, boat noodles are what pa-ord is known for…so boat noodles i got! beef, meatballs, and tripe in a dark brown soup. the soup is very flavorful and on the sweeter side…be prepared. also, you can pick what type of noodles you want. i opted for no. 1 thin noodles per recommendation of our waitress.

awesome fact: these noodles are named “boat noodles” because they are customarily sold on small boats along canals in thailand! there are a few pictures of this in the restaurant!

crispy pork – so glad we ordered this! the pork was perfectly crisp! more importantly, this dish had the best green beans and were sautéed with a ton of garlic. tons. we fell in love. must order again.

wonton soup – surprisingly amazing. we aren’t usually the type who go to thai restaurants and order wonton soup but on this one day, kyle thought it sounded good. we were blown away by the greatness. i wish we ordered mild so i could have more than one bite.

thai iced tea to help out my mouth…

this setup of condiments reminds me of thailand.

service: friendly staff!
ambience: medium space in the corner of a small plaza. clean and casual.
parking: small parking lot shared with other vendors. you may need to find street parking.
overall: sounds like we have a new favorite thai restaurant in thai town! we will be back…a lot! we want to try every noodle on their menu!

Pa-Ord Noodle
5301 Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90027
Neighborhood: Hollywood

By fabliss | October 15th, 2013 | Food, Restaurants | 0 Comments

Rob Roy | Seattle, WA

like we said before, seattle is huge on happy hour. one of our many hh spots during our trip was rob roy in belltown. their happy hour is from 4-7pm. happy hour cocktails were $6 each, wells $5 and beer is $1 off. here is what we got:

colonel – bourbon, grapefruit, apricot liqueur, cane sugar
prince edward – scotch, lillet, drambuie
huntsman – vodka, trinidadian rum, lime, cane sugar
el tio nonillo – mezcal, pear liqueur, dry vermouth, amaro nonino

i had to get something from their “top sellers” list since the quote on top of the page was, “being popular is the most important thing in the world.” – homer simpson. epic. it was a non-happy hour item but it sounded too good.

sangre del sol – chile infused tequila, mango puree, grapefruit, lime, mint, agave nector

service: fast. not much interaction so can’t say much here.
ambience: love the space. loved lounging here.
drinks: so of all the drinks we got, favorites were the sangre del sol (spicy mango tequila drink) and the huntsman (vodka, trinidadian rum, lime, cane sugar). actually, the truth is, the sangre del sol was amazing. it is my favorite spicy drink…ever. be warned it is pretty hot but that makes it amazing. kyle enjoyed the huntsman (he ordered 2). stella got the colonel and the el tio nonillo, both of which she thought were ok but nothing amazing. the colonel was light on alcohol. bryan hated the scotch drink.
presentation: presentation is awesome. thought each drink was uber pretty. some drinks, as detailed above, were better than others.
overall: this was one of our favorites in seattle.

Rob Roy
2332 2nd Ave
(between Battery St & Bell St)
Seattle, WA 98121
Neighborhood: Belltown

By fabliss | October 14th, 2013 | Food, Restaurants, Seattle, Travel | 4 Comments

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