Photography | 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

Paseo | Seattle, WA

once a year we take a trip to a new football stadium! we are so lucky our friends are freaking awesome and do this with us! (oh, bryan is happy. he is just too hardcore for this picture in front of paseo) anywho, we were really excited to come to paseo since a number of locals highly recommended getting a sandwich here… actually, stella’s friend said it was his favorite thing to eat in seattle. we owe you a solid, ezra. we took a $15 uber here from our hotel at around 11:30am on a saturday hoping that we didn’t have to wait too long. best plan ever.

all sandwiches are on a toasted baguette and come with aioli, cilantro, pickled jalapeños, crisp romaine lettuce & caramelized onions. what we got:

grilled pork sandwich ($8.50) – cubed pork loin grilled over lava rocks & basted w/ paseo marinade until golden brown
caribbean roast ($8.50) – pork shoulder coated in paseo marinade & slow roasted
paseo press ($8.95) – roasted pork, sweet banana peppers, smoked ham, swiss cheese, and caramelized onions; all melted together between a hot press. (no lettuce or jalapeños)
smokin’ thighs ($8.50) – 2 marinated, skin-on, boneless chicken thighs; flash grilled & oven roasted.

tip: cash only. also, you can call in and order your sandwich ahead of time. note that if there is a huge wait at the location, they may not pick up the phone.

this place is very tiny and there were no available seats. we were warned by our friend and were prepared to eat it offsite. our initial plan was to order a sandwich and take it to gasworks park and enjoy our sandwiches along with the view of the city (per a recommendation). after we started walking, we realized we definitely weren’t going to make it there…especially with hot, saucy sandwiches. we ended up parking ourselves in a park nearby that had some benches.

stella got the grilled pork sandwich and kyle got the caribbean roast (most popular)… so. freaking. good. bread is great… crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside. the pork in both sandwiches was extremely soft. pretty much expect to be smacked in the face by flavor. yep, smacked.

i got the paseo press because #1 i love presses. #2 i love onions. #3 pork rocks and so do banana peppers. this sandwich was amazing. pretty much love at first bite. as you can see below, they do not joke around with onions.

i did not get a picture of bryan’s smokin’ thighs sandwich because he devoured it before i could get to him… but i can tell you that he loved his sandwich.

ambience: small. packed. nothing too fancy. i recommend eating offsite so that you don’t deal with the crowd.
service: quick. order your sandwich. pick up and go.
overall: this was one of my favorite sandwiches. no joke. i still think about it…and would go back to seattle for another bite. this is a must eat in seattle and will be spreading the word, fo sho. one little note: these sandwiches are very saucy (making them awesome) so it is a messy eat. also, remember to bring cash.

we were happy. thanks, ezra.

Paseo
4225 Fremont Ave N
(between 42nd St & Motor Pl)
Seattle, WA 98103
Neighborhood: Fremont

By fabliss | October 11th, 2013 | Food, Photography, Restaurants, Seattle, Travel | 4 Comments

Best Breakfast: Los Angeles

there’s some about lists…i love them. kyle thinks i’m a nerd for making a list for everything. anywho, that favorite burger list of mine got me thinking. what are my favorite breakfast places? so i decided to compile another list of my favorite a.m. spot. here we go. top 5…err 6:

bea bea’s – best overall breakfast spot. huge menu. favorite dish: the mk.
blu jam cafe – crunchy french toast. the bomb.
lucky boy drive-in – best cheap breakfast burrito
julienne – best cute breakfast joint with creme brulee french toast.
huckleberry – best gourmet breakfast burrito
zengo – best all you can eat and drink (for 3 hours) sunday brunch

bea bea’s: the mk

lucky boy’s breakfast burrito

for a complete list of my favorite breakfast places, please click here.

happy tuesday!

By fabliss | October 8th, 2013 | Food, Photography, Restaurants | 2 Comments

Pike Place Chowder | Seattle, WA

a must visit seattle eatery is pike place chowder. it is reviewed by a million people and loved by even more. so naturally this was top on our list. i mean, how good can it be?

this small shop is tucked away in post alley. what is post alley? an insanely cute little alley near pike’s market place with small shops and restaurants. pike place chowder will be the shop with a huge line out in front. and by huge i mean wraps around the building. good thing we came here on a thursday morning to get our chow on because the line wasn’t too bad (less than 30 minute wait).

this place opens up every day at 11am and apparently they are seattle’s original dungeness crab roll sandwich! we obviously had to see what the rave and this big sign was all about. oh, and they have a wall of all the awards they have won (looks like they have won first place… a lot). we ordered:

combo #2: 8 oz. chowder of your choice with a half sandwich of the original dungeness crab roll and drink for $12.95. i chose the seafood bisque!
medium new england clam chowder

this is the huge menu that you need to study well in advance of order or else you will get lost. oh, and this place is serious about their chowder. they all have chowder shirts.

the dungeness crab roll was good. the roll that it was on was a little hard (i like my seafood rolls to be soft so that it can melt in my mouth). the crab itself was very fresh but i wish it had a little more of a kick. it was nice to have half a sandwich with my seafood bisque. i definitely think the combo is the way to go.

i almost didn’t order the seafood bisque since it sounds extremely heavy and i didn’t want to start my day off feeling heavy. good thing kyle made me sample it along with the southwestern chicken and corn chowder. i loved the seafood bisque way more than the southwestern chowder. not too heavy (it was actually a lot more watery than you would think by just looking at it). lots of flavor. i really liked it.

the new england chowder was good. kyle actually didnt let me have too much of it since he inhaled it. his thoughts: good chowder. hits the spot on a nice cold day. the best chowder he has ever had? no (he loves the chowder at lure and stands by his choice). but this one is pretty dang good and worth a try.

Pike Place Chowder
1530 Post Alley
(between Pike Pl & Pine St)
Seattle, WA 98101
Neighborhood: Downtown

By fabliss | October 7th, 2013 | Food, Photography, Restaurants, Seattle, Travel | 1 Comment

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