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Technorati Tags: platinum palate, Seattle, Pioneer Square, BBQ, American, Sandwich, Southern

Hole in the wall barbecue establishments are one of the staples of the American lunch crowds.  True barbecue restaurants have a unique personality all to themselves that add to the flavor of the meal in more ways than one.  Personal preference often plays a big part in the choosing of one’s favorite BBQ joint too so it may take a lot of hunting to find that one establishment that meets fills your stomach, satisfies your palette and of course doesn’t stress your pocket book.

The Longhorn Barbecue Outpost in Pioneer Square is a Texas style barbecue pit that boasts “The Northwest’s BEST Texas Southern Pit Style Barbecue.”  While that may be a bit of an overstatement, it was a pretty tasty meal.  The indoor slow-cooker pumps its smoky goodness out a vent onto 1st Avenue that makes this place hard to miss.  Incidentally once you have past by the vent, stood in line, and sat down to eat there you won’t be hard to miss either as the scent sort of sticks with you.   

Some might disagree with me, but there is a holy trinity that goes into great BBQ; quality of the meat, flavor of the sauce, and perfection of the technique.  The Longhorn Outpost uses a sweeter, deeper barbecues sauce that is typical of Texas style.  It does not have the vinegar content that you see in the Carolina style sauces or the overt smokiness of more southern style sauces. 

The best part of Longhorn’s menu is the combination plates.  They allow you to try different meats and sides and there is no way you will leave hungry.  I went with the Maverick Plate which consists of smoked brisket, smoked turkey and two sides.  In Texas “Que” you have to get baked beans and cornbread (in my humble opinion) but the potato salad, coleslaw, and other sides are great too.

My only complaints about this tasty lunch destination was that I usually like thicker brisket than they serve (Longhorns is a little too thin slices for my taste) and I would have liked a tangier sauce (nothing a little splash of Tabasco can’t handle).  Other than that, this place is great and I would highly recommend it to anyone searching to fill that need for amazing slow-cooked flavor.

American, BBQ, Sandwich

You’ve probably seen the Newport Bay restaurant while sitting in traffic on 520. It looks much like most suburban restaurants. I’m pretty sure it has a competitive happy hour, due primarily to the amount of people there who are sixty-plus. Notwithstanding its underground appeal to the blue haired crowd for blue plate specials, I found Newport Bay in Kirkland to be a solid eatery.

I met my Dad at Newport Bay one evening after work. I was late due to a stalled car on 520 (thanks, by the way), but that’s another story. After drinks we shared the calamari which turned out to be a very fresh serving of the fried squid. I don’t mind eating the tentacles but there were a bit too many even for me. Instead of the obligatory marina sauce, they served a spicy Serrano aioli. The batter was thicker then some other types of calamari I’ve had also. Let me warn you that you only need a little dab of the aioli, which is actually pretty spicy.

My Dad had the Chopped Chinese Chicken Salad. I didn’t take photos of it or plan to review it because it was a standard salad. He seemed to like it and I must admit it was much larger than I thought it would be; definitely a “man-sized” portion.

I decided to experiment with the Northwest Style Cioppino. Picture a large bowl filled with prawns, scallops, clams, chunks of other seafood, and spinach simmered in a tomato saffron broth. There were also some excellent garlic croutons in the broth. As you can see from the photo, and also imagine, it’s a pretty simple dish; bowl of broth filled with seafood.

Although they have a fairly extensive seafood special list beyond their regular menu, I wasn’t certain about Newport Bay’s reputation as a good fish restaurant. However, seeing as they have both “port” and “bay” in their name was enough to give me the desire to be adventurous and try the cioppino.

And, as it turned out I was actually really happy with it. All the seafood was fresh tasting and not over cooked. The tomato saffron broth was really flavorful and would have made a great soup without overpowering the delicate seafood taste.

So, the next time you find yourself squinting into the sun while stopped in a line of traffic on 520, jump off at the nearest exit and head over to Newport Bay and get some reliable, satisfying and tasty food.

American, Northwest, Seafood

If you’re driving down 1st Avenue in downtown Seattle and continue south you’ll eventually run into the Pig Iron Bar-B-Q.  Sure, it feels like you’re almost at SeaTac airport but you’re actually in Georgetown.  You’ll be lucky to find a seat at this hot lunch spot.  They have quite a reputation for BBQ, and the fact that they’re one of the few eating establishments among a plethora of warehouses doesn’t hurt.

 When you enter this BBQ joint, you get the sense from the waitress that she wants you to hurry up and order.  While this might seem rude to some Northwestern types, I would urge you not to get offended because as soon as she takes your order she’ll be walking back with your food. 

The menu is short and to the point as is the service.  You’ve got a handful of sandwich choices, handful of platter choices and a bunch of sides to choose from.  I was in a carb free mood so I chose the Certified Angus Choice Beef Brisket.  My platter came with two sides and I ordered the coleslaw and cornbread dressing because they sounded appetizing.

Surprisingly, my food was served very neatly on a metal platter, with my sides placed securely in metal cups.  The brisket was shorter than I expected but there were about four or five long slices.  A neat thing the Pig Iron does is they don’t drench your meal in BBQ sauce.  Instead, they offer three types of sauce which are located conveniently on your table.  You can choose from Original BBQ Sauce, Chipotle BBQ Sauce and Mustard BBQ sauce. The mustard was by far my favorite. 

The brisket was a little drier than I thought it should be, however it was still quite tender and the smoky flavor was exceptional. The coleslaw was pretty standard although it, too, was tasty.  I wasn’t sure what I was getting into with the cornbread dressing simply because I had never heard of it before.  If you’re not sure what it is either than just think of cornbread stuffing or broken up pieces of cornbread.  This was also pretty good except that it sort of broke down into tiny pieces that were hard to scoop up on your fork.

Overall I didn’t find many things to complain about at Pig Iron.  While I wasn’t knocked off my feet, I was very happy with what I had there.  Just keep in mind that they are pretty much off the beaten path in terms of mainstream Seattle, so be prepared to travel somewhat on your quest for barbeque. 

Technorati Tags: seattle, seattle foodster, southern, georgetown, sandwich, bbQ

BBQ, Sandwich, Southern

According to the Trader Vic’s website there are thirty locations bearing its name around the world. I find this factoid pretty impressive. Unfortunately, I was unimpressed with the one bearing its name in downtown Bellevue. Tucked away in an odd spot that appears to be the back of Lincoln Tower, prior attempts to eat here have always been unsuccessful because of the crowds and super long waits. Perhaps these observations raised my expectations a bit too high.

Dinner started off well enough. I began with an exceptionally fruity cocktail, entitled Tonga Punch. Trust me, I do not drink pink drinks but if you get to Trader Vic’s then you should try one or three of their cocktails.

 For an appetizer I shared the Cosmo Tidbits for Two. This appetizer includes Pork Spareribs, Crab Rangoons, Crispy Prawns, and slices of BBQ Pork. The appetizer as a whole was kind of mediocre. The BBQ slices are similar to the ones you can get prepackaged at the grocery store. The Crispy Prawns were indeed crispy, too crispy and dry. The Crab Rangoons were forgetful, not that they were bad, but the fried wontons filled with cream cheese were too plain. The best part of the appetizer was the Pork Spareribs. The pork was tender and flavorful and it was easy to clean the rib down to the bone.

 The Chicken Chow Mein on a bed of crisp Pake noodles was good. It was not mind blowing but it was appetizing in comparison to the appetizers. The one thing about this dish that stood out was the large chunks of celery and lack of noodles.

 I also tried one of the more interesting sounding dishes on the menu. The Calcutta Lamb Curry actually tasted pretty good. The lamb was tender from being simmered in the green curry sauce. I didn’t care for some of the sides which accompanied the curry but I will attribute this solely to personal taste. What ruined this dish for me was the jasmine rice which was supposed to accompany the curry never came.

 I do hate giving a bad review but it looks like Trader Vic’s did not leave me any options. I can honestly say that I found the staff very polite and willing to help. Unfortunately this is a food critique and not a critique on server behavior.

I’d rather spend my money at Asian-based restaurants that really know how to serve their native cuisine. And if what you’re really interested in is the blue cocktails you probably don’t care much about the food, or my review, anyway.

Bar, Pan-Asian