Emporio

Good morning! It's a lovely day over here in Hyde Park and spring just might be on it's way. 

Spoil me Earth, with your mood swing weather, and alarmingly warm winter days. (you're kinda freakin me out big time with this global warming, wonky weather phase but that's totally our fault)

If I could, I would feed you this meal, Earth. Pizza, and pasta and a nice cold beer and just like that global warming would be done. You'd be chillin like no other. 

Gluten is everybody's favorite bad guy lately. When did everyone become so allergic!?

I think it's a bummer. 

Do you know gluten's greatest accomplishments are two foods I really frickin enjoy?

Yep, I'm talking about pizza and pasta. In the Italian influence, American bastardized style or even the true to the original, straight-out-of-italy-variety...both are so very delicious. 

Do you know what gluten is? It's a protein of sorts that makes doughs (made with wheat) chewy and elastic. It's that irresistibly thin, chewy pizza dough and that pasta that bites back. 

FOR THE RECORD: I am not bashing gluten allergies or celiac disease, or even grain-free diets. I'm no expert! I just know that culinarily speaking gluten is quite enjoyable and it blows that a lot of people can't eat it anymore.  

Looking for a spot to indulge in your gluten-ous ways? (ha! get it? gluttonous, gluten. bada bing. bada boom.) If you're in the city (the city of New York that is) you might consider checking out the brick walled, wooden tabled Emporio.

I love a nice crunchy/chewy crust. OK, whatever...yes! I love all bread, any day, any which way, especially when it's neighboring a nice dish of peppery olive oil.

Mom and I split everything. And we over did it...typical. 

First up:

Sicilian Tuna Salad roasted string beans and tomatoes, arugula, caramelized onions & bread crumbs

 The tuna was clearly having some sort of relationship with olive oil, dig it.

Roasted veg completed this salad. I could roll with this for lunch any/every day. Are roasted vegetables ever a bad idea? NEVER, nope.

This is when the over ordering comes in to play:

A classic dilemma: I wanted pizza and mum wanted pasta. There was no way to avoid getting both dishes, I suppose we embraced the idea rather quickly.

Broccoli Rabe & Sausage Pizza mozzarella, pecorino, hot pepper

My one complaint: I like my pizza a little more "well done" 

I just gotta have a solid bottom crust. Floppity (that's a high end culinary term by the way) pizza just will not do.

We got a (not so little) side of red sauce to add to the pizza. Sometimes you really shouldn't leave well enough alone. This was one of those times. 

    Before                                                                      After

Intermission

They had one of my new brewed favorites! I had to order it. Lunch, pizza, pasta, awesome beer...sounds good to me.

Ready for the next carb? 

The answer to that is "always" 

Always be ready for carbs, they are out there and you want them. 

Garganelli (one of my most loved pasta shapes) hand rolled, with spicy Calabrian peppers & heritage pork "sugo"

This pasta was so nice and chewy. Each bite was sublime, comforting, filling.

Oh lord, was I so very stuffed after this meal.

And there you have it, a feast far too large for the two of us, but we gave it an honest shot.

Now I'm hankering to cook up an Italian dinner, I have so many meals planned for my summer break and some great things for this upcoming weekend! 

Control your excitement, please!

Wait, no. Never do that. I want to see inappropriate levels of excitement always.

Jeffrey's Grocery

I think I'm slowly becoming a brunch addict.

Basically I like to sleep in and enjoy a late breakfast. Life is good, eh?

After recovering from a day out in the snow I had a good long sleep and ended up at Jeffrey's Grocery the next morning. No complaints here.
(Shout out to Ronna, sorry I didn't stop by. I will be in touch next time I'm in the city! xo)

The décor in this place was spot on. They had me at the napkins. My absolute favorite kind of napkin.

And the lovely table? Swoon. Mismatched silverware...Are we design soul mates?

But you want to see the goods don't you? I'm talking about the food...

 Around the table: Blueberry French Toast with Granola Streusel, an Omelette & the Quiche of the Day

The French Toast was a sweet treat for sure. The granola streusel on top ought to accompany all kinds of French toast, I mean uhhh Freedom Toast! right right

I went with the Mushroom & Cheddar Toast with Poached Eggs.

Re: grilled cheese, tons of mushroom, and the most perfect poached eggs on planet earth. I'm not dramatic...

I'm choosing to fall head over heels in love with poached eggs. I want one right now.

Demolished.

Be a smartie and enter my GIVEAWAY to win some free food (Journey Bars)! Please!

Brunch

I've said it once, and I'll say it again. Brunch is the classy man's breakfast.

Breakfast with the addition of  bloody mary's? I just don't know how it could get any better.

Keep your mimosas and bellinis because if it's brunch, it's bloody mary time and that's exactly how this brunch went down.

It was a long wait at Locanda Verde, so we went to hang out in the adorable lobby of the hotel next door. First we picked up some snacks, we were ravenous and had an hour and a half of waiting ahead of us. We soldiered on though, baked goods in hand.

We settled on the parmesan pretzel, apple cider donut, and one other thing that tasted lemony and was a relative of a muffin. I was told next time I've got to order the olive oil cake. Sounds like a plan to me!

Did I mention I was in good company?

My parents were in the city for my dad's birthday, and trust me...these folks know how to dine.

After a nice chill in the hotel lobby, we sat done and ordered some drinks.

Bloody marys for mom and I and a "bicicletta" for my dad; it was made with aperol, lillet and aranciata. I'll stick with the bloody mary.

Of course we had to order the ricotta. It's some of the best ricotta on earth.

Bold statement, but I'm going to go ahead and say Cotogna (in SF)---we had an appetizer there of ricotta, roasted squash, brown butter, and honey and it was sort of perfect--- and this place have the best ricotta dishes on a menu, at least the best I've ever tasted.

This ricotta was topped with truffle honey, and thyme. Last time I was here it was just olive oil, both were also sort of perfect. I have to give a lot of credit to that grilled bread though. 

It's the simple things sometimes, the simple things that just work so damn well. 

The crostino of the day was topped with a foie gras & chicken liver paté, don't be intimated...that translates to "delicious" The pickled raisins and red onions didn't hurt either.

What could be next but some crispy potaters?

Mom and I thought the side of garlic potatoes would be disappointing and well...it wasn't at all. You could smell the garlic as the waiter approached the table with these babies.  They succeeded in putting most other breakfast potatoes to shame.

We finished the selction off with the highly recommended (shrimp) scampi and grits.

The coddled eggs were spot on.

Only complaint? Bloody Marys were over priced. That's not to say I didn't thoroughly enjoy the spicy, tomatey beverage though.

Oh yeah,
Interested in dinner? Check out my Birthday Dinner at Locanda Verde

Back to Walrus

Yes, I already posted about The Walrus & The Carpenter and yes, and in that dining experience we pretty much conquered the menu but this time we went for the oysters and we went big.

I started with a glass of Muscadet, I haven't been so much into wine lately but it seemed highly appropriate.

Guess how they serve the bread here?

With butter and olive oil. You know what's wrong with that? Nothing.

On of the breads was significantly better than the other, and we singled it out and made the crappy bread feel bad about itself because of it.

Not everyone can be the best...

Did I mention it was happy hour? Half-off oysters.
To me that means buy twice as many oysters. Take it or leave it.

39 oysters for 5 people. Not bad.

The blue pools were my favorite. Kusshis were a close second.

I don't know how or why but oysters taste better here. They just do!

And then a few other things that should always be ordered when you eat here:

Sardines (above) grilled with shallots, walnuts & parsley. If you think sardines sound disgusting, try these and you'll realize you were pretty damn wrong.

Smoked trout with pickled red onions, lentils, walnuts & crème fraiche (below)

and the fried oysters with cilantro aioli (below), I had never gotten these and I'm not sure what the hell I was thinking those past times. Hindsight is 20/20. Am I right??

We also tried these fried brussels sprouts. They were delicious, but a little oilier than I would choose. But they're fried so I guess I'm just having distorted expectations here.

and a geoduck gratin. It was kind of like chowder.

The kusshi shells were really pretty... just sayin'. I mean if you're into oyster crafts, this is your shell!

For dessert I made sure everyone tried the maple bread pudding (with espresso butter sauce).

It looks so simple but it's so much more than that. It tastes like caramely french toast & it's really just so good.

If you don't believe me, believe the pictures. 1,000 words, my friends. 1,000 words of tasty praise:

Current Seattle Restaurant Standings: The Walrus & The Carpenter is number one on my list. 

Big words. Big, huge words.