This week on Coeur de La I will be doing a series focusing on The Pacific Northwest. I am honored and excited to have my friend Monica sharing her adventures from Seattle and Olympia. Stay tuned for more Portland adventures to come.
ENJOY!!
photos by Monica
One of the surest telltale signs of a great eatery has got to be the line. A long line slowly winding around the block making its way to a tiny, often simply decorated shop usually means you have hit the jackpot. This is certainly the case for Oakland’s Bakesale Betty, Portland’s Voodoo Donuts, and our latest find in Seattle, Salumi.
Salumi, run by Mario Batali’s father, was definitely at the top of our list of must stop destinations. Almost as soon as we checked into our hotel,
The Ace, we were off on a mad quest through the city in an attempt to be one of the first in line before their 11:00 opening. Speed walking through the Seattle rain, we finally made our way to the end of an already growing queue, drenched and
seriously hungry. As we waited, chatted and giddily took pictures, an employee walked down the line with an assortment of thinly sliced meats. Score! Who doesn’t get excited at the prospect of free samples? Daniel and I both tried the molé salami. Oh, man, was it good—sweet and acidic, melt-in-your-mouth good. Once inside we decided to be a little gluttonous and order three sandwiches (hey, Evan counts as a full person right?). We chose the porchetta roasted pork with fennel seeds, the fig, goat cheese and proscuitto sandwich and the special, a cinnamon pork butt sandwich. I can definitely see why so many people keep coming back for more. In fact, we came back a few hours later to buy more salami—albeit the slight embarrassment of being recognized for returning so soon, it was definitely worth a second trip.
After exploring Pike’s Place market and Seattle’s landmark Space Needle we met up with friends at Serious Pie later that evening. Since Daniel, my husband, bought a wood fired oven a couple years ago we frequently find ourselves sampling other wood-fired pizza wherever we go. Serious Pie’s pizzas are made in the same style that Daniel and I have come to love—the soft, chewy crust and lightly sauced pies of Naples. True to my opening statement, the restaurant was fairly small and already packed with patrons by 5 o’clock. Between the four (and a half) of us, we shared several pizzas including a morel and truffle oil pizza and a clam and pancetta pizza. All were pretty darn delicious (putting Serious Pie in our #2 spot for must stop Seattle eateries), but none were quite as amazing as Daniel’s—but then again I am self-admittedly biased.
In true
foodie fashion, we walked everywhere, eating and sampling throughout our entire trip. Some of the most scrumptious stops included a salmon paté pastry at
Piroshky Piroshky, a wedge of
Beecher flagship cheese, mouthwatering salted caramels from
Le Pichet, chocolate raspberry cupcakes from
Blackbird Bakery on Bainbridge Island and seared haloumi and balsamic drizzled figs sizzling straight out of the oven of
Lola’s restaurant.
Although we were thoroughly enjoying our stay in Seattle, around the third day Daniel and I both started craving something more. In retrospect, I think we were craving humble simplicity and the desire to be truly swept away by our surroundings.
It was around this time that we decided to drive south to Olympia to visit a good friend of mine. It was here that we found exactly what we were looking for.
Here, at last was amazingly good, simple food. Everything from the café au lait to the perfectly gooey balsamic glazed poached eggs was out of this world. Even my friend Ellen, who has spent a considerable amount of time in France, agreed that the pastries here were on par with, if not better than, the baked goods in France.
After breakfast, we headed down the street to the
Olympia Farmer’s Market. The sun was shining and the smell of the Puget Sound mingled with the aroma of fresh apricots, peaches and wild lavender as we strolled through the semi-covered stalls. Daniel and I both turned to each other at one point and agreed that this was absolutely a town worthy of falling in love with (so much so, that since our return we have nostalgically Googled homes for rent in the area). We explored the pier, saw a massive jellyfish, ate the
best smoked salmon of our lives and played with Evan in a fountain just beyond the capitol before heading to the rural town of Tenino—put plainly, it was a magical day.
In our quest for the perfect dish, for the best of the best, I have come to realize that the greatest food is often the most humble, cooked with both fresh ingredients and lots of love. These are the bakeries, restaurants and home kitchens that, although adored by enthusiastic patrons, have not yet been visited by the likes of Anthony Bourdain, nor reviewed in mass on yelp or urban spoon. In reality these are the secret local gems that in fact have no lines…or at least not yet.
