Paris Tasting at the Hi-Life

When you say Paris it conjures up the image of street side cafes, of bistros and brasseries, food as a focal point in social life. It certainly lived up to that reputation at yesterday’s Paris menu tasting at the Hi-Life. Because of Thanksgiving scheduling, you only have to wait a week to taste this one, it will be going up next Wednesday, December 5th.

One of my favorite aspects of this menu was the downright winter-i-ness of it. Each item made you feel cozy and warm, which, as we in Seattle know, makes for a good end to a grey day. Obviously I can’t tell you about all the dishes but I’d love to point out some favorites. We have what is being called a “petite frites” which is basically a mini-steak frites. This was perfectly cooked hanging tender accompanied by the tiniest fries you’ve ever seen. A fantastic winter warmer appetizer was the Roquefort stuffed apple. Warm and creamy Roquefort (a high quality blue cheese) and walnuts areinside a perfectly baked apple–just soft, not mushy. As you can see below, this is served with a classic Paris item, a baguette. 

Moving onto our platters, there is a whole chicken that was, as the chicken always is, well recieved, but my personal favorite was the whole duck. The thighs are confit, and they flambe the whole thing and serve it in cognac cream sauce with potatoes and spinich. But I wanted to include a picture of the holiday color perfect buckwheat crepes. Ooozing with gruyere and sorrel, these crepes make for an excellent bite, but the dark of the buckwheat combined with the bright red of the beet chips was so beautiful. Combined with the white beans and the green of the kale, and this made for a holiday photo. The best tasting one I’ve seen in a while. 

The 5 Spot Auction on TV

If you missed seeing 5 Spot General Manager Dave Kearns on TV last week, you’re in luck. The Seattle Channel, which did a lovely segment on the New Orleans art auction, has made it available on their website. You can watch it here: www.seattlechannel.org/cityagogo

Atlas is Wild About…Dungeness Crab

For those of you who are not on the Atlas Foods mailing list, you may have not heard about the amazing new program we are starting their in December. We at Atlas love our seafood, and we felt that our customers still might occaisonally not be as passionate as we are, so we thought we would help them. Each month we are introducing them to a new wild, sustainable seafood that we are totally wild about that month. The first month will be December and having just tasted the dishes, I can’t wait for them to be on the menu. Each ‘Wild About…’ menu will have a breakfast, a lunch, an appetizer and 2 entrees.

While everything we tried was great, there were two dishes that I’m waiting with bated breath for, the appetizer and one of the entrees. The appetizer is crab lollipops! They were a little like mini arancini (Italian risotto balls) but with crab meat. They came glazed with an orange juice sauce and with horseradish dipping sauce. And as little balls on the end of sticks, just like a real lollipop. Aside from looking cool, these were delicious and full of dungeness crab.

The entree I’m in love with is the crab pasta. I couldn’t describe this dish in any way that would do it justice to the taste. Fresh linguine from La Pasta is doused in a champagne butter sauce infused with crab flavor and the whole thing is mixed with pan seared parsley, shallots and huge chunks of crab. There was an amazing amount of crab in this. I could see whole claws of meat. I have to keep reminding myself that it isn’t on the menu yet, I have to wait to go get it.

 Can’t wait to see you and my big bowl of Crab Pasta at Atlas!

Brooklyn Menu Tasting at Joe’s

For me Joe’s Brooklyn menu is a perfect fit for the holiday season. All the foods that represent the various ethnic enclaves of 1940s Brooklyn were out in their full glory and we had a few bonus Joe’s twists too. Our first appetizer was the amazing Antipasto plate shown below. I couldn’t even take a picture of all the great things on it. In the foreground you can see the goat’s horn peppers, the cippolini onions, the proscuitto and salami. What you are missing out on is the fig and pinenut agro dolce, the mozzarella balls, the olives and the roasted garlic. The bread on top is from Macrina, and the whole thing is drizzled with balsamic reduction. A perfect share plate for three, or I could eat the whole thing for dinner!

 My personal favorite appetizer was the knish (“They only cost a nickel on the cart outside my school” –my mother), but the crab cakes wooed the crowd of staffers.

The entrees included the traditonal–a steak diane to the inventive. Shown here is the Arugala topped chicken. Stuffed inside that chicken is fig, proscuitto and a staff fav, goat cheese. Underneath is herbed gnocchi in cream sauce.

 

Other great dishes we saw were the latkes and the spaghetti and meatballs. I mention that there is spaghettin on the plate but the true star here was the enormous and amazing meatballs. Perfectly moist and full of flavor, these were not your mama’s meatballs.

 Dessert involved a Brooklyn homegrown favorite, Spumoni. I actually saw fighting for people to get at the pistachio portions! There was also a brownie drizzled with Fox’s (for those who know what it is!) and a classic New York Cheescake. Now that you’ve read the good news on our brand new Brooklyn menu, I give you the bad news: It’s not available to you until November 28th. Happy waiting!

New Orleans Art Auction Benefit at the 5 Spot

In conjunction with the 5 Spot’s current New Orleans menu, the restaurant is featuring the paintings of local artists depicting New Orleans. All of these one of a kind pieces are available for purchase in our benefit auction. Each artwork was donated by a local artist and all of the proceeds from the silent auction will go to buy art supplies and musical instruments for the Fannie C. Williams School in New Orleans. The auction runs until Christmas Eve.

The Fannie C. Williams School is one of the few schools to have reopened as a part of the Recovery School District. It is lucky to have a proffesional musician in its employ and a skilled art teacher; however, without the proper supplies and instruments, they are unable to pass on the beautiful traditions of New Orleans. The city has long been famous for music and art and it is these children who will grow up to pass on that legacy. By supporting this auction, you can help them to revitalize and rejuvinate the culture of the city.

Stop by the 5 Spot and immerse yourself in the beauty that eminates across the country from New Orleans. Jazz on the stereo, shrimp and grits in your bowl and beautiful paintings of the French Quarter which you can make your own.

For more information on the art auction, call the 5 Spot at (206) 285-SPOT.