Spring Hill's Fried Chicken Dinner

One of my favorite foods in the world is fried chicken. There are few things better than biting into hot, crispy batter then encountering juicy, flavorful chicken.  It's damn good.  Not ever having had the pleasure of eating homemade fried chicken in the south, most of the fried chicken I've had have been at fast food establishments and restaurants.  I've just about given up having fried chicken at restaurants.  It's inevitably overpriced and not as good as the fast food places -- such as Church's or Ezell's (a Seattle establishment famed for having fried chicken so good that Oprah Winfrey has said that it's her favorite fried chicken and has it flown out to her in Chicago).

Well, one restaurant has finally done it right.  Is it really any surprise that it's West Seattle's Spring Hill?  Not to me, at any rate.  Spring Hill rarely disappoints.  At least when it comes to their food.  Their Fried Chicken Dinner for 4 -- by special reservation only and served only on Monday nights -- is something special.  It comes with two whole chickens (with the breasts cut in half, so there's a higher crunchy batter to meat ratio, which means you can get delicious skin and meat in every bite), which is more than you think it is.  It also comes with seasonal sides.  It was one of the most satisfying meals I've had in a long time.

And now, the pictorial.


A truly enormous platter of fried chicken, fried in peanut oil, that once you start eating, seems to grow in size.  We thought we'd be able to tackle it easily.  We ended up taking a box and a half of chicken home.


What's a fried chicken dinner without mashed potatoes and gravy?  It would be wrong.  Spring Hill doesn't leave it out.  Here's buttered russet potatoes with a light but intensely flavorful gravy.


Spring Hill calls this "herbed dumplings with Beecher's Flagship."  I call it upscale macaroni & cheese, made all the more delicious by the use of Beecher's Flagship cheddar.  Beecher's is another wonderful Seattle institution.


Then of course, there's cornbread.  But with a twist, or maybe a kick; these are jalapeno.  It came with a delicious honey butter (not pictured).


Caramelized broccoli; I like to call it oven crisped.  I like pretty much any preparation of broccoli, but there's something about the texture it gets when prepared this way that I just love.  I could have eaten five plates of this on its own, so really for four people it's quite small (especially in comparison to the chicken).


Put it all together and what do you have?  A PLATE OF HEAVEN, THAT'S WHAT.  Oh, the dinner also came with marinated cucumber spears, but I didn't have a chance to take any photos of that before it'd been passed around too much and was obliterated.


After dinner I went home and sliced up a mango, Thai style, because it was overripe and needed to be eaten.  Lord mangoes are good.  Fried chicken and mangoes ... life is good.

Her name is Lola...

...she was a showgirl...

Wait. Where was I... oh yes, not channeling Barry Manilow.

On Sunday my family and I went to Tom Douglas's Lola for brunch. Lola has a Mediterranean/North African influence. I've been there several times, for brunch, lunch, and dinner, and have never been disappointed. It's simply delish. It's where I first had TD's garlic smashed potatoes, which are out of this world. I could have sworn I posted that recipe here, but apparently I didn't. I feel somewhat guilty for depriving you for so long. I'll post that soon.

Anyway, Lola. They have their kebabs available any time, but the best time to get them is during brunch/lunch, when they're considered an entree and come with either potatoes or a Greek salad, pita bread, and dill yogurt. They're several dollars less during dinner, but they're considered appetizers and don't come with anything but the kebabs themselves.

On to the food porn!

I had... Tom’s big breakfast: Pacific octopus, snap peas, bacon, chickpeas, green garlic yogurt, an egg sunnyside up, and toast.


My mom had... Lamb kebabs with caramelized garlic and a red wine glaze, pita bread, yogurt with dill, and Jackie's Greek salad.


My aunt had... Alaskan salmon kebabs with capers and tarragon, pita bread, yogurt with dill, and garlic smashed potatoes.


My cousin had... Squid kebabs with crushed chili and chermoula, pita bread, yogurt with dill, and Jackie's Greek salad.


My cousin's kids shared... Washington chicken kebab, pita bread, yogurt with dill, and Jackie's Greek salad. (It comes with 3 kebabs, the older one got 2 and the younger one got 1.)


We also had loukoumathes (a type of Greek fried puff, kind of like a donut) for dessert, but they went too quickly to take a picture of. They were dusted with cinnamon and sugar, and came with a tangy rhubarb topping and vanilla mascarpone which was just AMAZING.

Dahlia Lounge

I always enjoy dining at Dahlia Lounge. It's upscale but not stuffy, and the food is great. A friend and I had dinner there last night (as part of Seattle's Restaurant Week), and it was great, even if it wasn't one of my favorite meals that I've had there.

I don't always take a picture of a restaurant's bread selection, but this one turned out well so here it is. We both went for the plain sourdough first, but it turned out that the walnut and olive (?) bread was excellent.


Here's the appetizer "salad" I started out with. Shrimp and octopus, mmm. I don't remember what the "sauce" was.


My entree: Pan seared Alaskan halibut, la ratte fingerling potato, ham hock, collard blossoms, with ramp vinaigrette. Very good, but if I could go back in time I might not have selected it. It's halibut season now, so every restaurant's serving it, and it's just not that interesting. Still, the server recommended it so I felt that I would regret it if I didn't order it.


J.'s dessert, Tom's World Famous Creme Caramel. I've never understood why this dessert has this name. I suppose it must have some culinary history I'm ignorant of, because as far as I've seen, when people talk about a Tom Douglas restaurant's dessert, it's always the triple coconut cream pie. Plus, I like custard and this is good, but it's basically flan and flan isn't my favorite dessert.


And here's the star of the show, the triple coconut cream pie. I love the flavor of coconut, but I'm not a fan whatsoever of the shavings. I happily put up with them in this pie, however. It's wonderful. The recipe for it is in one of the Tom Douglas cookbooks that I actually own, but I haven't gotten around to making it myself yet.

Ready to be Crushed

It's Restaurant Week here in Seattle and that means plenty of eating out. 3-course dinners for $25 at some of the area's finest restaurants? There aren't enough days in a Week! I've been to Mistral Kitchen, Canlis, and just last night, Crush. I had such a great experience at Crush the only other time I've been there that it had a lot to live up to for my second visit -- and it was again wonderful.

My friend S. and I had our server give us recommendations, and I thought she generally did a very nice job. S. also ordered the Crush wine pairings to go with his meal, while I had a cucumber Dry soda (and an Americano during dessert).


Amuse bouche: Warm gougeres (French cheese puffs).


First course: Crisped pork belly on a bed of creamy white grits and drizzled with a bourbon sauce. The couple next to us were exclaiming over the deliciousness of the stinging nettle soup they both got. The pork belly was amazing, but fairly similar to the second course I chose, so in that sense I wished I'd gotten the soup or salad to start.


Second course: Painted Hills flat iron steak cooked medium rare, on a bed of Yukon potato puree, with baby carrots and a parsley truffle oil sauce.


Dessert: Crispy buttermilk donuts with a Spanish coffee sauce and powdered sugar.


Mignardises: Bite-sized madeline cookies and nut brittle. Unfortunately the sun was going down toward the end of dinner so the light wasn't as good for this or the last photos, hence the blur and grain. :/

Crush, never change!

The Best Sandwich in the World

Okay, granted, I haven't eaten every sandwich in the world. But if I did, I can't imagine that the Cuban Roast sandwich from Paseo would rank anywhere but in the top 5. It's certainly the best sandwich I've ever eaten. I'll go completely out of my way (to Fremont) to pick one up. I'll make up excuses for why I need to be in the area, though I don't ever really need to be in that area. Well, they've opened up another location (in Ballard), so I suppose I can now start making excuses for another area.



The Cuban Roast is their most popular sandwich, and it's not hard to see why. Tender, succulent, marinated pork shoulder stuffed into a hearty roll with large ribbons of translucent grilled onions, jalapenos, romaine lettuce, bits of cilantro, and aioli. If you eat there you also get a corn on the cob on the side. If you're getting the sandwich to go, you'll need to ask for the corn if you want it, as by default it's not included.

I'm not going to lie: eating this sandwich (or really, any of them), is very messy. There's so much packed into it that it inevitably oozes out of where the bread is weakest. But it doesn't matter. The best part is eating all the stuff that's fallen out, after the sandwich itself is gone!

In the past, they ran out of sandwiches before dinner, so if you're bound and determined to have one, you need to go earlier or call in advance to place your order when they've still got sandwich bread. Now that there's two locations, there's two places to get your fix if one's run out. Their Website also has LiveMenu, which apparently tells you by color code whether they've run out of something. Not sure how reliable it is, though.



They have many delectable-sounding sandwiches that I have yet to try, because I am so enamored of the Cuban Roast that I can't bring myself to get anything else. I have had the tofu sandwich, however, which is very good and is much lighter fare than the Cuban Roast. My cousin and I like to split both. With the tofu you can specify a level of spiciness that you prefer -- I like 3 of 5 stars. I've also tried the prawns, many moons ago, and while it was good it wasn't as good as the roast. One day I'm going to try the seared scallops. One day.

La Rustica

This post is a few months late, but better late than never, so they say. This meal was enjoyed at La Rustica in West Seattle, during Seattle Urban Eats, when they offered a 3-course meal for $30. La Rustica is a small, charming place overlooking the water, serving Northern Italian food. Unlike most restaurants that participate in these promotions, La Rustica's portions were extremely generous (as they are normally). They don't take reservations unless you've got 6 or more in your party, so depending on how busy they are, you may need to wait a bit. The food and the view make it worth it, though.

Every table starts with a basket of fresh, housemade garlic bread, thin and chewy. I dare you to only eat one basket of this stuff.



One of their starters, Bruschetta al Salmonaccio. This is available on their regular menu for $10.95. Description: Thinly sliced salmon marinated in lemon, olive oil, stone-ground mustard and garlic. The portion is so large that it is practically an entree in itself. Tender and flavorful.



Another starter, Ostriche al Forno. It's also available on their regular menu for $12.95. Description: Baked oysters stuffed with spinach, marscapone and cream. It comes with two hot, creamy, and utterly delicious oysters. Unlike the salmon, however, this appetizer is really only good for 1 person. Okay, maybe 2 if you're willing to share. In terms of bang for your buck, the salmon is definitely the way to go.



Here's where the promotional menu deviates a bit from their regular menu. Pictured here is the lamb shank, which isn't normally available. The meat is tender and falling off the bone. It's served with fresh veggies and a side of pasta. It's enormous. Other options included Scampi Allo Spiedo (marinated prawns and pancetta) - $24.95; and Paella Napoletana (saffron rice, sausage, chicken, mussels, clams, prawns and wild boar) - $27.95.



My mother proudly wanted me to include her polished plate.



Dessert was a rich and sinful Chocolate Creme Brulée. It doesn't look like much, but looks can be deceptive, and such is the case here. Chocolatey, creamy, and not too sweet. I can't remember if it's on their regular menu or not, but I sure hope so!



The next Seattle Urban Eats takes place in October. Here's to hoping La Rustica participates again, because I am so there.

Umi Sake House

A couple of days ago, I met up with an old friend, J. (and I mean, we go all the way back to our high school days, but didn't realize we were in the same area until last week, due to Facebook) and went to Umi Sake House in Belltown. It was just a couple of blocks down from Wasabi Bistro.

The food and the service were both great. It's a little pricey but not outrageously so. Their $25 omakase was decent in selection and wonderful in freshness (Wasabi Bistro's low-end omakase may be just a bit better, but is also a little more costly). Umi has a huge selection of rolls -- they even have a "fresh" menu of the day for these -- and some may sound familiar while others are a little more out there. For a "trendy" sushi place I was pretty impressed (I must admit to a bias for smaller mom & pop type restaurants). Many times it's all style and no substance, but that wasn't the case with Umi. I'd happily go back.

And now onto the pictures (again, apologies for the blurriness and discoloration on some of these -- the restaurant is dimly lit)...

Their regular menu is on the left; it's long and oversized, and attached on a clipboard. It's two pages. The second page is filled with all their different kinds of rolls and nigiri options. The "fresh" menu is on the left. I'm not sure if that changes daily or weekly or how it works.


I got to the restaurant a bit early, due to overestimating how much traffic would delay me. Our waitress, who was super nice, started me off with some edamame and offered to get some hot ones when J. arrived.


J. ordered a lychee sake (they have many other flavored sakes), which is apparently more like a cocktail than traditional sake. I stuck with water since my body has an intolerance for alcohol. I ate J.'s lychee when he was done with his drink though, and it was really delicious.


We got agedashi tofu as an appetizer ("fried tofu in house ankake sauce") and it was reaaaalllly good. Each tofu was topped with something a bit different: ginger, daikon, green onion, seaweed, and a kind of shaved fish. The sauce was so light and wonderfully tasty that if I'd had a large bowl of white rice I'm not ashamed to say I probably would have doused the whole thing in it.


I also ordered a panda roll from their "fresh" menu. I was trying to decide between that or the caterpillar roll, which is always a favorite of mine. However, I can get a caterpillar roll just about anywhere, and the panda roll really intrigued me. It was made of salmon skin and avocado, with seared albacore tuna wrapped around it, topped with green onions and black bean sauce.


It had a wonderful smoky flavor from the salmon skin, creaminess from the avocado, and heft from the tuna. I'd definitely get it again the next time I go back.


Normally the trendy, unique rolls in restaurants like these don't appeal to me much (I avoid anything with spicy fish, cream cheese, and if I can help it, mayo), but this one sounded really good. It had many things that I liked (and none of the things I don't like). The only thing iffy about it was the black bean sauce, which I thought might be a little too overwhelming. I needn't have feared. It was very light -- not overpowering at all. And I'll give this to Umi also -- their rolls are huge. Other places' rolls are often half this size!


For his main course J. got the chirashi bowl:


And I got the aforementioned omakase. If you ask me, though, our meals looked practically identical, except the chirashi bowl also comes with rice and a bowl of miso soup, for $3 less. If I did it again, I'd definitely get the chirashi over the omakase (at least, the $25 one). However, the next time I go back I'll probably do something a little different -- they had hamachi kama on the menu, which I love and almost ordered, and a little sashimi sampler, both for $10. Then I could also perhaps try another roll or two. This is one of the few restaurants that I can see myself ordering something different each time (normally I'm a creature of habit and stick to one or two items that I know I like).


Hugely enjoyable experience, not the least of which was because of getting back in touch with an old friend. I'm looking forward to our next meal together! :-)

Spring Hill

On March 31 my cousin and I went to Spring Hill, a restaurant located in West Seattle. The head chef/owner is Mark Fuller, who used to be the head chef at Tom Douglas's Dahlia Lounge. We went for the last day of the Dine Around Seattle promotion, which is one of the best ways to get to dine at some of Seattle's finest restaurants without making your wallet weep. (30 restaurants offering 3-course dinners for $30, which is a bargain considering some of these restaurants charge more than that for a regular entree. Some even offer 3-for-$15 lunches.) If you're in the area and haven't taken advantage, they do it every March and November. This time around I managed to go to 3 restaurants, but didn't take my camera until this last one. :D

Here's the menu ... the Dine Around Seattle menu is on top of their regular menu. Since my cousin had been there before, we didn't make it a point to both order different dishes.


Sorry that some of these photos are blurry. I didn't use my flash due to not wanting to be rude to the other diners (plus flash washes out colors), and I took a lot of shots so some did come out crisp. But some I only took one or two shots, so if I didn't get a clear picture on the first try that was basically it. I used Photoshop to brighten the dark photos as best I could.

Butter lettuce salad with parmesan, radish, and citronelle dressing -- very lemony and so good.


Pork rillette with crostini and thinly sliced apple.


Putting it together...


I had heard how amazing the clam chowder was at Spring Hill and really wanted to try it. It wasn't part of the Dine Around Seattle promotion so we ordered it separately. They bring you the bowl with whole clams, pepper crackers, potatoes, a parsley puree, etc.


The server then pours the creamy chowder over the ingredients.




We mixed it up and the parsley puree infuses the chowder with pretty green specks and adds flavor. We both ate a few spoonfuls before I took this picture, lol.


The restaurant has an open kitchen, and almost every table in the place has a good view of it. Our table was next to where the food was being plated. Seeing all that yumminess constantly was totally awesome. :D


We both ordered the wood-grilled hangar steak, which was unspeakably delicious. You know that one scene in The Matrix, when Cypher goes in to have dinner with one of the Agents, and he forks up a gorgeous piece of steak? My mouth waters at that scene every time. I finally got to eat it myself. ;)


The steak was served on top of Yukon Gold mashed potatoes and either creamed savoy spinach (says the menu) or creamed arugula (says the server).


Spring Hill is the sort of place where they are insistent upon serving food the way it's meant to be eaten -- the menu explicitly says "No Substitutions." They serve their steak medium rare. That means if you want well-done meat, you either need to go somewhere else or order something else. My cousin is pregnant and normally is totally fine with medium rare meat, but wants to be more cautious. She had to practically beg to get the server to ask the cooks to prepare her meat "on the medium side of medium rare." :D Many people may not care for this kind of 'snootiness,' but we personally like that they take a stand about the food they serve. Here's her steak; it was still medium rare, but definitely slightly cooked longer than mine:


For dessert we both got the chocolate fudge cake (it was flourless; it basically tasted like very dark fudge) with salted peanut ice cream. I'm not usually a fan of peanut-flavored stuff (though I do like peanuts and peanut butter), but it had a hint of honey in it, and coupled with the chocolate and bits of salt, it was divine.