A Gastronomic Tour of Seattle, part I

A beautiful view of Downtown Seattle from Kerry Park

A couple of weekends ago, I decided to get out of Berkeley for the weekend and visit friends J & B in Seattle. Having lived there for 3 years now, J & B were awesome tour guides, especially since they love to eat and drink (and be merry!) just as much as I do.  I have many photos, so I’ve divided them into two posts for easier consumption. Enjoy!

Friday, 19 June
I awoke (at the very late hour of 10:30am) to the delicious smell of sausage and eggs. J whipped up breakfast: a delightful scramble of eggs, sausage, avocado (yum!), tomato, and onion, served with ripe peaches and toast. The contrasting textures and flavors, especially the sausage and avocado, were so delicious — definitely one of the best scrambles I’ve ever had.

A great start to the day!

After breakfast, J took me downtown to do some sightseeing. First stop: Seattle’s famed Pike Place Market, home of fish-throwing fishmongers. We didn’t witness any fish throwing, but we did walk the seemingly endless rows of stalls selling fresh produce, fish, flowers, and other goodies. EF tipped me off to a tiny donut stand that makes miniature donuts, selling for $2.70 for half a dozen.  Despite the grunginess of the stand and of the dirty, apathetic punk rocker who worked there, we were delightfully surprised by how good the little fried treats were. Thanks for the tip, EF!

Not Krispy Kreme, but pretty good nonetheless!

"Fancy Jumbo Grilling Scampis," where Jumbo is an understatement.

A beautiful bouquet for the bargain price of $8. One thing I loved about the market was the abundance of affordable, beautiful flowers. If I lived close to this market, I'd definitely have to set aside a monthly flower allowance!

One of the top Seattle tourist stops: the very first Starbucks.

For lunch, we met up with B near his work for Mexican food at the Agua Verde Cafe (and Paddle Club!). Because we had been nonstop eating, J and I shared the Bacalao, fried cod in a coconut beer tempura with shredded cabbage and creamy avocado sauce. B also ordered fish tacos, but went with the Dorado, grilled mahi mahi. I have to say that, while both were good (especially the avocado sauce), the fried cod was definitely superior.

Fried cod with avocado sauce. Yum.

Grilled mahi mahi soft tacos.

Lunch must have triggered our appetites for more fish, because we headed to Kisaku for dinner, one of J & B’s favorite sushi restaurants. To start, we ordered sunomono, cucumber and seaweed salad, with octopus (my choice), and tofu dengaku, fried tofu with sweet miso sauce (J & B’s choice).  Usually, sunomono is a fresh mix of sweet and sour, but this particular salad was watery and lacked flavor.  However, the tofu was really good (as are most fried foods).

Disappointing sunomono. I really wanted to like it.

Fried tofu with delicious sauce.

For the main course, we went with a mix of nigiri, rolls, and fried shrimp heads! All of the fish was fresh and tasty, and the portions were generous. I really enjoyed Kisaku!

The rolls: the Wallingford roll (top left), Alaska roll? (bottom left), spicy tuna (middle), and Green Lake (right). The Green Lake was my favorite -- I loved the marinated seaweed on top.

Nigiri (from top to bottom): sweet shrimp, tuna, salmon, and scallop.

Eating fried shrimp heads: 3 portraits. Despite my expression, it was actually really delicious. Again, you can't go wrong with fried food!

My very gracious hosts and tour guides, B & J.

I raku, Yuraku

When I was in Maryland, my family took me to Yuraku, a sushi place they said was tasty and very reasonable price-wise.  Always the skeptic, and spoiled by the quality of fine sushi in the Bay Area, I put on my judgey mcjudgey pants to see if they were right.

It was a Saturday night, so of course there was a wait, but that was a good sign nonetheless.  After we ordered, they gave us free appetizers, such as grilled fish head (tastier than it sounds) and steamed egg (aka chawanmushi).

Grilled fish head. The cheek meat is very delicate and sweet.

Chawanmushi (steamed egg). A little spartan and not the best I've had, but it was free.

When it comes to sushi, there are a few criteria I use to judge whether a restaurant is good.  First, the quality/freshness of the seaweed (nori) is important if often overlooked.  Fresh seaweed should be crisp, not chewy.  Second, in nigiri (sliced fish over rice), the fish-to-rice ratio is crucial.  Traditionally, it should be a 4:1 ratio but that’s hard to find in the States.  I’m pretty happy with 2.5 or 3:1 ratio.  Third, the place should have a sushi bar where customers can sit and watch the sushi get made.  I’m especially impartial to small places with less than 10 tables, maybe because it implies quality over quantity.  Sushi places get bonus points if the California roll is made with real crab meat instead of imitation crab meat, and also if the ginger and/or wasabi are not neon in color.  (Ginger should be a pale pink or yellow; wasabi should be more mustard yellow than green.)

California rolls, Eel and avocado roll, Spider roll, Eel nigiri, Salmon nigiri, and Yellowtail nigiri

Dragon roll (just looking at the generous slices of avocado makes my mouth water...)

Like my sister said, Yuraku was indeed a good place offering good value.  The nigiri fish-to-rice ratio was decent (maybe 2+:1), the fish was fresh, and the rolls were delicious.  Yuraku didn’t score any bonus points, but for the five of us (3 adults, one 10 year-old, and one toddler), the bill came out to a little over $50 (sushi plus one large beer), which was very reasonable.  So, if you find yourself in Germantown, Maryland craving sushi, I’d highly recommend Yuraku.