Seattle: Hey Chicken! Hey! @ Ma'ono Fried Chicken and Whiskey

Drinking game alert: Drink when you see the word "Chicken."

When you think Seattle, you think chicken...Not! Well it's time to think chicken my Seattle Noshers. Read on to find out why.

 In my search for the ultimate brunch aka bottomless mimosas, my search pointed to this place called Ma'ono Fried Chicken and Whiskey. Whiskey?! as in my mimosa will be spiked with whiskey?! After I calmed down, I realized that though this place may have food, this is not heaven, and there will be no whiskey in my mimosa. Ok, enough about the mimosas, as they go best with food.

No this is not the chicken, but this is the mouthwateringly refreshing and decadent Tostada. It's a pile of iceberg lettuce, coconut chutney, black beans, a drizzling of sriracha sour cream, and an egg on it! Put this tostada over the top and add kalua pork. Kalua is the Hawaiian style of cooking in an underground oven. Mush all the components together, and it's like buttah!

And here it is ladies and gentlemen, the chicken that will make you forget about the relationship between the Pacific Northwest and sea creatures. Simply called Fried Chicken. This umami spiced chicken is twice fried and served with biscuits, sausage gravy, and maple syrup. The crispiness of this chicken is no joking matter. It's so crunchy, it's like a potato chip.

See that little bowl in there? That's not soup. That's the sausage gravy. Notice the chunks of sausage. Let's just say that it's in a soup bowl for a reason because I actually tried to eat it like soup. Don't be judgey...it was worth every heart stopping slurp. With every bite, I let out a contented sigh, while at the same time wanting more.

More, more, more, whoops, I have a sticky mess of maple syrup and gravy on my hands. I have some disdain towards dirty hands, so in order for me to continue to enjoy this piece of heaven, I had to take a hand wash break and unsticky my fingers...





I came back from my hand washing mission to this! My side of the table was cleaned and all that was left was this box! TGD put my chicken in the box. Was that a hint to stop eating? "I really only ate one piece, and waaaah!" An epic whine and pout fest ensued in the direction of TGD. "Why did you put a bottom to my bottomless mimosa, and most importantly, I was still making out with the chicken!" During my whining, I overheard a disappointed customer being told that they're out of chicken. Bing! Perspective! Ok, I'm kinda fine now...as long as TGD buys me ice cream. Ha! Make sure to reserve your chicken if you plan on going. Yes, you read that right...reserve your chicken!

 Blame TGD for only allowing me to gain 5lbs, and this place deserves a hefty 11lbs! 

                                   

Seattle: Post Faith No More Noshing @ Radiator Whiskey

 "Boredom is your own fault!" One can always eat, drink, dance, (insert other verbs here) until it's fun! The Great Dane (TGD) was ever so excited that Faith No More is coming to Seattle. They may not be in  my usual musical genre, but my mantra said that  I was down to have fun!

A little piece of the concert @ the Paramount Theater.

Yes, the concert was actually fun, I jumped and "danced" and screamed. I especially liked the contrast between the mosh-pit inducing tunes and the flower laden stage. 

Pardon the crappy sound...and the "commentary"

Oh, and they covered  Herb Albert's This Guy's in Love With You. This guy can actually sing and not just scream and call it metal. Bravo Mr. Faith No More. How does one mosh to this? Ha!

All the jumping around has me hankering for some nosh. Trying to keep the metal on, we decided to check out Radiator Whiskey, sounds metal right? After going through the the random stairs at Pike Market, we found ourselves in a not so metal, but more quaint restaurant. Honestly, it felt like a Potbelly's, with cocktails. Not so metal, but they have food.

Speaking of cocktails....

How fun are those names?! Since the spring weather put me in the lemon mood, I opted for The Piledriver. What a name! This could be dangerous, as I could not even taste the bourbon. It's lemonade!

Time to eat! Instead of giving you bar nuts, they serve you warm popcorn! That was a fun twist! 

Fried Beef Lip Terrine with Dijonaise. It was like breaded braised beef nuggets, with mayonnaise dip. The outer breading was perfectly crispy without being greasy. 

Debris Sandwich:It was stuffed with house pulled pork, smoked cheddar, and fritos. Not really sure if by fritos, they meant Frito Lays...I don't remember biting into any. Since it was basically bedtime, TGD and I split the sandwich. TGD got most of the yolk part. Boo. This was not your typical pulled pork sandwich, as it was not covered in bbq sauce. It was just seasoned right, and melded with the cheese. I could only finish 1/4 of this hearty and meaty sandwich; maybe because I inhaled the popcorn and the tots. Oh I nearly forgot, this sandwich came with Rainier Beer. I like that they keep it local.

 No room for dessert! The world is ending!

 If you are in the mood for whiskey, this place is your jam. They have a wide variety of whiskeys, which stays true to their name.I thought it was a little too quiet to have a name like Radiator Whiskey. Nonetheless, they quelled my late night hunger...and if I had more room for dessert, I would've gotten the warm chocolate chip cookies with a shot of whiskey. Who needs milk when there's whiskey.

I'm willing to gain 2.5lbs out of 5lbs for Radiator Whiskey

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Seattle: Pinch Me, Am I In Gay Paree? @ Cafe Campagne

  For your listening pleasure:

La Vie en Rose

                               

Seattle has summoned me once again! I am always happy to oblige, specially during spring time when Pike Place Market is just blooming with my favorite tulips and peonies at $10 a bunch...while Chicago is still holding on to the last icicle of winter.

Holy my plane flew in all sense of the word! My plane left on time for once, and touched down approximately 20 minutes early; the one time that I wouldn't have minded being delayed because I had 2 hours to kill in the airport, or  in other words, 2 hours to plan my nosh while I'm in Seattle. 2 hours passed, and my day's itinerary is set: go to the hotel, and find food that would recoup the meals I've missed since the day prior.

During my previous market visits, I always walk passed Cafe Campagne with vows to eat there and get my croque madame fix"next time." Well, the time is now! With the rare Seattle sun welcoming me  and The Great Dane (TGD) with open arms, we hugged it back by dining alfresco. Skimming the menu, I spied with my sleepy eyes the words "sipping chocolate." My interest was quickly peaked, but I want booze! Our waitress happily informed me that there is an adult version to this!

CHOCOLAT CHAUD:French Sipping Chocolate. It's served as a pitcher of hot chocolate with a bowl of chantilly cream. Real cream! The Avec Chartreuse Verte was the 21 and over addition to this gastro luxury. As this pompous but necessary presentation was brought to my table, I was quickly transported to the imaginary Paris in my head. With every sip, the bustle of  Pike Market was quickly replaced by the melody of La Vie en Rose. 

The waitress explained that one is supposed to sip the chocolate, then sip the chartreuse. Sip, sip. That's it! This is the only way to have hot chocolate from now on.

Maybe we should eat something, as the Paris in my head is starting to go beyond the normal realm of daydreaming.

TGD got the House-made Pork & Chicken Sausage:  It came as an open faced sandwich with melted Comte de gruyere with dijon mustard. What pray tell is comte? It's basically unpasteurized cow's milk cheese. The more you know! This sandwich may look dainty in carnivore land, but it was very hearty, and would fulfill any meat lover's inner desires.

My Parisian hallucination was quelled with the one thing that attracted me to this place in the first place; The Croque Madame : It had Parisian ham inside with gruyere cheese melted on top, and boom put an egg on it! Now, I was not very satisfied with the madame. Where's the bechamel or the mornay?!...or did America add this on? Whichever country decided on adding that creamy and buttery roux deserves a medal. Cafe Campagne's Madame needs a butter bath! 

Overall, Cafe Campagne needs to be a stop while you're out exploring Pike Place Market; tourist or not! Back when my frequent West Coast (anything west of Chicago is west coast to me) travels brought  me to Las Vegas, it became my tradition to visit Bouchon and get my croque madame fix. It was exclamation point to the fact that I have thawed out from the cold! Now that Seattle is my new west, Cafe Campagne is my new west coast Pacific Northwest tradition, not for the madame, but to sip hot chocolate with chartreuse. There's no better exclamation than chocolate and booze!

Cafe Campagne is worth gaining:

 4.5lbs out of 5 lbs

                                   

Seattle: The Cooking Channel Led Me to Nielsen's Pastry

You are getting sleepy~~~wooooh. On any given weeknight, you'll find either the Food Network or the Cooking Channel tucking me in bed. One night, while fighting the sleep fairy like a kindergarten tike, the Cooking Channel's Unique Sweets , woke me up from my daze with the words Danish and Seattle. What?! Do they have these enchanted aebleskivers The Great Dane keeps talking about? 

Aebleskivers: TGD described it as basically spherical pancakes 

There was only one way to find out...Go there! To Nielsen's! 

Boo! No sightings of the mystical Aebelskivers, but I found a Potato and Sara Bernhardt. 

 Ok, I have to admit, the only reason why I got the Potato was because this was what Unique Sweets raved about. I have great faith in their choices; and how could you mess up sugar?

I took the first chomp, and the marzipan was like a sweet, soft shell on top of the puff pastry. After breaking through the Marzipan barrier encasing the soft fluffy whip cream and custard combination, I found my shirt and everything around me covered in the cocoa powder that this thing is sprinkled with, it also did not help that I was dancing around singing "Hot potato, hot potato"( housekeeping tip increase) This pastry reminds me of a profiterole, but 3x bigger, and much more delicious than the profiterole. This pastry is so light and airy, yet decadent, and it almost does not seem too sinful to have more than one, or two or three. The only sin you can commit is not getting more than one, which I was miserably guilty of.

A bite off Sarah Bernhardt sparked a delicious memory that I could not put my finger on. Then it clicked. Am I eating a dark chocolate covered macaron, filled with chocolate mouse?! I basically was! Hidden underneath the chocolate and mouse layer is indeed an almond macaron. This pastry was supposed to be created in honor of that French actress, Sarah Bernhardt. I like how this is a bigger and better version of a macaron. Yep, another unfortunate mistake of just getting one.

I couldn't just leave Nielsen's without  picking up these fun little marzipan fruit dopplegangers. This will fulfill the ADA fruit requirement right? I declare yes!

 

I can't wait to have one or a few of these cute little pink boxes tied with twine, and filled with yummy deliciousness again!

Seattle:Following My Gut @ Icon Grill

For your listening pleasure:

Under the Sea cover by Bottle Boys. They made it sound so fun...

After closing down Pike Place Market, we decided that we would walk in the direction of "wherever we feel like it!...Turn here, turn there!" Of course this adventure was sure to work off all the energy that The Colombian Hot Chocolate (click the link to read all about it) injected in me, and induce hunger. The Great Dane and I passed by a few interesting restaurants, but nothing that peaked our appetites. Thinking back to when I first visited Seattle, I remember seeing a glowing sign that said "Mac n Cheese." I declared that we should go there! Since I did not know the name of the place, I led the way with my "photographic" memory. Uhhh I think I found it, but somehow I don't remember it looking like this:

The Icon Grill

Did my memory not serve me right? But hey... Que sera sera! We walked in to be welcomed by this sight...

 My brain started singing...~look at this stuff isn't it neat..~~~ I don't know why. It must've been the shades of coral and all the blown glass that reminded me of seashells and jelly fish. This place is like an oyster with it's rough exterior, but nestled inside it is a beautiful pearl. "Um are you sure you're the mac n cheese place?" My eye spied a second floor balcony, which is also where the bathroom is located. Of course I checked it out!

There's a TV in the bathroom, which shows films from the 20' or 30's!!!

 The view from the Top

Our very friendly waitress confirmed that they are indeed known for their mac n cheese!...and fried chicken, and meatloaf. I stared at the menu and changed my mind up to the last minute.

 Meatloaf it is! And yep...that was the quote of the night.

While waiting for our food, this wonderful tiered tower of Washington wines arrived. Being that we started this adventure on a whim, and we are about a 30 minute walk to the hotel, I pushed most of this tower on to TGD. The hot chocolate energy has worn off by now...and crashing.

The bread is here! It came with 3 different butters, hmmm let me try remembering what they are...Normal butter, pesto, uhhhh I give up! Comment below if you know what they are. They were all good, and I was definitely eating it to keep me awake through the meal.

 Ahhh second wind! Food is here! TGD ordered the Cajun Tiger Shrimp Penne Pasta: The waitress prefaced this by saying..."do you like spicy?...this is good but too spicy for me." The pasta goes in your mouth with a creamy, buttery feel, then slowly, you start feeling the heat. The shrimps were the size of a tiger! JK...they were pretty large, like prawns.

 Ma brought in the meatloaf, but not just any meatloaf...It's Molasses Glazed Meatloaf! The Molasses bathed that meatloaf beautifully, which created the sweet and salty symphony that I feel never fails. Even the broccoli was elevated by taking a dive in the molasses. Yep there's left overs!

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The friendly waitress asked if we had room for dessert. My honest answer should have been no, but I saw this giant bowl of ice cream that the table next to us had. It had a waffle cone in the center, which when lifted up, out comes a waterfall of hot fudge!!! To top that all off, there was this candy caddy filled with a plethora of goodies that you can top this sundae to your hearts desire. I want it! I want it now! but TGD, otherwise known as the voice or reason, talked me off the sin-sanity train. So no it is. 

Despite the "no," our waitress surprised us with these complimentary little brownie fudgey things filled with marshmallow fluff. See how friendly this waitress was?

If comfort food with a twist is your thing, along with kitschy art, this needs to be in your itinerary if you're in Seattle. The Icon Grill is definitely in the "I'll be back" list. I'm coming back for fried mac n' cheese, and that dessert!!!