One of my very favorite places to pick up dinner on a busy week night is Smokin’ Pete’s BBQ in Ballard.  I always have a tough time picking between the pulled pork, which is a little greasy, but super delicious, and the smoked chicken, which has a wonderful smoky flavor.  Smokin’ Pete’s old fashioned barbecue sauce is a slightly spicy delight.  They have some of the best fries in town.  And though I don’t eat them, Trixie (who is a good Southern girl) claims the greens could be straight out of the south.

We’ve never eaten at the restaurant, instead choosing to take our treats to go.  So I can’t comment too much on the service.  They have live music a few nights a week, and it seems like a perfectly pleasant place to have a meal.

Smokin’ Pete’s has a display case full of fresh baked desserts.  I highly recommend the lava cake - a few seconds in the microwave turns it into a gooey piece of chocolate cake.  Their pies look geat, though I haven’t tried them yet.

Smokin’ Pete’s brings a little bit of the south to Ballard, much to our delight.

Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)

We recently stopped by Gorgeous George’s on the way home for a busy day at work.  Gorgeous George’s is a Mediterranean restaurant in Greenwood.  It’s a bright, tiny space, with the tables crammed together and not nearly enough staff working (at least on the night we were there).  But what a delight!  The food is perfect.  My falafel plate was everything you’d want from a falafel - crispy, yet moist and packed with flavor.  Thena’s kabob platter had three different meats, all cooked perfectly.  The hummus and baba ghanoush were also excellent.  I wasn’t enthralled with the pita - it was a little thin for my taste, but it wasn’t bad.  The prices are a little high, but the plates are huge, and we could have easily shared one.  Rumor has it their baklava is to die for, but we were too full to try.  Next time we’ll probably order everything to go to avoid the long wait, but we will definitely be back!

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Age of Conan is the answer to the following questions:

• Where have I been?
• What have I been doing with all my free time?
• Why has there been a long silence from Glhlavka World?

A new MMORPG, Age of Conan is a delightful little time-suck, if you like cartoonish violence and have a pretty quick computer.  My little battle mage occasionally stabs her sword deep into the chest of her opponents, steps back, cackles with glee, pulls it out, and watches as blood squirts all over the screen.  Isn’t that horrible?  Yet it makes me laugh every single time.

Conan is a rocking good time.  I won’t bore you with a long review, you can get that elsewhere from people who have gotten a lot farther in the game than I have.

Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)

Assassin’s Quest, the final book in Robin Hobb’s Farseer Trilogy is an interesting mix of the utterly bad and the perfectly great. I was shocked at how much I loathed the first fifth of the book. I absolutely hated the the places Hobb took Fitz and found the character and everything he did to be completely annoying. I can’t tell you how much I hated the start of this book. I was really close to setting it aside, never to be finished, but something kept pulling me forward.

Wow, was I glad I did. The rest of this book is everything I like about fantasy. A difficult quest, filled with wonderful side characters who become integral parts of Fitz’s story. A terrible and frightening villain with menace in his heart. Hobb does a great job hiding the purpose of the quest until the end. The payoff is magical. As much as I hated the first few chapters, the rest is so wonderful I hardly remember them in retrospect.

Reading the series is a bit of a quest in itself. You must suffer through some parts that are unbearable. You will think about giving up. In the end, your efforts will be richly rewarded.

Rating
First few chapters: 0 stars
Rest of the book: 5 stars

I finally finished reading Robin Hobb’s Farseer Trilogy a couple weeks ago.  As I previously wrote, the first book, Assassin’s Apprentice was pretty enjoyable.  I was definitely looking forward to reading the second, Royal Assassin.

Royal Assassin focuses on our hero, Fitz, as he integrates himself more into the royal household.  While the book was a decent read, I was put off by a couple of things.  Fitz is a lousy assassin.  If I’m investing time into a series about an assassin, I want to read about intriguing murders pulled off with finesse, narrow escapes from being found out, and a certain amount of stealth.  Fitz is more punching bag than assassin.  He is overwhelmed with guilt about the guilt/innocence of the person he is to kill.  It would have been more appropriate if this series followed Chade.

Also, I felt like the continuity between the first book and the second was not quite right.  I thought the tone the first ended on and the opening of the second didn’t quite mesh… that I had to give up some of the notions of the characters I had from the first book in order to get into the second.

Finally, there was way too much explaining things that happened in the first book.  This is a pet peeve of mine, where the author feels compelled to explain the whole story to you again.  Harry Potter did this constantly.  A certain amount of explanation is fine, but when it drags on for pages at a time with no new information, I get frustrated.

All of that makes it sound like I did not enjoy the book, which is not true.  The world Hobb creates is fantastic, and the characters who inhabit it are richly developed.  Royal Assassin is worth reading, if only to get to the third book in the series.

Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)

Now, this is how cupcakes should be made. Trophy Cupcakes is a fantastic cupcake shop in Wallingford. Their cakes are moist and delicious, the frosting is rich and wonderful. They have many different flavors, ranging from the old standards (vanilla and chocolate triple threat (my favorite)) to the more obscure, but awesomely awesome (chai cardamom and hummingbird).

We go about once every two months, and have enjoyed every single cupcake we’ve tried. I can’t recommend these cakes enough… soooo much better than Cupcake Royale. Also, Trophy was recently featured on Martha Stewart — if it’s good enough for Martha, it’s good enough for me.

Well worth the drive!

Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)

My buddy Chris, aka Emerald City Guy, busts out these memes from time to time.  I’m not so much into them (I’m not that interesting), but this one seemed fun.  Excuse my indulgence…

• A - ADVOCATE FOR: good food, intellij idea
• B - BEST FEATURE: quick wit (if you ask me)
• C - COULD DO WITHOUT: lactose intolerance
• D - DREAMS & DESIRES:a boatload of cash
• E - ESSENTIAL ITEMS: Kindle, PC
• F - FAVORITE PASTIME: video games
• G - GOOD AT: making fun of strangers
• H - HAVE NEVER TRIED: sweetbread
• I - IF I HAD A MILLION DOLLARS: I’d pay off my house, invest the rest
• J - JUNKIE FOR: awesome chocolate, gadgets
• K - KINDRED SPIRIT: thena
• L - LITTLE KNOWN FACT: I went to space camp as a kid
• M - MEMORABLE MOMENT: I can’t remember
• N - NEVER AGAIN WILL I: eat at Geraldine’s
• O - OCCASIONAL INDULGENCE: electronics
• Q - QUOTE: What what!
  
• R - REASON TO SMILE: making it this far
• S - SORRY ABOUT: that one time
• T - TAG SOME FRIENDS: I gots no friends
• U - UNINTERESTED IN: memes
• V - VERY SCARED OF: the water, ASP
• W - WORST HABIT: forgetfulness
• X - X MARKS MY IDEAL VACATION SPOT: Paris
• Y - YUMMIEST DESSERT: chocolate cake
• Z - ZODIAC SIGN: Capricorn

Last week we were set on having sushi somewhere new before seeing Ani Difranco at the Moore. We had never been to Wasabi Bistro, so we thought that would be a fine choice. We parked on First, walked up to Second, and were arguing on the corner about how far away Wasabi Bistro was.

A homeless guy, Shane (as it turns out), walks up to us and asks if we need directions to somewhere. We mention that we’re looking for Wasabi Bistro, and he proceeds to tell us that it is 2 1/4 blocks from where we are, mentioning everything that is close by. He also tells us that it has “a very relaxed atmosphere”, that it’s “a great place to relax and have dinner out of the hustle and bustle of Belltown” and that it is “more Polynesian/Japanese than pure Japanese”.

“Great,” we say, and start walking.

He then says, “But that’s not the best sushi downtown.”

Intrigued, we respond, “Okay, what is the best sushi in town?”

He proceeds to tell us that the best sushi is at Umi Sake House, and that the chef there is a great guy.

Really intrigued, we ask the obvious question, “Where’s Umi Sake House?”

Shane then offers to walk us there. We’re into it now, so we follow him back down to first and over to Umi. On the walk, Shane tells us how Umi used to be a dance club, but it is really nice inside now. The chef brings fish in fresh daily, and it is really, really good.  We’re excited, and our interest is really peaked now.

Did I mention that Shane has no front teeth? Or that he is filthy?

Anyway, we get to the Umi and are talking some more with Shane, when the chef of the restaurant next door, Apartment Bistro, comes out, sees us, and says, “Hey Shane! How are you doing?”

At this point, we’re wondering, “Who is this guy?”

Shane goes on to tell us that the best Italian downtown is at La Fontana Siciliana or La Vita E Bella Cafe. He mentions that both are family owned and are very generous to the homeless. He also says the food at Tavalota is great (which we totally agree with), but that it’s not authentic since it is not owned by an Italian family.  We quickly make a mental note to try the two places he mentioned…

Shane also tells us that the best seafood in town is not even on the water — it’s at Oceanaire. Which we totally agree with. Even though it is a chain, Oceanaire has great food.

Turns out that Shane collects the recycling for all of the restaurants in Belltown, and they give him food. He’s eaten at more restaurants downtown than we have.

On that note, we say our goodbyes and head into Umi Sake House. It looks very small from the outside, but is actually pretty big. There’s a bar and and a sushi bar, plus a bunch of tables. It’s pretty loud, and full of the Belltown crowd.

We each start off with a Mint Sake Martini, which is delightful. The sushi menu is extensive, pages and pages of rolls. Very inventive. Thena ordered the Chirashi bowl (her standard). I had a couple of pieces of Copper River Sockeye Salmon sushi, a cucumber roll, and Belltown Barbie Roll — crab and cucumber topped with seared salmon and a mango/chili sauce. All of it was delicious. The best sushi we’ve had.

As Shane told us, “If a homeless guy doesn’t know where to get good food, who does?”

Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)

A couple of weeks ago we went to Geraldine’s Counter in Columbia City. Here’s a place you can definitely miss. Geraldine’s is a diner, though the decorations are more IKEA than retro (not that there’s anything wrong with that). The menu is American classics, and we were all looking forward to a very tasty meal. Instead, our meals were mediocre at best.

Both Nettie and I ordered the grilled cheese sandwich, fries and a side of chili. The chili was cold, and Nettie’s grilled cheese wasn’t grilled — the cheese wasn’t even melted. Whipp had refrigerator cold mashed potatoes with her mediocre meat loaf. Thena had a salad that was, by comparison, delightfully mediocre.

The service was spotty, with long stretches where we were waiting to order, drink, eat, and pay. Follow up requests (for a second cup of coffee, for example) were never acted upon.

We were really disappointed, both because we were hungry, and because we don’t go to Columbia City often and were looking forward to trying a new (to us) place.

So we’ve lived in Ballard for years, always driving by Mike’s Chili Parlor commenting on how we really need to go. We finally went a few weeks ago and we can’t get enough of this place! The reasons for patronizing the little brick structure are numerous and more importantly, sentimental. You may ask how a tavern can become sentimental after only a few weeks worth of visits. It’s because we have been made to feel most welcome and appreciated each time we visit by both staff and patrons.

Let me first address the quality of the chili. It is most certainly delicious. Not the best chili I have ever had but certainly the best I have ever purchased at a restaurant. It’s an old fashioned recipe…no funky business. Just what chili should be, chock full of beef, family secret blend of spices and delicious beans. I like to top mine with cheese and onions. One thing I appreciate about Mike’s Chili is that the raw onions are so finely minced, they don’t overpower the delicious chili flavor. Some say the chili has a little kick to it but it is nothing a little sip of cold beer won’t wash away. Some also would say that beans don’t agree with me (something about silent alarms under the covers). So I like to order the “chili meaty” which consists of a giant fried patty of hamburger smothered in savory bean-less chili. Saves me later grief.

Here are the real reasons I love Mike’s Chili Parlor…the patrons and the staff. Where else can you go to have a pint and dine with everyone ranging from Cadillac driving grandparents to hip young couples to sun damaged, grey-bearded shipyard workers? How fun is it to sit next to two old guys, hands stone-hard calloused and black with grease that won’t wash off only to discuss kittens and puppies over a pitcher? Hands so full of work history that when you shake them, you check for a greasy residue. Hearts so soft, you giggle like a little school girl as they ply you with stories of kitty scalp massages, modern day pirates and the joys of smoking indoors. These are my kinda guys!

The waitstaff at Mike’s is superb. We went there one night a few weeks ago and it was a birthday night for the only gal working. Well, she talked us into having a shot called a “between the sheets”. She was wearing a tiara with a toothy grin, how could we resist? It was delightful and tasted like lemonade. During our latest visit, we had the pleasure of being served by the hardest working woman in town. The place was totally packed and she was the only waitress. She gracefully worked the room with her platinum blond hair, tattooed flesh and impish grin. This woman is a true artist at her trade. She was so charming and hypnotic, that we didn’t even care that it took over ten minutes to take our food order. We already had a cold pitcher of beer on our table, had a little flirt thrown our way and made to feel like we were at home. We were content to watch the show.

Don’t let the simple, unimposing exterior fool you. Yes, this is an old greasy dive…but Mike’s Chili Parlor has the grace, class and subtlety to pull it off. Behind the mystique of secret recipes, salty patrons and legendary wait staff lies a true Ballard treasure. One that has been right under our noses for so long. I wish we had visited earlier in our lives.