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Monthly Archives: January 2021

Seattle Coffee Shop Reviews

Mr West Cafe – University Village

posted on : January 25, 2021 posted by : seattleunexplored@gmail.com 0 Comment

****NOTE: This review was done during the Covid-19 outbreak. Of course, things are much different at the moment, but we hope things get back to normal soon and hope you will continue these local businesses****

Mr West Cafe - University Village

Mr West Cafe – University Village

Description on  Mr West Cafe’s website: Mr. West Cafe Bar is proud to partner up with Campos Coffee, originally from Sydney, Australia. For over two decades Campos has been a leader in the specialty coffee movement, setting the standard for great quality coffee. Campos recently started roasting here in the U.S and we are excited to bring their coffee to our patrons.

Neighborhood:  University District

Address: 2685 NE Village Lane, Seattle, WA 98105

What we ate/drank: Cortado

Comments:  The other Mr West Cafe location in downtown has been deemed our favorite coffee shop in the entire city, so when we heard another location was opening closer to our house we were elated. Unfortunately, now that we’re working from home we definitely visit the original downtown location less frequently.

Mr West Cafe - University Village

We love not having to commute downtown, but we definitely miss our frequent visits to Mr West Cafe-Downtown, which were always relaxing when visiting prior to work or for an afternoon pick-me-up.

Mr West Cafe - University Village

The Mr West Cafe – University Village location definitely has the same aesthetics as the downtown location with lots of plant greenery, warm inviting lighting and white marble counters/table tops.  The main differences are the larger patio areas and the much larger interior.

At this moment, we’re not allowed to eat/drink indoors, but they have a rather large heated patio in the front and a make shift outdoor covered area in the back. The interior is very reminiscent their downtown location – clean, sleek, modern and warm. Where the downtown location is more of an open floor plan, the University Village location has more booths and segregated seating areas.
   

Front patio w/fire pit
Front patio area
Make shift outdoor area in the back

If you frequent University Village, the premier shopping center in Seattle, you’ll know that the only place to get a coffee was Starbucks, which we believe had four stores if you count the one in QFC.  So finally having an alternative and a local one at that was a long time coming.

We typically come here for coffee and maybe a pastry, but they do have heartier meals here such as salads, sandwiches, soups, salads and even roasted chicken.

Mr West Cafe – University Village is the perfect alternative to Starbucks while at University Village if you need a coffee or just a relaxing spot to take a break from shopping or an after dinner night cap from the various restaurants.

Ratings(1-5)

Favorite Thing: Finally a coffee alternative in University Village.

Atmosphere:  5.00

Service: 4.50

Food Options: 4.75

Overall: 4.75

Eavedropping  Convo:  None

 

Related:

Where Seattle Locals Eat

Kakigori – Dessert Cafe

posted on : January 18, 2021 posted by : seattleunexplored@gmail.com 0 Comment

Kakigori

Recommended by: A reader advised us of a new challenger to Snowy Village called, Kakigori that also specializes in Instagramable bingsoo.

Kakigori

Description on the Kakigori’s website: They ain’t got one.

Neighborhood/Type:  Central District

Address: 2207 E Madison St, Seattle, WA 98112

What we ate/drank:  Mango Sticky Rice Bingsoo

Comments: We love Snowy Village in the University District, so when we heard another bingsoo place opened, we had to check it out.

Kakigori is kinda out of the way for us, but we just had lunch at Musang, so we stopped here on the way home.  It’s located on the bottom floor of a newer apartment building and right next to a Safeways.

It’s a newer modern interior. It’s small and clean with floor to ceiling windows which make it really bright. When we got there nobody was behind the counter and we had to wait awhile for somebody to take our order.

We had the mango sticky rice bingsoo with coconut milk. It was definitely picture worthy with a little R2D2 added on top for good measure. It was a mountain of mangos with sticky rice on the side. Definitely enough for 2 people.

This is the thai tea mochi with red bean paste


Source: Yelp

This is the watermelon bingsoo that actually comes in a watermelon rind.

Source: Yelp

Kakigori is a worthy advisory for Snowy Village, but we like Snowy Village a little bit better. We liked the shaved ice and condensed milk more than the sticky rice and coconut milk.

Ratings:

Atmosphere: 4.25

Service: 4.25

Food/Drinks: 4.50

Bang for the Buck: 4.25

Overall: 4.35

Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is.

    • Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
    • Most locals know about it
    • Locals “in the know” know about it
    • Only those who live close by know about it.
    • You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!

Servers recommendations to visit in the future:   

Related Articles:

Where Seattle Locals Eat

RIP 2020 – Seattle Restaurant & Bar Closures

posted on : January 11, 2021 posted by : seattleunexplored@gmail.com 0 Comment

RIP 2020 – Seattle Restaurant & Bar Closures

In last year’s RIP 2019 Seattle Restaurants & Bar Closures, we mentioned some of the surprise restaurant and bar closings. For 2020, there were no surprises due to the Covid-19 situation. No local small business was immune to the challenges this year.  Here are some of our favorite places that decided to permanently close this year that we previously wrote about.
Wandering Goose- The place we deemed, “Our Favorite Breakfast Spot in Seattle” and home of The Sawmill, our 10th best dish of Seattle in 2019. Announced their permanent closure the last week of December. Needless to say, this place(and their dishes) will be sorely missed. 

Il Corvo – The place we deemed, “The Best Pasta in Seattle”. This is perhaps the place we’ll miss the most. So good, so cheap. There were lines out the door up until stay-at-home directive shuttered the restaurant in March.  We’d been huge fans of Il Corvo ever since it was a one burner lunch spot located in a gelato shop near Pike Place Market. All is not lost though. Chef Mike Easton still has Il Nido out in West Seattle.

El Diablo Coffee– In our Seattle Coffee Shop Awards blog posts, we deemed El Diablo the Best Coffee Shop for Big Groups and one of the Best Coffee Shops to Make Visitors Feel Like Locals. El Diablo was located up on Queen Anne Hill, but it stood out for its unique quality of being in a house. The space was one of the biggest in Seattle and for us parents, the dedicated room for kids was a god send.
Tempesta Coffee – This closure is a double punch in the gut, because not only did we think it was the most underrated coffee shop in Seattle as documented here, but also had some of the best doughnuts in Seattle. Located in Belltown, we understand we they are closing since they really rely on downtown and SLU commuters for the majority of their business. Damn, we’ll miss their Americanos.
Caffe Vita – Phinney Ridge – Don’t worry folks, the other Caffe Vita location around Seattle remain in business. You can visit those or nearby Herkimer Coffee – Phinney Ridge a few yards away. We’ll best remember this location for a conversation we overheard where a guy thought John Lennon was over rated as his girlfriend called him out for humming along to the song playing overhead. We documented the conversation in our review.
Some others that we’ll miss:
Steelhead Diner – We never created a blog post for this spot, but we would eat here occasionally for lunch. The real reason this closure hits us in the feels is that we had our wedding reception here in their secluded room off the main restaurant area. They were excellent in working with us creating a menu for our guests and concocting a signature themed cocktail for the event. Whenever we revisited, we could reminisce about that special day, but no more. 🙁
Suika – We had a blog post all tee’d up to be published when we heard the news that they were closing. Luckily their sister restaurant, Tamari Bar remains in business
Cafe Racer – We frequented this bar and had brunches there occasionally. It closed down once before after the tragic events that happened here in 2012, and was reopened a few years later.
Bamboo Garden in Lower Queen Anne was a long time institution and I remember it being one of the first restaurants i frequented with co-workers as poor young 20-somethings.
Bastille– Even with the present environment, this one was a bit of a surprise. Bastille always seemed to be crowded and their croque madame was one of the best in the city. Their Paris subway decor was also unique for Seattle.
The Ram in University Village. Alas, there are no more Ram restaurants in the greater Seattle restaurants. We’d come here frequently to watch football and basketball games in their massive bar area pre-kids. It was a great place to meet up with friends to watch games because there was plenty of seating. Post-kids we were relegated to the restaurant area, but they had decent solid burgers. The nearest locations are now in Kent and Issaquah.

Nate’s Wings and Waffles – Owned by NBA 3x Slam Dunk Champion Nate Robinson, my most memorable meal was doing take out and sneaking in fried chicken into the gym at Rainier Beach HS to watch future UW and current NBA player Dejounte Murray play against Lakeside HS with Clippers owner, Steve Ballmer, cheering on in the crowd.

Toronado – This bar never failed to have one of the best assortments of beer in Seattle. You could always find beers that you had never had before. Their whiskey selection wasn’t too shabby either.  Huge loss to the Roosevelt neighborhood.

After work memories – The Brooklyn in downtown felt like one of those old school restaurants that had a long history. Remember having oyster shooters for happy hour. Pintxo was a go-to Tapas spot where you could sit and watch the cooks prepare. There also used to be a speakeasy called, The Upstairs, that was the perfect nightcap.  Local 360 in Belltown was known for sourcing ingredients within a 360 mile radius, hence the name.

Sadly, Brave Horse Tavern, The Neighbor Lady, Burgundian mentioned in our Favorite Bars post also closed down in  2020.

Unlike 2019, where we were shocked by a few of the closings, we’re not surprised by any of the closures in 2010 based on the current messed up environment.  We’re hoping that we start seeing more openings in 2021.

Related:

Seattle Food Wars Posts,Where Seattle Locals Eat

Our 15 Best Seattle Dishes of 2020 (Part 2)

posted on : January 4, 2021 posted by : seattleunexplored@gmail.com 0 Comment

This is always one of our more enjoyable posts of the year as it winds down.  It allows us to review all the great dishes we’ve had throughout the year and debate which ones belong in our top 15. When we first started on this post, we thought we’d have a hard time finding 15 dishes considering that we haven’t been out much due to Covid-19 causing us to stay home for most of the year. Surprisingly, we didn’t have any problems and actually had a hard time whittling it down to 15.

We’ve already counted down our Best Seattle Dishes of 2020, 15 through 8.

Without further ado, here are our Best Seattle Dishes of 2020, 7 through 1:

7. Paju-$16. Paju Fried Rice – Kimchi, bacon, squid ink, smoked quail egg 

Excerpt from our blog post:

Saving the best for last. The Paju Fried Rice contains bacon, kimchi, rice immersed in squid ink with rice with a smoked quail egg yolk in the middle. So many different textures -gooey egg yolk, crunchy kimchi, sticky rice. So many different flavors – smokey, sweet, savory, but none overpowering the others. Such a distinctive dish both visually and taste-wise. You won’t find anything like this in Seattle. This is the dish we’ll get over and over on return visits. I’d love it if they could add more quail eggs. The egg is only able to be mixed with a small percentage of the rice. Definitely, an early contender for top 2020 Dishes of the Year.

6. Salare – $17. Beef Tartare – Sunchoke Chips, Capers & Smoked Egg Vinaigrette

Salare - Beef Tartare

We’re suckers for beef tartare. And as mentioned in our in our Best Dishes of 2018 blog post, we order it whenever we see it on the menu. And as expected when visiting Salare for dinner, we knew it was going to be a quality dish. Bits of capers and onion and bound by raw egg yolk, it’s all that we were hoping for.

5. Fil Cuisine – $20.  Sisig -Savory morsels of roasted pork with onions, chilis & citrus juice, placed on a sizzling hot plate!

Sisig

One bad thing about getting sisig for takeout is that you don’t get it in its intended fashion, which is on a hot sizzling plate with and breaking a raw egg over it.  Even so, this dish was one of our favorite dishes of 2020.  Another difference is that traditional sisig incorporates chopped up parts of a pig’s head(ear, snout, cheeks, etc) for it’s main protein versus regular pork/pork belly for this particular dish. Even if it’s not presented on a sizzling plate and non-traditional pork, it’s still really flavorful. The sisig is a guilty pleasure due to the amount of grease, but put this over some rice and a I dare you to stop at just one serving.

4. Bok A Bok – $15. Bowl O Shame-Kimchi mac n’ cheese, spicy tater tots, chopped fried chicken thigh, 4 chili hot sauce, green onions, crispy garlic, crispy shallots and a poached egg

Bok a Bok - Bowl O Shame

This is the forth consecutive dish on the list where a major component of the meal is a raw egg or runny egg. That shows our love of egg yolk.  This dish is the perfect for having with a beer or as a hangover dish.  But be warned, it probably has a million calories and clogs your arteries the instant you eat it. Ohh…. its so worth it.  Mac N cheese, tater tots, fried chicken, hot sauce, poached egg. How can something so bad for you, taste so good.

3. Salare – $21.  Cavatelli Lamb Bacon, Parmesan, Brussels sprouts & Cured Egg Yolk

Salare - Cavatelli

Make that the fifth dish in a row that incorporates a raw or runny egg.

Excerpt from our blog post:

The Cavatelli with bacon and parmasean was another winner.  The pasta is so unique and the lamb bacon, name somewhere else you can find that?

 

2. Bizzarro Italian Cafe – $13.25. Drunken Clams –Local manilla clams in spicy tomatoes with prosciutto, basil, shallots & ouzo.

Bizzarro Drunken Clans

Excerpt from our blog post:

We started off with the Drunken Clams which is a perfect match to slop up the sauce with the bread.  The clams and bits of prosciutto were tasty, but the sauce is the star.

Our server offered to bring more bread when he saw we had extra sauce, but ran out of bread. We were tempted but didn’t want to fill ourselves up before our mains came and said he could take the sauce away. We shed a little tear as he took it.

 

1.  Salare – $22. Trompetti Squid Ink, Clams, Mussels, ‘nduja Sausage, Kale & Garlic Cream

Salare - Trompetti

Salare could have easily had four or five dishes in our top 15 dishes of the year. That’s how good Salare is. In the end three of their dishes made it into our list of Best Dishes of 2020, but this was our favorite. It had lots of different types of protein – clams, mussels and sausage. Like the Musang pancit dish above squid ink was used in the pasta and we’re not sure what made it a little spicy, but it was just enough to add to the overall taste.

Excerpt from our blog post:

Our favorite dish was the Squid Ink Trompetti with clams, mussels and sausage. It was just the perfect amount of spicy.

I’m salivating just remembering and writing about this dish. Oh man, we can’t wait til business gets back to normal and we can go back and visit Salare.

This was our Favorite Seattle Dish of 2020

 

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