Red Arrow Coffee
Description on Red Arrow Coffee’s website: Wander through the garden gates, 7 days a week, from 7 am – 1 pm to our little studio to find us pulling espresso and serving up a cup of joe in a quaint, fast & casual coffee shop.
Neighborhood: Fremont/Ballard
Address: 425 NW Market St, Seattle, WA 98107
What we ate/drank: Macchiato
Comments: One day we were driving down NW Market St and saw a Red Arrow Coffee sign out on the sidewalk next to one of our favorite restaurants, Brimmer and Heeltap. Our interest was piqued. It turns out their outdoor section has been turned into a an outdoor cafe.
If you circle around the back of Brimmer & Heeltap building, what you’ll find is a Secret Garden-type oasis that is unlike any coffee spot in Seattle.
In a brilliant move to pivot and get creative, the owners of Brimmer & Heeltap decided to use their unused outdoor space as a cafe while the restaurant was shut down due to Covid-19. Red Arrow Coffee was opened in July and I’m really hoping they continue this space even when they reopen the restaurant.
The name Red Arrow came from the name of the general store that occupied this building many years ago. You can read more about its history here.
The cafe is located in a garage-style covered area. Coffee is from Caffe Umbria and they’ve also got Chai and Tea. They also have some liqueurs if you’d like to spice up your drinks. Not only does Red Arrow Coffee have a normal selection of house made pastries(also $1.00 pastries. Holla!) like cookies, cake slices, scones and muffins, but also house made ricotta, salad and sandwiches straight out of the Brimmer and Heeltap kitchen.
There’s a few covered tables inside the garage area, but the real attraction is the outdoor area. There’s just so much green as you can see from the pictures and a variety of outdoor sections. There are overhead heaters and a fire pit for the cold mornings. There’s a long table with barstools and there are numerous individual tables with a string of lights overhead. The small running fountain gives it that tranquil feel.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: The entire patio full of green.
Atmosphere: 5.00
Service: 5.00
Food Options: 4.75
Overall: 4.85
Eavedropping Convo:
Related:
- Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Seattle Coffee Shops
- Best Seattle Coffee Shops For Each Stage of Dating
- Part 4 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops to Impress Visitors, Impress Visiting Coffee Snobs, Make Visitors Feel Like Locals.
- Part 5 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops for Food Options, Friendliest Service
****NOTE: This review was done prior to the Covid-19 outbreak. Of course, things are much different at the moment, but we hope things will get back to normal soon and hope you will continue to support these local businesses****
Sea Wolf Bakers
Recommended by: We have friends whose daughter shares the same daycare as our daughters. They were aware of our love of cinnamon rolls. They had recently visited Sea Wolf Bakers in Fremont and said we were the first people they thought of when they ordered the cinnamon roll. They said we had to try it. So we did.
Description on the Sea Wolf Baker’s website: Sea Wolf is a Seattle bakery opened in 2014 by brothers Jesse and Kit Schumann, two native Washingtonians. Following the practices of craftsmanship and local sourcing, Sea Wolf offers bread and pastry in a space that’s comfortable and welcoming to everyone.
Neighborhood/Type: Fremont
Address: 3621 Stone Way N Suite D, Seattle, WA 98103
What we ate/drank: Cinnamon Roll – $7
Comments: Ok, first things first. We already mentioned in our Cinnaholic post that we love cinnamon rolls so much, that during our wedding we did not have a wedding cake, we had a pile of cinnamon rolls from a bakery in Pike Place Market arranged into the shape of a wedding cake. My co-workers had two baby showers for us prior to both of our daughters being born. They main course was cinnamon rolls. Wherever we go, if we see a cinnamon roll on the menu, we will typically order it. There is nothing better than a cinnamon roll and a cup of espresso or coffee.
Sea Wolf Bakers opened their brick and mortar location in August of 2016 by two brothers, who according to their Kickstarter, really toiled into the wee hours to hone their skills and hustled from space to space to get their breads made. They are exceptional in all things a baker makes-breads of all types, baguette, rolls, croissants, muffins, even burger buns. And of course cinnamon rolls!
Sea Wolf Bakers is so good at their craft that they were a James Beard Award Semifinalist for Outstanding Baker in 2019. Surely, this is all you need to know about their quality. If you need any more evidence they apparently provide the bread for Renee Erickson’s restaurants, The Whale Wins, located across the street and The Walrus and Carpenter as well as previously reviewed Vif Wine | Coffee and Preserve and Gather.
Their cinnamon roll is a bit on the steep side at $7, but it is huge. Take a look at the picture of the cinnamon roll compared to our daughter’s hand. The cinnamon roll can be ordered with frosting on the side, but it honestly doesn’t need it. Most cinnamon rolls are soft and dense. The Sea Wolf Baker’s roll has a hard crunchy sugary glazed exterior and a soft doughy middle chalk full of raisins and cinnamon. The inside is almost like a croissant, flaky.
It reminds me of the cinnamon roll they serve at Storyville Coffee Co , which is a tiny little thing that can’t be shared, but it’s delicious and very similar with a crispy outside and soft inside. The main difference is that Sea Wolf Baker’s cinnamon roll is about 10 times bigger. It easily fed our family of four.
Sea Wolf Baker is located right next to Manolin and right down the street from a couple of our favorites, Stone Way Cafe and Joule. The bakery has an open layout so you can see them prepping and baking. It really looks like a commercial spot with a few tables for retail. There’s also a lot of outside seating. You can normally spot Sea Wolf Baker by looking for a line of people on weekend mornings.
Wholesale remains their bread and butter for the business, but luckily they’ve made their cinnamon rolls available to the public.
Summary: As we enjoyed the cinnamon roll out on the patio, we started to debate where this fits into the Seattle cinnamon roll landscape. This roll with its crunchy exterior and flaky croissant-like middle with raisins and perfectly gooey cinnamon is so unique compared to the normal icing topped cake-type cinnamon roll. There was a consensus, Sea Wolf Baker’s cinnamon roll is the best in Seattle. If you want to enjoy this treat. Just a warning, they run out quick so get there in the morning.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 4.25
Service: 4.50
Food/Drinks: 5.00
Bang for the Buck: 4.25
Overall: 4.50
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!
Related Articles:
****NOTE: This review was done prior to the Covid-19 outbreak. Of course, things are much different at the moment, but we hope things will get back to normal soon and hope you will continue to support these local businesses****
Vif Wine | Coffee
Description on Vif Wine|Coffee’s website: Vif Wine|Coffee offers a new approach to how wine and coffee are presented and sold in Seattle. Our focus — offering products that are alive, real and natural — sets us apart from all other wine merchants and cafes.
Neighborhood: Fremont
Address: 4401 Fremont Ave N, Seattle, WA 98103
Music Playing: Islands On The Coast by Band of Horses
What we ate/drank: Cortado, Apple Croissant
Comments: Many years ago I used to live in this neighborhood. If I remember correctly, this used to be a teriyaki joint and then became a burger joint. The folks at Vif have definitely done a good job of turning the space from a nondescript grab and go teriyaki/burger spot to an inviting space where you can enjoy a coffee or a wine since they opened in 2013. The plain exterior of the building left by the previous businesses belie the relaxing interior.
There is a wall of windows on three sides of the building, which makes it bright and includes a U-shaped bench with plenty of electrical outlets. Beware: No laptops allowed on the weekends during brunch hours – 8am-3pm. Vif also has a good sized patio area and one of the rarest of conveniences, an adjoining free parking lot. A good amount of the space displays their natural wine selection.
Vif offers a nice place to have a coffee/dessert after eating a heavy meal at Uneeda Burger, Paseo or Fremont Bowl, which are right down the street. They’ve also got some competition with Lighthouse Coffee Roasters and Caffe Vita nearby. What Vif has going for it though, is the in house made pastries as well as a few lighter dishes, such as salads, breakfast sandwiches and avocado tartine.
According to this Stranger article ( https://www.thestranger.com/food-and-drink/feature/2015/10/28/23071788/some-of-the-tastiest-food-can-be-found-at-a-wine-shop-in-fremont) :
The inspiration for Vif came while the two were traveling in France. Feldman(owner) says Vif is modeled after a type of business that’s common there but rare in the United States. “It’s called cave à manger—basically a wine shop where you can get a bite to eat.
Mead and Feldman avoided calling their business a cave à manger because, says Feldman, “no one knows what that means and it sounds a little elitist when you use words that no one understands.”
This concept might be common in France, but it’s definitely rare in Seattle. And the wine that Vif specializes in is natural wine, which is made with as little human intervention as possible. No color additives, added yeasts or chemicals.
There appears to be a second location in the works in Beacon Hill.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: The unexpected transformation from teriyaki/burger joint to a relaxing café.
Atmosphere: 4.50
Service: 4.25
Food Options: 4.50
Overall: 4.40
Eavedropping Convo:
Related:
- Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Seattle Coffee Shops
- Best Seattle Coffee Shops For Each Stage of Dating
- Our New Seattle Coffee Shop Discoveries in 2019
- Part 5 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops for Food Options, Friendliest Service
Revel – Back in Fremont!
Recommended by: Nobody. Our favorite Seattle restaurant, Revel, moved to South Lake Union temporally while it’s new digs were being built in their original neighborhood, Fremont. We reviewed their temporary location in this post, but now that Revel is in their brand new location, we were giddy to check it out.
Description on the Revel’s website: Originally opened in 2010, Revel is a lively, casual space filled with bright art and music offering a new approach to everyday Korean comfort food. The large butcher block counter in the open kitchen has always been the heart of Revel inviting guests to be part of the family.
Neighborhood/Type: Fremont
Address: 401 N 36th St, Seattle, WA 98103
What we ate/drank: Albacore tuna, fennel kimchi, escarole $18, Pacific cod, spicy tsuyu, hot ginger oil $17, Pork dumpling, mapo, pickled leek $14, Green noodle, chanterelle, spicy miso $16
Comments: It’s hard to believe that Revel’s been open for 10 years now. When it first opened a few doors down from it’s new current location, we remembered what a different experience it was to sit at the large counter with it’s open kitchen. It was both exciting to see the kitchen in action, but interesting to see how the dishes were made and put together. It was almost like a symphony.
When they moved to South Lake Union we were saddened knowing logistically that lunch was most likely the only meal we’d be able to eat at Revel. We’d occasionally meet up for lunch and were happy to see that they kept the counter with the open kitchen concept at the temporary SLU location, but there were far less seats. Instead of the long counter, it was more of a square and only two sides could be used for seating.
We visited the new Revel location on a Saturday evening. They don’t take reservations for parties under six, so we provided our cell# and headed next door to Aslan Brewing for a beer. When our seats became available, we were happy to see the long large counter with the open kitchen had returned and we were being seated there.
We are huge fans of Relay Restaurant Group, which is the creation of wife/husband chef team of Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi. The group includes Revel and Joule. Sadly, their third restaurant Trove closed down last year. And as you can see here, they are either a nominee or semifinalist for Best Chef in NW by the James Bead Foundation nearly every damn year.
And if you needed any further evidence of our love for Joule and Revel. One of their dishes was in our top 15 Of 2018 and three of their dishes made it into our top 10 of 2019 with one of their dishes being our #1 dish of the year!
Well, we are happy to report the quality of Revel’s dishes have not skipped a beat.
We tend to always order the same things when we come to Revel, but we changed it up this time. And Revel is always changing up dishes on their menu, so no matter how many times you come, there is bound to be a dish you’ve not tried before.
The pacific cod was a generous portion that sat on a layer of tsuyu, which is typically a mixture of mirin, soy sauce and fish stock(bonito based). The other three dishes we ordered were savory, while the cod dish was on the sweet side, which was a nice change up and good complement. There must be a good batch of Enokitake mushrooms in Seattle. This is the second restaurant we’ve seen this week that prominently features the mushroom in a dish.
Similar to what we said in our Trove(R.I.P.) review, the noticeable thing about Revel’s dumplings is that there is no wasted space between the wrapper and the filling of the dumplings. Normally with dumplings, there is the filling and then a bunch of space between the wrapper when the filling inside shrinks when it’s steamed. Not only are the dumplings on the bigger side, so you really get your moneys worth, but they are so tasty we don’t even use any of their dipping sauces.
The green noodle with chanterelle and spicy miso was actually a suggestion from our server at Aslan Brewing. She had eaten at Revel the week before and raved about the dish. She did not steer us wrong. Just the right amount of spice, ample bits of chantrelle, subtle flavors.
We had to order at least one of our favorite repeat dishes. You can read about the dish on our Best Dishes of 2019. This was our #1 dish of the year in 2019!
There were a couple of dishes that we will definitely order the next time we visit Revel. One was the Brick Chicken and the other was the trout with achiote fish sauce & leek oil.
Now on to the new space. It’s definitely more spacious than the previous Fremont location. There were times in the previous location, where you felt you were right on top of each other due to the tables being rather close together. No such problems here. Where before the bar area was in a totally separate room, the bar area now is right off to the side.
Where before there was a narrow patio in the back, the new patio is out front although not being used now due to the weather. The lighting is a lot brighter than before, which doesn’t bother us. Perhaps it’s the higher ceilings that make it feel less intimate than the prior location. Also, not a big deal to us, but just noting the difference in feel to us.
Overall we’re happier for the bigger space, which means less wait times and for the larger counter section with the open kitchen. I’m also grateful that Aslan Brewing is right next door so if the bar area is packed, we can have a beer as we wait for our table.
Service as always was attentive, dish suggestions provided and taste profiles explained.
We’re so happy that Revel is back in Fremont. The dishes are as good as they’ve ever been. The larger space, means less wait time. Selfishly, the location is way better for us than it was when it was in SLU.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 4.75
Service: 5.00
Food/Drinks: 5.00
Bang for the Buck: 4.50
Overall: 4.75
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: We were raving about Revel and how the quality hasn’t changed to some friends. They had just tried a new Korean inspired restaurant in Queen Anne that they claim had some similarities to Revel called, Paju.
Related Articles:
Seattle Biscuit Co.
Recommended by: One of our previous posts, The Battle of Seattle’s Best Biscuit Sandwich, pitted Morsel against Biscuit & Bean in what we believed were the two premiere biscuit sandwich purveyors in Seattle. They also had some history and almost identical menus, so it was easy to compare. A loyal reader(and friend) advised that thee best biscuit sandwiches was located in between Morsel and Biscuit Bean in Frelard(Fremont/Ballard) called, The Seattle Biscuit Co. Of course, we had to try it out.
Description on the Seattle Biscuit Co’s website: We make biscuits with our hands. We use a combination of local ingredients and our Southern roots to bring you a truly unique biscuit experience.
Neighborhood/Type: Frelard (Fremont/Ballard)
Address:4001 Leary Way NW, Seattle, WA 98107
What we ate/drank: Son of Slam – Fried Chicken, Thyme Waffle, Bourbon/Cane/Maple Syrup – $14, The Gus – Biscuit, Fried Chicken, Gravy, Egg, Pickle, Sweet Onions, Mustard – $14. 4 biscuits to go and enjoy at home. Butch Wilson – Braised Carlton Farms pulled pork, bbq daikon slaw, biscuit sandwich – $12. The End – Cheese grits, collards, pulled pork, pickled red onion, comeback sauce, fried bologna, over-easy egg, biscuits – $14
Comments:
The Seattle Biscuit Co. started out as a food truck in 2012 by owners who originated from Georgia and Mississippi. The brick and mortar location was opened in the Spring of 2018 and the food truck operation has ceased. Although their biscuit making expertise originated from the South, their ingredients are all locally sourced from Washington and Oregon.
You can give us a “pass” on never visiting Seattle Biscuit Co because it’s in the “no man’s land” industrial part of Frelard. And I’m sure we’ve passed it numerous times, but the outside is so non-distinct that we just never noticed it. We even went to a café down the exact same street after eating here and when we told them we had just come from Seattle Biscuit Co, they had no idea what we were talking about. The folks at the café had heard of Biscuit and Bean though. Anyways, we came on a Saturday morning right when Seattle Biscuit Co. opened and there were already a few people waiting outside at 8:00am. If we’re being truthful, the outside of the building is not much to look at. The inside is a whole ‘nother story.
It reminds me an old club house that you built in the woods when you were kids. You’d bring left over pieces of wood and old parts of furniture to create a club house shack. You’ve got the reclaimed wood slats on the wall, old church pews that make up bench seating, old bowling lanes that are made into table tops. As you can guess, the feel is casual. They had Johnny Cash playing which just added to that rustic/country feel.
We got here right as they opened so we were able to snag one of the few tables that could seat our family of four. There is plenty of seating, but most of it is counter seating so it’s not good for big groups. It’s best if you come solo or with two friends at the most. I do love how you can sit at the counter and see them prepping the food and baking the biscuits. This definitely helped pass the time for our 2 year old.
If you are hoping for a quick in and out experience, you won’t get that at The Seattle Biscuit Co. For whatever reason, legitimate of not, the wait time for our dishes were longer than normal. If you’re in a hurry, you might want to think about coming here, but we weren’t on this occasion and we’re not going to complain, because….
… ours meals were bomb! No doubt the dishes are on the expensive side, but the portions are massive. The Gus brings back memories of The Sawmill at Wandering Goose(RIP 2020). It had two perfectly fried pieces of chicken, between two fluffy biscuits with overflowing thick gravy and an over easy egg. The mustard was an unexpected twist to the sandwich. Unlike Morsel/Biscuit & Bean sandwiches, which you can eat with your hands, this was definitely a knife and fork endeavor.
The Son of Slam which is chicken and waffles was also really good. I like the fact that the waffles were a bit on the savory side with thyme. The portions on this were also notable especially when comparing it to a version of Watson’s Counter’s take on chicken waffles, which we really liked. The Watson’s Counter dish is more expensive with less chicken.
The Butch Wilson Biscuit Sandwich has braised Carlton Farms pulled pork, bbq daikon slaw, biscuit sandwich. These biscuits are pretty thick, but you can see from the picture below, the amount of pulled pork they slap on the sandwich dwarfs the size of the biscuit, so you’re assured of the biscuit not overpowering the pork and daikon slaw. The pulled pork has a slight kick that goes well with the tartness of the slaw.
The End – Cheese grits, collards, pulled pork, comeback sauce, fried bologna, over-easy egg, biscuit. The Ed N‘ Diane, named after the owner’s parents. I don’t usually order grits, but this was a winner and is definitely a contender for Seattle Best Dishes of 2019. The pulled pork, fried bologna and collards were perfect complements to the grits. The grits were not overly cheesy and the slight kick of the pork, the saltiness of the bologna and tart of the collards were a great spoonful of flavor. Our daughter devoured the thick fried bologna chunks and mini biscuit. We’re used to the sliced thin baloney, so when she saw the thick chunks, she seemed a bit surprised. Add the over easy egg with runny yolk and you’ve got a near perfect dish.
My advice. Eat here in the morning because it will take you all day to burn off those calories, but it will be so worth it. On this particular day, I skipped lunch and had one of my best 5k times in months after devouring The Gus.
It might be a bit unfair to bestow Seattle Biscuit Co with the title of new “Seattle Biscuit Sandwich King” when comparing their elaborately made sandwiches to the relatively simple biscuit sandwiches at Morsel and Biscuit and Bean. Perhaps Seattle Biscuit Co would be more fairly compared to the likes of Biscuit Bitch, Serious Biscuit or Wandering Goose.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 4.75
Service: 4.75
Food/Drinks: 4.85
Bang for the Buck: 4.50
Overall: 4.75
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!
Related Articles:
Joule – The 3rd of the Trinity of Relay Restaurant Group Restaurants
Recommended by: Nobody. After visiting Trove and Revel recently we decided to revisit the last of the three Seattle restaurants belonging to Relay Restaurant Group.
Description on the Joule’s website: Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi opened their first restaurant, Joule, to critical acclaim in 2007. The food—a confident, beautiful blend of Korean flavors and classic technique—earned them a reputation as culinary innovators and creative forces. In 2013, they reimagined Joule as a contemporary Korean steakhouse serving nontraditional cuts of beef, and reopened it in an expanded space. The same year, it was named one of the Best New Restaurants in America by Bon Appétit magazine.
Neighborhood/Type: Fremont
Address: 3506 Stone Way N, Seattle, WA 98103
What we ate/drank: Beef tartare, Asian pear, spicy cod roe aioli $12, Bone marrow, spicy anchovy butter, leek $13, Geoduck fried rice, seaweed, pork rind $17, Peppered wagyu steak, ramp, maitake mushroom larb, 6 oz $29, Crispy eggplant, pickled garlic, black bean sauce $11.
Comments: Update 9/22/19: Joule just made Seattle Met’s 100 Best Restaurant
Joule is part of the Relay Restaurant Group created by Chef couple, Rachel Yang and Seif Chirichi. In addition to Joule, Relay Restaurant Group includes Revel right down the street and Trove in Capitol Hill .NOTE: It was just recently reported that Trove will unfortunately be closing. They also have a restaurant in Portland. Rachel Yang and Seif Chirichi actually appeared on Iron Chef on the Food Network, so that should tell you something about their popularity and skill.
Joule is the scene of a memorable experience I had about 6 years ago. It’s the first and only time I ever had a shot of Pappy Van Winkle bourbon. At the time, it was a bourbon that was in high demand and low supply and if I remember correctly the Seattle Times at the time mentioned there were only 3 places in all of Seattle that had any. Joule happened to be one of them. I met a somebody at Joule for brunch around that time and told them that I had just got engaged. I was gifted a shot of Pappy Van Winkle as an engagement “present”.
Anyways, back to the present and 6 years later. My wife and I had a rare date night without the kids and thought Joule would be the perfect place. Luckily, we were able to grab a table at 5:00 on a Sunday evening. We had the choice of patio seating, the chef counter or a regular indoor table. We chose to be inside.
On to the dishes. As mentioned in our Kokkaku review, we love tartare and a tartare dish actually made it on too our best dishes of 2018, so of course we had to order the beef tartare as a starter. The combination of a tart cod roe and the tartare was an unexpectedly nice combo of flavors.
We were expecting a bit more from the geoduck friend rice. The odd pairing of geoduck and pork rind is what drew our attention, but although the pork rind was there it, was lost in the dish. As a fried rice dish it was still good, I just wish there was more geoduck and pork rind in it.
This was our veggie dish. My wife loved this dish much more than I, but I still thought it was good.
This was a home run! I don’t know if there is always this much marrow on their bones or if I just hit the jackpot, but usually there’s not much marrow whenever I order . This dish had so much marrow, I couldn’t believe it. Served with bread the marrow was perfect turning into a rich pudding that tasted like beef flavored butter. Add in the generous topping of leeks and you’ve got FIRE!
This was another home run albeit a rather expensive one. It’s one of those dishes where you may cringe at the price, but once the first bite is in your mouth, you understand why and say to yourself, “i would’ve paid double”. Tender, just the right amount of char and spice and coupled with the mushroom larb( w/ fish sauce?) was perfect.
A miss, but a few hits and a few homers. If you can get a few homers in one sitting, that’s a successful night in our book. We also had a couple of beers with our dinner. Like Revel and automatic 20% gratuity is included in the bill. It was a packed house on the Sunday evening we went with lots of buzz. It was fun hearing the comments of nearby tables when tasting many of the dishes that they definitely won’t find anywhere else.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 4.75
Service: 5.00
Food/Drinks: 4.75
Bang for the Buck: 4.25
Overall: 4.65
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!
Related Articles:
- Our Top 15 Best Seattle Dishes of 2018 (Part 1)
- Our Top 15 Best Seattle Dishes of 2018 (Part 2)
- Kokkaku
- D’La Santa
Fremont Bowl
Recommended by: After writing our post about Seattle Fish Guys – Best Poke in Seattle, a local recommended Fremont Bowl as another place that has great poke.
Description on the Fremont Bowl’s website: Just a team of people who love food, like really love food – we have a slight obsession. We love to eat. We love food. We love Seattle. We love people who love food and eating. Most importantly, there’s no better feeling than seeing people enjoy and love the food that we’ve made. Our goal is to make Fremont Bowl a spot where people can just quickly stop by and pick up their order, but also be able to meet up with friends, family, or even a casual date. If you have any events coming up, let us know!
Neighborhood/Type: Fremont
Address:4258 Fremont Ave N Ste #4262, Seattle, WA 98103
What we ate/drank: Chirashi Bowl 14.95. tuna, chopped fatty tuna, salmon, yellowtail, albacore, shrimp, fresh water eel, masago with fresh wasabi + yuzu kosho (pepper). Una-Gyu Don 16.95. unagi + sukiyaki beef don. Crispy Tonkatsu Don 11.95 fresh pork loin, Aburi Sake Don-Seared salmon with sea salt with fresh wasabi + yuzu kosho (pepper)
Comments: As mentioned, a local recommended Fremont Bowl for quality poke, the funny thing is that since visiting we have never ordered poke from Fremont Bowl. They have so many other unique dishes that there’s no need to get poke here when you can get poke from a million other poke places in Seattle.
Fremont Bowl is located in a space that was formerly home to Suga, which had some really good curry dishes and Dot’s Delicatessen, which had some really good sandwiches. Unfortunately, those businesses didn’t last, but based on the traffic we’ve seen at Fremont Bowl, I don’t think Fremont Bowl will need to worry about staying in business. The place is packed and meal delivery drivers were coming in so often they should install a turnstile. For every party that came into eat at Fremont Bowl, there were three drivers to pick up meals.
I don’t think any changes were made to the space in it’s former incarnation as Suga. They have the open kitchen, a small high counter near the kitchen and a row of seats/bench along the wall. The place probably seats about 30 people max and it’s a tight squeeze. Getting to your seat without bumping into your neighboring party is a bit tough.
You order at the cash register. There’s a menu on the wall. After ordering you sit down and they’ll bring out your meal to you.
Due to how packed Fremont Bowl typically is, we order take out most of the time, but there are some advantages to eating there. There’s one dish the Aburi Sake Don that they only serve when you eat there. It’s a seared salmon with sea salt and yuzu kasha, which is made from citrus, chile pepper and salt. The pieces of salmon literally melt in your mouth and the citrus and salt a perfect compliments to the fish and rice.
seared salmon with sea salt with fresh wasabi + yuzu kosho (pepper)
seared salmon with sea salt with fresh wasabi + yuzu kosho (pepper) Score: (4.75/5.00)
Another advantage of eating in is that you get to enjoy their house made soy sauce(Dashi Jouyu). You can also ask for additional rice and sauce if you need more. Observing the workers while waiting for our dishes, you can tell they are a well oiled machine when it comes to making the dishes, preparing the trays for delivery to the tables and prepping for delivery orders.
One lone disadvantage of eating in is that you cannot take home any left over raw fish due to Health Dept restrictions, so you’d better finish your raw fish.
The cashier advised the Chirashi Bowl is their most popular and it’s easy to understand when seeing the dish. The different cuts of fish make for a colorful presentation that makes it one of the most photogenic dishes in Seattle. What separates chirashi from poke is that poke marinated in sauce with a bunch of different toppings. This can mask the quality of fish as well as the quantity of fish. Chirashi is just pure raw fish, so the fish quality and quantity is apparent.
Here are some of the other dishes we’ve tried at Fremont Bowl.
Although their other dishes are very good, The Chirashi Bowl and Aburi Sake Bowl are definitely our choices here.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 4,50
Service: 4.75
Food/Drinks: 4.75
Bang for the Buck: 4.50
Overall: 4.65
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!
Related Articles:
Revel – Our Favorite Seattle Restaurant
Recommended by: Nobody. After visiting Trove recently we decided to revisit our favorite in the Relay Restaurant Group.
Description on the Revel’s website: Revel—a lively, casual space filled with bright art and music—has been attracting crowds with its menu of street food-style comfort food including dumplings, savory pancakes, noodles, and rice bowls, since 2010. Now located in South Lake Union, Revel features unique lunch, happy hour, and dinner specials to cater to our new neighborhood. Stay tuned for more information and updates regarding our move back to Fremont in Fall 2019 for the opening of Revel 2.0!
Neighborhood/Type: Currently: South Lake Union. Soon: Fremont
Address:513 Westlake Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109
What we ate/drank: Albacore tuna, fennel kimchi, escarole $17, Caesar Pancake – White anchovy, spinach and bonito flakes, Lemongrass beef, cilantro noodle, yu choy, pickled tomato $18, Kalbi Beef Dumplings w/pickled shallot, scallion
Comments: Update 9/22/19: Revel just made Seattle Met’s 100 Best Restaurant
Revel is part of the Relay Restaurant Group created by Chef couple, Rachel Yang and Seif Chirichi. In addition to Revel, Relay Restaurant Group includes Joule right down the street and Trove in Capitol Hill . They also have a restaurant in Portland. Rachel Yang and Seif Chirichi actually appeared on Iron Chef on the Food Network, so that should tell you something about their popularity and skill.
Revel is currently in their temporary space in South Lake Union, but will be moving back to their original location in Fremont later this year once construction is completed. Although in their temporary space, two things remained from the old location. The huge pop art of Randy “Macho Man” Savage and an open kitchen where you can get a seat at the chef counter, so you can watch the chefs do their thing. Since you get to see them prep all the dishes if you sit here, it gives you an opportunity to see what dishes look interesting and what to order.
The thing we love about Revel is that they have a very simple concentrated menu, but it’s always changing menu so on each visit there are new dishes to try. They have four house made sauces you can add to your dishes- a soy sauce, a spicy fish sauce, miso sauce and sweet chile sauce.
Here are just a few of the dishes we’ve had on our visits
No matter how many times we come to Revel or how many dishes we order, we are never disappointed. This isn’t the cheapest place, but we don’t feel the prices are out of whack for the quality of food received. As we were writing this, I’m just reminded of the occasions in which we visited Revel-Dinner with visiting friends from out of town, it was the last meal we had prior to the birth of our first born, we just went here for our anniversary. So you could say Revel holds a special place in our hearts, but not only is it about the memories and occasions, but more importantly the food. Oh my god, the food!
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 5.00
Service: 5.00
Food/Drinks: 5.00
Bang for the Buck: 4.50
Overall: 4.85
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!
Related Articles:
- Our Top 15 Best Seattle Dishes of 2018 (Part 1)
- Our Top 15 Best Seattle Dishes of 2018 (Part 2)
- Kokkaku
- D’La Santa
- Kamonegi – Best Soba in Seattle
Caffe Ladro – Fremont
Description on Caffe Ladro’s website:Visit Caffe Ladro in 15 different neighborhoods in the Seattle, Washington area. Each of our cafés is unique and built to suit the neighborhood where it makes its home. You will find the same great coffee and fresh-baked goods at any Caffe Ladro location you visit.
Neighborhood: Fremont
Address: 452 N 36th St, Seattle, WA 98103
Music Playing: It’s A Jungle Out There-Buddy Guy, Let the Good Times Roll-BB King, Bleeding Heart – Jimmy D Lane
What we ate/drank: Gibraltar
Comments: This is the 4th Caffe Ladro we’re writing about. In a previous Caffe Ladro review, we mentioned that each branch has a very distinct feel. For example the one located in downtown on Pine Street, we call, The “Jetsons Caffe Ladro”. This one in Fremont we call, “The Library Caffe Ladro”. Why? This one has three sets of long tables that have the little lamps on them that you see in university libraries.
In addition to the library style tables, there are 6 or 7 smaller marble tables and counter seating all along the front looking out on N 36th.
I’m not sure if they always play this type of music in this location, but on the morning we went they were playing the blues-Buddy Guy, BB King, Jimmy D Lane. The music definitely adds to the laid back relaxing atmosphere of this location. This location is the exact opposite of The Jetsons Ladro, which has a very futuristic feel to it. This Ladro has an old nostalgic feel-exposed wood beams, warm lighting from Edison bulbs, beautiful huge wooden window frames.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: The library style lights on the bigger tables.
Atmosphere: 4.00
Service: 4.50
Food Options: 3.75
Overall: 4.25
Eavedropping Convo: As you can tell by the pictures, we ended up going here very early in the morning. This would be the perfect time to have a personal discussion with your boss outside of business hours. The weird thing is this conversation happened on a weekend morning and it was definitely a boss-underling conversation.
Boss(B): Why did you want to meet this early?
Underling(U): I just felt I needed to get some things off my chest before I made any rash decisions.
B: The floor is yours
U: I feel that some of the things promised are not being followed through on. You said you would mentor me, but it seems you are spending way more time mentoring the others and I want to know why. Is it because I’m not as pushy? Are you too busy? I want to improve, prove myself and get promoted as I’ve mentioned before, so how do I do this?
B: Sure, sure Ok. Fair enough. I’ve probably been more occupied with some of the others because they’re more outspoken. They’re go-getters and you know actions speak louder than words.
U: I don’t want you to mistake my quietness for not wanting do improve.
B: Sure, OK. But in my defense, you have never asked to meet until now. I want to give you every opportunity, but you’ve never asked for feedback.
U: I feel like, you should be the one to provide feedback to me because I don’t know.
B: Sure, sure Ok. Well, first you need to improve your grammar in your correspondences. Your use of plurals and pronouns needs work.
B always started his responses off saying, “Sure, sure OK”. Also, as you can see B got quite defensive and once that happened B went on the offensive and was painfully blunt. Not only did he say U had to improve on her grammar, but also talked about her getting to work earlier, staying later, being more outspoken in meetings, meeting deadlines that she thought were unrealistic. Once B was finished, he asked U, “How will you prove this to me”? Savage.
Related:
There’s always been hype around Uneeda Burgers upgraded(“Fancy”) burger. Check out this excerpt from a food critic from The Stranger:
First of all, let me say that both burgers were excellent. Nothing wrong with relatively well-off suburban cows. Painted Hills, A+. HOWEVER. The Wagyu burger was a revelation. I mean literally like the book of Revelation, like eight flaming man-goats descended on fiery Segways and beat me in the face with their righteous swords of deliciousness….The Wagyu patty was soft without being insubstantial, drippier, darker, and beefier than its counterpart. The Wagyu burger made you forget that ketchup exists. Seriously, it was so good. If my mother were a cow, I would still eat this hamburger. If I were a hamburger, I would eat this hamburger. If I were this hamburger, I would eat myself.
Whoa. After reading this wouldn’t you be a tad bit curious to see if this burger was that good? So we had to do our own taste test.
As mentioned in our Uneeda Burger post, we have our favorite burgers, the Croque Madame Burger and the Crimini Mushroom Burger, so we’ve never had the “fancy” burger patty.
To really taste the patty, we just did the Classic Burger, which is as plain as you can get. It’s bun, patty, lettuce, tomato, pickle and sauce. We ordered one with the normal all-natural painted hills beef and then ordered the fancy patty made of gleason ranch 100% pasture-raised beef for an additional $2. Both were cooked to medium.
The Verdict: The regular classic is $5.00 and the “fancy” 100% pasture raised beef is an extra $2.00. In order to really compare, we had to test side by side, and there was a discernible difference with the pasture-raised beef. It is a bit more flavorful, but here’s the thing-the regular burger also has quality beef and it’s nearly as good. It was a fun experiment to do the taste test, but with the 40% markup on the pasture-raised beef, it’s not soooo much better in our opinion. Plus more importantly, we like the Uneeda burgers with the other quality ingredients like cheese, eggs, mushroom, ham,etc, so with the additional flavors and the regular burger already being of great quality, we don’t envision ordering the “fancy” burger going forward.
Update 9/22/19: Uneeda Burger just made Seattle Met’s 100 Best Restaurant
Related Articles:
- Paseo vs Un Bien
- Ezell’s vs Heaven Sent – Battle of Seattle’s Best Fried Chicken
- Battle of the North Seattle Taco Trucks
- Uneeda Burger – The Best Burger in Seattle