Archive for the ‘I District Eats’ Category
Saturday, December 10th, 2005
Ichiban is right next door a considerably more elegant Japanese restaurant where people stand in the entry waiting for their table. At Ichiban, there’s no wait. It’s a dumpy little diner of a place with vinyl booths, formica tables, and a small menu. I had the udon - a bowl of soup with fat noodles and a few pieces of tempura. Kevin had some kind of fish fillet with rice. I can’t remember what it was called.
The service is fine and the food is totally acceptable - nothing special, but nothing exceptional either. Ichiban is particulary cheap, 8 dollars for an entree, 4 for a beer. With more stylish places nearby, Ichiban doesn’t really warrant a second visit. It’s fine if you don’t want to wait, but you can do better. Next, please?
Ichiban is 601 S Main Street, on block north of Jackson at 6th.
Just a few doors up from Ichiban is the Panama Hotel, where we went to get a cup of tea after dinner. The Tea House is nothing short of gorgeous with high ceilings and polished wood floors and old photos of Seattle’s International District. There’s a thick slab of glass on the floor towards the back of the mail salon where you can look in to the basement and see the remnants of the Japanese bathhouse - and trunks and personal items left behind by Japanese families during the shameful time of internment camps. There’s an extensive selection of teas and you’re served up in style. It’s easy to imagine frittering away a rainy afternoon reading the Sunday paper or updating your blog using their free wi-fi. I’ll be taking everyone who comes to visit Seattle to the Panama Hotel when we go to the I-District.
The Tea House is at 607 S. Main.
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Monday, November 28th, 2005
I cheated on the Jackson Five and went to the I-District last night with my friend Brett. We picked Vietnam House for one reason only - I hadn’t been there yet.
Vietnam House has the same laminate tables, plain decor, and bright lighting that most of our Vietnamese places have. But the food sets it apart: It’s awesome. Oh my. And good lord, so cheap.
I had the spicy lemon grass chicken ‘bun’. Brett went for the stir fried gluten and tofu. Our dishes didn’t arrive in synch, but that’s okay because we’d started with the spring rolls made with crispy fried tofu. Yum.
Because I’m such a veggie eater at heart, I’m kind of picky when it comes to meat. No complaints here; my chicken was perfect. Brett’s stir fry came with a big pile of veggies, fresh and yummy, cooked just right. We both ate everything on our plates. I should probably have stopped halfway through but it was just so delicious.
And the total? 13 dollars. For two. While we were settling up at the register, something appetizing was coming out of the kitchen. “You’ll order that the next time,” the woman at the register said. She was right, we will.
Vietnam House is at 1036 S. Jackson, right next door to Tamarind Tree.
Posted in Food, Glorious Food, I District Eats | 2 Comments »
Thursday, July 14th, 2005
I ate at Malay Satay for the first time maybe, oh, five years ago. My pal B. and I were on this adventure eating kick and maybe once a month we’d go eat in an ethnic dive restaurant. Malay Satay totally blew us away. Then, when I worked at the start-up, one of the devs – a guy who was originally from Singapore – suggested we all go to lunch there one day and again, we were amazed by the food. I took my brother and Chinese sister-in-law there once and they couldn’t stop feasting.
Malay Satay been so successful that they went on to open another restaurant on the East side, though the Seattle Malay Satay closed down for a bit, I can’t remember exactly when. I guess they decided they needed to spruce it up a bit because after all, it was kind of a greasy dive. Okay, it was pretty bad in there. But whatever.
Malay Satay is all cleaned up and the food is as excellent as it’s always been. I’m trying to remember what we ordered, but I can never get past the Mango (Tofu) (Shrimp) (Chicken). See, they take a mango, cut it in half. They marinate both the mango and the filling of your choice in sweet chili sauce, stir fry the lot, and serve it up to you in the shell of the mango. This stuff makes me crazy. Crazy, I tellya.
There are a number of noodle dishes on the menu too. Most noodle dishes contain a little bit of everything – one had potato in it, which was delightful and surprising. The sauces are thick and a little like BBQ sauce. The food isn’t particularly spicy, but often comes with a side dish of chili dipping sauce in case you want extra fire. The Buddhist Delight was the only thing that was less than outstanding – a vegetable stir fry with glass noodles – but in spite of its shortcomings, the veggies were fresh and cooked just right and there were big slices of fresh ginger mixed in.
There’s no point in wasting any more words about Malay Satay except to say this: Go. Go early, because there’s going to be a line. Oh, and there’s this: 18 dollars a head, plus beer, for more than we could eat.
Malay Satay is at 212 12th Ave South - that’s at 12th and Jackson. Now go.
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Sunday, June 19th, 2005
Bill reminded me that I’m behind on my restaurant reviews. So here’s a two-for-one.
Jackson Street VII
Serendipitously, last Sunday found four Jackson Street Eaters in Nia’s house right around dinner time. I’d planned to go home and make dinner, but because I missed out on the Friday Feed, it was easy to convince me that what we really wanted to was wander over to Jackson Street for Vietnamese at the Moonlight Cafe.
Here are some good things about the Moonlight: It’s only a few blocks from Nia’s so we can walk. It’s cheap. They have a huge vegetarian menu. The food is really good.
The veggie menu bears special mention. The Moonlight has two menus that appear to be exactly the same. Except. One menu is the standard full menu, the other menu is the same menu, only it’s vegetarian. When you order Lemon Grass Chicken off the veggie menu, you get Lemon Grass Chicken, only the chicken isn’t chicken, it’s, well, what, exactly? It’s another product. Gluten? Seitan? Textured veggie protein? I know that this may not sound all that delicious to you, but actually, it’s really good. It’s a nice change from the standard “I’ll have the XYZ, tofu” option. The stuff doesn’t really taste like chicken, it’s more sausage like in it’s consistency, but it’s delicious, spicy, a little chewy (in a good way) and it swims in whatever sauce you’ve ordered.
Bill and I had the Lemon Grass (not) Chicken, Nia had the Lemon Grass Tofu, and Julius had the Chicken with Mushroom and Pineapple. I ordered the limeade too – I’m taking a cue from Bill’s bravery on the drinks and starting to order off that section of the menu, though I won’t get a red badge of courage for limeade. It was delicious, though, lots of sugar at the bottom of the glass. A little bit like a mojito without the alcohol. We got some tofu rolls for a starter. I find these things not exactly bursting with flavor, but I do enjoy them and they take the edge of your appetite.
The service is spotty there, the meals arrived in a random manner, the waitress seemed distracted, and the environment is a bit like a roadside diner with maroon vinyl booths. No matter. For flavor, the food is right up there at the top with Saigon Bistro. We came out at 13 dollars a head.
The Moonlight Café is at 1919 S Jackson.
Cherry Street I
This week, we braved new territory and headed down Cherry for Ethiopian Food. We’d all recently had our heads turned by the expansive outdoor patio at Meskel. There were six of us, with special guest stars Kevin and Erin joining in.
Here’s the deal with Ethiopian food: no cutlery. The dishes are something between a curry and a stew. They’re served on big round trays topped with injera, the spongy bread that you use to eat everything with. You tear off a bit of bread and use it to pick up your stew or soak up your sauce. It’s messy but fun.
We had three chicken stews, a beef, a lamb, and a vegetarian plate. I forgot to take notes (bad blogger, bad!) so I can’t recall the exact names, except for the veggie plate and the green chicken. The green chicken was really good – chicken stewed with collard greens, as was the chicken I ordered. It was served in a dark red spicy sauce with a mild cheese, a little like paneer, a little like cottage cheese. I found the other chicken dish a little plain. I didn’t try the beef or the lamb, but they got the thumbs up, and Bill said the veggie plate was excellent. I was a little envious of him because when you order the veggie plate, you get a variety of things to try. I shouldn’t complain, though, we had three kinds of chicken, salad, sauce, and cheese, on our tray.
Compared to our usual Jackson Street venues, this place is spotless inside. It’s not fancy, but there’s nothing divey about it. There’s a fair showing of Ethiopians there, too, making you feel like it’s not just food for gringos.
The folks at Meskel are awfully nice, with a certain wacky demeanor that makes you feel like they’re a little amused by your presence. They’re helpful with the menu and the service is quite good. When we were all leaning back in our chairs, one of the waitresses came out with a genuinely concerned look on her face about the amount of food still left in front of us. “Was everything okay?” she asked, as though we hadn’t eaten it all because we hadn’t liked it. Truth is, we were collectively full to bursting, a side affect of eating a meal that’s driven by spongy bread. She brightened visibly after we agreed to take the leftovers home, but still seemed a little hurt by the fact that we declined the leftover injera.
Meskel isn’t as cheap as Asian food on Jackson, but it’s still mighty affordable at 16 dollars a head. And they have a delightful patio for those balmy summer evenings. We’ll be back.
Meskel is at 2605 E Cherry St. Here’s a review.
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Saturday, May 28th, 2005
Let’s get the most critical information out of the way first: The waiter at Saigon Bistro is totally hot. Whew, what a looker. Okay then? Okay. Now, the food.
Saigon Bistro is a favorite of Bill and Nia’s. They swear by the crepes and you can’t beat the price, we came in at 11 dollars each, including tip. Okay, there wasn’t much beer on the table, but we did order a handful of specialty drinks. Bill, always brave when it comes to the beverage section, ordered the pickled plum drink. Salty and weird, I found it near undrinkable, but Bill seemed to take to it as the dinner progressed. Terry and I each had coconut juice, icy and sweet with chunks of white coconut meat in the glass, a good call for a warm evening.
Vietnamese food is just the thing when it’s hot out – and yesterday we had a high of 90. The food is light, though not everyone finds it filling enough. “I feel like I should go home and eat lasagna,” said Terry. I was plenty satisfied with my meal, the grilled lemon grass chicken skewers served with all the stuff to make roll-ups: wrappers, lettuce, basil, veggies, rice noodles, lettuce, and dipping sauce. Bill and Nia both had the crepe, Bill’s was served roll up style, Nia’s with lettuce. Terry and Julius had the shrimp, Terry’s with rice, Julius’ with noodles. They were both a little underwhelmed by their food though Julius did say he’d order it again.
There’s so much Vietnamese food on Jackson Street that we’re starting to learn our way around it. Terry’s beginning to conclude that he just doesn’t like Vietnamese food that much, saying he finds it insubstantial and too much work. “I just want to eat my dinner; I don’t want to have to prepare it also.” Fair enough.
Saigon Bistro gets a 3.5 out of 5 from the Jackson Street Eaters. It’s worth noting that the three of us that like Vietnamese food REALLY like Saigon Bistro, we’d recommend it highly. It’s a friendly place, too. The staff are helpful and the menu is simple and completely translated. (We’ve been to some places where there are whole sections that are in Vietnamese so who knows what we’re missing.) It’s totally charmless; it’s a bit like a workplace cafeteria, but no matter, the food is fresh and good and cheap. They’ve got big tables, go with friends.
Saigon Bistro is at 1032 S Jackson St, just west of 12th in the upper part of the Viet Wah complex. The parking lot is a bit of a challenge, be warned.
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Monday, May 23rd, 2005
The cool thing about the Jackson Street Crawl is that no matter the quality of the food, the company is always excellent. This little byproduct of having fine friends that also like to eat was important this Friday at New Kowloon where the food was, well, unexceptional but the company? First rate.
We opted for New Kowloon for two reasons. First, they’re known for their Dim Sum. Second, we were a large group, seven this time, and we wanted a place with big tables. New Kowloon is huge, the word cavernous comes to mind. There are plenty of those big round tables that seat eight and a dance floor, and a disco ball. There’s a menu that matches the size of the place - it’s near impossible to decide what to eat. Though unfortunately, it turns out there’s not much on the menu you do want.
Exceptions to the primarily bland food on the table were the Chow Fun with BBq Pork, the Singapore Noodles, and the Squid in Black Bean Sauce. The rest of the food was just not that good. Don’t get me wrong, it’s wasn’t bad food, but with Sichuan Cuisine and Seven Star Peppers just up the street, there’s no excuse for a place to serve up second rate meals.
Word has it that New Kowloon makes fine dim sum, so I’m not going to knock it off the list entirely. I absolutely will not be going back there for dinner any time soon, but I’m willing to give it another try for the meal they’re known better for.
Here’s another review of New Kowloon that pretty much agrees with what I’ve said.
New Kowloon is at 900 Jackson. Dinner was 18$ each with beer. Not as cheap as Sichuan Cuisine and nowhere near as good.
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