Peter walked to Macrina for an olive roll and better coffee than the hotel had to offer.
I took my sweet time catching up with him at Pike Place around 1pm.
Always a line at Piroshky Piroshky.
The selection is overwhelming but if you're only getting one, this is the one to get.
Giant snow crab rangoon.
Baked hom bao at Mee Sum Pastry.
$3 basket of fried chicken gizzards and hearts at Chicken Valley.
Baby's first corn dog.
Slurped up some raw scallops at City Fish and then went back later for more.
The season's first Copper River salmon are in and usually last only a couple of weeks. At the market, the King sells for $50/lb, filleted, and the Sockeye is $16/lb. Still, a 5 oz portion of Sockeye substituted for Coho salmon on a Caesar salad in the market is a $20 surcharge on an already $19 Caesar with salmon ($12 for the salad, $7 for the fish). The richer, fattier King- when restaurants have it- is usually a $40 surcharge on regular salmon items. We were recommended the salmon dish on Steelhead Diner's lunch menu by a server at another restaurant... "It's $25 normally, but it's $65 with King salmon and worth it."
Gonna need a few days to adjust to these prices before that's a possibility.
Tired of eating while standing, we got a table at Seatown Seabar.
Peter's Cranberry Cove, Penn Cove and Sun Hollow Oysters.
Super dilly house mix. Bloody Marys are definitely the worst idea ever or the best one, depending on a constellation of arbitrary factors. 360 days out of the year, the thought horrifies me, but when they're clutch, bring it. Mm so salty.
Whole Dungeness crab and a half pound of King Crab legs.
We were told the Dungeness would be richer and saltier than the king crab. It wasn't exactly salty or rich, but it was delicious and a joy to eat. They also had snow crab legs on the menu, but who needs to work that hard?
The king crab, though. Wow. Maybe the most stunning raw material either of us had ever tasted.
Seasoned with nothing but the seawater over which it was steamed.
It was also my first king crab. Because I'm averse to the idea of the waterlogged poly-fil crab legs I've always imagined lurking in the deep freeze of expensive steakhouses. And I was too cheap and stupid at 23 to get it when I was up and down coastal Alaska for a month, not realizing the incredible value I'd be getting and the unlikelihood that I'd encounter it so spanking fresh again.
Well, that was twelve years ago and I wasn't about to wait another twelve.
We ate it unadulterated at first. Then dunked in clarified butter towards the end. Dreamy.
Our server Ali brought me a little salad with Beecher's jack and pickled beets
to taste while Peter tried some local beers.
Afterward, instead of ice cream cones, we went for seared scallop chowder back over by the market.
This condiment really made it.
Mango-mate with tequila and cucumber-tarragon with gin. Fat squeeze of lime in both.
Happy hour at ZigZag. Mine was a Champagne cocktail with gin, pineapple syrup, lime, and grapefruit bitters. His was mezcal with pineapple syrup and lime. Good expressions of our respective tastes, although neither drink was memorable.
The deviled eggs looked good so we got those too. The chicharrones also looked good but we practiced restraint (just to make sure it still worked).
More food at Umi. Started with a yuzu margarita and P had an Otis Elevator- Aperol, lime, tequila and a lemongrass ginger jalapeño syrup.
We didn't order edamame. It magically appears on everyone's tables.
White King, Sockeye and King salmon.
Shrimp and scallop gyoza.
Tartare. Way too much going on- had that kitchen sinky taste; not metaphorically but literally. Like a garbage disposal.
Same with this Panda Roll or salmon skin and albacore. Perfectly fine before it got slimed with this black sesame nightmare straight out of the scene in Jurassic Park where Dennis Nedry is devoured by the Dilophosaurus.
Ended the night with a gin flight for P.
We Can Do It! Which nicely summed up the spirit of the whole afternoon and evening.
Copperworks sherry barrel-aged gin for me.
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