Scenes from Seattle’s Bon Odori Festival

On Saturday, I texted my mom: “We’re at Obon in Seattle!” It’s kind of crazy that we’ve lived in Seattle for almost 5 years and never been to the Obon festival here. Or as Seattle calls it, Bon Odori. It’s a Buddhist festival of remembrance, but for me, it's always been more of a cultural event than a religious one. As a kid, Obon was synonymous with summer and it was about teri burgers and wontons and Okinawa dango and corn on the cob and snow cones and winning goldfish at carnival games and watching the bon dancing. And pretty much it still is. Even in a different city. You just don’t realize until you’re an adult how much those simple things connect you to so many other people.

ByMichelleJuly 25, 20123Comments

Restaurants

Traveling Chefs: Dominique Crenn at Matt’s in the Market

It's been four years since we left the Bay Area, so the list of restaurants we need to try has gotten ridiculously long. We don't get down there as much as we should (our friends can vouch for that!). So when an opportunity to try Dominique Crenn's "poetic culinaria" came up at Matt's in the Market, it was hard to pass up. Except we did, because I thought, well, we can't do these dinners two weeks in a row. It'll be too much. But then, after a wonderful meal with Andy Ricker, we went for it, got on the waiting list and hoped for the best. Not only was it a chance to try Chef Crenn’s modernist cuisine outside her home turf in the Bay Area, but it would be interesting to see how the two chefs -- Chef Crenn and Matt's Chef Chester Gerl -- would develop a menu of complements. In six courses, it was inventive, it was sometimes challenging, it was beautiful.

ByMichelleMay 16, 20121Comment

Restaurants

Traveling Chefs: Matt’s in the Market Meets Pok Pok

You never expect a Monday to be the best day of your week. But man, yesterday was about as good a Monday as it gets around here. A sunny, 75 degree day, where I sat out on the deck at lunch and then wrapped up the day with a Thai-themed extravaganza/ Traveling Chefs dinner at Matt's in the Market, with dishes from Matt's Chef Chester Gerl and Pok Pok's Andy Ricker, 2011 James Beard Foundation Best Chef Northwest.

ByMichelleMay 8, 20120Comments

Restaurants Travel

Ba Bar – Vietnamese Street Food in Capitol Hill

From the outside, Ba Bar (yes, Ba. Bar. Not the elephant.) looks like a coffee place. Its big windows face the street, and even as you step inside, the espresso bar with a few baked items is on your right. The floors are acid washed concrete. Walk into the main dining space and off to one side, there's an enormous, typical Pacific Northwest-looking wood bar. You might take it for a gastropub. But sit down and the menu in front of you is...Vietnamese street food.

ByMichelleApril 4, 20120Comments

Main Course Restaurants

The Berliner – Doner Kebab in Seattle

The last few days have been completely amazing in Seattle. Sunny as all get out. You don't know how exciting sunshine is until you haven't had it for awhile. On Saturday in all that beautiful sunshine, we headed downtown with a plan to stuff our faces, first at Sweet Iron, a newish liege waffle place we hadn't yet tried, and then to hit The Berliner, a doner kebab joint in Pioneer Square.

ByMichelleFebruary 7, 20120Comments

Restaurants

Skillet Diner – Capitol Hill

Summer is high time for road construction in the Pacific Northwest. Almost every weekend it seems there's at least one major closure in Seattle-- the bridges, key exits downtown, something. But one of the good things about Labor Day weekend is no planned road closures! And it was a long weekend, so I thought it was about time we got down to the bricks and mortar outpost of Skillet in Capitol Hill for a little brekky.

ByMichelleSeptember 8, 20110Comments

Restaurants

Seattle: Aloha Ramen in Greenwood

If there's a Starbucks on every corner in Seattle, right next to it is a teriyaki shop. We have more teriyaki joints (most of them unmemorable) around here than any other place I've ever lived. In fact, there's one right next door to Aloha Ramen, which just seems crazy to me. But there's no contest -- you want to go to Aloha Ramen. You think you want chicken teriyaki? No, no, you want karaage, Japanese fried chicken, right next door.

ByMichelleJune 28, 20110Comments

Travel

Seattle: Marjorie

> Over the weekend, OJ and I were in Seattle. We've been trying to get one meal in the city on our last few trips -- this time it was Marjorie in Belltown. It's a funky little place (in a good way) with what you might call a "New American" menu. We lucked out because it…

ByMichelleJune 25, 20080Comments