Seattle Trip: Boat Show and Eating

We had a great trip to Seattle last month. The weather was pretty nice – little rain and mostly clear skies. We stayed at a hotel downtown so that we could be close to some good restaurants and the qwest field where the Seattle Boat Shop was located. We had a nice room that looked out over the harbor steps. At first I thought it was going to be noisy but it wasn't.

We had great meals at some of our repeat restaurants: Ipmanema Grill, Steelhead Diner, Umi Sake House (although I was disappointed that the heated toilet seats were turned off), and Palomino (although the portions were very petite). New to us restaurant Taphouse Grill was bleh although I did enjoy seeing the 160 beer taps behind the bar. But I only wanted 1 beer, not 160. But La Vita e Bella restaurant in Belltown is a keeper. The food was good and the waitstaff was very attentive. I had the porchini mushroom ravioli - delicious!

Another reason we wanted to stay downtown is that we wanted to take in Avatar 3D at the IMax at Seattle Center and we wanted to be able to walk to it. WOW. Even if you don't have access to an IMAX you have got to seek out the movie in 3D. What an experience! I didn't even get a chance to eat my popcorn!

The boat show was amazing! I have never seen that many shiny expensive boats all in one place. It was great to be able to go aboard to see the different layouts and to see what accommodations might be like. On some of the newer models the layout is would be perfect for us. But we'll have to wait for about 5-7 years when these models become used before they will be parked outside our front steps!

Probably one of most interesting boats was the Sealegs - an amphibious boat available in either a rigid inflatable hull or an all aluminum boat. Except for not having a hard top on it, it would be great for SE. There are alot of sand/small rocky beaches that you could pull up to and drive up out of the water and not have to worry about setting an anchor. The tide is so variable in Alaska it would be great not to have to worry about your boat.

We also looked at different power catamarans thinking that they would be really seaworthy and stable plus they seem to give you a lot more inside space. We liked the ArrowCat and the one they had in the boat show had a solid bulkhead which you really need here. And we liked the Aspen model too.

Wants some beef with those tires?

We had some new tires put on the Yukon and got something else to chew on at the same time! We got a pretty good deal - 4 tires for the truck and extra spare tires from all the processed and fatty sausage.

Because of food allergies, we don't normally seek out sushi restaurants but this would be one we might have to look for next time we're in abroad, Inamo restaurant in London's fashionable SoHo district. Touchscreen menus for choosing and ordering your food, paying your bill (will separate by order if you're with a group), webcams in the kitchen to see if your food is being spit in or tenderized by being dropped on the floor, and more. Who would have time for eating!

We went to Tarentino's Italian Restaurant for my birthday celebration. Located where the Wild Spice was and before that a Russian Tea House, this new establishment openned around the first of the year. We started out with a nice green salad with mixed greens and the house italian dressing. The dressing was made up of marinated roma tomatoes in a flavorful oil and vinegar mixture. Crusty fresh garlic bread kept us going until the main course came. I had Shrimp Diablo on a bed of angel hair. Spicy red sauce with at least a dozen shrimp. Tim had the Veal Parmagian and the house pasta. Two large filets filled his plate. The food was pretty good. We've had better and we've had worse food. The service was very good. We got there just in time to get a table and the place was packed. Where they had the big round mongonlian grill they have set up bar seating with what looked like a stainless steel bread warmer sitting on the grill itself. We'll go back someday and give it another try as its one of the better places to eat in Juneau.

Restaurant Review #16

I was just up in Fairbanks for a week in the office. On my way home I had a long layover in Anchorage and my sister and family took me to a restaurant downtown in a little pink house called the Gumbo House. It wasn't quite New Orleans, but it was pretty tasty. I had the kitchen sink gumbo (lots of chicken, shrimp, oysters) and have endured the heart burn with pleasure but my sister and niece had the jambalaya and it would definitely be my choice if I were to visit again. My bro-in-law and other niece had a Po'Boy which also looked very good although maybe a little messy. Portions were ample.

I think my bowl of gumbo was about $8 and it came with 2 scoops of rice. There was also a choice of ordering a bucket which must have been huge! I also had a corn muffin (nothing to drool over) and I couldn't finish it all.

So if you're in the area – stop by for some cajun! Its a great way to celebrate Fat Tuesday!

Grand Canyon Fly-over

Ever impressive Grand Canyon - even from the air, the beauty of the canyon's depths and color stratification is breathtaking.


I didn't get much time in Phoenix to do very much but one does have to eat and there were some good choices for dining right around the hotel and conference center.

One place I wanted to go but never had the chance is a small placed like Matt's Big Breakfast at 801 N 1st St. When I first saw this small square block building it was Saturday morning on my way to the downtown market. The line went out the door, around the block and down the street. From what I gather, its not a place to go for a healthy breakfast but if you're in the mood for greasy hashbrowns, thick slices of bacon or waffles, then you might want to check it out.

Here's some placed I did make it to with good results:

SAM – interesting menu with Spanish And Mexican food. I went with a large group and was amazed at the service. Without even asking the waiter gave us separate checks, all correctly itemized; the dishes were delivered to exactly who placed the order and all special requests were fulfilled. The menu was really interesting with a wide variety of items. I think most of us had something southwesty. I had shrimp tacos which were served with a mexican coleslaw. This is the same place that serves the white chocolate pecan tamales!

My Big Fat Greek Restaurant – unless its made at home I don't get a chance for greek food very often. I had a combo meal with spanikopita, pastisito and roasted potatoes with a lemon sauce and a baklava cheesecake to take back to the hotel with me. I have to say I was really disappointed in the cheesecake. It wasn't very good and I didn't finish it. It was bland and had a doughy crust. The potatoes were really good and this recipe I found is similar. I made too much sauce for the amount of potatoes I made but it was very tasty. I will add more lemon juice next time and would probably slice the potatoes so there is more surface area touching the sauce when it marinates (maybe even steam them a little before marinating). I used little swedish taters.

One note - I was sitting near a little girl about 4 who had a dvd player set up by her Dad so that she could watch movies while he talked to an older couple (maybe the grandparents). That was a first for me. It seemed to be that she was old enough to participate in conversation and start learning how to eat in a public setting. In fact the older lady kept trying to engage the little girl in conversation. But then, I don't have kids so what do I know.

Probably the best spot for dinner was a little doorway where you got a big slice of pizza, a green salad, and a big glass of wine (from a bottle) for $7.50!

Restaurant Review #15

Last week Tim and I walked over to Olivia's De Mexico Authentic Mexican Restaurant for lunch. We both ordered the lunch special, cheese enchilada and beef taco with rice and I had tortilla soup and Tim had a garden salad. YUM - why haven't we been eating here more often! Both of us have been here on previous trips and have enjoyed it but since we've moved here we just haven't ventured out. I guess we just forgot about it being hidden away in the basement. Since its close to the capitol I'm sure it gets really busy during the session.

We started out with some chips and salsa - the salsa had a really fresh taste. It wasn't spice, not even a spec of hotness but it was delicious. My soup was also very tasty. It was tomato based at had a lot of crisp tortillas strips in it. I really enjoyed the streamed corn tortilas for the beef taco. It was so fresh tasting; not greasy from being fried or tough from being microwaved or placed in the oven. It was delicious! So delicious that we had a revelation on making tortillas at home. We recently got a new rice steamer (thanks Zac and Rachelle for showing off yours!) which came with a steamer rack. We wrapped some corn tortillas in a terry cloth dish towel, heated the steamer up to boiling, added the tortillas to the steamer rack and let it sit for a couple minutes, then turned the steamer off. After they sat for a little while (maybe 10-15 minutes) we too sat down to eat. The tortillas were hot, hot, HOT! and so tender that they ripped quite easily. We normally dry gilled corn tortillas in a cast iron skillet but I think we'll be switching to this method from now on. So easy!

Check out this link: http://www.fronterakitchens.com/cooking/techniques/reheat_tortilla.html

So we follow the fortune cookie, right?

Tim and I had lunch on Friday at Dragon Inn in Lemon Creek. We had been here for dinner when we first moved to Juneau and thought we should give it another try. They meal was decent for ordering "lunch specials." We got a bowl of soup with rice and entree: we split pork tenderloin with a sweet and sour sauce and General Tsao's Chicken - nothing special about the taste or the portion. The soup was very good - Tim had the hot and sour and I had a seafood soup. It came it a huge bowl. The soup plus the dim sum platter we ordered was really all I needed! The dim sum platter had fried egg roll, dumplings, jalapenos with a pork middle (yum), terriyaki beef (pretty chewey), and steamed shrimp sho mao (yum). There were only about 4 tables with people but it looked like the restaurant were doing a pretty good takeout business.

We had just looked at a house that we were thinking about making an offer on so were really scratching our heads when we read our fortunes in our cookies!

Opportunity knocks on your door tomorrow! Act Soon!


Be prepared to modify your plan.

Restaurant Review #14

We hit a few restaurants on our recent trip to Washington and here are some that were good enough to share with you:

Tidbits: In the Capitol Hill district, Seattle. Oh this was gooood. It turns out that my niece's new studio is right next door to this place and when she stopped in one day she realized that the owner is an old co-worker of hers who always wanted to open his own place. Well he did, and we were very happy to enjoy an incredible brunch one Saturday morning. I had this really decadent cheese/pasta dish with a warmed marinara - it was rich and oh so good. I don't see it on their menu so I can't give any more details. Sweet potatoes fries and mashed potato cakes were served with the other's entres along with some homemade plum jam that tasted a lot like apple butter. Gluten-free menu options are available!

Dim Sum - at House of Hong in Seattle
Yummy dim sum dishes that you could eat all day if you had the time. The only down side was having to weave through the traffic going to Qwest Field before a football game. The coconut bao was awesome. I used to really enjoy going into San Fransisco to China Town with my chinese college buds and having them introduce me to the wonders of dim sum. I loved the variety of the little dishes and the sampling of food that came by on the carts wheeled around by little chinese ladies. The atmosphere for dim sum is also very festive and its a place where you gather with friends or family to enjoy conversation and potstickers, shao mao, pork buns, dumplings, ribs, char sui, phoenix talons (if you dare), and the sweets like egg custard and steamed black bean balls.

Elysian Brewing Company - Capitol Hill Seattle
I don't remember eating, but I do remember the great beers: Night Owl Pumpkin Ale and Perseus Porter. This was the same day we went for dim sum and I had a caesar salad for dinner to go with my beers. They had other beers on their list that we tried but I've forgotten what they all were.

After dinner we went to my niece's dance performance at the Century Ballroom. The compnay, D9, put on quite a show. There were only two pieces but they were both very detailed and lasted about 25 minutes. I can't believe that the dancers were able to keep it up for that long. I'm pretty sure that this performance was better then anything I saw her do while she was in college. It was really good to see her dancing again. I even won a silent auction for a really nice assortment of massage therapy gifts from Waking Life: sea salts, hot/cold bag (for those ailing muscles and joints) a really cool body wrap blanket, and a dvd called, "Understanding Qigong: The Human Qi Circulatory System." Friday is usually movie night so I'll have to let you know how it is!

Auga Verde - University District, Seattle
This place is always busy so it was good that we got there for a late lunch. You order at the front and then the food is delivered. It doesn't take very long and its worth the wait. I had the Boniato, yams sautéed with mild chiles and onions with cotija cheese and creamy avocado sauce. The steak tacos were also very good. You may want to order some beans and rice on the side. This cafe is on the waterway and is a fun place to go to watch the boats go by. You can also rent kayaks here.

Olive Garden - Bellingham
Ok - I admit that we may have planned destinations on road trips based on going to Olive Garden. We have often found an Olive Garden and then googled for a nearby hotel so that we could walk. This may often also align to go with bull riding events, but not always. Not that the food is that great, but it isn't that bad: its always predictable and we have our favorite dishes. We almost always get the artichoke-spinach dip while we're waiting in the bar for a table. We love the bottom-less salad and the breadsticks. Tim almost always gets the Tour of Italy (lasagna, chicken parmigiana and creamy fettuccine alfredo) and I usually get some type of pasta with seafood (clams or shrimp) or sometimes I get the cheese ravioli.

Pickles Deli on Whidbey Island near Clinton (and near Kate's Cottage!)
These sandwiches were so delicious, a deli that featured Boar's Head Meats. We got three different sandwiches and split them between 5 of us. I don't even know what kind they were but all of them were full of flavor. I especially liked the one with horseradish, black olives, and maybe pastrami (?). Maybe it was just being at the beach, walking in the sand with my graying hair blowing in the gentle ocean breeze, but YUM!

Palmer's Restaurant - LaConner
LaConner is an interesting little town. We stayed at the Channel Lodge and enjoyed the in-room fireplace. We stayed here last Christmas break and had a nice quiet stay. You can walk to everything in LaConner so its a nice place to park the car and explore the galleries, yarn store, restaurants, shopping, and harbor. I haven't been yet, but there's a Quilt Museum. This might be a good spot for a "Sister's Retreat!"

We had dinner at a nice waterfront restaurant, called Palmer's, which featured a seafood-theme menu. Tim had the f-n-c and I had Coquilles St Jacques, I mean, how can you go wrong with a mornay sauce and guyere cheese. Luckily we always do lots of walking when we're traveling or otherwise we have to buy new pants! We were starved at 5:30 so we thought we'd take our changes for an early dinner. We didn't see anyone else in the restaurant so we were a little hesitant to enter but went in anyway, remember, we were starved! Our waiter was from south america and he was hard to understand but he was very responsive. As the hour grew later, more people came in for dinner and I'm sure they too enjoyed a good meal.

Charlie's - Anacortes
This was probably the 2nd best find of the trip (tidbits being first :)) Located right across the street from the Ship Harbor Inn, we enjoyed a really nice dinner complete with complimentary shrimp cocktail. I had the Clam Fettuchini which was busting with clams. Normally you may get 12-14 but this was loaded with over 2 dozen nice-sized clams. Tim decided on prime rib. Now being from Fairbanks and being used to the Turtle Club for your prime rib fix, we're always hesitant to order prime outside of the boundaries of Fox. But being gone from Fairbanks for awhile, Tim thought he'd take a chance. His tastebuds might be in a deprived state but he actually thought the prime rib was pretty close to the turtle, unbelievable, I know. He even shared with me and I have to say that it was pretty good.

We had driven around quite a bit this day and finally settled in at the Ship Harbor Inn which is one of the last stops on the road before you get to the Anacortes Ferry. The compound was made up of small cottages. We splurged and got the deluxe queen for a special rate of $79. What a deal. We had a nice cottage with a separate bedroom, kitchen, and a nice little front porch that looked out over a meadow and a filtered view of the water and ferry terminal. If we ever find ourselves in the area before we'll stop here again.

On Rice Thai Bistro - Fairhaven, Bellingham
Maybe it was the bristo part or maybe it was the live baby grand piano playing of pop songs that made the food unappetizing. Won't be going back here.

Gustavus Proper

Gustavus is flat compared to the rest of southeast. The land is covered with meadows. This time of the year there is green grass and blue lupine everywhere! Gustavus is actually on the mainland of Alaska and since a lot of the glaciers have melted or receded there are actually moose living here. We almost ran into one on our drive from Bartlett Cove into town! What a surprise - and it was so fun to see a moose - but not at such a close range!

Susan met us at the main road in the Mule! We drove in partway on her road and then walked the rest of the way through the mud on the new part of her road that she's having built to their home on the Salmon River.


Gustavus is Green...and the soil seems fertile - everyone has a garden and we got to sample some of the fresh produce during our stay. We enjoyed a great dinner at the Gustavus Inn, a famous inn and restaurant in town. They grow a lot of their own produce and we enjoyed fresh greens in a salad with a homemade vinaigrette, homemade rolls, a mixture of steamed carrots, green beans, and beach asparagus, a delicious halibut/cheese dish (I can't remember the name they called it) much like a dish my mom made, and homemade fresh rhubarb pie. YUM!

Here's my mom's recipe:

Marinate halibut fillets overnight in white wine (we don't always do this and it doesn't seem to make that much difference so you might want to just save the wine and have it while you're fixing this dish!)

1/2 c chopped or sliced onion
1-1 1/2 c mayo
1-1 1/2 c sour cream
1-1 1/2 c shredded cheese
garlic
black pepper, to taste
wine
cracker crumbs

Rolls fillets in cracker crumbs and place in a baking dish. Mix mayo, sour cream, part of the cheese, wine, garlic, pepper. Spread onions over halibut, then the mayo mixture and top with remaining cheese. Sprinkle top with paprika.

Bake for 40-60 minutes at 350°.

We sometimes add sliced mushroom, thinly sliced cauliflower or other veggies and have used different kinds of cheeses to vary the taste. YUM!!

This was taken at the Inn at the entrance to the garden - because there are moose around they have a large fence and other deterrents to keep the garden for the patrons of the Inn.


View from the front porch - looking towards the Excursion Ridge (in the clouds) and the Salmon River. River - more like a very clear creek. Gustavus used to be called Strawberry Ridge because of the abundance wild strawberries - we did see a lot of strawberry plants and a lot of them had fruit or flowers - Susan told us sometimes that sometimes the berries are everywhere!


The homestead


The bath house (with loft) where we stayed very comfortably. The view from the front door looked out over a slough with the bank filled with sitka roses and lupine.


We thought we should get out a take a nice long walk and enjoy the rain-free day so we headed off through the meadow towards town. We got to the "four-corners" where if you go left you go past the corner "mall" and down to the liquor store; go straight to the school, library, and airport, right to the grocery store, golf course and city dock. and if you turn around...well that takes you back to the place you came.

We made it down to the city dock and walked to the end. What struck me was how much sandy beach surrounded the area. We didn't take the time to walk it but it seemed to go on forever.


By the nine-hole golf course...

Here's us with our hosts: Susan, Lillian, and Tipper - thank you so much - we had a great time!

restaurant review #13

Channel Club in Sitka

If you had been to the old Channel Club in Sitka you might have remembered a dark, smoky place that had a decent salad bar and very popular for the carnivores for the best steaks in town. Then at some point they closed down, demolished the building and rebuilt. They reopened a couple weeks ago and have a lovely building with open beams and windows all along the waterfront.

We had an early dinner (5:30) on Saturday night anticipating getting done before sunset (around 7). The menu was pretty much limited to steaks (various cuts) and some alaskan fish entrees. They have a very nice salad bar although when we went up to get our salads there wasn't any salad greens and had to stand around for several minutes before getting someone's attention to brings more. They did have some delicious chunky blue cheese dressing. They had various veggies for the salad, potato salad, a nice fruit salad, mixed grilled marinated vegetables and two different soups: salmon chowder and fresh tomato basil soup with big chunks of fresh tomatoes in it. Unfortunately, none of us tried the soup but it looked delicious.

We didn't place our order until after going through the salad bar (mistake #1) and when we finally got that done we were almost done with the salads. Tim and Lois ordered the prime rib (mistake #2), BG ordered the 1/2 roasted chicken (mistake #3) and I ordered the seered Halibut (mistake #4). The side dishes, carmalized onion mashed potatoes, rice pilaf (with pine nuts and craisins), and steamed asparagas were very tasty.

Mistake #1 - we should have ordered before going to the salad bar because it took forever to get our entrees.

Mistake #2 - once you've gone to the Turtle Club and had the prime rib you just can't be satisfied anywhere else and Tim has tried many, many times, in many, many states. Besides the flavor there were issues with the meat not being cooked long enough so both had to be sent back.

Mistake #3 - when you order a 1/2 roasted chicken you should be prepared to get messy, preferably with a roll of paper towels and butcher paper as a table cloth. Its hard to eat the pieces without using your hands to pull pieces and parts out. BG said that the breast was dry.

Mistake #4 - the halibut was moist and flaky and looked beautiful but had very little flavor. I thought it was supposed to be a lime buerre blanc but I think they forgot the lime.

They were very busy - the place was packed and sitting was at a premium. We didn't get out of there until way past sunset and we did enjoy the views from the waterfront window. Would I go back? Yes - I think they'll get things worked out in a few weeks. I would probably wait on going back to dinner but would go for lunch if I had a chance.

restaurant review #12

The Broiler - Nugget Mall
Pretty good burger selection and decent looking salad bar - all at the mall. You order at the counter and then get served at your table. I had the avocado and swiss burger and Tim had the Rodman burger which was a 1/2 pd burger with grilled onions, mushrooms, and bacon. The fries weren't very good - not very warm nor crispy. In fact they tasted liked they had been cooked the day before and then put under a heat lamp. Next time I'll have the salad bar instead. There was a good selection of veggies and crunchies to put on mixed green. Even green jello!

Happy Anniversary, Juneau!

We've been here for a year...can you believe it. It seems like a short time ago that we were on the ferry out of Haines going down the Lynn Canal with a blazer full of essential items we thought we'd need right away and/or didn't trust to have shipped to us. But here we are, 365 days since we first arrived. So looking back, what have we accomplished, what have we seen, how many miles have we put in during our year here. LOL too bad I haven' been keeping better track and I could tell you.

Walking/Hiking: based on the 90 short walks of Juneau which lists most of the trails around here we have walked about 34 of them for about 118 miles and this doesn't count the ones that we've done more than once and all the miles we've walked along the beaches. Our favorite biking Trail is definitely the Herbert Glacier Trail. Our favorite walk that's an easy walk with a big payoff (a long sandy beach) is the Boy Scout Trail, and our favorite after-work walk would be at Sandy Beach.

Birding: we've seen at least 9 new bird species to add to our life list: Golden Crowned Kinglet, Eurasian Widgeon, Lapland Longspur, Common Yellowthroat, Hooded Merganser, American Redstart, Western Wood Peewee, and Heidi's favorite, the Northern Shrike. Tim chooses the Mountain Bluebird because there were so many of the them and they seemed to want to hang out and give a good show. There might be a few others but these are the ones that easily come to mind. We've seen 35 species just from the couch looking out the front window.

Food: Haven't eaten in all the restaurants in town yet! Actually we haven't been eating out very often at all. Heidi's favorite restaurant is the Island Pub (I don't think they have updated their website since we've gotten here) for beer and pizza. Tim casts his vote for the Zephyr: a Mediterranean bristro. Our favorite brewery would be Alaska Brewing Company!

We'd have several people come and visit us here and have taken 11 pictures of groups with Cappy, our house mascot. We've been to Sitka twice on the Ferry and have been to Fairbanks and Anchorage at least 4 times. We have driven to the end of the Thane Road and to the end of the Douglas Highway but have not driven to the end of the road towards Echo Cove yet!

restaurant review #11

As one does on vacation, we had many meals out of the house and had mostly good experiences.

Aspen: Hickory House - right on main street in Aspen. We timed our arrival perfectly getting one of the last tables and placing our order before the one larger group that got there before us had a chance to settle down. Two bbq sauces, one a little spicier than the other, but it was hard to pick a favorite. Jeanne and I had the pulled pork sandwich which wasn't really a sandwich as it was so stuffed you had to eat it with a fork. Tim got talked into having the baby-back ribs by a smooth-talking server. Kelsie had just had her braces adjusted so she settled for mac and cheese despite that server trying to talk her into the chili and although we tried to talk her into just having the applesauce. (stick to your guns, girl, don't bow to peer pressure!)

Glenwood Springs: Zheng - in Glenwood Meadows Mall. Interesting Asian Bistro with a diverse menu. We had it all: lots of water, asian beer, crab rangoon, potstickers, atomic shrimp, more water, ginger pork, garlic pork, two pitchers of water, General's chicken with special dipping sauce, shrimp lo mien, lots of great flavors. Oh yeah, we went here after soaking in the hot springs!

Seattle: Steelhead Diner (right above the public market) good place to get out of the rain and enjoy an interesting menu. I had a roasted pork sandwich with melted gouda cheese and Tim had a mushroom, onion burger served on sourdough. Fries came with and they were the best - hot and crispy on the outside and flaky on the inside. Just the right amount of salt. You didn't even want to spoil their taste with catsup!

LaConner: Seafood and Prime Rib House within walking distance of most things in this quaint little town amidst the tulip fields of the Skagit Valley. This restaurant was pretty good - nothing earth shattering but what you might expect from a seafood and steak house. I had crab stuffed prawns and Tim had the snapper fish and chips. Both served with Mac and Jack African Amber - one of our favorite beers. We stayed at the Channel Lodge a very nice place along the swinomish water channel. Complete with wine reception and extensive continental breakfast, we enjoyed the gas fireplace, big comfy arm chairs, and unlimited hot water.

Seattle: Ipanema Brazilian Grill An awesome dining experience that has to be planned since its all you can eat! Nothing better than young brazilain men welding long skewers of roasted meat, poultry, shrimp, and coming directly to your table and carving a hand-picked slice (or chuck). Thirteen types of grilled cuts including: beef, pork, boar, turkey, chicken, sausage, shrimp ending with grilled pineapple. This all comes after a trip to the salad/appetizer bar. Plus there's greens, black beans, fried bananas, whoo…and then we ordered dessert! Pave de Maracuja - passion fruit mousse and marscarpone cheese with lady fingers - a tropical tiramusu! Its a little on the pricey side but its an evening's worth of dining and entertainment.

More Thai - Can't go Wrong

There's a new Thai restaurant in Fairbanks (this must be the 8th or 9th place) and Sheri Keil and I enjoyed a great dinner tuesday night. Its a small place out by Ann's Greenhouse right as you turn up to go to Ester Dome. I think it's called On's Eggroll House. They have a small dining room - maybe 10 tables and a much larger deck for summer eating. I'm told that they do a pretty good take out business. Its in a perfect location for all those out Sheep Creek Road and Murphy dome area. Sheri had chicken, broccoli, spinach in a peanut sauce and it was delicious. The veggies were layered with the chicken on top. I had a red pork and vegtables on raman noodles in a spicy chili, like sauce - also delicious but a little hard to eat because the noodles were all clumped together. As I looked around the room other patrons were enjoying soups, salads, and other dishes. One little boy came and before he sat down announced, I'm having beef and baby corn - that's my favorite. I had already ordered so I'll have to keep that in mind next time!

Check back with me on Feb 5

I met Tim for lunch downtown at KENNY'S WOK & TERIYAKI the other day. Its located on Front Street a couple of blocks from Tim's office. There's also one in the Mendenhall Mall and a couple of places in Sitka. The restaurant setting is very nice with really great looking retro chairs. There's a sushi bar set up on one side and a guy behind it welding a knife. Didn't see anyone getting sushi for lunch.

The menu was varied and your typical chinese/japanese-americanized food. We each ordered a lunch special - I had General Taos' Chicken and Tim had Kung Pao Chicken and Sweet and Sour Pork. We both enjoyed our chicken but the pork wasn't very good. This is one of those places that if you want a really tasty meal I think you have to be really careful about picking from the menu. The food was ok and the price was not too bad. The service was really good and I think it might be a really good take-out place. I wonder if they would bring some chairs too? I'll have to take my camera next time to get a pic for you!

So here was my fortune...so stay tuned - I'll let you know what happens in February!

restaurant review #10

We recently met some friends for dinner at the restaurant in the Goldbelt Hotel along Eagan Highway downtown. The restaurant is called "Zen" and yep, you guessed it they serve food with an asian flare. It was friday night but the place wasn't crowded and we had a quiet table in the corner so we could talk. The decor was very nice and the table settings looked clean. We noticed that the chopsticks were stainless steal so I was hoping for sticky rice.

As you can see on their web site they have quite a choice and between the six of us we ordered quite a variety: Thai curry Shrimp, tofu and black mushroom stir fry, Kung pao chicken, shrimp with veggies, and Gen Tao's chicken. I think the Generals was my favorite - a little sweet and a little spicy. It was served with crisp broccoli. YUM. The tofu and black mushroom stir-fry was also pretty good.

They have a lunch special for $9 that includes and entree, miso soup or hot and sour soup, and
rice which sounds like a pretty good deal. I'd like to try the Szechuan String Beans and the sesame chicken.

So I give it a thumbs up for another try but we'll have to save up our nickels because like other dining experiences in Juneau, its on the pricey side.

restaurant review #9

Lemon Grass - Fairbanks

Had a lovely dinner at one of our favorite Thai restaurants in Fairbanks with Susan and Lillian last night. We started out with satay and veggie rolls. I really like the marinated cucumbers that come with the satay. The peanut sauce was also good. I had chicken in red curry that was very tasty. I asked for medium and it had a perfect spiciness for me - maybe hotter than a normal medium. Tim tried a new dish with ground pork and tomatoes in a chili sauce. It was also on the spicy side but delicious. It came with sliced cucumbers, chunks of cabbage, broccoli florets on the side. Lillian had the veggie panang curry which is always a good selection and Susan had chicken and eggplant. I didn't try it but others said it was good. The place was packed so I'm glad we met early. We had a good dinner and great conversation.

restaurant review #8

The Island Pub is close to our house but we had only been there to have a drink or listen to music… until today.

Lois, B.G. and Tim went to the Pub for lunch. Being the first ones in the door at 11:30 ensured a choice of seating. They took the corner table by the windows and looked over the menu of pizzas, salad and sandwiches as well as the feeding eagles and the creek running nearby.

The Island Pub is famous for it’s pizza menu. But, the luncheonaires decided to go the “Sammie” route instead of pizza.

Lois ordered the Island Blue salad. It was a green salad that included apples and candied walnuts in mixed greens with a vinaigrette with blue cheese crumbles. She thought the presentation was very professional and it was good. She also thought it was reasonably priced.

B.G. had the steak sandwich served on a home-made foccaccia roll with a blue cheese dressing. His steak was cooked to order and came in large pieces, sometimes hard to cut and eat on the sandwich. He thought it tasted very good and was done just the way he liked it.

Tim ordered the Italian BLT which also was served on the home-made foccaccia and included bacon, tomato, lettuce, fresh mozzarella, with a pesto/mayo sauce. Both of the men had a orso Italian salad on the side. It is their standard side dish with their sandwiches and included orso, slivered romaine and basil with a light vinegar dressing. It was fairly heavy with raw red onion which tasted good but could be a problem for the discerning business diner.

Lois and Tim helped B.G. finish the steak sandwich and no leftovers were packed to take home to Heidi because nothing was left over. But, everyone was full and felt the food was very well prepared and enjoyable. The owner waited on us and confirmed that it, in fact, HAD been “Mike’s Place” fifty years ago when Lois and B.G. were last there. The only disappointment was when Lois found out that they weren’t still serving the famous “Mikes” blue cheese salad dressing but the owner remembered the dressing from when he was a kid and knew what she was talking about. He claims to “own” the recipe from when he bought the restaurant site from the original owner, Rudy. We’ll go back and see if he brings back the salad dressing. It just may put the Island Pub on the map.

restaurant review #7

Tim's folks are in town and we decided to try out the Douglas Cafe which is just up the street from the house. We've been told that they had the best burgers in town. It been torture to walk past the place on the way to the library, post office, or newspaper stand during the lunch or dinner hour. The fan over the grill works really well and the mouthwater smell of burning grease wofts through the air.

Tim's mom ordered a cheese burger and onion rings. She thought the meat was a big dry. Tim also ordered a cheese burger with swiss cheese - he liked the idea of the burger being well down and gooped on lots of mustard. I had a patty melt and would have liked a few more grilled onions on it. Tims's dad had a cajun chicken sandwich with onion rings and thought it was pretty good, "Best onions rings" he's had in a while. You could have fries, onion rings, salad, or soup. They had black bean chili or the daily special, spicy sausage soup.

The breakfast menu looked pretty good and they also had several interesting sandwiches and salad combinations. They had about a dozen different burger choices. I think its a keeper and I validate their "Best Burgers."

restaurant review #6

We got all dressed up for a Saturday night on the town and had a great dinner at Zephyr, a relatively new restaurant in downtown Juneau. We had heard that it was very hard to get into without reservations but we thought we'd try it anyway. It was still pretty early (6:30) and we didn't have any problems getting a table. Serving food with a Mediterranean flavor, the menu selections were interesting and the wine list was extensive (and expensive). We decided to start with the Calamari appetizer in honor of an acquaintance, as ordering this dish has become a tradition for us. It could have used another minute in the fryer to make it crisper but it was very good served with a garlic aioli and a red pepper couli. We split a caesar salad and started on a Spanish Roija Alta from Bodegas Breton that was really yummy. Tim had veal scallopini and roasted potatoes and I had the polenta lasagna layered with portabella mushrooms, roasted red pepper, and asparagus. Both were served with vegetable of the day: asparagus. Besides the overdose of asparaGAS on my part the meal was all very good. This is a definite spot to return to as soon as we've tried out a few more places.

It was a very nice evening: warm, clear, no wind. We envied these folks who were cruising the channel in their motor boat.

restaurant review #5

Doc Water's Pub at the Wharf

Typical Alaska pub menu - halibut burger, salmon burger, cow burger, halibut fish and chips - good grub, interesting pub atmosphere. They have music 7 nights a week but we were too early for the evening's performance. We'll have to keep it in mind for another night. The salmon burger was a nice sockeye fillet, the halibut burger was served with avocado and pico de gallo, the cow burger had bacon and blue cheese (and tell me what's not delicious with these condiments) and the halibut fish and chips was served crispy and moist inside. The tartar sauce was homemade and was delicious. Definitely will go back for more grub and entertainment.

El Sombrero
Good mexican food in the tex-mex style–probably the only mexican restaurant I've been to where the entire kitchen and wait staff was caucasain! They fry up the chips fresh and the salsa had a nice kick to it. No hard liquor license but they had a decent wine margarita. I like them on the sweet side so it was good for me. We'll be back here for more mexican food.



Capital Cafe
Located in the Baranof Hotel, the cafe is very nice for breakfast or lunch. For lunch I had the halibut burger and Tim had a Reuben – we both had the fries and they were really crispy. Service was very nice and since it was in a hotel the bathrooms were very clean! I've heard that the dinners in the Gold Room are also very good so we'll have to save it for another night out.