Ah, we made it. The last stop on our food tour in the PNW. A lot of our friends and family mentioned, “wow, you guys ate a lot of good food up there huh?” in reaction to our posts on Instagram. I can confirm that we did eat very good for sure. Although Hawaii is a melting pot of different cuisines, I was excited to try what else was out there. I went up to Seattle and Portland knowing that I’d save a lot of my money to eat all the foods that I wanted to try. We got to try Caribbean sandwiches for the first time, eat at a delicious steakhouse, try house-made pasta at an Italian restaurant, delicious hand-pulled Taiwanese noodles, and much more. I’ll try to keep each summary short and sweet, since there’s so many that I want to showcase!
The Butcher’s Table
Knowing that my boyfriend is a steak-lover, I knew I had to find a spot-on steakhouse in the Seattle area. Only one block from our hotel was a steakhouse called The Butcher’s Table. What sold us was that they get all of their beef from Mishima Reserve, and they have tasting flights of the various grades of steak! So of course, my boyfriend ordered their 12-ounces of Filet Mignon. It was 3, 4 oz. cuts of filet mignon varying from 4-star, to ultra, to a Miyazaki wagyu cut. From his facial expressions, I could tell he was loving it.
We had an apple salad as our appetizer to try their local produce, and I ordered the 5-star Eye of Rib with a side of king crab Oscar and smoked bone marrow. Everything was SO DELICIOUS! Our server was from O’ahu and she sent over some beef fat fries, which were also so good. We ended our night with another glass of wine and their delicious cinnamon sugar beignets for birthday celebrations. It was a great night!
Paseo Caribbean Food
I love learning about the local hole-in-the-wall restaurants, because most of the time those have the best food! A friend took us to Paseo Caribbean Food, a stop he always has to take when traveling to the area. We tried their Cubano sandwiches and I tried their pulled pork plate with rice, beans, and corn. The pork had a savory yet sweet taste, and I could taste a little bit of vinegar in there as well. I’m also not a huge fan of beans but paired with the rice and pork – I had to slow myself down from inhaling the whole plate. We tied our deliciously large lunch with a crisp draft beer from a local brewery and waddled our way out the door.
Cascina Spinasse
This Italian restaurant, Cascina Spinasse, was my boyfriend’s friend’s go-to spot when taking out-of-town guests out to eat. At first, I was thinking “Italian food? I can get that anywhere!” But man, I was wrong. Cascina Spinasse was a great experience from ordering to food to the ambiance. Located at Capitol Hill, we were just a short Uber ride away (to avoid the crazy parking situation).
We let our hosts order everything and had open minds about the food we were going to eat. All the pasta is made fresh in-house, and their specialty is a thin egg-yolk pasta called Tajarin that is cut very finely (like thinner than angel hair pasta), and they make it in house. They ordered a platter of Prosciutto Di Parma, a beet salad with crème fraise, and the Cipollini as appetizers. The Cipollini was a beef and pork meatball inside of a mini caramelized onion, with a light sauce and toasted pine nuts. Delicious! We were shocked at the size of the prosciutto platter, because of how generous the portion was for the price.
Our pasta arrived, and I was so excited. We ordered the Tajarin con Burro e Salvia, Tajarin Al Ragu, and Agnolotti di Coniglio. The Burro e Salvia was the thin pasta in a beautifully light yet creamy butter and sage sauce. It sounds simple, but it was so good. The Ragu had a nice flavor without being too heavy. Finally, the Agnolotti was like small ravioli stuffed with braised rabbit. A first for my boyfriend and I, but we enjoyed all of the pasta dishes.
Finally, we ended our feast of a dinner with the Capunet, a roll of braised beef, pork, and vegetables in a chard leaf with a caramelized honey sauce. All the flavors were so balanced and complimented each other very well. We all joked that it was like an Italian laulau (Hawaiian dish) and had a great time.
Biang Biang Noodles
Hand pulled noodles is a tradition that has yet to reach Hawaii. After many Youtube videos and Instagram posts taunting us, my boyfriend decided to hunt down a hand pulled noodle restaurant in Seattle. He found Biang Biang Noodles in Capitol Hill, only a 7-minute drive from our hotel. Once again, because of the crazy parking and drivers in the area, we decided to Uber.
We wanted a nice warm bowl of spicy Asian noodles and something to drink (of course). They offered a few dry mixed noodles, soup noodles, bao, dumplings, and other side dishes. In the dining room there is also a section where you can watch a chef prepare dumplings and roll out noodles. They also have an array of iced teas and alcoholic beverages. My boyfriend ordered the Cumin Lamb dry mix noodles, and I ordered the Stew Pork Belly Soup noodles and a side of their Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings. When the server dropped off our bowls of noodles our eyes got huge! These noodles were no joke!
In both dishes, the hand pulled noodles were the perfect QQ consistency, and not doughy at all. The seasoning on the dry noodles had that mala spice that is numbing but flavorful, and my stew pork belly soup was delectably flavorful like a slightly spicy tonkotsu broth with thick cuts of tender pork belly. We paired our noodles with Taiwanese lychee beer and house hot sake. We left Biang Biang with our bellies full and very happy.
This trip overall left us full and so content. We got to try new food that we normally wouldn’t have at home and gained a lot more food experiences to store in our belt (figuratively and literally). We even stopped by at Pike’s Place Market and I’ll need to make a separate post at a later time for all that we got to try. After this trip I am even more inspired about food and other cuisines and want to expand my foodie knowledge more. I can’t wait to travel to other places and eat more food. Where’s another foodie city that I can travel to? Maybe that’s where I’ll travel next.
Until next time…
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