Notes on a couple of well-known Seattle restaurants

While we're remodeling the kitchen, we're eating out a lot more. And since one of us just celebrated a birthday we took the opportunity to go a little more luxe than usual. That meant dinner at Daniel's Broiler on Lake Washington this week, for starters. Daniel's has a great view, even if it is raining (which it wasn't). The steaks, while quite expensive, are very good. My filet was "like buttah" as a prime steak should be. And my husband couldn't finish the porterhouse (but it made great steak salad the next day). The creamed spinach is about the best we've had at a steakhouse, and they do a good job of keeping it a nice bright green. The yukon gold mashed potatoes are a good choice for potato, not a puree or too drippy, with some nice lumps for texture. I would not recommend getting the tomato and onion salad unless tomatoes are really in season; while the server told me they had "great" tomatoes, it was still obvious they were out of season beefsteaks. Go for the mixed green salad instead, hubby thought it was great. Sunday is the best day to go, since every bottle under $100 on their wine list is half-price. Be forewarned that there aren't that many bottles under $100, but there are some good ones. Second "pull out the stops" dinner was at Salty's on Alki. It was a beautiful day (two in a row!) so the window table we had gave us a great view of downtown Seattle. The king salmon was fresh so I had it roasted on top of a potato/chorizo fritter. I thought the fish was a little overdone but still tasty, and the fritter was about 3" across with the fish served on top of it. It was together a nice texture and flavor combination, and went really well with the Laeticia pinot noir I had. The fruitiness cut through some of the fat of the fish and stood up well to the spiciness in the chorizo. But the star of dinner, as it always is at Salty's, is pastry chef Jane Gibbons' white chocolate mousse cake. You get a free piece on your birthday, too :) It is incredibly light and really rich at the same time. We had a whole cake made for our wedding reception last year and it was the hit of the party. Worth it sometimes just to stop in there for dessert. Off to someplace else tonite. I can't wait for our new kitchen to be finished, but the eating out is kind of a treat, at least for a little while...I'll get some new ideas to try when I'm back at the stove.