Joule

I recently had the pleasure of introducing one of my favorite Seattle restaurants, Joule, to one of my friends.  I had mentioned Joule in passing a couple of times, and each time my friend would say, "I gotta go check out that Korean fusion place you mentioned."  Finally, we set a date so that he could taste all the wonders that I had been raving about.

Joule is a French-Korean fusion restaurant located in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle.  You may recognize the chefs/owners, Seif Chirchi and Rachel Yang, who appeared in an episode of Iron Chef America in early 2010.  Chirchi and Yang are married, and met while working in the kitchen at Alain Ducasse's Essex House in NYC.  Both chefs have an impressive culinary history.  In addition to Ducasses, the chefs have also worked for Thomas Keller and Daniel Boulud.  Joule has a sister restaurant in Revel, which is located in the nearby Fremont neighborhood.  Revel seems to have a heavier Korean influence, but still definitely worth trying. 

Here are some pics of what we enjoyed  :D ....sorry about the quality of some of the pics :/

Sweet Roasted Corn Iced Tea

SpicyBeef Soup with Leeks, Daikon, and Crème Fraiche

Korean Mochi with Chorizo, Sesame Leaf, and Sweet Chili

Cornbread with Preserved Garlic and Smoked Gouda

Clam Rice Pot

Kale with Lobster Mushrooms

Joule BBQ: Short Rib Steak, Sweet Chili Sausage, and Grilled Kimchi

Maison Ladurée

I just learned Ladurée recently opened a shop in NYC!  I'll be making a trip to the city very soon, so I'm super excited that I'll be able to visit the shop so shortly after its opening :)  The store in NYC is called Maison Ladurée, and is located in the Upper East Side.  For those who aren't familiar with Ladurée, it originated in Paris in 1862 as a tea salon.  Over time, they expanded to multiple locations within Paris.  Now, their empire is world famous with locations scattered throughout Europe, Asia, and now, the U.S.  They are credited with popularizing the modern French macaron, which you may now know is a current obsession of mine.  A post about my visit to Maison Ladurée is in the near future  ;)

Skillet Cornbread

Had a craving for cornbread after reading a friend's Facebook post about how she made homemade chicken noodle soup and cornbread for her son.  So, yesterday, I swung by the grocery store to pick up some whole milk (the one ingredient I knew I was out of) and rushed home to satisfy my craving.  Buttery and slightly sweetened by honey, the recipe I use results in a cornbread with a crust that has a slight crunch to it.  Kind of a nice textural surprise.

NW Chocolate Festival Deal

For those interested in the NW Chocolate Festival, Amazon has half off deal for a Sunday pass or a weekend pass.  The deal is $10 for the Sunday pass (regularly $20) or $17 for weekend pass (regularly $35).  There's a limited quantity for this deal and it ends at midnight tonight.  Hurry and check out the deal here!

Portland Getaway

A friend recently attended a conference in Portland, OR and decided that he'd also make a little visit to Seattle while he was in the area.  Using his trip as an excuse, I made the drive down to Portland for a day trip...and a mini food tour, of course  :)

First stop was the farmers market at Portland State University.  This is one of the best, if not the best, farmers markets I have been to.  Expansive with everything you'd expect a farmers market to have and plenty of variety!  There was even a kimchi stand!  And, of course, there were food carts.  So, being the bottomless pit that I am, the food scene was scoped out.  There was an abundance of local bakeries, but I wanted something more filling and hearty.  Choices in this department were a bit more limited.  Luckily, I stumbled upon a long line, which led to the PineState Biscuits' stand.  A quick glance at their menu and I knew exactly what I wanted...the Reggie Deluxe.  Buttermilk fried chicken with bacon, cheese, and a fried egg sandwiched between a buttermilk biscuit and topped with a mushroom gravy.  I think I just drooled a little :p



The Reggie Deluxe

Next stop, Stumptown Coffee.  This is the company that started the coffee revolution in Portland in 1999, and has since expanded to Seattle and New York.  I've had their coffee in both Seattle and New York, so it was only natural that I go to its birthplace.  I didn't go to the original store on Division Street since it was out of the way.  Instead, I went to the store in the Ace Hotel lobby on Stark.  I must say that they do a pretty good job of keeping their drink quality and flavors consistent.

Voodoo Doughnuts was next on my list.  I love my donuts!  Sadly, their line was too long.  So, I snapped a few pics and then made my way over to Powell's Books to do some browsing before grabbing an early dinner.

Dinner was at the ever popular Pok Pok.  As expected, the wait for a table was over an hour.  To kill time during our wait, we headed across the street to the Whiskey Soda Lounge, an offspring restaurant of Pok Pok that serves a condensed version of Pok Pok's menu.  I enjoyed a glass of drinking vinegar for the first time.  I was a bit apprehensive at first since I'm not a huge fan of vinegar, but their passion fruit drinking vinegar has turned me into a fan!  I probably could have downed a whole carafe on my own! 

Here's a look at what we had at the Whiskey Soda Lounge and Pok Pok.  Apologies in advance for the quality of some of the pics.  We also had Ike's Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings, but we ate those up before I could take a pic.  All I can say is they certainly do live up to thier hype!

Miang Kham (betal leaf wraps)



Sai Muu Thawt (fried pork chitlins)



Yam Makheua Yao (smoked eggplant), Fried Whole Tilapia, Muu Paa Kham Waan (boar collar),

Halfway checkpoint

So now that Top Chef: Just Desserts has eliminated half of this season's contestants, I wanted to do a bit of a recap and offer my thoughts on this season so far. 

There are a couple of noticeable differences between the current season and the last season.  First, there has been much more of an emphasis on team challenges with each group focusing on one final product/presentation.  They have started to stray away from group work and have started to shift toward more individual desserts in the last few episodes.  We'll have to wait and see if individual desserts will be the new focus.  Although, the next episode seems to revert back to a team challenge with a chocolate showpiece as the main challenge.

Another difference I noticed is that this season's contestants are allowed to have access to recipes.  From the looks of it, each competitor is allowed to keep a notebook filled with recipes of their choosing.  I'm assuming these notebooks were issued and reviewed by the show's producers, but this change has yet to be (and will likely never be) addressed.  This provides for quite the advantage to the competitors.  It makes me wonder how they would fair without this privilege.  I'm also curious as to what brought about this change...

My favorite episodes so far are Pure Imagination for the nostalgic effect it had on me, and Sabotage for the difficulty of the challenge.  'Sabotage' was especially intriguing to me because it challenged the contestants to create desserts with ingredients that are not normally associated with desserts.  Can you imagine what desserts made with ingredients like chicken, pork and beans, pizza, peas, or mashed potatoes would be like?  I know I'd have no clue of what to do with those ingredients, but the creativity of the chefs really came through!  Check out a couple of the dishes from the Sabotage episode:



Sally's Prosciutto Cake,  Chicken Toffee Sauce, and Cheddar Ice Cream



Matthew's Cornbread and Mashed Potato Cheesecake, Whiskey Caramel, and Gravy Foam



In terms of contestants, my favorites that I previously picked out are all still in the running and have been showing great promise for making it to the finale.  After seeing more of each chef's skills, I am now thinking that the three most likely to be in the finale are Matthew Petersen, Carlos Enriquez, and Chris Hanmer, who I previously selected as a front runner.  All three of these chefs have shown that they have the creativity and skills to consistently win over the judges.  I think Sally is still someone to consider since she has been coming on strong the last couple of episodes.  Orlando, on the other hand, is extremely talented, but I feel he is questionable in the decision-making department.  I was sad to see Rebecca Masson get eliminated in the most recent episode.  She was my dark horse and I love her personality!

Just a few more episodes until the finale.  Can't wait to see how it all goes down.  So exciting!!  :D