Brunch Spots — Serious Biscuits and Local 360

Had a quick brunch at Local 360 in Belltown.

Loved the décor in the restaurant with a little Western feel.

Local 360 was a sustainable restaurant and sourced locally for their ingredients.

The menu was fairly extensive and the rabbit pot pie caught my eye and along with it, could not pass on the fried chicken and waffle.

Service was fast and friendly.

The rabbit pot pie looked stunning upon arrival.

It was very creamy and rich, a little on the heavy side for me; but I loved the lean gaminess from the rabbit.

I wish there was more rabbit meat — only a few pieces were swimming around in the sauce.

The pie crust floating on top of the sauce was very buttery, flaky, and delicious.

The fried chicken had good flavor and tender; there was a hint of spiciness in the coating and was made deliciously.

I loved that the waffle which was made with corn meal, it gave great corn flavor and gritty texture that was interesting and rustic; the down side was that the waffle was a little dense and soggy.

The flavors were there for the dishes but were not perfect.

There were quite a few items on the dinner menu that sparked my interest: PB&J bon bons, crispy pigs ears and smoked pork shank.

Even though their brunch had not wowed me, I would be interested to give dinner a try.

I had been wanting to stop at Serious Biscuit for quite a long while.

We were in a hurry, and got 3 biscuits to go: fried chicken, catfish and vegetarian frittata.

First, the biscuit.  I was disappointed.

The biscuits were hard and certainly not as fluffy as Morsel’s, it felt like the biscuits were in the oven just a little too long.

Overall flavors of all the biscuit dishes were good.

My favorite was the catfish with green olive tartar.

The catfish was in a form of a catfish cake — very tender with herbs, and the light crunchy coleslaw contrasted the texture of the fish brilliantly, and no doubt, the catfish was the star.

My second favorite was the truffled frittata with tomato caper relish and arugula.

The frittata was on the denser side with mild truffle flavor and smooth texture.

It paired really well with the tangy tomato caper relish and the spiciness of the arugula.

The fried chicken one was smothered with black pepper tabasco gravy.

The chicken itself was delicious with soft meat; edges of the chicken pieces was a little over-fried and dry but it was well marinated with garlic.

The black pepper tabasco gravy had fantastic flavor but a little chalky to the mouth.

I would head back to Morsel when I crave biscuits.

Vancouver Food Day Part II

Went to Guu Garlic, and we were disappointed.

The dishes were not as good as they used to be — very sad.

We ordered many small dishes to share.

L: sweet shrimp sashimi — R top: roasted garlic — M bottom: fried shrimps — R bottom: chicken wings

The ama ebi, sweet shrimps, was ok and was not popping crunchy fresh.

The fried garlic and fried shrimps were not anything special.

Chicken wings with soy glaze was delicious but I was not wow by them.

L: stir fried udon — R top: salmon sashimi — R bottom: beef carpaccio

In the past, I longed for Garlic Guu’s stir-fried udon.

I was expecting a delivery of my old favorite but not anymore.

It used to be cooked just right in noodle texture, this time around, it was overcooked and soggy.

It used to have this most amazingly mushroomy flavor that I loved, and that was gone — resulting in just a regular beef udon stir-fry.

The wild salmon sashimi was fantastic, fresh, sweet and firm, and my friend said the beef carpaccio was excellent.

To be fair, food was not bad; they just had turned ordinary — without the little something that made them special anymore.

Or perhaps, we were just there on a off night.

I will still go when my friends go, but I will not long for the place anymore.

 

Nero waffle bar, on the other hand — I will be returning in a heart beat — really wish there is one in Seattle of that quality!

The waffles were definitely one of the best I ever had!

This very tiny store on Robson and stone throw from Garlic Guu had about 12 seats inside the store and 6-8 seats outside.

The minute the door was opened, one would be welcomed by the unmistakable creamy, dreamy aroma of sweet eggy waffles.

Nero served both the light and crispy Brussels waffles and the soft and sweet Liège waffles.

On the menu, there were equal numbers of savory and sweet waffle concoctions.

Our party actually stopped by Nero before Garlic Guu to kill time and put more food in the stomach; and I ended up sharing the strawberry cream waffle with DH.

If I knew I would be disappointed with Garlic Guu, I would have eaten another chocolate mousse waffle all by myself!

The Brussels waffle was the lightest I had ever had.

Took a significant bite, and it just disappeared in my mouth — light, airy and yet, the impact of the milky, eggy and buttery flavor was enormous.

The sweet hint of waffle carried through every bite and stayed pleasantly in the mouth afterwards.

The fresh strawberries were only for decoration as the waffle star was shining so bright that there was nothing that can dim its light  (and yes, lovely fresh strawberry flavors and fresh fruit texture).

I kept eyeing the delicious looking chocolate mousse with orange on the next table and I swore to myself that I would return soon!

Of course, must also try their Liège waffles!

Tomato Onion Tart and Food Trucks

Doof Home

Remade this Tomato Onion Tart to button-up modifications to the original recipe from Epicurious (also thanks NZ for tips!).

Ingredient

1 12-inch ready-made frozen pie crust or pie dough

1lb tomatoes (I used organic heirloom), cut in 1/2 inch slices

1lb onions, thinly sliced

1/2lb Jack Cheese, shredded

2 sticks majoram, pick leaves only and finely chopped

black pepper

 

Pre bake the frozen pie crust according to instruction on package.

Preheat oven at 300F.

Place tomato slices on a greased baking sheet and roast for 1 hour.

Cook onions covered in medium heat.  Stirring occasionally until soften.  Uncover and cook until all the juice absorbs.  Remove from heat and let cool.

Preheat oven at 400F.

Spoon onions into bottom of pie crust.  Layer shredded cheese mixed with majoram on top.  Sprinkle pepper.

Spread roasted tomatoes on top of cheese.  Take care to place the bottom side of the roasted tomato slices up on the tart (the exposed roasted side down).

Bake for 45 mins.

 

Doof Out

Checked out the Kirkland Summerfest yesterday and was able to try several food trucks.

First, we had Tokyo Dog.  We chose Ginza Dog (bratwurst, teriyaki onion, bonito flakes and plum sauce) and Shinjuku dog (apple sage sausage, teriyaki onions, wasabi mayo and nori).  The bratwurst in the Ginza Dog had very good texture and flavor.  I wish there was more onions and was not able to taste the plum sauce.  The apple sage sausage in the Shinjuku Dog was very mushy.  Slightly grilled bread would have enhanced the whole eating experience.  Japadog on Robson in Vancouver was still the best.

We also had tofu salad and salsa roll from Box Nature Sushi.  Both dishes were very spicy and they were ok.  We had pork belly hum bao, kalua pork hum bao, and a mini burger with kalbi beef from The Box on Wheels.  They were ok and nothing to rave about.  Their Pomme Frites with yuzu aioli was tasty.  The fries were very crispy.  The aioli had strong egg flavor and the yuzu flavor came late and subtle.

The best was Lumpia World.  The lumpia skin was crunchy and the fillings were tasty.  We had one of each flavors (chicken, beef, vegetables and pork).  Really enjoyed the garlic vinegar for dipping.  I would like the lumpia to have more fillings.

We had “summerfest” waffle from Waffle Wagon.  Strawberry rhubarb compote and vanilla ice cream on top of waffle.  I was looking forward to it but it was a disappointment.  The waffle had nice sweet flavor but it was extremely soggy with no crisp.  The strawberry rhubarb compote was very runny, more sauce-like than compote.

At the end, I was not impressed with all the trucks.  The food items were fairly expensive but did not seem to have the quality or the “wow-ness” to justify the price.