PS I love you

So as you may or may not know…but Nals and I love to travel. Unfortunately, we don’t get to do as much as we would like with work and life and all. But there are a couple of spots that have a few things we like; sun and fun. Oh and good shopping.

We already talked about our live for Sin City. But I recently got to fly out to another little sweet spot…Palm Springs. And if you have been following us on IG you’ve probably noticed I’ve posted some Palm pics already.
Here’s the thing, I have been hearing great things about PS for years. But it wasn’t until 2 years ago that I finally got to see what all the buzz was about. And let me tell you, I fell in love.

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Dog Day Afternoon

Kells & I kicked off 2018 in Seattle.

 

We stayed at Stay Pineapple Maxwell and dined at Purple Café .

 

Click for N&K reviews:

hotel ⇔ restaurant

 


One afternoon we hopped along to Pike Place.  We had luckily timed it right to view the famous fish throwing.  We saw gorgeous fresh flowers, warm bakeries, meaty delis and sweaty^ cheeses.

We got hooked on Chukar Cherries – air dried cherries from Chukar Farms coated with delightful things such as dark chocolate and truffled milk chocolate.

We took some lovely boardwalk pix. And of course all of this walking*, talking, trying, posing and watching makes a couple of gals hungry.

So off we went in search of a spot of lunch. We felt like some Pike Place chowder but there was a HUGE lineup^^.

So we searched high and low. Finally we stumbled across James Moore Bar & Kitchen on 2nd Ave. We ordered Chicken Wings & Quesadilla (con pollo).

Chicken Wings were gorgeously crispy and tasty. Chipotle sauce was smoky and spicy**. Disappointingly, the mango sauce appeared to be pureed and (we surmised) not made in-house.

Quesadilla was cheesy and delightful with big chunks of pollo. Kells has got that gene that makes cilantro taste bunky and horrible (BOLO for our #hatecilantro #notparslay post).  So, we asked for cilantro to be taken out but… get this folks: the guac (in a specialty South American menu) is not made in-house.


P i k e   P l a c e is easy to get to.  Cobblestones and inclined sidewalks may pose problems for those with mobility issues.

J. M.  was hidden behind some scaffolding on a one-way street in DT Seattle.  We walked but parking looked scarce.  Place was large, with beautiful spacious wood seating. Drink menus were creatively written on walls near the bar.

Conclusion:

∴Pike Place is a must-see.  It is very similar to N&K’s local Granville Island.  But it’s the local’s local market and free so why not!

∴JM was standardly good. We think you should try it if the mood strikes and you’re in the area. We would likely try this place again.  However, there is such a variety of restaurants in Seattle that we’d just as likely be trying out something else.

What are your fave spots in Pike Place?

Have you tried this eatery? 

Penny for your thoughts!

Footnotes

^(sweaty in a good way)

*not that much walking

^^ oh gosh just looking at the chowder site, we see that we can order online grrr. But lucky for you that you now know this vital piece of info.

**Nals is a connoisseur of hot sauces and underestimated its power on the old GI system.  This is not in itself a negative thing as one rarely gets surprised at this age.  However it was unpleasant for an offset couple of hours.

Orange you glad we didn’t say Olives!

(Uhh well actually…guess we just did.)

Jazzed up in our finery, we sauntered on over to Olives Restaurant in Vegas in October.

And as is the case for eye candies, we were appropriately seated at the window. The restaurant is deceptively large. But due to the low lighting, dark rich wood flooring and furniture, it was quite cozy.

Two hotsie totsies, satiated by a lovely dinner.^

You start off with a trio of in-house tepanades, which is served with assorted leavened and unleavened breads. Kells is not an Olive-holic as is I… so I got the trio to myself. Warning though: they’re salty!

We ordered the Truffled Risotto**, Olives Chicken Parmesan & Handcrafted Gnocchetti.

When we were here the previous year with our other friends, I ordered the magnificent Risotto. (I dreamed of this until I could experience it again.  And heyyy this was my lucky night.) Oh my… perfectly al dente rice coated in lavish mushroom creamery. Amazing slight tang of parm and dotted with fine slices of funghi. Kells enjoyed it as well.

Last time, Kells ordered her go-to Butternut Squash Tortellini. I had a mere taste and it was delightful yums. Amaretto wishes and brown-butter dreams.  But this evening, she branched out.

The Chicken Parm was served bone-in. Bold choice for a restaurant. (And we like that moxy.) But bone-in makes for a tender flavourful piece of meat. It was so tasty good, accompanied by roasted garden veg and taters.

The Gnocchetti was quite a lovely surprise. We figured that it’d be good. But not this fantastic! Rich, mouthy Bolognese sauce nestled inside sneaky grooves of pasta. I thought there was a hint of cinnamon. Kells surmised tarragon. Whatever the heck it was, it was molto bene. Excellent job, Olives team!

The portions are healthy. We didn’t finish. And yes, fair enough we ordered 3 entrées to split between the 2 of us… we felt so bad to say goodbye to the tasty morsels. They didn’t deserve to be let down like that. Poor lil guys patiently waited to get into our bellies… and instead got the rude awakening of the bin.  (Not by choice, lil morsels, not by choice.)

Have you eaten here? What was your experience?

Or, have we enticed you to try it out?

The End Pieces

*we were in our twinsies floral cold shoulder get-ups from Torrid. And we were sporting our fantastic strappy black heels from Nine West.

** I’d have to say that this runs a close 2nd to the Crispy Kalbi roll (CKr) at Yellowtail.

^this is where our Blog Story began.

We contacted Olives twice for collabs but they didn’t respond. Imagine. Being too busy to respond to N&K?!  As busy as Yellowtail is, they responded when we reached out.

 

Purple Nurple

The Purple Café and Wine Bar is an eatery in the financial district in Seattle. It features seasonal northwest cuisine and wine pairings.

When you first enter the place, it looks surprisingly large with high ceilings. However due to muted lighting and dark wood furniture, it is feels intimate. Just off-centre, they have their wine/liquor larder. It looks like a huge wooden centrifuge from the industrial era*. This large pillar runs to the ceiling, with 360-degree shelving. There are stairs snaking around the side like a DNA helix.  (Kells and I wanted to go explore but there was a pesky ‘stairs not in use’ sign… and we didn’t want to make a scene… At least not that evening.)

We were wineless that night.  Kells had a Cosmo, extra tart. I had a beer**.

We ordered the Baked Brie to start. It was gift wrapped in

crispy phyllo, and accompanied by apricots, carmelized onions, walnuts, grapes and house crackers. The whole mess was delightful. Everything complemented each other perfectly. And the grapes were an amazement — halved and warmed, with salt. You may think ‘egads how odd!’ But trust us… your tastebuds will thank you.

For our mains, we couldn’t decide from Maine Lobster Mac and Cheese, seared Diver Scallops with grits (daily special) or Wild Mushroom Rigatoni. We were also eyeing the Veal and Pancetta Bolognese (I love me some parpadelle) and Pan Seared Muscovy Duck Breast. Due to availability and what was popular we went with Scallops and Bolognese.

The Diver Scallops were beautifully seared, toothy but tender and slightly sweet on the inside. Though cooked perfectly, grits were a little flat in flavour. (Grits are hard to season). The Bolognese was rich with al dente flavourful parps.

Kells was here before and enjoyed the Lobster Mac and Cheese. This is also a popular dish…Kells gives it 2 thumbs up. (But someone^ forgot her lactaid and we didn’t want to take a chance with someone’s^ gnarly digestive results if someone^ partook of the lactose-laden kryptonite.)

And we ended with Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée. Holy caboodles!Beautifully torched top…sweet and smoky. The crème was mindblowing… flavourful, great mouthfeel, not super sickly sweet. An amazing way to end a good meal.

Staff: Our waitstaff Maddy was fabulous! She was super friendly, genuine and knew when to come by to ask questions (ie: not when we just took a big bite).

Conclusion: Purple Café is a must-try!

Have you gone to Purple Cafe?
What delights have you ordered?  

Tell us what you think below, in the Comments section!

End bitties

* did scientists have centrifuges in the industrial era? If they did, this is what my mind pictures.
**Wine is not sitting well with Kells’ system these days. This is a sad state of affairs for her. So, in blog-sisterhood, I didn’t get wine even though we were at a winebar.
^someone=Nals

Sushi Nazi

Have you seen that Seinfeld episode when the boys fell all over each other, trying to scramble to get to the soup nazi on time? Except Elaine wasn’t convinced until she tried the lobster-freaking-bisque? One mind blowing slurp is all it took. And she had to sit right down on some steaming filth of NY sidewalk to appreciate* the experience. When you eat at the Yellowtail in Vegas, you will experience that intensity in your viscera.

Yellowtail Photos_Credit Hakkasan Group

So Miss Kells and I decided to visit our buds** Chef Akira Strikes Back. And boy did he ever. We made our order^.  But the crowning  glory was*** the Crispy Kalbi roll (CKr). Omg the perfection of that first bite… the salty toothy nori, slightly sweet tangy sushi rice then the crispy Korean short ribs nestled like a treasure inside. The textures were amazing. But the flavour of each layer was the rub… distinct and yet played so well with each other in that perfect little sandbox. Then the holy trinity of the topping: fresh micro-greens and the K-rib sauce. So yes. It was life-changing.

Myths of the CKr: a) hot crispy ribs are going to get cold and/or b) the steam will make them soggy and thus, c) one should gobble it up toute de suite.

The stone cold reality: it was so good that Kells and I inadvertently slowly dotted our meal with the CKr. We wanted that golden goodness to last as long as freaking possible. And my word, subsequent bites were as amazing as the first. (No need to chase the dragon here!)

So Chef, standing ovation for this genius invention. My only critique would be that I didn’t get my own mofo roll.

*pronounced the dignified English way (as in up-reece-ee-ate)
**not actually our buds but we are all-inclusive up hurr at N&K
^we also ordered: the real crab-stuffed California roll and agedashi tofu. The Cali roll was fine, nothing to write home about.  (We found this surprising because uh hello: real crab, no Jackson Pollack-ing here! We finished the roll but will not be ordering it again.)  The agedashi tofu was defo amazing… Just like me, it had a just-right crispy exterior, soft melty insides and covered in a mind-stopping numma-nums sauce
*** my heart is beating in sweet anticipation just mentioning the CKr

Acknowledgements: Thank you to Hakkasan Group for allowing us to use their beautiful photo for our Yellowtail Restaurant post.