I’ve wanted to visit Seattle for some time.  The gloomy weather I commonly hear about is definitely not a deterrent.  I live in Chicago and grew up in the Midwest my entire life.  I go months without ever seeing the sun.  I was sitting at work one day when one of those cheap flight deal emails popped up and I saw a great deal for Seattle.  My best friend and her husband who live in San Fran decided to meet me there in January.  We are the perfect trifecta for traveling.  My best friend loves researching the must-see sites, her husband is great at finding discounted arrangements, and big surprise, I love finding places to eat.

We ate very well and I have enough material that I could probably write a few weeks worth of posts about my food adventures.  However, I’ll try to keep it short and sweet with the aim to motivate you to visit one of my new favorite cities.  I will let the food speak for itself below but any true foodie should take a trip to Seattle at least once.

Let’s get started with Day 1:

Brunch at Glo’s in the Capital Hill neighborhood.  Glo’s is where I began to notice that each restaurant or coffee shop is generally tiny, full of character, and so endearing (I love this!).  I had the Californian Benedict and Glo’s famous coffee cake to start.

Glo's - Coffee Cake

The coffee cake was warm, moist, and had melty cinnamon swirls.  Definitely a good start to my Seattle food adventure.

The Californian Benedict had two English muffins topped with guacamole, poached eggs, and hollandaise.  It was served with a side of hash browns.

Glo's - Californian Egg Benedict

The Benedict was one of the best I’ve had but was obviously rich with the hollandaise and avocado.  I wish all egg benedicts came with guacamole, what a genius idea. The hash browns were cooked perfectly, the right amount of crispiness and softness.  An added bonus is that Glo’s opens at midnight and stays open till 4 p.m. on the weekends.  That sounds like great drunk food to me.

I decided on dinner at Quinn’s based on a recommendation from my good friend who was generous enough to let me steal his apartment for the weekend.  I had originally made a reservation at an Indian restaurant but he made me rethink that decision.  Quinn’s is a gastropub located a short walk from where I was staying and I thought it would feel more ‘Seattle’ than the Indian joint.  It was a good call!

We had a short wait at the door and were soon seated on the second story over-looking the bar.  Everything on the menu sounded delicious so I decided to go with two small plates so I could get more of a variety.  I picked the pork belly with a sweet potato puree topped with pepper marshmallow and the oxtail gnocchi.

The pork belly was the star of the night for me.

Quinn's Pub - Pork Belly

It was perfectly cooked and supplemented with brussel sprouts (a child’s worst nightmare appears in every meal lately).  The sweet potato puree was well seasoned and I loved the play on the marshmallow which had the pepper to keep it from being overbearing with sweetness.

Quinn's Pub - Oxtail Gnocchi

The gnocchi were cooked properly and the oxtail had a nice flavor.  Overall, a great dish but it just couldn’t compare to the pork belly, where each component was thought out and nicely executed.

Possibly my favorite thing about Quinn’s is that they offer bite size desserts for $3 each!  Best idea ever!  Sometimes I just want a little sweetness or I want to try multiple things and Quinn’s allows me to do that.  I went for the special which was the banana cream tart and my friend picked the dark chocolate bar with caramel and honey.  Both were amazing and just what we needed after the fabulous food.

Quinn's Pub - Dessert

Day 1 was a definite success!

Till next time, peace out food ninjas!