Happy Birthday Dan Bugge! (owner of Matt's in the Market)

I swear I’ll stop rambling about Matt’s in the Market soon… :) but this story just had to be shared. I am just going to go ahead and apologize in advance that there probably is more detail here than you need, but I really like to tell stories. :)

So, I recently shared my first blog entry about Matt’s via facebook, and they in turned shared it with all of their fans on facebook. I about peed my pants when I saw that. It was extremely exciting and flattering. Sometimes I feel like I’m writing to no one and I was very honored that Matt’s reposted my entry.

The mysterious person behind their facebook even followed up with me to see what I had for lunch and I shared my lunch entry with them. This time it was not reposted but I definitely wasn’t expecting it to be anyway. I figured at this point they probably think I’m am that crazy fan that won’t leave them alone.

But today, after a long day at work I came home to this:
I wish you could’ve seen my face. My jaw literally dropped and I was thinking, “Seriously?!?!” Again, I thought I would pee my pants with excitement. I couldn’t believe it. I felt extremely honored and humbled to even be invited to such a neat event. Meeting Dan would totally make my day, week, month, etc. I also felt like I was slightly intruding but then I thought well maybe he is a nice person and more like me where I think the more the merrier. I wasn’t sure what the format would be, and while I normally don’t mind wining and dining alone, I wanted to share the experience with someone. Jenn couldn’t make it, but I was really happy that I could bring a good friend of mine, Ashley, to dinner with me. A couple hours later, we were walking upstairs to Matt’s and there was a sign that said “Matt’s in the Market will be closed at 8 p.m. tonight for a private event”. I’m not going to lie, I felt oober cool to be going upstairs anyway because I was invited! Walking in was slightly awkward, since I knew nobody there would know who I was and probably wonder why I was there. Someone greeted us though and when I told them that I was invited he asked me for the “secret password”. Being the awkward person that I am I nervously responded with a “I don’t know…my name? I didn’t know there was a password?” He laughed and said, “There’s no password, just hang on a sec.” And then he showed us to the drinks area and said, “Help yourself to some drinks!”

And we did. The wine was of course fantastic (way better than 2 buck chuck!), although I can’t tell you what I had..something white, and something that looked delish. Ashley tried a few others. Meanwhile we tried to guess which one Dan was…we settled on this one guy because he was talking to everyone there, but I later found out he was Dan’s lawyer! Haha. Eventually the "headchetta" taco bar was ready. We grabbed a table and waited till most people got their food. I just felt like it would be rude of me not to let other people who actually know Dan to go first. While we were waiting, a woman named Chou chi (I am SO SORRY if I completely butchered your name) came to introduce herself to me. She was the face behind the Matt’s facebook person. Well one of them, according to her. I thanked her for inviting me to the dinner and she said “Well I figured you would really enjoy this. And this really was a last minute thing we put together.” She even thanked me for coming! I was like, “No way! Thank YOU for inviting me!” She pointed out Dan to me and urged me to get some tacos. Eventually we got up to get some. And what a beautiful spread it was. I’m pretty sure I could’ve eaten that entire bowl of guacamole. It was so fresh and zesty. Everything looked sooooo good! These photos aren’t the best but I didn’t want to be the creeper with the giant camera so I didn’t really try to get the settings quite right the first time. One day I’ll learn how to use my camera properly.The pork was just beyond incredible. Juicy and tender and every other splendid description. Braised pork shoulder, pork belly cochinta pibil style, and headchetta galore...I think there was some kind of fish..not sure what that was. But the tacos were amaziiiiing. Having tacos looking over Pike Place Market and watching the last bit of the sun go down with the ferries is quite the experience. What a beautiful place to have such a great restaurant.

I debated for a while when I should say Happy Birthday to Dan. He was busy with many people and I didn’t really want to interrupt him. Eventually he went to get a glass of wine and no one was around so I walked up to him to say hi. He turned and laughed because he said he was on his way over to say hi to me! So he came by and sat with Ashley and I and we just chit chatted it up. In a nutshell he told us his life story and it was such a great experience. I learned so much about him, if I was still a reporter, it would’ve made a great mini feature article. To me, dinner was GREAT. But what really made my night was the conversation we shared with Dan.

What an incredibly warm-hearted, easy going, and genuine person. Before our conversation I really liked Matt’s and would gladly recommend it to anyone. After our conversation, I LOVE Matt’s. Just knowing the person behind the scenes that genuinely loves his restaurant and more importantly, the people he serves is incredibly touching. And if you haven’t picked up on it, I am a big fan of character, quirks, and passion when it comes to restaurants (or anything in life for that matter). I believe each place should have a story to share and that the experience a diner has should add to their story and character. What’s funny is that prior to meeting Dan, I remembered seeing him running around greeting people at the door and helping his staff both times I had been to the restaurant. I think that itself says something about him. When the owner is working with his staff and on site and able to interact with everyone, I think that makes a major difference. I bet working for him would be a blast! No wonder everyone I’ve interacted with there is so great.

We talked about many things in the short time we spent with him. I felt like we could probably sit there and talk for hours over some great wine. I learned that Dan actually used to work at the fish throwing place just across the way from Matt’s for 10 years before he bought Matt’s. He said he always knew he wanted to own his own bar/restaurant and after having lunch every day at Matt’s, he bought it in 2006. “I felt like having lunch there every day was basically like a down payment.” Was one of my favorite quotes from him. My other favorite part of our conversation was when he talked about how much he loves to be a host and interact with people and be able to share the restaurant with them. The humbleness of his story when he bought Matt’s was really endearing as well. We talked about how he expanded the restaurant and how perfect the location was. The quintessential place for dining in Seattle. I couldn’t agree more. The fantastic food, service, atmosphere followed with being right above Pike Place Market and the view really is a unique experience. I believe he said when he took over and reopened the place, it just so happened to be the same day as his birthday and within a week of when the original Matt opened Matt’s in the Market.

In the end when we parted ways, Dan gave each of us a hug which I was really happy about because I am such a hugging person. I’m definitely one of those people who would be walking around with those “Free Hug” signs. What a stunning experience and great way to celebrate someone’s birthday. I decided that I am definitely going to have to plan on having dinner at Matt’s for one of my birthday events (I celebrate my birthday for a week with a series of events). Sorry Salumi’s! But I’m pretty sure the bread pudding is reason enough for me to come for my birthday…now if it wasn’t so far away….

So thank you Matt’s in the Market and Dan for sharing such a wonderful experience with me! I can’t say enough how much I enjoyed the food and everyone there. I wish I could repay the favor somehow, and I think I thought of a unique gift so I’ll definitely swing by with it sometime. I was still walking on air this morning after telling my coworkers what happened. It was a GREAT way to start off my week!

Lunch at Matt's in the Market!

Dinner was so fabulous I had to come for lunch. Jenn and I are might start making this a monthly treat...although there are quite a few other places we would like to try. So after a crazy stressful work week, I was definitely looking forward to a Friday off. And what better way to start your Friday than with stuffing yourself silly at Matt's?

I am a huge mimosa fan...I find it pretty difficult to turn down a mimosa no matter what time of day. It was how I started every "morning" in New Orleans and the thought of sweet fruity bubbles always gets me excited. We sat at the bar and chatted with the bartender a bit and said they served two kinds of mimosas (an orange one and one with cranberry apple juice). Being that we felt you could get an orange mimosa anywhere we went for the latter. It was not as bubbly as I'm used to but yummy just the same.
We started with the chips and dip...basically homemade potato chips and a dip that is so delicious and creamy, it makes you want to not think about what is in it. The bartender told us anyway. Something along the lines of cream cheese, bacon, scallions, sour cream, parmesean, grana cheese (never heard of it but it was tasty in it!). But yeah fat city.

Jenn ordered the Ragda. Potato-grabonzo bean cakes, roasted egglant puree, papdum and cucumber yogurt. In non fancy terms: pan-friend falafels. The cakes had a really strong curry flavor to them. Personally I wasn't a huge fan of the strong flavor with the super soft texture. It reminded me of a reduced curry paste. However, Jenn loved it!

I ordered the Lamb Burger. It was topped with goat cheese, bacon, herb aioli, onion jam on brioche served with a garbanzo-sultana salad. The burger was great but not exceptional. However I think the shining item was the salad. It was light and fresh with a sweet vinegar mint taste. It almost reminded me of a very sweet less fishy vietnamese fish sauce but not as smelly. The fresh mint was a great touch and smelled great. I think that is what reminded me of the vietnamese thing.

At this point we ordered our second mimosa, this time we went for the "regular" orange one. Except this orange mimosa was nothing less than spectacular. Incredibly unique in taste and served with a slice of orange confit that was simmered in simple syrup for hours and hours. It was so tender you could just eat the rind. It was great.


And even after all that, I of course had to top it all off with the bread pudding. That bread pudding is seriously just the definition of "Food-gasm". Every bite is so incredible and I wanted to savor it but then I didn't want the salted caramel ice cream to melt!

As we were eating I noticed there was a large percentage of people that ordered the cobb salad. I wish I had known they were going to used deviled eggs because I would've probably got that! The special that day was beef tounge tacos which also looked heavenly...but once again - a great time at Matt's. The food was quite reasonably priced for fine dining lunch (Average $11-$14 an entree) so I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a nicer longer lunch. Like those things all those people in the private sector get to do for free. (ok - not ranting about working in public service) I'll need to take a break from this place for now though because there are so many other places to try!

Coming up next: My first copper river salmon bbq experience.

Southern Comfort Reviews: Casper's, Smokin' Pete's BBQ, and Speak EZ's

I love southern food what can I say? After New Orleans, I'm completely addicted to everything related to it. (Which as a side note, heard a great song down at the Farmer's Market today called "Freedom Song", which apparently was written by an artist with several children after Hurricane Katrina. You should listen to it, if you get a chance, it's touching. The band was also a great group of people that made my afternoon) Any way, I'm still determined to find the best southern food in Seattle. So far...no luck. Let's start with the worst and end on a good note.

Casper's in Shoreline
My coworkers and I are always excited anytime a new restaurant opens up near our building in Shoreline, because good food is hard to find within close range there. Casper's moved into our neighborhood from Lake City Way, to replace a Wendy's. It was a rather interesting set up. Having southern food at a fast food restaurant didn't quite feel right, but I must say, the toilet plungers on the counter tops to hold up paper towel rolls, made me smile. That kind of quark is part of why I love New Orleans so much. Our waitress told us the restaurant moved from Lake City because no one could find the restaurant because it was so small and out of the way. Expansion seemed like a good sign as well. I was pretty excited to be put into a food coma, because we all know that's what southern food does to us. I ordered the Pulled Pork Sandwich, Mac and Cheese and Coleslaw. But of course I had to have some cornbread so I asked if they served honey butter with their cornbread. Our server replied with a very enthusiastic southern drawl, "OH you betcha we got honey butter. You know what's good for ya!" Ecstatic for my honey butter and spicy cornbread muffin, we waited. And waited. And waited....to wait to put our order in.

Now, I understand sometimes things slip. This would be one of those times. I watched our server carefully and she was quite attentive to everyone else in the restaurant, seating them, taking their orders, serving their orders, cleaning up, she was on top of it...except with our table. I think she just forgot about us (walked by us quite a few times without even looking in our direction so we could signal to her that we were ready to order). She apologized when she realized she had forgotten about us...a good 20 minutes later. A good 20 - 30 more minutes later, our food was ready. Now, I'm pretty sure this restaurant also serves at the drive through window...so I'm not sure if there were just 100 other orders at the drive through window that got in before us...but I'm pretty sure that was just plain ridiculous.

When our food finally arrived, I was terribly disappointed with what our server referred to as honey butter: two COLD individual tablets of butter with little packets of honey (like...the stuff you get at KFC). That in itself did not make me very happy. On top of that, the cornbread muffin was COMPLETELY overcooked and dried out...it was dry and mealy in a very uncomfortable way. It would've taken 4 or 5 tablets of butter to soften that thing up. So then I moved on to my next favorite side: Mac and Cheese. I was utterly beyond disappointed and slightly disgusted to be honest. While the penne noodles looked intriguing, the mac and cheese would be what I refer to as on par with frozen mac and cheese or Safeway Deli Mac and Cheese. Actually I would say frozen Mac and Cheese was better than that. It was DEFINITELY not southern mac and cheese. So then on to the Coleslaw...that was at least decent. But then again, it's a little hard to screw up Coleslaw. The Pulled Pork however, was FANTASTIC. While I'm not sure about the BBQ sauce (a bit too vinegary for my taste), the pork was tender and the portion was great. It was flavorful even without the BBQ sauce. I enjoyed it very much. :)

But in the end, I'm afraid I can't give Casper's a high rating at all because most of the food I tried was not tasty in my opinion, the service wasn't the greatest, and it just didn't encompass southern comfort. Actually halfway through our meal we noticed the owner Casper himself was sitting just a couple tables away having lunch with a friend. What surprised me was how he paid no attention to the fact that our table of four had been completely ignored for almost 1/2 an hour. I would just hope that in the future, we could luck out on better service. I'd be willing to go back and try other items though. Because every restaurant deserves a second chance.

Raiting: ** (I feel that might be generous based on my experience)
15226 Aurora Avenue
(In the parking lot with Safeway)
Shoreline, WA 98133
(206) 361-3757

Smokin's Pete's BBQ
After much hype, I was interested in trying Smokin' Pete's BBQ, which is located in Ballard. I'm hoping that one day I find a southern restaurant that will just let me have as many sides as I want. My problem is that everywhere I go, I always want more sides then I am allowed with my meal and I end up paying far too much for my additional sides and of course getting way too ridiculously full. This was my first problem with Smokin' Pete's. I probably spent a good 85% of my time with the menu just trying to figure out how I can get the most sides for the least amount of money. :) I just wanted a taste of everything!



Service is easy at Smokin' Pete's you walk up and order your food and then sit down. The food comes right to you. I ended up with the Pulled Pork Sandwich and a side of Coleslaw. And then I paid for an additional Mac and Cheese, because frankly, I just can't pass up Mac and Cheese anywhere I go. One feature I found very distinctive to Smokin' Pete's is their Sweet Potato Cornbread Muffin. While I was disappointed their honey butter was not quite the honey butter I envisioned (in next review you will see why I am so adamant about this honey butter), it was at least moist and tasty. The Mac and Cheese was Superb and the Coleslaw wasn't anything extraordinary but it was good. The pulled pork had a wonderful smokey flavor, however I did not have anything to rave about after. I think the place might have been hyped up a bit too much for me. The food is great, the portions are insanely large, and overall a great place, I just wasn't completely wowed in any particular way.

Rating: ***.5 (Because it was far better than Casper's but I would not say better than Toulouse Petite)
1918 Northwest 65th Street
Seattle, WA 98117
(206) 783-0454

Speak E-Z's

This review comes far too late...but it still deserves to be written. Speak E-Z's, which is located in Bellingham, WA is actually the place that introduced me to REAL fried chicken. I never thought I would find tasty southern food in Bellingham, but here it is. While some of the items are hit and miss...Speak E-Z's has always had a special place in my heart. It recently had to shut down a few weeks ago because it just wasn't doing that well, which breaks my heart. Especially after getting to know the owners, Rosie and Dennis. They are quite the most unlikely couple, but together they are fantastic. Rosie, short and petite German woman, with curly locks and the cutest accent. Dennis, a tall commanding African American man from Memphis, Tennesee with a jolly smile and personality to match. Together they ran the show: Dennis cooks and Rosie helps serve.

A colorful interior with musical instruments and records decorating the wall, the restaurant definitely has a mom and pop kind of feel to it. I adore it.

My all time favorite meal here is the Fried Chicken, which is just plain fantastic. However, this particular day they were not serving it on their lunch menu. But I never knew how AMAZING fried chicken could be. Haven't been to KFC since. The star menu item for this resturant in my opinion is actually the Jalapeno Cornbread and Honey Butter. AH - I just drool thinking about it. Words can't express how delicious this cornbread is, and the honey butter is homemade. Butter that is actually whipped together with honey! Imagine that...mmm it is to die for. When I would come when my friend Ashley was working, I would always ask for seconds of the cornbread. Just *drool* amazing. Here's a glance at what we had for lunch this day:
I can't remember what this was to be honest (It's from January!) I think it was the braised pork sandwich.

Seafood Gumbo (Sorry I forgot to take a picture when there was actually some soup in there) + Jalapeno Cornbread.

Ashley's favorite- the Pulled Pork Sandwich.


I used to tell people to stop by Speak EZ's...but now that it's gone..all I can say is that it will be sorely missed. :(

Rating: ***.5 (While it wins for personality, comfort, and taste, I didn't find every menu item a hit)
It used to be here!
2400 Meridian Street
Bellingham, WA 98225
(360) 714-0606