Palisade, Revisited

November came and went. For most people, November is synonymous with Thanksgiving. Well, yes, but to me, more importantly, it meant Dine Around Seattle month.

Couple of weeks ago, we celebrated J's birthday. After having those wonderful lunches at Palisade in March, I wanted to share my find with the family. I wanted to declare Palisade as my favorite restaurant.

The evening started wonderfully. Palisade seems to be THE place for celebrations. There were many tables with rose pedals and cards, including ours. A little detail like that made J's evening, and warmed our hearts.

The bread was exactly the same as before, and as good as I remembered. I ordered the butter lettuce salad again, and hubby had the made-to-order shellfish chowder. Consistency is a good thing, but it could get a little boring. The salad was almost exactly the same as last time. Hubby's chowder was rich and creamy with lumps of Dungeness crabmeat and shrimp.

Back in March, I recommended Palisade to a friend. When she went for dinner, she also got the butter lettuce salad and the sirloin. My lunch salad had one prawn, and her dinner one had more. At dinnertime, the sirloin was really a surf and turf dish paired with prawns. So I was slightly surprised that my salad was exactly like my previous lunches - with just one prawn - only sloppier presentation. Were they trying to reduce cost?

When our entrees came, my suspicion was confirmed. Hubby's sirloin was the only protein on the plate, accompanied by asparagus, chanterelle mushroom pieces and potato galette. While the steak was cooked to a perfect medium, it was too peppery for hubby. The potato was a bit dry.

My crab cakes were quite disappointing. The two cakes were only average with mild seasoning. The escarole watercress salad with lemon vinaigrette was underwhelming. And the sweet corn succotash was extremely bland. The only tasty component of the whole dish was the sweet and sour plum butter sauce! I should have chosen the third option - King salmon.

The kids' teriyaki steak bites weren’t bad, but that’s all they were - teriyaki for kids!

I can't say that the dinner was disastrous since our Chocolate "Lovers" Cakes were as sinful as I remembered. However, as a whole, it fell short of my expectations. Even though, $30 is still a very attractive price for a three-course meal at Palisade, both the quality and quantity were either on par or below my $15 lunches.

Did they just cut cost on dinners? Or was lunch always a better value? With all these questions, I made a point to go back to Palisade for lunch during the last week of November.

As usual, I ordered the butter lettuce salad and the sirloin. The salad had no prawns at all now! The julienned pear was all wet and limp, not crisp at all. I would pin that to some over-ripe pears, and not hold it against Palisade though. My sirloin was not very peppery, and almost exactly the same as our dinner. Maybe it was slightly smaller, I couldn't tell. The chanterelle mushrooms were much better.

On this particular day, service was so slow, I had to get dessert to go. Wanting to try something other than the chocolate cake, I got the Pineapple Bread Pudding made with vanilla custard brioche, caramelized vanilla bean Maui gold pineapple and maple rum anglaise. By the time, I had the bread pudding, it was all cold. It was still good, but the chocolate cake would have been much better.

Other than the missing prawn, the only thing they cut down during lunch service was the bread. So yes, lunch is the way to go. Even though, the meal wasn't as spectacular as it was in March, I'd reckon that Palisade still serves one of the best, if not THE best, Dine Around Seattle lunches. It's just unfortunate that I no longer feel that I could declare it as my favorite restaurant. Oh well, the search is on!

Palisade Waterfront Restaurant
2601 W Marina Pl, Seattle, WA 98199
(206) 285-1000

Taiwan, Part XXI - Da Wan Yakiniku

For my very last dinner in Taiwan, we went to a yakiniku restaurant - Da Wan. The competition of yakiniku restaurants in Taipei are almost as fierce as hot pot restaurants.

Da Wan is located on a side street in the busy Dun Hua business district. Other than the bar area, there are only couple of tables. We put our name down before they opened for dinner, and were told that we had only an hour and half to eat. When you arrive, you get a locker for jackets, purses, etc., so your belongings don't smell of the smoke. The wait staff will help you grill almost everything, making the experience even more enjoyable and entertaining, not to mention risk-free. (If I were to grill things myself, I'm sure I'd have overcooked and ruined a few pieces.)

The three of us started with a Japanese wakame salad (NT$140). I love wakame. And this salad was perfect to cleanse our palate for the parade of meat that was following. =) Our feast started with the Salted Green Onion Beef Tongue (NT$240). I've never been a fan of animal tongues. In fact, I used to dislike green onions so much that I'd pick them off of my food till a year ago. However, these beef tongues were so tender and juicy that I couldn't tell them apart from some nice steak. They were only grilled on one side, but there was more than enough heat to cook the green onions on top as well. The green onions added a nice aroma to the tongue. They were the perfect accompaniment. Dipped in lemon juice, these were heavenly. We loved these so much, we got a second order.

The Salt and Pepper Pork Cheek (NT$160) and the Brisket Marinated with BBQ Sauce (NT$260) were just as succulent. While I didn't really enjoy the Salt and Pepper Chicken Cartilage (NT$140), my friend J loved it. We also had one of the specials - the Wagyu Combo (NT$1680) which included Australian wagyu top blade steak, rib-eye steak, and rib cap. When I had wagyu filet mignon carpaccio style at Alexander's Steakhouse, I thought they were delicious. These grilled wagyu were even better. They were marvelous without any seasoning. The marbled meat literally melted on my tongue. These might be expensive by Taiwanese standards, but they are much more affordable compared to what wagyu steaks command in the States.

To balance off our meal, we also had Salt and Pepper Chicken Leg Mushroom (NT$80), Corn (NT$80), and Okra (NT$80). The mushrooms and corns were good. What really surprised me was the okra. I normally don't like okra due to its sliminess. However, these okra weren't slimy in the least bit. The outside was grilled to subtly crispy. The inside was perfectly tender. Who knew that I would enjoy okra! =)

The Japanese style Salmon Tea Soaked Rice (NT$80) and the Buttered Enoki Mushroom Soup (NT$80) were so comforting, that they were almost homey.

We added an order of Hokkaido Capelin (NT$180) at the end since you can't get capelins here. These tiny fish had bulging stomachs filled with eggs. They are quite difficult to grill - if you flip them too early, they would stick to the wire and tear; if you flip them too late, they'd burn. The taste isn't exactly my favorite, but it was very interesting.

As my last meal in Taiwan, we certainly ended on a high note. The meal was so satisfying, I was ecstatic.

My Taiwan recap has come to an end. It's been almost as fun as the trip itself. I already miss my friends and can't wait to go back again. Oh, there are so many more places to visit and things to do!

Da Wan Yakiniku (大腕燒肉專門店)
Address: 22 Lane 177, Dun Hua South Road, Section 1
地址：台北市敦化南路一段177巷22號1樓
Telephone: 02-2711-0179
電話：02-2711-0179
Hours: 6 pm - 2 am
營業時間：18:00-02:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Many years ago, our friends, the Ls, decided to invite their single Canadian guy friends over for Thanksgiving. This became a tradition. As the years went by, some got married, some had kids, but no one strayed. The group grew as the girlfriends, wives, and kids joined the party. Hubby was one of those guys.

Every year, we look forward to Thanksgiving at the Ls'. When it snowed on Sunday, I didn't think too much of it. However, by Tuesday, the snow still didn't melt. I started getting worried about our Thanksgiving feast. There is no way that we would miss our yearly traditional for some measly white flakes, even if we have to pack snow chains, sleeping bags, and toiletries. =) Unfortunately, the Ls couldn't negotiate a sled service contract with the deer and raccoons to take people up the hill in front of their house. So they had to reschedule Thanksgiving to Friday. While to us Thanksgiving is when we celebrate at the Ls', to the rest of you, Happy Thanksgiving! =)

Taiwan, Part XX - Ji Pin Seafood Restaurant

Ever since the first time I heard about the "quicksand" bun, I was enchanted. On my last day in Taipei, I was determined to have this unique dessert at Ji Pin. Besides the famous "quicksand" buns, Ji Pin is a seafood restaurant, specializing in shark fin and abalone.

Ji Pin's clientele consists mostly regulars. The boss and the manager walked around the room, greeting and chatting with people. Their lunch "specials" change from time to time. When I visited, there were 4 options, all 9 course meals, price ranging from NT$1280 to NT$2980. Yes, these would be expensive lunches. A little shocked by both the price and the amount of food, I stayed away from the specials, and ordered a few dim sum items. In hindsight, I should have gone to Ji Pin with an empty stomach, and splurged on an extravagant lunch, instead of having a pre-lunch snack.

When my Cantonese Sausages with Rice in Clay Pot (NT$200) came, the clay pot was still hot. The rice on the bottom got very crispy. After mixing together the rice and the sausages, every bite had some crunchy, some soft, and some meaty. This was really tasty. The only thing is that like most dishes with Chinese sausages, it's a bit greasy.

The Ji Pin Shark Fin Dumplings (NT$240, 3 pieces) are steamed with shark fin, shrimp, carrots, bamboo shoots, tree mushrooms, and shiitaki mushrooms. Shark fin is a very mild-taste ingredient. So these are very similar to shrimp dumplings, with bits of slightly crunchy vegetables. Don't get me wrong, they were good, just not much of a surprise.

The signature dessert - Quicksand Buns (NT$120, 3 pieces) are really molten custard buns. They are very similar to steamed custard buns. When the bun is hot and torn open, the custard would run out. Their menu translated the name to Steamed Salted Egg Custard Bun because the custard was mixed with cooked salted duck egg yolk. The dough was nice and fluffy, like regular custard buns, with a little sweetness. Unlike regular custard buns, the filling was sweet and salty, creamy and gritty at the same time as the duck egg bits hit your tongue. It was quite an experience.

Ji Pin Seafood Restaurant (吉品海鮮餐廳)
Address: 25 Dun Hua South Road, Section 1, 2nd floor
Telephone: 02-2752-7788
地址：台北市松山區敦化南路一段25號2樓
電話：02-2752-7788
Address: 236 Xin Yi Road, Section 4, 2nd floor
Telephone: 02-2700-3311
地址：台北市信義路四段236號2樓
電話：02-2700-3311
Hours: 11:30 am - 2:30 pm 5:30 pm - 10 pm
營業時間：11:30 - 14:30 17:30 - 22:00