I was wondering the exact same thing as I started reading your post. Go home, get in bed, eat another cookie and watch "Bubba ho tep".

Great work at City Hall btw. I appreciate you door knob licking brand of journalism.

thanks,

If the food's any good, it doesn't need to be salted or peppered. The chef presumably knows how to do that properly him- or herself. I'll bet they fill their shakers about once a year.

And if the restaurant is mediocre, the food's probably so salty already that a normal person can barely choke it down without three glasses of water.

Seattle has some great restaurants. We don't need greasy diners with huge salt shakers. I love the style of the tiny salt shakers, it reminds me of flying Virgin Air first class to London - where the in flight salt shakers are tiny airplanes. Generally - affluent, educated people appreciate not using the same style of eating utensils that the working class use.

If I wanted cheap barbecue ribs and a huge salt shaker, I'd dine in Tacoma.

To Foodie, Kimberly, Density, etc: You are one funny fuck. That "Tacoma" line is gold.

Fnarf, not so. Everyone has different tastes. I had meningitis as a child, and I not only lost most of my hearing, I lost part of my combined sense of taste and smell. I don't salt food but I often put a LOT of pepper (or capsaicum, or wasabi) on it. It doesn't matter what it is; spice brings out the flavor that my deadened senses can't reach.

Don't be so quick to assume everyone has your impeccable palate.

My question is this: If you Slog about your lunch, do you get to write it off?

Many nice restaurants don't have salt and pepper on the tables. It's considered insulting to the chef to season your own food. Personally, I never add salt unless the food is criminally underseasoned, but many of my salt-fiend dining companions get incensed when there's no salt on the table.

I had the snapper baked in parchment paper. Fancy. And delicious. I didn't pick up the salt shaker, which is rare for me.

And I wish there were good places to get cheap BBQ ribs in Seattle.

Parchment is not only fancy, but it's a great way to cook fish at home without stinking up the place too badly.

I say thumbs down to the tiny shaker. Some chefs, in fact many chefs, err on the side of undersalting the food. So I wouldn't presume that all chefs would be insulted by a little salting at the table. Also the amount of salt one is likely to want depends on what one is drinking with dinner. Steak Frites with a red wine needs little salt. If you are having it with beer though, a bit more salt goes better with it.
The tiny shakers are harder to hold and more likely to go flying if you are salting your steak-frites after the third beer.

Not be insulted??

When I told my cousin in Tacoma about red snapper cooked in parchment, he made an offensive sexist joke. We'd prefer to not attract this type of patron to Seattle restaurants.

I love calimari, eggplant sandwhiches, and snapper cooked in parchment. The Chef is paid to season the food correctly, so I ask the waiter to take away the salt shakers. Seattle has delicious food, and Tacoma smells and is a "red state" type of city. So I'd prefer to avoid cheap salty barbecue ribs and the kinds of people those restaurants attract. Seattle people are better educated, and have highly developed palates.

Just what Capitol Hill needs - another upscale trendy "cafe". I wish that a cheap BBQ ribs joint were there instead. And I don't even eat ribs!

Capital Club's new eggplant sandwhich is puuurfect! I wish there were more upscale cafes like that on Broadway. We need more good restaurants in Seattle.

There are tons of cities in America with tacky Rib Joints so if you don't like Seattle's fine dining, I'd suggest you move.

The new place on 12th had lots of stuff on the menu under $8—some under $6. It's not too pricey. But, yeah, the Hill. Where can get cheap eats up here? Besides Linda's, Hot Momma's, Ballet, Honey Hole, Bimbo's, Ali Baba, Piecora's, etc.

For cheap(ish), amazing bbq try ok corral up north like on greenwood ave. fucking amazing ribs and catfish. and they can fix your stereo too.

less than $10 per person, and you won't need to eat for a day.

SAVAGE Wrote:
"And I wish there were good places to get cheap BBQ ribs in Seattle."

I second EROSTRATUS' nomination of the the OK Corral. I usually pass on barbecue sauce, however the Corral's is superb..not sweet and with a trace of vinegar. Perfect. Funky place with an exceptionally uninviting exterior and used home furnishings for very limited seating. Great music. Service is indifferent and can be intimidating if you don't know what you want and waste their time. Wonderful fried catfish. The fillet's are perfectly cooked and neither greasy nor discolored from using ancient frying oil. The cook is wonderfully serene. I love this place. It is one of the small jewels in Seattle's crown.

---Jensen

Wish there was a place like that in Portland, or at least one that I knew of...

you ever tried R&L on Yesler? Sorry it's not on Capitol Hill, but it's walking distance from Capitol Hill. It's damn good.

To be classy I think restaurants should either have a pepper mill at your table or bring a pepper mill with your order. Freshly ground is sooo much better.

isn't there a Cafe Stellina on 20th and Union in the CD near Central Cinema? Is this just a coincidence?

Dan, you know what they say about a guy with big hands.....

Freshly ground pepper and organic sea salt are the only condiments in a proper restaurant. Food on Capital Hill is very cheap. For $40 you can get a great meal.

Having the one dollar value meal type of restaurants just attracts creepy poor people. Some fast food places have a $2.50 daily special that many poor people live on. So an $8 meal is four days food budget! Most poor people will just crawl away to Tacoma I hope.

The pepper mill should always be in the hands of a professional. Leaving them around opens you up to drunks using them as weapons.

As far as "insulting the chef" if you salt your food: Who cares? It's your food. You're paying for it.

Klotz's Law apparently needs revising.

what a coincidence! I went to lunch there yesterday too, and had the snapper

it was good, but kinda like what I make at home - and a few too many pin bones mixed in for me

yes, Stellina was on Union and 20th in the CD - but I always drove by on my way to the Elysian before it moved

if only the Elysian had food to match their beer, I'd eat lunch there every time I went out

now I'm waiting for the Le Pichet cafe to open up a little further down 12th

today had lunch at St Germain in Madison Valley - not that's French!

much better - and even cheaper - than Stellina

erratum meum: "*now* that's French"

Being a foodie is sooooo... important to me. I love living in a city that caters to foodies. We're so lucky in Seattle.

Can't wait for the hazelnut encrusted Halibut to come onto menus this fall. It's great with mango chutney.

Catalina Vel-Duray wrote:

"The pepper mill should always be in the hands of a professional. Leaving them around opens you up to drunks using them as weapons...."

That, and pool cues.

I had a strung-out bus boy wallop me on the brain pan with one of those foot-long pepper grinders once, when I was getting ready to put things in the safe. Saw stars, for real, dozens of silver stars. I didn't go down, though; I have a head like iron. But when I got up and chased him I almost fainted. Bled all over the place, very satisfyingly. The company president came down and shook my hand, the fucker (I was hoping for a little reward; I saved them about five grand that night).

Dearest Foodie,

I'm neither affluent nor formally educated, being one of those low-life welfare recipients.

But please, enlighten me: how exactly does salt become organic? What living entity must one grind up and saturate the salt with to make it organic?

Unless of course, you were simply referring to whole rock salt, unrefined, fine grind. This comes in many varieties and colors; subtle characteristic differences due to variations in their chemical composition lend delicate shadings of flavor to different dishes.

Piper nigra can be black, red, green, or white depending on the level of ripening allowed. I'm surprised you didn't want *that* organic.

But what the fuck do I know?
I live down in Kent, home of Caveman's Kitchen.

Organic Salt is made in a sustainable way without artificial ingredients. See the Al Gore move and then try to deny that humans are causing global warming.

It makes me sad that people still defend fast food restaurants when there is goat cheese bisque, spicy chilled eggplant soup, and marion berry torte all made in healthy, organic, sustainable ways. Guess Al Gore is right, no matter what, some people will insist on driving their car to Dick's Burgers to eat fries covered in toxic salt and causing global warming.

Dearest Foodie II,

I am soooooo not defending fast food dearheart, it's toxic waste.

Do you know salt is a rock (well technically a deposit of various sodium compounds) that is mined out of the ground, or in the case of seasalt, they take seawater and let it dry to get to the chemical residue? I'm highly amused to hear you say it's "made in a sustainable way". It isn't "made", it's gathered you goose. It was one of the very first tradeable commodoties of humankind, along with flint, amber, and seashells.

I've been ranting about global warming since waaay before this administration, so I'm on board with you on that one. Athough I think the driving to the fast food might cause more warming than the food itself. I'd be more worried about the "natural flavorings" in some foods that really aren't. Ever read Fast Food Nation? Try it, you'll like it.

I guess what I'm trying to say is: just because I'm poor, don't assume I can't make dolmades. Don't assume that I don't have an appreciation for brie or feta or microbrews or rose petit syrahs. Don't assume all of us are moronic cretins who have no tastes.

By the bye, you can sustainably and organically cook all these things yourself at home, and you can make a big enough batch to share with all your friends instead of just one of them at a restaurant.

Some of us in the bottom half are here because it's been a bad year. So don't act like good food is some elitest thing, love - you're only making yourself feel better.

Before you get all uppity about how your organic sustainable whatnot is supreme just because its label says so, why don't you go ahead and look into how that stuff is actually made. You have to do more digging than just shopping at Whole Foods. (Which I absolutely adore, btw.) The USDA just wrote rules that are a win-some/lose-some score for the definition of "organic". Consumer research into food production practices are more important now than ever.

If you're going to pay top dollar, make sure you get the real, unadulterated thing.

xoxo.
~moi

You eat Moi, Foodie Say What?

Princess Caroline

Hiya Princess!

Are you asking if I will eat you, or eat you with flavored condoms at hand? Or maybe you're just asking if I like flavored Lifestyles condoms? (Not my favorite, no...little too thick and I'm not too keen on artificial flavors, 'member?)

I could have just been saying "me" en frances.
Or maybe it was an onomatpoea for a peck on the cheek to show no ill will.

In any case, cheers!