Sunday, November 15 (Seattle)

I broke my first rule of traveling and ate at a place we had already tried. I usually scorn people for their lack of adventure for doing this (falls in line with my anti-Applebee’s law), but Piroshky Piroshky was just too good and, may I mention, cheap! This time I got the beef and cheese one that Josh had yesterday, and I can’t remember what Josh had.

After trekking up to Pike Place Market for piroshkies, we headed back where we came from and to the Seattle Underground tour. Pretty interesting stuff, the initial settlers of Seattle basically built on a flood plain and, being too stubborn (or stupid) to move, just let their business district flood every day, twice a day, for years. Big sinkholes formed in the streets, kids drowned, etc. Eventually a fire destroyed most things, and they ended up building the city on top of what was left of the old city. You can go underground and still see walkways, decrepit storefronts, etc. Another interesting fact we learned was, back in the day, the male-female ratio was something like 10:1 and so you can imagine what most of the women’s professions were. When a census was taken the city had an inordinate number of “seamstresses” who, oddly enough, didn’t have any sewing machines in their homes. The city fathers didn’t mind so much that the majority of its women were prostitutes; rather, they wanted to make sure they were making some money off of it. So, they created a seamstress tax of $10/month.I can’t remember the exact number, but at one time something like 90 percent of the city’s funds were from prostitution.

After the tour we decided to go check out the Space Needle. It costs like $20/person to go up, but we thought we would be clever and just go up to the revolving restaurant instead and have a drink at the bar. Yeah, they were way ahead of us. Since it was Sunday, they have a Sunday brunch that costs $45/person. We decided to skip the Space Needle.

We did, however, decide to check out the Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum next door. Tickets were $13/person (we had a coupon) and we felt we got way more out of it than we would have from a ride to the top of the Space Needle. The only bummer about the EMP was that they have a lot of interactive stuff to play with, but people were already playing with everything so we didn’t get to. Darn kids.

After that we decided to drive over to this Cuban sandwich place for lunch that my coworker Kyle had told me about, but when we got over there it was closed. Bummer. So we headed back to our hotel and had a snack in the hotel bar. It was already 3 p.m. or so, and we didn’t want to eat a ton since we had dinner reservations for Rover’s at 7. We did go to the hotel happy hour again and had a nice conversation with a man and his wife who were living in Portland but he was contemplating a job in Milwaukee. He wanted to know if it gets cold and sucky and icy there, and I said yes. Turns out he is in the construction trade so we ended up talking about unions and whatnot. The couple from Sacramento was also there, and fortunately little Miss Starbucks was not.

Next stop – Rover’s! Josh found out about this place on yelp.com. Interestingly, he actually let me drive most of this trip. So we drove over there and it’s a little hard to find. It’s set back off the street in this small gathering of what looks like dentist offices, chiropractic places, etc. So we’re walking up slowly like, “Is this the right place?” It looked like a nondescript stucco house from the outside. But yes, we had the right place!

It’s a small restaurant and, while it is elegant, it is also not at all stuffy. Nice combo. Apparently it’s something of a special celebration place, because it seemed like everyone there was having a birthday. Josh and I think every day is a celebration when it comes to good food, so we fit right in. They have three tasting menus available, or you can order anything a la carte (also a vegetarian tasting menu). One is an eight-course menu, one is a five-course menu, and the other is also a five-course menu but it is classic French food in the style of Julia Child.

Josh and I both got the five-course menu, though I substituted out the salmon course in mine for the beef bourguignon course off the Julia Child menu. I had made beef bourguignon at home recently and wanted to see how my first attempt compared. We also got the wine pairing.

We were served an amuse bouche, but I’ve already forgotten what it was. I feel like maybe it was a small cup of delicious mushroom soup? First course was a diver’s sea scallop with marinated beet, celery root-apple salad and harissa aioli. I’m still amazed there is a seafood I actually like, but scallops are yum-mee! Next up was pork belly with parsnip puree, lacinato kale and Meyer lemon confit. Tender and tasty. Next Josh had the Bristol Bay salmon with butternut squash, matsutake and saffron butter, and I had the beef bourguignon – essentially a rich beef stew with red wine, pearl onions, carrots and mushrooms.

I can definitively say my beef bourguignon is better! Josh agrees. We were trying to figure out why, and we came up with a couple of possibilities. 1) It took me about 4 hours to make, and maybe a restaurant doesn’t have time to spend four hours on one dish. 2) I followed Julia’s recipe exactly, and maybe this chef put his/her own twist on it that just wasn’t as good. 3) Perhaps I used a better cut of meat. Who knows?

Next we had a verjus-huckleberry sorbet to cleanse the palate, and then moulard duck breast with celery root, herbed faro and thyme sauce. I find duck is one of those things I never order on its own, but when I have it I always think it is delicious.

To end the meal we had a “symphony of desserts,” which I don’t really remember but I think we had three things – maybe a crème brulee, a flourless chocolate torte and something else – you know, the usual dessert suspects. Caramel or spice cake or something. I almost wish I had gotten the chocolate soufflé instead – I really wanted to try it! The meal ended with mignardises, which I believe were classic French macaroons.

There was wine in particular that I liked - an unusual white – and I have the label at home so I can track it down again. All in all, we had a lovely evening – as we almost always do. After that, back to the hotel and to bed. Monday is wine tasting!