Palace Kitchen

The Palace Kitchen is one of my favorite restaurants in Seattle.  One of Tom Douglas' signature Seattle restaurants, it sits right next to Jazz Alley just east of Belltown, and has some of the best food around.  I ate dinner there on Saturday night with a friend of mine, and they didn't disappoint.  I'm a stickler for the details, and the Palace Kitchen does a phenomenal job of paying attention to the details.   One of my litmus tests (other than how a restaurant makes their Spanish Coffees of course) is how they make their Manhattans.  This is another drink I get wherever I go, and they differ at almost every location.  From the type of glass used, to the amount of vermouth, and type of bitters, and especially the quality of the cherry!  One of my BIGGEST pet peeves is when they use a store bought, bright red maraschino cherry.  Don't they realize it's literally soaked in red dye?  The Palace Kitchen though made a wonderful Manhattan just the way I like it, including two beautiful dark cherries to garnish.  What a treat!

I ordered the Double R Ranch NY Stiploin, and enjoyed it immensely!  It was so juicy, and the fresh salsa verde butter was a wonderful compliment to the dish.

I capped off the night with a Spanish Coffee order, knowing full well that any Tom Douglas restaurant will make it right!  I saw from my table 25 ft from the bar a tall flame coming out of the Irish Coffee glass the bartender was holding as he rotated it slowly to caramelize the sugar on the rim.  When I received it, I was delighted with the result.  The presentation was near perfect, with a thick layer of cream floating on top (although, I'm not sure it was freshly made cream, since it had the sweetness of whipped cream from a can), and nicely caramelized rim.    The flavor was well balanced, but it wasn't as strong as I prefer.  Maybe they went light on the 151, or triple sec.  Regardless, I would give this a solid 7/10.

Thanks for the wonderful meal and drinks, Palace Kitchen!  I will return in short order!

 

 

Palace Kitchen

www.palacekitchen.com

2030 5th Ave, Seattle, WA 98121

(206) 448-2001

Sonya's Bar and Grill

If you want to know where the Seattle locals go, and servers and bartenders from other downtown restaurants unwind when they're done with their shift, Sonya's Bar and Grill is the place to go.  Located on 1st Avenue just north of Pike's Place Market, Sonya is the "Cheers" of Seattle. 

While their cocktails are generally pretty good, I'm disappointed to say that when I ordered my Spanish Coffee on Saturday night. . . . they couldn't make it, because they don't brew any coffee!  Maybe they should remember that they are in the coffee capitol of the world, and that at 11pm there are lots of people who would love a good coffee drink.  Oh, well.  Sonya's gets a 0/10 for not even making coffee.  Get it together guys!