Elliott Bay Brewery (second trip)

Price: $$
Thoughts: ☆☆☆☆☆
Elliot Bay Brewery: Menu

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It has been six weeks since my last post. A lot of scheduling conflicts and getting sick has caused many delays for the entire month of May. Once the dust had settled we decided to start off with our top choice (so far) from the places we've eaten; Elliott Bay Brewery. This time around we decided to try some of the happy hour items for starters. We got the Onion Rings and Mussels with Fries. Both were $4.95 each:


Onion Rings

These rings were huge, about the same diameter as an apple. I do not think I have ever seen any this big before. Trying to pace ourselves we left a couple onion rings to box up as leftovers. I discourage doing this, as they do not reheat very well (both microwave or oven still leaves it a little damp). Their "house sauce" (which I am pretty sure is a combination of BBQ sauce and ranch and something else (maybe worchestershire) tastes great. I found that crushing the rings works better for dipping them into the undersized dipping containers.


Mussels with a side of fries


The mussels aren't anything out of the ordinary, as there isn't anything wrong with preparing them with the lemon and garlic.

For the main dishes we ordered the California Avenue and Black Angus Philly Cheese Steak (his turn to try it).


CALIFORNIA AVENUE- Topped with guacamole, Swiss cheese, and bacon with mayo on the side

The burger wasn't too difficult to scarf down (although we were already getting a little full from the two happy hour portions already). The swiss cheese was a little difficult to taste as the guacamole overpowered the flavors from the other ingredients (save for the bacon and patty), which still tasted great. The burger is quite messy regardless of how much caution you put into eating it. I saved a small portion of it to take home for lunch (or breakfast the next day).


BLACK ANGUS PHILLY CHEESE STEAK makes it's return

My friend enjoyed the cheese steak and had to take some of it home as the daunting hoagie along with the fries makes for an already filling meal.

The last time eating here, I was not able to make it through for desserts (too much food kills the cravings). But we gave one of their seasonal desserts a shot, Shortbread Sundae with Hazelnuts.


Shortbread Sundae with Hazelnuts *SEASONAL*

This was too big for one person, at least the waitress gave us a warning and discouraged us from ordering two. Good call on her end, as we didn't even finish the one that we had shared. The shortbread breaks up nicely with a spoon making it easy to get a little bit of the ice cream, chopped hazelnuts and some shortbread all in one scoop. We weren't able to finish this one unfortunately (we scooped out all the ice cream and hazelnuts towards the end).

Once again the Elliott Bay Brewery has done a great job providing a lot of food for the money. Still number one in my book!

5 Spot

Price: $$
Thoughts: ☆☆☆
5 Spot: Menu

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Another sandwich and burger craving this week. I've been meaning to eat at 5 Spot for a little while now with my craving for some good American food. This would be the first time visiting the heart of Queen Anne, and I definitely would never have run by this part of town without knowing about this restaurant. It felt like a small oasis in the middle of a huge hill. Finding parking without a zone-permit restricts you to 2-hour street parking; there is literally no space to build a parking lot in this area.

5 Spot boasts a diverse menu that rotates between different parts of America. The featured theme was Mississippi Delta Blues. It looks like when doing a theme, they include restaurant decorations; steam boats, paintings, some nice catchy southern blues. The drinking cups were glass jars printed with a fish logo and the word MASON, which I found really cool.


The menu cover and the drinking jars

We started with their fried green tomatoes because it was something new and sounded simple:


Fried Green Tomatoes with a side of salad

I really enjoyed the tomatoes, firm unripe tomatoes dredged in cornmeal works well with their Tabasco tartar. My friend seemed to enjoy the salad more, which was lettuce, dijon mustard and a vinaigrette.

For the main course I went with their Memphis Blues BBQ Pork Sandwich after finding out that it was pulled pork.


Slow hickory smoked pork smothered in sweet Tennessee BBQ & served with fries and slaw.

I would say the pulled pork was unbelievable, one bite and you could taste the smokiness from the meat. However their choice of using a hoagie bun wasn't appealing. I would've preferred something like a kaiser roll or something with a little more firmness. They seemed to have perfected the formula for the perfect fries to me, crispy but not crunchy.

My friend got the Longhorn Burger, which was quite large:


Big country Painted Hills ground chuck with roasted Anaheim pepper, bacon, pepper jack cheese & frizzled onions. Served with ancho dusted fries.

The Anaheim pepper that laid on top of the patty looked like it would give a nice kick to the whole burger.

For dessert, two orders of their mud pie to finish off the meal, which was also part of the Mississippi theme as well. The waitress double checked with us to make sure we really wanted two slices. In the past, several restaurants I've been to would question my judgement on how much I am capable of eating:


Vanilla fudge swirl ice cream with chocolate espresso chips layered with chocolate sauce & topped with homemade marshmallow creme.

I'm not huge on sweets, but this was very rich. The layer of toasted marshmallow was a little over 1" in thickness. After the fifth bite it became a painful struggle to finish it alone; my friend refused to assist! I managed to eat all but a small portion of it before conceding defeat. It left me with the painfully full feeling, rather than just full. But it was still quite good.

The atmosphere was nice and hip, the waiters were very attentive and added to the pleasant atmosphere and made the meal really enjoyable. At no point in the meal did I feel rushed or dissatisfied with what I was eating (in fact I think the waitress can gauge my stomach better than myself for dessert).

Even though this place has a wide variety of Dinner entrées, it feels like their breakfast/brunch dishes would be their true strengths. I'll have to find time to try it! This place is worth giving a shot.

Elliott Bay Brewery

Price: $$
Thoughts: ☆☆☆☆½
Elliott Bay Brewery: Menu

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Despite the fact that I parked the car in front of the place, I felt that this place was overshadowed by Talarico's Pizzeria, which sported a bright neon sign displaying their name as opposed to the Elliott Bay Brewery logo being illuminated with floodlights.

The furnishings reminded me of eating at other places like Schulty's Sausage on the ave. Seating didn't require waiting, as we were allowed a seat anywhere there was an open spot. We had already glanced at the menu a few nights before to get any idea of what to expect.

We started off with a half order of the Elliott Bay Nachos, which was a literal mountain of toppings dripping with awesome. And by awesome I mean jack and cheddar cheeses, homemade chili,
tomatoes, onions, olives and jalapeno peppers, sour cream, homemade pico de
gallo and guacamole on the side:



Eventually we finished the nachos which had already been quite satisfying (the nachos from the 88 Keys lost to the Elliott Bay). Kevin had gotten the Brewer's Burger, and it was quite big (starting to see a pattern here). It consisted of "the works", sautéed mushrooms, green peppers, bacon, and cheddar cheese:



While waiting for my order; the Black Angus Philly Cheese Steak, I was under the assumption it was going to be a regularly sized cheese steak like most other places I've eaten them at so I had already been looking through for what to get for dessert:



Their take on the cheese steak had shaved Black Angus steak grilled with braised onions and melted with American cheese. The bocca roll worked well as it was nice and soft and easy to sink my teeth into despite it's size. I managed to finish half of it before getting a box. There was no room for dessert. This was definitely one of the more satisfying meals I've had the past week. Although I'm not a big fan for leftovers (reheated food doesn't feel the same), I was already looking forward to breakfast, yes. This was breakfast the following day.

I would have made this a place to go out and eat on a regular basis if it wasn't so far away. Have to go through two freeways and over a bridge just to get there. Was it worth it? Yes, it offered one of the best in the quality/quantity/value ratio.

When I eat here again (didn't want to say 'if' because I really plan eating here again), I would want to give their french dip a try. I've always enjoyed the combination of au jus and roast beef.