Tom Douglas

Ribeye Steaks at Bite of Seattle by Eric Tanaka, Executive Chef

what do you get when you grill 300 ribeye steaks? A bucket full of scraps.  We accumulated these meat scraps while serving food at the Bite of Seattle Alley.

July 19th, 2009 | 3 Comments »

Osteria dei Cavalieri, Pisa, by Shelley Lance, Blog Editor

One of the best dining experiences during our trip to Tuscany last month was at the Osteria dei Cavalieri (which translates as “the Knight’s Tavern”) in Pisa. A friend calls Pisa a “poor man’s Florence,” in the sense of being smaller, less crowded, and less touristy than Florence, but with a similar feel.  As in Florence, there are narrow, winding cobblestone streets, and the River Arno flows through both cities.  (To be more accurate, Pisa, is super touristy right around the main attraction- the Leaning Tower, Field of Miracles, Duomo- but most tourists don’t wander around the rest of Pisa, so you feel like you have the place to yourself.)

The Osteria is located next to an elegantly proportioned square called the Piazza dei Cavalieri.  Walking to the restaurant, we passed a lovely food market featuring small, purple artichokes, beautiful flattened and ribbed tomatoes, and (most surprisingly) slender, pale green squashes about 4-feet long.

According to my favorite food book on Tuscany, The Food Lover’s Guide to Florence, what is called an osteria used to be a place to drink wine and perhaps have a very casual meal (similar to an enoteca), but these days an osteria is pretty much the same as a trattoria, though perhaps “a little smarter and/or more expensive.” ( A trattoria is generally simpler, more rustic, and less expensive than a ristorante- though in modern times these distinctions are becoming blurred.)  Osteria dei Cavalieri has that classic trattoria look: white-washed walls lined with dark wine racks. Stone ledges and nooks hold more bottles of wine, and the service is casual, friendly and efficient.

Since Pisa is close to the Ligurian Sea, there’s more fish and seafood on the menu here than we generally found in Florence, which is further inland.

I ordered fried dough (pasta fritti) with prosciutto as my antipasti (photo center left).  The warm savory fritters, hidden underneath thin slices of silky pink, subtly flavored, and not too salty prosciutto were light and greaseless. What really made the dish work was the well-salted, deliciously golden crust of the “fried dough.” Read the rest of this entry »

July 17th, 2009 | No Comments »

“The Meaning of Food” by Don Sefton, Events Manager/Catering

Watched a great documentary recently called “The Meaning of Food,” 2004, and produced by PBS.   The film is hosted and guided by charismatic New York chef, Marcus Samuelsson, and explores the intrinsic link between food, life, culture, and connectiveness.  The marvelous Seattle Greek restaurant Vios and owner Thomas are even featured– I’m in love with their gigantes bean salad!!

If you have not seen it yet, you should watch it!  It is not just for foodies, but for everyone who enjoys food.

July 16th, 2009 | 1 Comment »

Espresso and an Amaretti Cookie by Shelley Lance, Blog Editor

If, like Giada DeLaurentis (see doughnut post, July 7), I had to choose “The Best Thing I Ever Ate,” the espresso and amaretti cookie on Serious Pie’s dessert menu might take that honor.  Garrett’s amaretti cookie is perfection;  maybe my favorite cookie ever.  When you order this, the kitchen heats the cookie so it’s warm when you eat it- a step that takes the whole thing over the top.  Also, enjoying this single cookie with a tiny cup of espresso makes me feel like I’m back in Italy.

July 9th, 2009 | No Comments »

Cantucci and Vin Santo, Florence, by Shelley Lance

This is the dessert that is served everywhere in Tuscany.  Cantucci are sweet dry cookies, also called biscotti.  When the cookies are very small, they’re called cantuccini or biscottini.  They’re served to you with a glass of sweet dessert wine made from Malvasia and/or Trebbiano grapes called Vin Santo (holy wine).  You dip your cookies into the sweet amber wine for a lovely, not too heavy finish to the meal.

Other desserts we encountered frequently on restaurant menus: panna cotta- served either with a berry sauce or a generous ladle of chocolate sauce, or a dessert always described in English as “cheesecake,” though most often it was really a mascarpone tart- usually quite delicious, or gelato, or just a plate of pineapple (“ananas” in Italian).

July 8th, 2009 | No Comments »

Chef’s Gardens: Mark and Marjorie Fuller, by Shelley Lance

Mark Fuller, chef/owner of Spring Hill Restaurant, and his wife and business partner, Marjorie Chang Fuller, grow vegetables for the restaurant in their backyard vegetable garden in West Seattle. The landscaper Zook & Oleson helped Marjorie design the layout and  built the raised beds and pathways for the Fullers.  Amy Pennington of Go Go Green Garden guided Marjorie and Mark on soil material and helped them plant the garden- teaching them how to grow the vegetables, how to rotate crops, and more.  Marjorie and Mark maintain and water the garden. Amy also sources some unusual and rare vegetable seeds for the Fullers. (Note: Mark and Amy are both Tom Douglas Restaurants alumni.)  Mark features his home-grown garden harvest in a vegetarian entree on the Spring Hill menu called “Spring Vegetables, Grilled Bread” (photo bottom right.)  The last time I dined at Spring Hill, I ordered this 4-compartment vegetable dish and I heartily recommend it. (The version I sampled featured a gorgeous small cannelloni stuffed with wilted greens).  If you’re not in the mood for a vegetarian entree, try splitting “Spring Vegetables” as an appetizer or shared vegetable side dish.  You’ll be eating right out of the Fuller’s veggie garden!

(Note: in the photo, bottom left, Kimo the cat guards the vegetable garden.)

July 8th, 2009 | 1 Comment »

Our Bull! by Robyn Wolfe, Marketing

Here’s our bull!  We’ll be marching our Grand Bull down to Txori, where it will be on display along side the other bulls in the competition!!  The Second Annual Bull Run is a mini fund raiser to collect money for the Puget Sound Blood Bank and is known to be much more fun than run!  The running of the bulls starts at 8pm today in the alley behind Txori.  There are a total of 6 bulls that will be running and a grand prize will be issued for the winning bull!  Come on by and cheer us on!

July 7th, 2009 | No Comments »

Dahlia/Lola Doughnuts on Food Network

This is not a photo of our dougnuts, but if you want to see Lola Chef Brock and Pastry Chef Garrett making the doughnuts we serve both at Dahlia Lounge and at Lola (for breakfast and brunch)  on a Food Network show called “The Best Thing I Ever Ate,” check out the link here. (Oh, yeah, you’ll see Giada DeLaurentis in the video, too.)

July 7th, 2009 | No Comments »

Food in the News by Shelley Lance, Blog Editor

In last Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, there’s an article called “Street Farmer,” by Elizabeth Royte, that anyone interested in the politics of food will want to read.  The article is about Will Allen, an athletic, 60-year old African-American who is the creator and founder of Growing Power farm in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Allen produces a quarter of a million dollars of food in “14 greenhouses crammed onto two acres in a working-class neighborhood on Milwaukee’s northwest side, less than half a mile from the city’s largest public-housing project.”  Allen claims that “we need 50 million more people growing food… on porches, in pots, in side yards.”

Will Allen’s life story is truly fascinating. He’s a powerhouse of a man who works 16 hour days, and a master salesman who won marketing awards when he was employed by Procter & Gamble. (“The job was so easy I could do it in half a day,” he says.)  He was, briefly, in his 20′s, a professional basketball player who learned about composting from Belgian farmers while playing for the America Basketball Association for a few seasons in Belgium.  Allen’s father, a share-cropper from South Carolina who became a construction laborer in Maryland, insisted that all his children do farm chores on the family’s small farm plot.  Years later, Allen, married and retired from basketball, discovered he “had the bug to grow food.” Read the rest of this entry »

July 6th, 2009 | 2 Comments »

Trattoria Cibreo by Shelley Lance, Blog Editor

One of our best meals while vacationing in Florence was at Trattoria Cibreo, part of the much admired mini-empire that includes Cibreo Ristorante (fanciest and most expensive), Trattoria Cibreo (also known as Cibreino), Caffè Cibreo (coffee and pastries), and the intriguing Teatro del Sale ( sort of a food club plus theater), all located outside the Mercato Sant’ Ambrogio (which my friends said was the most charming of the Florence food markets, but I never got to the area early enough to experience the market).

Trattoria Cibreo is casual and small- and doesn’t take reservations. We were lucky enough to walk right in.  The trattoria shares a kitchen with the ristorante and the guidebooks say the food served is quite similar, but far less expensive.  (After lunch we walked by the ristorante, which is right around the corner, and the menu over there did indeed seem to be almost the same. The dining room at the ristorante is far more elegant, of course, and I expect the wine list is longer and more expensive.) Given the very reasonable prices at the trattoria, our lunch was pretty amazing. Read the rest of this entry »

July 2nd, 2009 | No Comments »