Tom Douglas

Line for Serious Pie Happy Hour!

Who can resist a deal like this?

December 23rd, 2009 | 3 Comments »

Shelley and Robyn Eat Lunch at Etta’s

Photo top, Tom’s tasty tuna with green onion pancakes, looking prettier than a Christmas tree!

Photo bottom left, Etta’s dining room, just past the lunch rush, glowing with jewel-like colors. Sun is shining!!!

Photo bottom right, Etta’s cioppino- chock full of seafood, crab, fish, mussels, clams, and shrimp in a tasty tomatoey broth.  And this is just a half (split) portion!

Eagle-eyes:  do you spy the stem of a wine glass in the food photos?  Happy Holidays!!!!!!!

December 23rd, 2009 | 1 Comment »

Eating Manhattan, Part 4/ by Pamela Hinkley, TDR CEO

New York on 20,000 calories a day:

Monday we were intent on trying the rival classic fish bars- Pearl Oyster Bar and Mary’s Fish Camp, so we ate two lunches and loved them both.  I insisted on the lobster roll at Pearl, and Mike had a sublime Johnnycake with sour cream and smoked salmon and briny littleneck clams.  It is just a short walk to Mary’s where great music was playing, and we ordered a sardine sandwich, more littleneck clams, and shrimp tacos. So good.  The afternoon walk was on paths at a tremendously cool new park built on deserted elevated train tracks called the High Line.  Pick it up in the Meatpacking District and head north.  You will pass Del Posto, Craft Steak, and the uber hip Standard Hotel.  Great views to the Hudson River.

Cabbed it up to check on the retail strong houses Zabars and Fairway Market.  Fairway was jamming, so much inventory and great prices, but the food definitely looked more inviting at Zabar’s, and their smoked fish section was glorious.

A twilight stroll through Central Park so we could sip Champagne at Barney’s and window shop.  Quick stop in the 24-hour Apple store before we freshened up for dinner.

Jackie told us about dell’anima in the West Village, and we were lucky enough to score seats at the chef counter.  Luckier still that white truffles had just arrived from Alba which we devoured on tagliatelle.  The best endive and shaved parm preparation I have ever had, and then on to agnolotti, skirt steak perfectly cooked, and a moist, savory quail.  So happy!  And as we were leaving, Patti Smith walked in  which so tickled me because we had just watched her perform with Bruce Springsteen and Bono on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction show. Ended with a perfect cheese plate. Thank you, Jackie! Read the rest of this entry »

December 22nd, 2009 | 2 Comments »

I Love Condiments!/by Don Sefton, Catering Events Manager

Ever since I have been a little kid, I have always enjoyed condiments as much as I love what they go with: I tend to put too much dressing on my salad because I also want to eat the dressing- Winsoms Sweet Onion Ranch Dressing from Walla Walla is one of my absolutely favorite dressings on romaine!!  I put a ton of steak sauce or bbq sauce on my meat and hamburgers because I love the taste of A1 and Lea & Perrins; I drown my refried beans and rice wiht Cajun Power Garlic Sauce because I also love the heat, sweetness, vinegar, and sweat from the sauce.  Such a marvelous, marvelous sauce- yuuuuummmmm!  If you have never tried it you must buy some.  I always have some.

I also love to cook, so it is important for me to have “The Basics” in my fridge for a lot of different types of cuisine, ethnicity, sauces, marinades, etc.  I just don’t want to go shopping for the base ingredients each time that I cook.  So, in my fridge I have different types of mustards for homemade dressings, rubs, and sauces.  I have fish sauce, different soy sauces, sesame seed oil, chili paste, ginger juice, sriracha, hon-dashi: all so that when I or my Japanese partner want to make Asian dishes we have the basics in house!

I also love hot sauces, so having a variety from all types of fields helps to spice up any dish, in any temperament.  Having some orange blossom and also rose water on hand not only adds a unique element to a cocktail, but is delicious in lemonade.  A tube of anchovy paste is so versatile in dressings and that “secret ingredient” in a sauce with fish.  Of course, Worcestershire zips up any homemade hamburger patty before grilling or as a marinade.  The combination of condiments are endless!  Just one of my multiple obsessions.

December 22nd, 2009 | 1 Comment »

Help Seattle Foodies and Food Lifeline End Hunger/by Darryl Duke, Seattle Foodies Guest Blogger

Love to eat? Then why not share your passion for food by helping Tom Douglas’  favorite charity: Food Lifeline?  For the past 30 years, their mission has been to end hunger in Western Washington.  Every year they provide millions of needed meals and ensure that 95% of every donation goes directly toward feeding hungry people.  Learn more about their work here, and then join us in making a difference.

December 22nd, 2009 | No Comments »

The Third Stage of Holiday Baking: The Demolition/ by Kathleen Gibbons, Palace Line Cook

The other day I received a text message from my father that read: “Mom’s cookie delivery today. Food riot ensued.  Most unseemly.”

In my personal opinion, there is nothing more satisfactory than knowing that people you love love the food you make.  I was just hoping I would feel that satisfaction after putting my cookies out for my coworkers.

I packed all of my fresh cookies into a plastic container and brought them into work under the impression that people might possibly, hopefully, enjoy them.  After a few hours of a VERY busy and intense dinner service, my blood sugar was beginning to drop and around nine thirty, I heard that family meal was up, so I run back to grab my cookies and put them next to dinner.  After shoveling a couple in my mouth to raise my blood sugar (to prevent fainting and leaving my boss to fend for himself), I set out the cookies with a little description of what they were.

SUCCESS!!  Within the hour there was one cookie left in the bottom of the container.  I’ve never understood the stigma behind the last cookie (or donut or spring roll or slice of pizza).  No one ever wants to take it for fear of seeming selfish or feeling like they eat too much.

NOTE: if reader is ever eating a meal with me, don’t worry.  I will ALWAYS eat the last cookie or donut or spring roll or slice of pizza.  Not because I’m hungry, but because I care.

Throughout this whole baking experience, I’ve learned that it really is worth it to cook for your friends.  No matter the results, your friends will always love what you do.  It can be stressful, scary, and overwhelming at times, but having someone come up to you during a busy moment in a busy restaurant on a busy Saturday night can turn the rumble with a KitchenAid mixer into a fond holiday memory.

December 21st, 2009 | No Comments »

The Second Stage of Holiday Baking: The Fear/ by Kathleen Gibbons, Palace Line Cook

I woke up afraid this morning.  Afraid of what I would see when I looked in the mirror, afraid of all the errands I had to run, and most importantly, afraid of baking my cookies.  I got out of bed and got to work.  After going to the store and the gas station, I walked into my kitchen and stared at my stand-up mixer.  I have minimal counter space, and setting up the mixer so the top didn’t hit the undersides of my cabinets was a challenge, and I’m pretty sure it defied the laws of physics the way it rested on a cutting board on the edge of the counter.  One thing I’m afraid of in the baking process is proper measurement.  I can easily be distracted , and I have been know to add things at the wrong time (or just omit the ingredient altogether).  I triple checked the recipe and my quantities that were going into the mixer.

I’ve been baking at home for years, and the standard equation is: flour  + stand-up mixer= disaster/angry mom.  Luckily I managed to not make a total mess in the kitchen, and I proceeded to roll the dough into 12-inch logs, wrap them in plastic, and let them chill in the freezer.

Five hours and half a season of “The Office” later, I got to work on baking my spice cookies.  For some reason, donning an apron and listening to Frank Sinatra made sense during this ordeal.  I preheated the oven, and started slicing my cookies.  I suppose resting the dough logs on top of the ice cube tray wasn’t my brightest idea, as my cookies now have little indentations on the sides, but I suppose it makes them seem more homemade or something.  I spread all the cookies onto my new Sur La Table baking sheets and popped them into the oven.  And, as I feared,d the cookies spread out more than I’d  remembered and I was left with one ENORMOUS spice cookie.  One would think that as a cook in a professional kitchen, I would realize that overcrowding the pan is never a good idea.  I separated all the cookies and put them on the cooling rack.  Everything was ok.

Until I realized that some of them were underbaked.  And that’s where my roommates come in.  Slightly soft spice cookies?  No problem, they’ll get eaten.  I iced them with a gentle drizzle of a combination of lemon juice and powdered sugar.  They look great and I think they taste good too.  But the scariest thing in the baking process, for me at least, is thinking about whether or not your friends and family (in this case roommates and coworkers) will like what you bake.  Will they be good?  Or will they be AMAZING?  Because I would prefer them to be amazing.  My roommate just told me she’s already eaten all the broken cookies.  I guess they must be pretty ok.

And next, I’ll conclude with the Third Stage of Holiday Baking: The Demolition.

December 21st, 2009 | No Comments »

Christmas Cookies/ by Shelley Lance, Blog Editor

Over the weekend I went to my last Hanukkah party (on the miraculous NINTH night of Hanukkah) and ate delicious, hot, right-out-of-the-pan latkes, fried expertly by my cousin Jonathan, baked off Christmas cookies to give as gifts, and painted sugar cookies with a mixture of egg yolks and food color before baking them with my friend Linda and her kid.

Since I’m leaving town the day after Christmas on a family cruise, I considered not baking any cookies for gifts this year.  Then I considered baking a lot of new recipes believing I was bored with the old stand-bys.  Finally I decided to bake a modest amount of cookies and just the two favorite recipes: sugar cookies- because you have to have a cut-out and decorated cookie, and Russian Tea Cakes -aka Mexican Wedding Cakes- because everyone loves them the best. ( Note: sugar cookies- decorated with glaze and colored sugars- not egg yolk paint, are in the photo left and Russian Tea Cakes in photo right).

Here’s my recipe for Russian Tea Cakes, which I’ve been using forever (not sure of the yield- a fair amount): Read the rest of this entry »

December 21st, 2009 | No Comments »

The First Stage of Holiday Baking: The Stress/ by Kathleen Gibbons, Palace Line Cook

“I’m not going to bake cookies this year…. it’s such a pain.”

I have a very small kitchen and minimal counter space, so I came to the conclusion that if I wanted to do Christmas cookies this year, I would only do one kind.  The flavor of the Spiced Icebox Butter Cookies that I would eat by the dozens at my parents’ house every Christmas has been burned in my brain.  Every year, they are the one cookie that I truly look forward to.  My old favorites were little Mexican Wedding cookies, a nutty, round, powdered sugared bullet.  Every time I went into the kitchen, I would stuff about three in my mouth, one right after the other.  On numerous occasions my mother would walk in on me and ask what I was doing, and every time I would try to hold my breath and keep my mouth shut (out of fear of being yelled at for ruining my dinner), only to aspirate powdered sugar all over myself and the golden retriever that could be found at my feet, waiting for me to drop something (Boomer gets a LOT rounder during the holidays.)

I found myself in the grocery store today, buying butter and the necessary spices for the spiced butter cookies.  I was planning on baking all of them today.  After some thought, I figured it would be best to let the butter thaw overnight.  But now I’m in the stressful stage.  Do I have everything?  Will one batch be enough cookies?  How many do I give away? How many do I keep? Do I just make a double batch?  HOW MUCH OF THE DOUGH AM I GOING TO EAT!?!?  I’ve realized there’s no real way for me to keep calm.  If I have a glass of wine while I bake, that might do the trick.  But one glass always leads to two glasses, which leads to three, which leads to me totally losing focus, giving up on baking, and sitting on the couch watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding and flipping through US Weekly.

And ON TOP OF ALL OF THIS, there’s the stress of dealing with the kitchen itself.  Mine, as those of most 24 year olds, is in a constant state of disarray.  So basically, the obstacle is to clean the kitchen before I make the kitchen dirty.  Again.

While the rewards are monumental (devotees will remember that I said, in an earlier post about family meal, that good food for the fellow employees more often than not results in a cocktail or a ride home), it is still a daunting task.  I love to bake, and I love baking for friends, but it can be a remarkably stressful task.  I’m sure some, if not most (or heaven forbid, all), of you think I’m being overdramatic and ridiculous, but it if there’s even one reader who identifies with this, then I’m thrilled.  In the end, it’s worth it, and if it’s not, at least My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a really good movie.

The quote at the beginning of this post came about a month ago and was said by my mother, a woman who just earlier today told me that she sent about ten pounds of homemade cookies to my father’s office.  I guess it’s in my blood.

Stay tuned for The Second Stage of Holiday Baking: The Fear.

December 21st, 2009 | No Comments »

Dahlia Gingerbread House Now on Display!

Look for our stunning Dahlia Gingerbread House next time you visit the Dahlia Lounge.  It’s on display at the end of the bar.  The close-up photo on the left shows you a bit of painstaking detail- cookies are being rolled out behind the bakery door.  Speaking of “Behind the Bakery Door,” tonight’s event, which takes place in the Dahlia pastry kitchen, is SOLD OUT, but keep your eyes peeled for the next installment of this popular series.

December 17th, 2009 | No Comments »