February 15th - Hot Dogs, Hip Hop, and Sushi

Crafty temptress!

I have to confess to something very un-American: I don't like hot dogs. Don't get them. Historically, the only time I've eaten and enjoyed a hot dog is while camping, and that's only because I go into survival mode and feel that I should eat anything foodlike to keep up my strength. I'm not very good at camping, really. Not much of an outdoorsman. Anyway.

I work in downtown Seattle, right by Westlake Center, and Dog In The Park is right outside the door to my office. Every time I walk outside, the scent of sizzling beef/pork/meatlike tubes is wafting about, mingled with caramelized onions and boredom. Well, that last part is probably my job, but after three months of being scent-assaulted by these dogs, I decided I would eat one.

Apparently the secret is slicing then in half.
Shhhh.

I ordered a Spicy Louisiana Dog - it was. . . okay. The spicy was good, the toasty from maximum grill exposure was good, the caramelized onions and various condiments were good but. . . . it was still a hot dog. And I still don't really like hot dogs. Sigh. Hopefully I can remember that in the future when I have to walk by the delicious (in theory) dogs.

It's a dog.

That night was a special one - I had an RSVP to a Yelp Elite Event at the Moore Theatre. It began with a cocktail party and ended with a hip-hop choreography show featuring Kriss Kross. Yes, the Kriss Kross. Backwards clothing and everything. It was kind of awesome. Unfortunately, I have no picture of the awesome. As our tickets were free, they were also in the nosebleed section. Plus, I wasn't sure if we were supposed to have cameras. So here's a picture of the preceding cocktail party.

Charlie and Tommy. They suspect me.

After we got served, we headed over to Kisaku to get some delicious raw fishes.

We started out with what I usually very much enjoy with my sushis: sunomono. I didn't enjoy this one as much as the one I'm used to (from my fav neighborhood sushi joint, Sushi Maki, consisting of cucumber and octopus only). I don't generally like seaweed in salads, and the dressing on this wasn't bright enough for me. The octopus was good, though.

Octo-pie!

The rest of the meal was fish-tastic. We got a seared fatty tuna with mushroom stuff. The tuna was amazingly tender. Perhaps due to the fatty.

Tuna, vegetable, and mashed potatoes?

David and Diane insisted upon the next dish - sauteed geoduck. It was rich and briney and chewy-licious.

It's not jee-oh-duck.

The sushi itself was pretty delicious. We got a few nigiri: amber jack (don't remember that one), squid (didn't try it, but it looked. . . shiny), flounder (mild and sweet, quite tasty), wild sockeye salmon (I LUVS THE SALMON), and yellowtail (mmm). I also didn't try the spicy tuna roll, but it looked huge and big.

MONSTER ROLLS!!!

After shoving all that raw fish in my face, I could scarcely stand the thought of dessert. So we ordered some.

We got some kind of panna cotta with a passion fruit syrup and chopped strawberries. It was smooth and creamy and mildly delicious.

Little. Yellow. Different.

The other one was a house specialty - Kisaku potato. Potato dessert? Sounds like my dream! And it was. . . . pretty good. Sweet potato in a crispy shell dusted with powdered sugar, accompanied by ice cream, red bean, and strawberry. The presentation was lovely, but I actually thought the potato innards were a bit lacking in flavor. And I was expecting them to be purple, but that's not really their fault.

Aww. . . so pretty!

Overactive evening - leading to a weekend of unsuccess. I may or may not post my semi-fail devil's food cupcakes with mint buttercream frosting. Time will tell.