Genki Sushi

LQA has its fourth sushi place, and its second conveyor belt sushi (kaiten-zushi) place. It's Genki Sushi, and it's pretty good.

We were the only ones in the place during our visit, which was at some random time, early Saturday afternoon or something, so that sort of made sense. It meant that we had plenty of service.

Entrance (upstairs, next to office max)

The location is a little weird. You enter through the lobby of the new QFC, and it's right across from the office max. But once you get inside it's fairly fancy. There are tables and a bar, if you like.

The Conveyor

But we sat at the conveyor belt, where we were given the pricing chart. As you probably know, each plate color is a different price, so you know by looking how much each thing is. Traditionally, the plates are one solid color. At Genki, they have different designs. There are six.

Most everything I tried was tasty. Some of it was seasoned a bit more strongly than I'm used to with sushi, but that's not a complaint. The inari (fried tofu pouches with fillings) was particularly good; a bit spicy. Also, this fishy nigiri (it was slightly cooked, I think) was super yummy.

Fishy Nigiri

I don't even know what it was, which is part of the fun. If it looks good, try it. You can get much more variety this way then you would at a regular place.

Fish Heads at the entrance (by rakka)

In addition to sushi, the conveyor belt brought us fried chicken bits, edamame, and one of those glass bead drinks. All of which was fun and exciting. I'm looking forward to going back.

[where: 500 Mercer St Seattle, WA 98109]

Uptown China

Uptown China combines two extremely rare things in Seattle: decent chinese food and delivery. Though it's far from authentic, it's easily the best chinese I've found outside of the ID. And it's certainly the best non-pizza delivery in LQA.

signed, sealed*, delivered, oh yeah
*loosely

This is what it's all about. When food shows up magically at your door you know you've arrived. Because, you know, you haven't gone anywhere... er. you know what I mean. I really don't know why there's not more delivery around here. But at least there's uptown.

chang sa chicken

The food is pretty good for american style chinese food. The chicken is good quality, etc. Everything was decent tasting but kind of bland, exactly as you'd expect. Not what I'm looking for all the time, but there are days when it's perfect.

broccoli with garlic sauce

And, as with all delivery, the big question is 'how is it the next morning'? Survey says: I wish we ordered more.

[where: 200 Queen Anne Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109]

lunch at the Athina Grill

I said I might go back to the Athina Grill for lunch. I bet you never thought I'd do it this soon. Ha! Shows what you know. This might be diligence on my part, or it might be a certain girlfriend of mine who loves Greek food, and has already decided that we will become regulars.

I can't say I disagree with her. Lunch was doubly tremendous. The first tremendous came in the form of fantastic flavors all around. The second tremendous related to proportions. The aforementioned girlfriend, Rakka, was super hungry and ordered the two of us about four peoples worth of food. It was a bit excessive, really.

Still, it's good for the blog. I get to talk about way more stuff than I would otherwise. Like all of these spreads:

Hummus and baba ghanoush, and terokafteri and dolmades with tzatziki, oh my!

They were all good. The dolmades were maybe a little plain. But the hummus was nice and smokey, and the terokafteri (hot cheese spread) was crazy delicious! I'd never had it before; it's closely related to pimento cheese spread ^[1][2]. In fact, I think terokafteri might be the inspiration for the southern classic.

All of these spreads are good on fries. Which brings me to the main course. At this point I was close to stuffed, but I had ordered the eggplant and smoked mozzarella pita. There was nothing to do but solider on. It was worth it. The sandwich was fantastic and tremendous, or fantendous, as I like to say. They offered to put some feta on top. This is a mod I heartily support; never say no to feta.

Eggplant pita with fries

Rakka had the falafel pita, which she was kind enough to let me try. It needs a goofy made up adjective too, but I limit myself to one of those per post. Let's just say it was tremastic.

So, in the end, the two of us condensed a day's worth of eating in to one meal, for about 35 dollars. I think I'm going to like being a regular at the Athina. See you there.

[where: 528 Queen Anne Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109]

breakfast at the Athina Grill

The Athina Grill is now open for business, and breakfast. Rakka and I stopped in this morning to check it out.

Right in the middle of everything

It was a good call, I think. I like the place. The food is good and cheap at the same time. Really, it seems more of a diner than a grill. But that's cool; who doesn't love a diner?

Did you know? Diners originated in Greece. 100% fact!

The coffee, for instance, is very much diner style. And it goes incredibly well with the Banana & Nutella crepes. Have I mentioned those yet? They're awesome.

Banana & Nutella Crepes, like starting the day off with dessert

But it's Rakka that has the sweet tooth. I'm all up ons the savory dishes, like the Greek Scrambler. Eggplant, tomatoes, onions, red pepper, with some feta cheese on top. Now that's a breakfast. Especially when it comes with home fries, and the most traditional of all Greek toasts: sourdough.

Greek Scrambler, greek flavored diner meal

The inside of the place is nice too. It's bright and cheery. The slanted clock is a delightfully pragmatic solution to some weird architecture.

Insides

To top it all off, all the sandwiches can be had with fries. Falafel and fries! That's almost as awesome as the Indian/American place I used to go to in Baltimore (nothing tops curry and fries). They also have Halibut and Chips on the menu, which seems more English, but who's counting?

I expect I'll have to go back and try some of these things. Just, you know, to satisfy your curiosity. Oh, the hardships I endure for you, my readers. ;)

[where: 528 Queen Anne Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109]

Roti

I don't know why I'm not at Roti all the time. I went for the first time recently, after a break of a year or two. Trust me, I won't take that long of a break again.

The mint sauce was really spicy

It's strange, there's are a couple really bad reviews on urbanspoon. I'm all like, what!? no you didn't! But a close read reveals those bad reviews to be all about meat dishes. I've never actually had a meat dish at Roti. I was vegetarian when I developed my love of Indian food; by default I skip to the vegetable section and order Aloo Gobhi. So maybe they specialize in the vegetarian.

Or maybe they went through a bad patch during my absence. If so, they read those bad reviews too, and took them to heart. "No garlic flavor on the garlic naan" you say? Well now days there's about 6 cloves per, in big tasty chunks.

sets up some atmosphere

This time, the Matar Paneer was pretty fantastic, with pleasantly toothy goat cheese and scrummy sauce. I even enjoyed the Aloo Saag, which is something I normally don't do. My dining companion, a huge fan of Indian food, rated the meal in her top 3, nation wide.

Channa Kabob (chick pea paties) make for yummy appetizers (2 of 4)

So, a note on the price. Yes, it's a little too pricey for this blog. Again. Sorry, this keeps happening. The prices are only just over the line, and it's really good, so just save up an extra buck fiddy and get on with it.

Aloo Saag and Matar Paneer, so nice

Finally, the place is nice on the inside. Lots of nice details. I even took a picture of the ceiling (though I didn't come out). The serving bowls are fancy metal things. I really love the heavy steel water glasses; they make water fun!

[where: 530 Queen Anne Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109]

It has Begun. Taco Combat!

I lived on Taco Bell in college (and beyond), because it was so cheap it didn't matter if it was nasty. So when the KFC around the corner from me closed down for a while then reopened (just yesterday) as a KFC/Taco Bell I was cautiously optimistic.

Blerg.

I've actually been afraid that having a TB so close to my house (the closest 'restaurant' by almost half a block) would entice me to go there all the time. Luckily, I have changed since college. The fact that two people can have dinner for less than $10 no longer outweighs the stomach-full-of-clay feeling that comes with it. I remember now that TB also stands for Tuberculosis.

Although, if you're in to it, the new KFC/TB is clean and fast. It's still an eyesore, but at least it's because of the paint choices and not the filth.

[where: 201 W Mercer St, Seattle, WA 98119]

spendy spendy (Collins Pub and Shiki)

If all you have is a ten spot, you won't like this post very much. Collins Pub and Shiki are both quite nice, but neither are really ce places. Collins is closer, in the low $$. But Shiki is all the way up in the $$$. They're the only places I've been this week, though, so they'll have to do. Since neither really count, I'm rolling them up in to one post.

I promise I'll get you some cheap eats next week, or maybe I'll tell you about my obsession with japanese curry paste. What do you say?

My trip to Collins was impromptu; I didn't have my camera, so no pictures. My eloquence will have to suffice. I get sammich. It fish. It good!

*cough* Sorry, I mean, I had the ahi tuna sandwich with mustard aioli. The tuna was seared on the outside, and was still beautifully pink in the middle. I was a nice thick cut of fish. I was pleased. The fries were tasty. It was $13, list.

[where: 526 Second Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104]

Now lets switch over to some really good sushi. At Shiki in LQA. There's not much bad I can say about Shiki. Some days the need for quality can trump the need for quantity, even for my cheap ass. For days like that, there's Shiki.

If I have any complaints, it's that the cream cheese in the washington roll sort of overpowered the fish. And the same can be said for the fried crab in the spider roll. Of course, I sort of blame myself for ordering american sushi. What a rube.

blurry sushi

Anyway, the place is right around the corner from me. The hard part now is going to be to prevent myself from blowing my quarterly bonus on fugu and sapporo.

[where: 4 W Roy St, Seattle, WA 98119]

On skipping the bite (and going to metro market)

The Bite of Seattle was this weekend. I live about a tenth of a mile away. It seems like, as a food blogger, I'd go. I didn't. Sorry. Carnival crowds make me stabby.

So instead I stopped off at Larry's, by which of course I mean the LQA Metropolitan Market (link may be busted), for some pre-prepared goodness. I have to admit to a certain fondness for Metro's deli. It's not as good as Larry's was, but what can you do? Despite the fact that it's stupid expensive, I go there all the time.

Ok, it's not really that expensive. But it is as expensive as eating out. They have some pretty healthy stuff though. Other than maybe sushi, there's not much in LQA that is better for you than these salads and they're under 10 dollars.

They really are pretty tasty too. So are the sandwiches, chicken bits, and the pasta with garlic aioli is to die for... I tell a lie, my life is worth more than pasta, liberally coated in rich, creamy sauce; so dense and filling; bursting with flavor... No, I would die for it, which can be easily achived by eating it every day (it's very rich). It'd be a pretty good way to go.

Oh, and their soups are good. And they have these little sample cheeses some times so you can try the really fancy stuff for cheap.

Tup Tim Thai

As a vegetarian I liked Thai food in general, but not Tup Tim Thai. Now that I'm off the wagon, Tup Tim Thai is fantastic. It's not that they don't have tofu, but you have to ask for it special. At least you used to... hmm, maybe the menu has changed. It's on there now, but they only have a token 9 vegetarian options. The meatier dishes are pretty much all good though.

Now, it's crunch time at work, so I'm just going to let today's pictures speak for themselves.

Tod Mun Plah (fish cakes)
fish, curry paste and green beans deep fried and served with HOT cucumber sauce

Yep, that was really good. slightly fishy, but not too fishy.

Tom Kah gai
hot and sour soup with chicken, coconut milk, mushrooms, lemon grass, lime leaf and chili paste

I like this soup a lot.

Larb gai
chicken in spicy lime sauce, onions and lettuce

This was my first experience with larb gai. I was very happy with it. Especially after I figured out that you can use the lettuce to wrap up the other stuff.

Exterior

Ok. I lied. More words: The service is really good here, at least when they're not too crowded (and I never go places that are too crowded, not when I have a choice. Misanthrope, remember?). I haven't had a drink refilled so frequently since I was a boy visiting the Pham family. They, as asian politeness dictates, never letting the glass get empty; me, as western politeness dictates, trying to finish everything. It was like a battle fought over Slice. Anyway, TTT keeps your glass at least half full at all times. Don't fight it.

[where:118 W Mercer St, Seattle, WA 98119]