Lola: A Seattle Restaurant Review

              Photo by Seattle.net

My husband and I recently celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary with our first ever trip to Seattle.  Until then, we had been living in eastern Washington for seven years and had yet to make a trip over. We justified our eastern Washington seclusion by saying the four hour drive would be too long for the kids.  No excuses however justified keeping ourselves from the wonderful sites and tastes we experienced while we were there.

Our very first evening in Seattle, we dined at Tom Douglas' restaurant Lola.  Tom Douglas is one of Seattle's celebrity chefs who won the 1994 James Beard award for best Northwest chef, and he is well deserving of the honor.  Tom Douglas has four restaurants located near 4th Avenue and Virginia in Seattle on what my husband and I termed "Tom Douglas Block," which was within walking distance of our hotel and other attractions like Pike Street Market.  First of all, all of Tom Douglas' restaurants had phenomenal websites.  I was able to check out the menu, look at photos of dishes, and see photos of the interiors of his restaurants in order to choose the perfect restaurant for our needs and wants.  I was also able to make reservations the evening prior to our visit on a website called Opentable.com which had a link on the Lola restaurant webpage.

Since we knew we would be a little tuckered out from our long drive, we opted for an early 5:30 p.m. reservation and were treated to an empty, quiet restaurant with an extremely attentive, very professional, and well trained waitstaff.  By the time we left around 8:00 p.m, the place was bustling and energetic, but for a good hour, we had the lovely restaurant to ourselves which was such a nice treat.

The menu was diverse and creative.  Since it was conveniently separated into different categories, my husband and I decided to share everything so that we could try one thing from each category.

To begin with, we tried the Skordalia which is a garlic spread served with Lola's freshly made pita.

Next, a grilled octopus salad with fava beans, basil and fresh yogurt cheese.  The juxtaposition of the fava beans with the basil was absolutely wonderful.  The octopus was phenomenal.  The waitress told us that the octopus is marinated for hours before grilling.  It gave the octopus almost a meaty consistency.

Next, we tried a Haloumi cheese and fig kabob served atop caramelized onions and deglazed with ouzo. This was my favorite dish of the evening.  The cheese had a meaty, spongey texture which contrasted nicely to the creamy fig.  Also, the saltiness of the cheese was a nice complement to the sweetness of the fig.  The ouzo gave the whole dish a slight anise flavor which was wonderful.

This was a tagine of young goat served with cumin spiced peaches and roasted red peppers.  The meat was incredibly tender and the cumin with the peach was a flavor explosion.

After all of the wonderful dishes we were trying this night, it is hard to believe that a lowly potato could hold its place among all of the superstars.  However, aside from the cheese and fig kebab, this was my second favorite dish of the evening, smashed garlic fried potatoes.  Starch + garlic + oil = crispety, crunchety heaven.

To cap the evening off, we tried the saffron ice cream.  I just loved the simple presentation of this and the wonderful dish it was served on.  The ice cream was very delicately flavored and I'm sorry to say, after our garlic spread and the garlic smashed potatoes, it took us quite a few bites in order to discern its flavor, but it was a creamy and wonderful way to finish the dinner.

Although our kids probably wouldn't yet appreciate the menu at Lola, with seven restaurants in Seattle (including one dedicated to pizza), I know our next trip to Seattle will include a stop at a Tom Douglas restaurant.

Lola Restaurant
2000 4th Ave.
Seattle, WA 98121
(206) 441-1430

Cowgirl Chocolates

A few months ago, Foodbuzz, my blog ad sponsors, started an opt-in program for foodies wishing to preview certain food related products in return for reviews.  Free food related products?  Of course, I signed up immediately.  Foodbuzz continues to amaze me with their innovations and ideas and how well they treat their featured publishers.  While I was away in Hawaii, I received a 1/4 lb. package of Cowgirl Chocolate assorted truffles.  Foodbuzz, you have found the right girl for this mission.

Let me start out by saying I am a huge fan of the Dagoba xocolatl chocolate bar.  They combine chilies and dark chocolate into a spicy, yummy interpretation of how the Aztec royalty liked their chocolate.  When I read Foodbuzz's description of Cowgirl Chocolates as being, "sweet and spicy gourmet chocolates for adventurous chocolate lovers" I was already primed and ready to love them.

Opening the package, I was impressed all the more.  The box of chocolates was exquisitely wrapped in a double thickness of tissue paper with Cowgirl Chocolates logo of a cowgirl looking down the barrel of a gun at you on top.  Removing the tissue paper, I found a sturdy little red box very nicely tied with black ribbon and a silver colored cowgirl hat button threaded through it.  It was a very nice touch, very luxurious looking, and already I was thinking this would make a perfect little hostess gift for someone.

On the inside, more beauty, as opening the top revealed 10 candies, each rolled in a different color of shiny cellophane.  Ahhh.  Having two boys, I love pretty things like this since we have so few of them in our house!  Also inside was a flavor guide separated into "spicy" and "mild" flavors.  Oh boy, was I ever ready.  My first selection was a beauty in a brown cellophane wrapper, the habanero dark chocolate.  Are you ready? (P.S.  No, I didn't eat them all in one day...It took me a week!)

Brown cellophane:  Habanero dark chocolate (spicy)

This chocolate was very smooth.  The spice builds as you swallow.  The exterior is shiny with a pretty design on top.  It doesn't melt extremely easily on the tongue but it is extremely satisfying.

Aqua cellophane:  Double dark chocolate (mild)

Light fudgy inside.  Very smooth chocolate, melts on tongue easily.

Clear cellophane:  Habanero caramel (spicy)

There was an immediate tingle on the tongue.  This one was hot, Hot, HOT!  I tried to chew it to finish it faster and the burning only intensified.  It was not altogether an unenjoyable sensation, but I did not really enjoy it as a candy.  This was the only one out of the bunch I did not appreciate.

Orange cellophane:  Ivory orange (mild)

This was a very pretty truffle with a layered look of white and milk chocolate.  It smelled "orange-y".  The chocolate was extremely smooth and the orange and chocolate worked very well together.

Fuschia red cellophane:  Raspberry Lemon (mild)

This had a creamy raspberry filling.   My notes on it were merely, "Mmmmm" underlined three times.  Enough said.

Silver cellophane:  Milk chocolate (mild)

This one was very smooth but doesn't melt on the tongue as readily as some of their other chocolates.

Red cellophane:  Raspberry dark chocolate (spicy)

Oh wow.  The spiciness really works well with the raspberry.

Copper cellophane:  Cappuccino (spicy)

My husband's observation on this one was that it "tasted like a really creamy and smooth version of chocolate coated coffee beans" and "that's actually REALLY GOOD".  It is spicy, but not too spicy.  The spicy and the coffee flavors really work well together.

Dark blue cellophane:  Hazelnut Milk Chocolate (spicy)

Tingly on the tongue.  Spicy and smooth.

Gold cellophane:  Double Dark Chocolate (spicy)

Compared to some of their chocolates, this one was a "tad" gritty, but we're comparing really good chocolate against really, really good chocolate.  I'm just finding things to pick on really.

I was sad to get to the end of these chocolates as all of them (minus the habanero caramels which were just way too spicy to be enjoyable to me) were exceptional.  They were beautiful, had good snap, melted well of the tongue and were very smooth.  I will definitely be buying more of these as they would make fabulous gifts for the foodies and chocoholics in your life.  They also have a line of spicy hot chocolates which I am very excited to try.  

You can order Cowgirl Chocolates at www.cowgirlchocolates.com.  Cowgirl chocolate's has a fabulous product here well worth checking out.  If you are interested in becoming a fan of Cowgirl Chocolates on Foodbuzz, their Foodbuzz profile is linked here.  Thanks again Foodbuzz for giving me the opportunity to not only try something new, but to try something so wonderful!