What's so great about salmon?

I mean beyond the obvious; omega-3 fatty acids, tender flaky texture, beautiful color and presentation, and of course proximity to my home state.

My business partner brought up an interesting question yesterday, he asked me whether I could differentiate between salmon varieties. When I think about it, I really don't have strong feelings about a particular brand or breed of the fish.

I just plain like salmon. I like Sockeye, I like King. I like Copper River, I like Yukon River. For that matter I've had some pretty good farm raised salmon from Costco (don't tell anyone.)

Recently I had an opportunity to try some salmon from Wild Alaskan Salmon Company www.seabeef.com and I've gotta say it was pretty special. They sent a flash-frozen, perfectly portioned piece of King salmon filet that had to be three inches thick! Before I tried this fish I thought "fresh, never frozen" was the only way to fly, but I learned that flash-frozen is actually less "fishy" because it is immediately processed/frozen at sea rather than making the long trek from fish boat to processor, to shipping facility, to warehouse, to your local supermarket.

My company, www.nwexclusive.com is considering adding this line of salmon to our product catalog because it is special. I'd like to find the perfect Oregon Pinot Noir to complement an alder-smoked chunk of "seabeef" and provide it to our best customers later this spring. Stay tuned...

You know what? i think I'm going to make a reservation at Etta's tonight to satisfy my craving for good salmon. Ever try their "rub-with-love" king salmon with cornbread pudding and shitake mushrooms? RIDICULOUS.

Cheers!

Seattle's Worst Coffee?

Heh heh.
I don't think I could possibly identify the WORST coffee in our city, but today I'm eeking out a living fueled by the great caffeine bean so in honor of our city's favorite cloudy day beverage I'm going to throw down the gauntlet and declare the best coffee experiences in the area.
Now I realize this is HIGHLY subjective, correlates directly to where I live/work, and if anyone in the area were to read this I might get shot...that is how passionate we are about our coffee here.

So with that said, here are the categories and respective kings of said categories:

1. Best coffee. I'm not talking about the best barrista, best wifi, best fireplace, or anything else. I'm talking about the beans. In order to qualify for this category I'm looking for rich flavor, limited bitterness, flexibility (does it work for drip and espresso?) and of course...availability.
While this company lost some of it's luster when Starbucks bought them, I still love the beans and place them at the top of my list. TORREFAZIONE

2. Best eastside coffee house. If you find yourself in Redmond, or anywhere nearby for that matter it is worth your time to drop into Victor's Coffee Company. They roast their own beans, make a mean drip coffee, an even better cappuccino, and they have wicked baked goods to boot. On any given day you'll find a nice smattering of Microsofties, fire fighters, Cingular..er AT&T folks, and soccer moms rolling in for their daily brew.

3. Best on Capitol Hill. This one is tough...I know there are a ton of great places up there, but my favorite place for a cappuccino is Cafe Vita. They make some of the best beans around, their barristas are pros, the space is great, and I have an opportunity to see what the latest piercing/branding/tattooing trend is all about.

4. Downtown. Real. Serious. Coffee. Zeitgeist.
But seriously, I like to go down there, grab some coffee, and head to Bud's Jazz Records in Pioneer Square...there's something magic about that combination.

5. Uptown. If you find yourself near Beltown or Queen Anne, I think a trip to Uptown Espresso is worth your time. Although I don't think its right to grade a coffee joint on flavored drinks, I've gotta say that their mochas are ridiculous. For that matter their cappuccinos are pretty damn good. They're just good.

6. On the fly. I like to avoid the drive-up espresso shack. nine times out of ten the experience is lame and I end up either a) letting the milk-laden beverage become tepid in my console or gulping it down just to get the caffeine. So when I found Northern Espresso located at the Bothell Chevron I was elated. This little gem does it right...they start with great coffee, use proper equipment, the barristas are pros, and they top it off with a killer chocolate covered coffee bean or two.

7. New To My List. Found this one today, but I've gotta say its one of the best coffees I've had in a long time. I stopped in to Motore Coffee at 9th & Stewart downtown Seattle. Had a big latte and it was fantastic. In fact I was able to ignore my seasonal affective disorder for more than 2 hours based on this beverage alone. Thanks Motore!

Tonight I'm pretty sure I won't be doing this:

-Eating fall-off-the-bone tender osso bucco with chantarelle mushroom risotto
-Drinking Stevens424 red blend from Stevens Winery in Woodinville
-Dining with my buddies Steve C and Bill M in DC

but, if I could I would.

In spring a young man's fancy turns to...

Kick ass red wine from Washington?

I guess I'm not really that young, and while it is kinda sunny outside its really not quite spring yet...but I did just receive a spring release announcement from Betz Family Winery so I've got that going which is nice.

Bob Betz is a local Washington winemaker, Master of Wine, and by all accounts a helluva nice guy. Betz Family Winery really represents what I love about what's going on with Washington wine. As a wine fan I can actually go to the winery, talk to the man about his wine, hang out and have a great time, and leave with some of the best wine being produced anywhere.

In March, Betz will release their two big reds; Pere de Famille and Clos de Betz.
Check out Tanzer's early notes on Pere de Famille:

"Bright, deep ruby-red. Musky, minerally, spicy aromas of blackberry, blueberry, leather and tree bark. Quite penetrating on the palate, with terrific intensity and cut to the black cherry and currant flavors. Denser and larger-scaled than the Clos de Betz. This, too, finishes with excellent cut, growing sweeter and longer as it opens in the glass. There's firm tannic spine here but no impression of dryness 93+"

I'm pretty excited to try these bad boys, and while I don't currently have nearly enough Betz in my cellar I am making room for some of each of the '04 releases.

Welcome to my world

So I'm sitting here overlooking beautiful Elliott Bay, fuming over the fact that I'm missing the "Triple Winemakers' Dinner" at El Gaucho in Seattle...featuring none other than Mark Ryan and Stevens Wineries (two of my favorites.) No, they didn't sell out but I did. I'm taking a bit of time off from my vices to "clean the machine."

I decided to start this blog in order to keep track of some of the wonderful food, wine, and goings on I run across in the Pacific Northwest. I don't think anyone will read this drivel, but at least I'll get it down in "print."

In order to justify my unnatural preoccupation with all things Northwest food and wine, I've actually started my own company, Northwest Exclusive www.nwexclusive.com .
We focus on... you guessed it premium food and wine from the Pacific Northwest. Check it out.

From time to time I'll drop in, tell you what I'm really into in terms of PacNW food and wine, maybe complain about some of the bullshit I see in my day to day existence, and tell you what I'd be eating/drinking if I had the choice.

Since I'm surviving on odwalla and eggplant right now i can't tell you about the great stuff I tried today, but I can tell you what I'd have/do given the choice. Here goes:

Food: NW Prime petite filet and a few langostinos
Wine: CR Sandidge 2002 Tri*Umph
People: My buddy Derek and Chuck D from Public Enemy (its my blog and I can eat with Chuck D if I want to)

Later.