Seattle foodfest: part six

Lunch Number Two: Lola (third time’s the charm)

In between breakfast and lunch, I conducted a little errand for a friend of ours. Actually, it was a bit more of a trek across town with the clock ticking against our hotel checkout time and no taxis in sight; but, in the end, it was worth it. I wanted to get to Salumi (all things pork and run by Mario Batali’s father) when it opened at 11am so I could be back at the Ace Hotel by noon.

I just barely made it.

First of all, I assumed arriving at opening time would be a brilliant idea. I would beat the crowd. Well, the crowd beat me. The line was so long, I didn’t get inside to select my delicious, handmade, artisanal agrumi* salami until about 11:30. It took a mere 5 minutes to select a few cured meats, pay for them and be back on the street. At that point, I had about 25 minutes and maybe 12-15 city blocks to cover. Thankfully, the boys are old enough to stay by themselves a bit. If I’d had them with me, it would not have been pretty. I raced along First Avenue, frantically scanning for taxis. No such luck. Except, of course, after I had covered more than half the distance on foot. Thankfully, I was able to flag down a taxi around Pike’s Place Market and made it back by 12:01. Nice!

We didn’t have much time to store our luggage with Ed before we headed over to Lola to meet Larisa, Brett, Aiden and Katja. Larisa was waiting out front so we went inside immediately (in advance of Brett and the childrens’ arrival). Well, the third visit truly was the charm because we received VIP treatment from the moment we arrived to the moment we left. Larisa was incredulous. “You’ve been here three times and you practically own the place… I live here and have never actually been inside!”

Brian, our charming server, remembered us from the morning’s visit and came back immediately with a huge (complimentary!) tray of pita triangles and housemade spreads: tzatsiki, hummous, roasted red pepper puree, cauliflower/anchovy puree and the most heavenly item: a fig/olive tapenade. It is practically beyond description… so good! I especially loved the play of sweet versus savory; on top of that, the texture was incredible. I was curious as to whether they’d used fresh or dried figs (my usual habit of trying to reverse-engineer a recipe) so I asked Brian if he knew. He said he’d find out and headed back to the kitchen. Five minutes later, Brian returned bearing a scrap of paper. He had copied the entire recipe from the cookbook in the back. My hero! Look for this delightful appetizer on my 2010 sangria party menu (!).

Everyone enjoyed perusing the Greek-inspired menu. Larisa chose the day’s special (something really terrific) and I chose the lamb skewer/greek salad plate. My boys shared a chicken skewer/greek salad and Aiden tried the lamb one (I think). My memory of what Brett and Katja ordered is sadly, lost. We did triple down on the donuts for dessert in case any of you were wondering. They were, of course, pronounced perfect by all!

After lunch, we headed over to the hotel to say our final goodbyes to Ed. What a lovely guy and a lovely place to stay. We hope to come back soon.

In the late afternoon, we trekked to the beach near Larisa and Brett’s house. They live in Magnolia, which is one of my favorite parts of Seattle. I’m still in awe they can walk to the beach from their home; that is seriously cool. The photos are from the kids looking for geoduck clams, crabs and sea glass. We probably spent about two hours exploring the area and it was fantastic (especially the light that time of day).

More to come, but this is the last Tom Douglas chapter (from THIS trip, of course!).

kathy

*I don’t know what is in the agrumi salami from Salumi but it is wonderfully lemony-citrusy with a bit of coriander and other good stuff – yum!