A Tale of Two Tartares

By Karen

There were times when the thought of eating raw beef would send shivers down my spine, but times have changed, and now steak tartare is a delicacy that I really enjoy. 

Two of my favorite restaurants in Seattle have two very different and very delicous preparations of steak tartare: the French-influenced style at The Walrus and the Carpenter (which I had this summer as a part of my birthday dinner) and the Korean-influenced style at Kaya, which I have had a few times (most recently again this past weekend with my parents who were visiting). 

The French and Korean styles of tartare both feature seasoned raw beef topped with a golden-yellow egg yolk, but taste completely different.  Here is a comparison tartare lovers in the Seattle area:


 

French-American Steak Tartar at the Walrus and the Carpenter in Ballard ($12)

The beef in The Walrus and the Carpenter's  tartare is finely minced and seasoned with mustard, cornichons, and herbs.  The texture is smooth and creamy, and goes fantastically well with the savory oiled toasts that accompany the tartare. 

Korean Steak Tartar at Kaya in Shoreline ($15)

The beef in Kaya's tartare is julienned into small strips and seasoned with  sesame oil, garlic, and pine nuts.  Strips of asian pear accompanying the tartare get mixed into the beef and egg yolk, adding a light sweetness to the dish.  Compared to the tartare at the Walrus and the Carpenter, this dish is lighter in beefy flavor and has a more distinct texture.

Twenty-six years and counting...

By Karen

Where I spend 40-60 hours a week

There is a saying that people like to espouse, which is that one should "work hard and play hard."  What they do not tell you is the consequence of both working hard and playing hard... exhaustion!  With lots of late nights at work (see my lack of posts) and weekends packed with activities (see James's posts), I was beginning to feel a bit run down lately.  Fortunately, everything slowed down just in time to allow me to have a proper birthday celebration.

I turned twenty-six last week.  Twenty-six plants me firmly in my mid-twenties, and fact that is still somewhat startling to me.  Growing up, I viewed the mid-twenties as a time of fabulous adulthood - a time when you would have both legitimate responsibilities and the freedom to to do what you wanted.  And while this has come true to a large extent, I cannot help but feel like I am still just a kid playing dress-up and make-believe. 

After surprising me by sending flowers to my office during work, James took me out to dinner at a new restaurant in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle called "The Walrus and the Carpenter."  The Walrus and the Carpenter represents a culinary trifecta of my favorite things: french food, local organic northwest ingredients, and oysters!

   

Pretty interior of the restaurant

We had a wonderful meal at The Walrus and the Carpenter, and will undoubtedly add this restaurant to our roster of favorite places to eat in Seattle. The space is small, intimate, and immaculately decorated, with a large back patio for extra seating in warm weather.  The open kitchen is illuminated by a dramatic chandelier, and is flanked by large baskets of live oysters ready to be shucked.  Speaking of oysters, we had two different types of kumamoto oysters (my favorite!) to start off our meal, followed a seemingly never-ending parade of dishes.

We ended up sampling about half of the menu of small plates.  Each dish was fantastic, but the real knockout dish of the night was the beef tartar.  It was the highlight of the meal, and one of the best beef tartars that James and I have ever tasted.  And, to top things off, they had one of my favorite desserts on the menu that evening, a vanilla bean panna cotta with poached apricots.  Thanks James!

 

Since my birthday was on a week-day, I waited until the weekend to celebrate with my friends.  This year, I decided celebrate with one of my favorite summertime activities - a beach bonfire!  We set up a bonfire at Golden Gardens Beach Park in Ballard, and throughout the evening, friends from high school, college, law school, and various points in between came by to celebrate with me.  It was a great Seattle summer evening with a magnificent sunset over the Olympic Mountains, and we ended up staying late into the night until the park closed.  I didn't manage to take any pictures, but my friend Leon, a talented photography enthusiast, managed to take some really nice photographs that evening.  Check the pictures out on his flikr!  Thanks to everybody who made it out!

All in all, it was a wonderful birthday, and I am glad to have been able to share it with so many of the dearest people in my life.  With a handsome fella' by my side and a crop of wonderful friends, this game of make-believe has turned out pretty well.  =)

*Our good friend Gennessey has just recently started her own blog, Welcome to the Gsp0t, and has put up some fantastic (and delicious) pictures from her recent travels to Asia and the Maldives.  Check it out! 

Canada, with two points and people in between

By James

Last weekend, as with what seems like all our weekends, mine and Karen's plans changed again and again until we came upon our final plan and destination(s), Canada.  We invited Bruce and Soo (affectionately known as Broo) to come with us and at 12:30PM (yes, late start) we were off!  Knowing that our plans primarily made up of eating, we tried to keep all our meals small with plans to do some shopping to induce further hunger later.

Our first stop was to Bellingham to visit both Dan's and Soo's parents restaurants.  There is something that is very charming about going to friends' restaurants and seeing their parents there. Seeing welcoming eyes and big smiling faces, it always makes it definitely worth it to visit and have some grub.

Soo's mom had just recently opened a Korean restaurant in Bellingham and we were very excited to go and try it.  It's a small little restaurant with two Korean ladies in the back kitchen.  We ordered seafood pancake and japchae.  Unfortunately our plans to eat small was quickly foiled with the arrival of a giant plate of japchae and a seafood pancake filled with ridiculous amounts of seafood.  Considering the fact that Soo is a terrific cook, and along with that the natural assumption that her mom is also, the food definitely lived up to our expectations.

Our second stop in Bellingham was Morries.  It is amazing to both Karen and I that this was our first time here since we know Dan so well.  As we pulled into the restaurant, Dan's parents instantly saw and recognized us with huge smiles on their faces.  Soo popped out of the car and saw Dan's dad and instantly started pointing with a "is that....is that....is that...", yes Soo that guy that looks like Dan in 40 years is Dan's dad.  It is here where we had some delicious milkshakes.  It is also here that our plans to eat small was foiled for a second time, we ordered just two milkshakes and four came out along with two plates of fries.

Thanks Dan and Soo (Doo) for your parents' hospitality!

With our bellies already full and food coma already setting in, we headed towards the border.  We decided on not going to Vancouver and just staying in Richmond, which I believe may have been a first for me.  Being very aware of our fullness, we tried our best to delay further eating by doing some shopping at Aberdeen mall.  One of mine and Karen's favorite stores there is Daiso.  It's a store from Japan where everything is $1.50, unless specified.  This particular Daiso is two stories, you can literally fill your basket full of stuff and only spend $20.
After our Daiso "spree", we finally gave in and headed up to the third floor food court. Our first introduction to this food court was through Dan. I still remember how excited Dan was to bring us here...SO excited, actually, that he paid for everything. Karen and I have both brought our parents here and it is here that I was able to fill my mom's long unfulfilled void of good soup dumplings at Shanghai Shanghai. Though we're sure that there are better places for soup dumplings, I do particularly enjoy this place for the modest Chinese lady standing in the front and rolling them out right before your eyes.  Of course, no stop at Aberdeen is complete without a stop to get wings.  If you look around the food court, most tables will have at least one order of wings with them.  I forget the name of the place, but it's something "Dessert" and no matter how long or short the line is, it is pretty much guaranteed that you will have to wait 10 minutes to receive your order.

After walking around Aberdeen a little bit more, and the Yaohan supermarket where we watched Bruce and Soo buy massive amounts of pastries, we headed our to our final destination.  With our bellies still full and digestion not setting in fast enough, we were headed towards the original point of our trip, the Richmond Night Market.

This place opened a couple of years ago and Karen and I first coming here a couple of years ago, and it's been a go to summer destination for us ever since.  Though not quite a Taiwanese night market, it is definitely a place to get your fix on various asian street foods.  The place, stands and crowds here get bigger every year.

A must for me everytime is lamb skewers, while for Karen is octopus balls.  One new and very popular item this time around is the hurricane potato, which Karen and Soo our holding on the picture to the left.  Though not as awesome tasting as it looks, it was definitely worth the try.  Other interesting, new and worth a try items were: a giant corn stand, a new filipino stand, curry fish balls, squid and octopus skewers.  All and all, lots to do and lots to buy, Soo ended up with a new iPhone case at the night market.

Again, theme of the trip, bellies still full and near comatose, we finally headed back home.  A successful trip with Soo getting her first introduction to Aberdeen mall and the night market.  Definitely lots to do in Canada and lots to see.  Haven't done everything for sure, but this is mine and Karen's Canada.  Great trip and will definitely do it again!