Delicious Planet -- Much Much Much Better than Papa John's

In two months, my life will become a lot busier.

And as such, I've been looking for delivery services -- for fruit, dinners, etc. -- to ease up on the significant amount of cooking that goes on in the Leschi Manor kitchen.

I had been thinking about trying out Delicious Planet for some time, the founder was in the same Master's program at Bastyr as my wife, and took the plunge last night. Here's the skinny:

-- DP delivers on Fridays and Mondays, you place your order online the week before.

-- Food is delivered in pre-packaged containers in a cooler at your front door.

-- All food is organic, whole-foods based.

-- All packaging is resuable or compostible.

-- Their menu isn't just for veggie-freaks like me, they have organic beef & chicken, wild salmon, etc.

-- Tip: No need to order the "small" portions, just order the "large" much better value.

In other delivery news, Tiny's Organic stopped delivering this summer which threw us for a loop. Any suggestions for new delivery services that focus on local?

Eating Local in Leschi

This spring Katie and I, on vacation in Manhattan, were very interested in a restaurant which bragged about how everything on the menu was local. They went out of there way to say how local they were. So my wife and I went because we are a little nuts about that stuff -- and we have a high bar.

Some things on the menu were from a nearby farm but the first thing I noticed on the menu was Florida Grouper, which struck me as decidedly non-local and I couldn't take the restaurant's marketing seriously after that.

If I wanted to eat only local in Leschi, that would be impossible (I think) because my garden isn't large enough, there isn't any farmland and there may be a pea-patch or two but not enough for the whole community... so I started to research a few organizations which could help me think about a sustainable Seattle, and here are a few sites to check out.

Institute for Local Self-Reliance -- with an interesting climate change article that says Seattle is a good city WRT carbon footprint per capita -- more on this later b/c I'm either not buying it or I wonder what the hell is going on in other cities if Seattle is an example for the world.

Sustainable Seattle -- unfortunately, it looks like their homepage post is 2 years old... not sure yet, need to read more

Slow Food Seattle -- I dig it -- unique foods -- but the first one I saw them promote is a Peruvian potato... so not indigenous but am not sure that's their focus.

interested in your links/comments if you know of other good ideas...

I Cheated on Monorail Espresso

On the weekends, in the 98122, I buy coffee at the Madrona location of Cupcake Royale, on the weekdays I buy coffee at Monorail Espresso.


On Thursday, though, running late for a meeting in another office and heading in on a bus from Interbay (don't ask), I grabbed a coffee from Seattle's "Best" Coffee on 4th & Pine.


I felt pretty guilty about it, which is strange because I only started going to Monorail this April when I changed offices and was previously drinking the "Best" or going where the stars go for coffee. I actually hid my finished coffee cup as I walked by the Monorail that morning and refused to give the espresso stand, the line, the baristas any eye contact.


I'm reformed with respect to my coffee drinking habits.... unless I'm in a hurry I guess... or an airport... or Lebanon.


Which brings me to the purpose of this post... the Americano Conundrum... which was part of the reason I switched to the Royale and something I forgot about the "Best".


The Americano Conundrum is when a barista asks if you would like "room for cream" with your Americano. If you say "no", as I do, then at the "Best" often times you will get a completely full cup of coffee that will severely burn your hands if you tilt the cup at even a 1 degree angle or if you try to put on a plastic lid. If you say "yes" (to avoid the burns) you may get a lot of room or a little room -- there is no standard. In this case I become worried that the barista thinks I don't know how to order coffee ("This guy wanted room for cream, but didn't put cream in his coffee".) If you try to avoid the conundrum and specify the amount of room ("I'd like walking room", "I'd like 3/4 inch room", "I'd like 3 fingers of room") then you just sound ridiculous.

At Cupcake Royale or Monorail, there is always a consistent amount of room. Enough that you can put cream in if you like and still not burn your hands.

There you go -- the Americano Conundrum.

Meskel -- Darn Tasty Ethiopian Food

I have eaten Meskel's veggie combo at least twenty times in the last year.

Dear readers, Meskel is on 26th and E Cherry in Leschi, and if you'd like to dip your toes in the water with Ethiopian cuisine or even if you've tried a number of them on E. Cherry and E. John streets you won't be disappointed.

I love the concept of the veggie combo... you get a little bit of everything. Before I extol the virtues of each part of the veggie combo, I must note that there are plenty of delightful meat options for my omniverous friends.

Now, let us proceed with the goods -- here is a picture of the Veggie Combo in all its glory.

Going around the dish counterclockwise (starting at 11:45) are the lentils. These are like a spicy, thick lentil soup, and you scoop it up with the injira, which (according to Mr. Wiki) is a pancake-like bread made out of teff flour. There are also lentils in the center in the picture.

The mixed salad has onions, tomatoes, lettuce and a light dressing and is a good complement to the spice of the beans.

Then we have the tomato fitfit, which is like injira and tomatoes mashed together and is one of the highlights. A friend of ours will often order a side of fitfit in addition to a veggie combo b/c she is fitfit crazy.

Then there is the cheese which is like a dry cottage cheese and is homemade.

The split peas(?), the yellow piece is not as spicy as the lentils and is very hearty.

The greens are cooked chard finely chopped, and they remind me a bit of what Popeye would eat and probably explain my ripped physique. No, that's not me, the bicep is far too small.

Finally, the warm potato and cabbage(?) salad with baby carrots. I must admin I pick out the baby carrots. Don't like 'em.

There you go. And it's $10. Wow. Go eat it.

Their web site is also very detailed. Despite what the home page says, you will not need reservations. Meskel can be pretty full, but I would not expect you to ever be turned away. There is outdoor dining in the summer.

Also there is apparently a wine bar downstairs? Wine bar may be stretching it, but it always seemed like there was a party going on down there and I 've never checked it out. Based on the picture, I think I may need to have a pre-dinner beverage down there sometime (and Meskel has a nice selection of Ethiopian beers plus Red Hook and I think Bud Heavy.)

[where: 98122]

Enjoying Licorous from the Hallway

Quick departure from my endless rants on transportation to discuss an enjoyable evening at Licorous, the restaurant owned by and adjacent to Lark in the good old 98122 near Seattle U.

The two restaurants are next door, but do not share a kitchen... separated by a driveway/alleyway. This is not a fine dining / white tablecloth establishment, but I would call it upscale bar/lounge food and if you're going to go there understand that you'll be lounging on low-chairs or sitting at the bar. No plush booths and first-class legroom.

The meal was pescatarian-friendly, -- I enjoyed as small plates
- Tuna Crudo
- Lobster Mushroom Crudo
- Cheese Plate
- Heirloom Tomato Salad

And then had Seared Scallops as an entree.

They have a nice, reasonably-priced wine list. We shared a bottle of Pinot, a cocktail and a dessert wine with a friend... which brings me to the hallway.

We sat at the bar, and I sort of didn't realize all of the small courses and glasses of wine I was consuming, and ate like it was going out of style and when I got home decided it might be nice to curl up in the hallway, which I did, and thought about tuna crudo and lamented the upcoming Sonics season and wondered why on earth I decided on the dessert wine and promptly napped until waking up later that evening for a proper night's sleep.

Bravo Licorous, hope to see you soon.

[where: 98122]