Mess With This Tex-Mex

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Mess With This Tex-Mex

Tex-Mex and I go way back.

For my first college gig, I hostessed at a rowdy, Tex-Mex restaurant: Caliente Cab Company. Famous for their frozen margaritas--evidenced by the monster cocktail beckoning from the facade--this was where locals went to get their tequila on, downing syrupy sweet margaritas or slamming shots wielded by bandolier-strapped waitresses. The edible offerings were cheesy, cheap, and filling--food was merely fuel for more boozing.

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It Was A Good Day

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It Was A Good Day

3am. Ext. Belltown Street. 1st day of 2013   

First bite of 2013....a hot dog from Monster Dog.  I discover that cream cheese is the signature of a "Seattle Dog"...can someone please tell me the connection between shmear and this city? Initially skeptical, I love how the spread tempers the salty dog, which is served in my favorite fashion: split down the middle and grilled so that char is the primary condiment.  Robin adds pickled jalapenos and Steve doctors a spicy weiner with sliced onions and Sriracha.   Both genius.  Admittedly, anything would taste divine pre-dawn and post-boozing, yet these particular sausages embody more than just meat.  They are the sweet success after numerous failed attempts to find food. They are warmth as we chow down in the heated cocoon of the Jetta.  They are togetherness as we pass them among old friends, sister, husband.  They are the beginning, a taste of what will come. 

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Good Gallic In A Petite Package

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Good Gallic In A Petite Package

buvette  noun (f)

1. a refreshment stall or counter

2. a snack bar at a theater, train station, beach, etc.

In French, and English for that matter, the diminutive "ette" connotes feminine (coquette) or little (cigarette), so it is implicit that buvettes are small.  Buvette, Jody Williams' Gallic gem, is indeed petite, but that's all it has in common with it's casual joints across the Atlantic.  Chef Williams' version--which she calls a gastrothèque-- is a pleasure chest of French delights, from fresh-baked croissants and housemade charcuterie, to classic coq-au-vin and cassoulet. 

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