Notes from the Road: Seattle

Had a lot of great food in seafood city, at restaurants with wonderful names. We had drinks, warming our hands by the fire as we ate lovely beef tartare, sparked with cod roe and tamed with asian pear at Joule. Then on to The Whale Wins, where we ate an entire array of vegetables, roasted marrow bones and a most fantastic piece of pork shoulder (among other wonders).  A great night of crudo and pasta at Anchovies and Olives.  But what I’ll remember most is an early afternoon feast at Taylor’s Shellfish in Melrose Market.

The Olympia oysters are superb right now: small and plump, with that coppery flavor that resonates in your mouth like a bell.  Shigokus - their deep shells so filled with oyster liquor that you slurp them down as both food and drink. Dungeness crabs - so sweet. So rich. So satisfying.  And finally a little dessert of geoduck sashimi, the only seafood I know that’s crisp enough to chew.  

All I could think, as we sat there, eating with our hands, was this: If I lived here, I could do this every day.  Reason enough, I think, to live in Seattle.