September 30: Bacco Café

At #13 of 3,024, Bacco Café is the highest rated restaurant I've tried on this expedition. Being listed in the top ½ of 1% of Seattle restaurants set my expectations pretty high. Was it spectacular? No, not really, but it was really good.

The 62 bus from Occidental dropped me off at 3rd and Pine, and I walked the easy downhill to Bacco. The place is small, maybe a good sized living room, with seating for about 20. Al fresco seating nearly doubles that. The place was busy: the parties of 2 and 3 in front of me waited about 8 minutes for a seat; at 6 minutes, mine was a little faster. This is not a place for large groups.

Bacco clearly specializes in breakfasts, coffees, and juices, so my lunch order felt a little out of their wheelhouse. That said, the grilled cheese sandwich was one of the best I've ever had. When I make one, I use too much butter and it comes out pretty greasy. (Truth be told, when I make one, I burn it to a crisp, curse, throw it away, and try again to make a second one.) 

Their grilled cheese was buttery yet not greasy at all. At the end of the meal my napkin had crumbs, but no grease stains. The brioche was amazingly light and fluffy, something I don't normally characterize when thinking of a heavy grilled cheese sandwich. The blend of Beecher's flagship, Swiss, American, and cheddar was perfect. The only downside to it was the plating. Served sitting at an angle, the top bread slid significantly off of the bottom. I tried to force it back unsuccessfully, but angling it back and patiently waiting for the top to slide back on did the trick.

The fries were good, but unremarkable. For a drink, I had the Salerno, an orange/lemon/lime mixture that was so heavy on the orange, it rendered the other flavors moot. Yeah, I know that's an odd choice to go with grilled cheese, but I drank most of it before the sandwich arrived. I could have gotten coffee, but it's the same brand we get free at work, and I couldn't bring myself to do that.

Good? Definitely. A 1-in-200 choice? Maybe for breakfast, but merely an above average lunch. And it was priced accordingly.

Bacco Café

1st & Stewart

Grilled cheese, fries, juice, $20.57

September 29: Casco Antiguo

Now that we're all in Seattle, my manager has set up monthly team lunches. Once she got wind of this blog, she asked me if I'd be willing to pick lunch locations for the next few months. Today's choice: Casco Antiguo. Google says that's Spanish for "Old Town", which is appropriate given its Pioneer Square location.

They don't take lunch reservations, so I arrived a few minutes before noon and asked for a table for the nine of us. The greeter scrambled a little and managed to fit nine seats at a table that was originally set for six. The rest of my team arrived, reviewed the menu, and ordered quickly.

The food came out about 20-25 minutes later, which seemed like an eternity, but really wasn't that long, especially after we saw it. My Casco Antiguo Enchilada was the most beautifully plated meal I've had in this series. The shredded pork was perfectly cooked; the tortillas were crisp from the heat yet soft enough to cut with my fork. The enchilada sauce was a little spicier than I expected -- and that's a good thing. It came with a side of unremarkable beans and surprisingly good corn mash. I washed it down with a bottle of Mexican Coke.

A bit of caution: tortilla chips are $5; guacamole is an additional $3. This appeared on my receipt as $0.89 -- 1/9 of the $8 charge.

The two folks next to me had Carne Asada tacos (pictured in the distance) and Rajas Con Crema tacos. Both looked great.

In the elevator on the way back up to my desk, another co-worker confided in me: "I don't normally like Mexican food, but that was really, really good." It was indeed.

Casco Antiguo
115 Occidental Ave. S.
Enchilada, Mexican Coke, 1/9 of two baskets of chips and guac, $23.96

September 28: The Berliner Döner Kebab

A group of Timberlands IT folks invited me to The Berliner Döner Kebab for lunch today. The reviews on Yelp and TripAdvisor were mixed, so I accepted with somewhat low expectations. I was pleasantly surprised.

They benefit from a fairly limited menu, so there's not a lot of standing in line figuring out what to get. The counter-service clerk was friendly and quick to take our orders. I eyed the lamb and beef rotating on the rotisserie behind the counter, but settled on getting a Chicken Berliner sandwich.

My co-workers had a Chicken Mango salad, the House Chicken sandwich, and Chicken Fiery Kreuzberg sandwich. Orders placed, we waited a few minutes until our numbers were called, and made the smart move of grabbing a lot of extra napkins. Despite the ample seating inside, we took our lunch to Occidental Park to enjoy what may be one of the last sunny Wednesdays in a while. We dug in as a hobo tried to sell us his magazines. Turning down his offer, I pondered "how do I eat this?" as he took his wares and wandered away.

Two of use went with the "force this in my face and use a lot of napkins" method. My co-worker started that way, but reverted to using a fork to eat the contents when it became obvious that the sandwich offered more bread than he could handle.

Each of my co-workers said their food was very good, with the mangoes in the salad and Kreuzberg perfectly firm, and the lettuce and tomatoes crisp and fresh. My Berliner was similarly good. The diced chunks of tomato were solid yet juicy, the shredded romaine was crisp, not wilted in the slightest. We all agreed that the chicken in our dishes wasn't dry like you sometimes find, but was delicate and softly crumbled on contact. The biggest issue among us, and it's a minor thing, was that the bread is so thick. It's really an unfair complaint, though, as my 30 seconds of research show that's the standard German döner. It'd be like complaining that the salt crystals on a pretzel were too big.

The yogurt sauce on our sandwiches was just there. It wasn't overpowering, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't the star of the show. That's probably as it should be.

Some of the reviews I read also mentioned that the spiciness of the Kreuzberg was so mild as to not be noticable. My co-worker says otherwise; it was spicy enough that we considered that perhaps the owners read those reviews and ratcheted up the spiciness to make it painfully obvious.

Overall, it was pretty good. For the price, compared to other places I've eaten, it was great. I definitely deserves better reviews than I'm seeing online.

The Berliner Döner Kebab
221 1st Ave. S.
Chicken Berliner on fladenbrot, can of Coke, $9.37

Chicken Berliner

House Chicken Mango Salad (left), Fiery Kruesberg (right)

September 27: Harbor City

After a disappointing dim sum experience at Ping's, a co-worker suggested I try Harbor City instead. It's one of the top 10% of Seattle restaurants in TripAdvisor, and it was a great suggestion! Two stops away on the First Hill Streetcar, the place was packed. As a solo diner, I had the advantage of flexibility, and a few minutes after arriving, was asked if I minded sharing a table. I'm OK with that, and as soon as I was seated, the tea arrived and the dim sum carts rolled on in.

In the heart of Chinatown, this place is by Asians for Asians. As full as this place was, I only saw three other white guys. The language barrier was a little bit of an issue, but not too bad. The first cart brought me three BBQ pork buns and three shrimp/chive dumplings. The second brought me a half dozen honey walnut prawns. The third cart, laden with pastries, would have been too much food. I'll save that for another day. This is the kind of place that's best to visit with a group and share everything.

The BBQ pork buns were properly sticky, fell apart into quarters, but were just a tad too dry. The shrimp/chive dumplings (language barrier -- I thought I was ordering chicken) were outstanding. The candied walnuts were deliciously sweet, more candy than meal. And the prawns were crisp in their not-too-sweet sauce on a bed of lettuce.

Total time from desk to streetcar to Harbor City and back was well under an hour.

Harbor City Restaurant
707 S. King St.
BBQ pork buns, shrimp dumplings, honey walnut prawns, tea, $17.30

September 26: Windy City Pie

I was off on vacation Friday (lunch was at Cowiche Canyon Kitchen in Yakima, if you're curious), but while I was out, my co-workers provided me a list of a dozen future options. High on that list is Harbor City, where I planned to go get dim sum today.

The best laid plans often get intercepted by pizza.

Another co-worker of mine has been raving about Windy City Pie since before our move to Pioneer Square. For the last several months, they've been selling pizza out of a parking lot near their industrial kitchen on Airport Way. Seattle Times food writer Tan Vinh describes it as "something akin to a drug deal. It requires driving under four overpasses on a tortuous path to an unpropitious ’hood and ends on a street corner where you exchange dough for pizza dough."
Somehow, this place without a storefront won the Times' tournament of pizza, beating out 31 other contenders for best pizza in town.

 

You've gotta order well in advance, confirm via e-mail, and essentially know the drill. It's all changing next week, when they're getting kicked out of their current space by an Amazon meal delivery service and moving somewhere up in the Interbay neighborhood. A 40-minute bus ride will make future meals unlikely, but today, I was the co-pilot for our shady-looking street deal, bringing back a deep pie to share with two others.

Is it the best pizza in town? As I noted in my review of Delfino's, Chicago-style pizza isn't my favorite. But really, the best pizza is whatever pizza is in front of me. And Windy City's pizza was... heavy.

Unlike Delfino's, the thick cake-like crust is the primary substance, and does an excellent job soaking up the fats from the toppings above. The pepperoni was sliced razor thin, making it hard to distinguish from the copious tomato sauce. The candied bacon was the star of the show: strewn heavily across the pie, chewy, smokey, and well worth picking off of my plate as it toppled off the slice. The sausage was difficult to find -- I think I saw three chunks of it in my third of the pizza. No matter, because I'm not a big fan of sausage.

Windy City's reviews frequently mention the caramelized cheese on the crust as a big factor as to why their pies are so good. I expected to see cheese that snapped off the edge, but under all the tomato sauce, cheese was hard to find. The outer edge was charred, but so dark that it was difficult to tell if I was looking and tasting cheese or nearly-burned cheese-saturated crust.

Regardless, I scarfed down my third of the pizza. It's sitting as heavy as the crust, but it sure hit the spot. As a non-fan of Chicago-style pizza, I think it was OK. Slices from Pizza Professionals are closer and a bit more to my liking, but I enjoyed Windy City as well.

Windy City Pie
Undisclosed location, moving soon, check their web site
⅓ of the Meatza Pie, $9.13 (⅓ of $27.38)

September 22: Dick's Drive-In

A little more than a month ago, Dick's announced that they'd begin taking credit cards in September. I never realized that they didn't because -- much to the horror of my family and co-workers -- I'd never been to Dick's.  Despite the fact that I went to U.W. and have been to Seattle hundreds of times, it was a gap in my culinary experience.

The news stories about it prompted me to set up a "welcome to Seattle" lunch outing with my co-workers. Just a few minutes away by light rail, the Capitol Hill location had shorter lines than I expected. I told one co-worker that I was going in with fairly low expectations, thinking back to the cheap 49¢ "Smitty Burgers" sold at a shop near my high school.

My expectations were exceeded. Service was quick, and (full disclosure) a co-worker picked up the tab for all eight of us. We carried our meals over to Cal Anderson Park, about a half block away.

The Dick's Deluxe burger was good, with the lettuce and sauce protecting the bun from the light grease of the patty, preventing mushiness. The fries were adequate, exceeding my low expectations, but still floppy and without the satisfying snap of well-cooked fries. The chocolate milkshake was exactly as expected; although the menu says "hand dipped", it tasted like it was from a machine. That's not necessarily a bad thing -- machine-made shakes have their place, and this was a pretty good version of it.

It wasn't bad at all. I went in expecting a classic, cheap burger stand meal, and it was on the high end of those expectations. It's on my go-back-in-December list.

Dick's Drive-In
115 Broadway Ave. E.
Dick's Deluxe, fries, milkshake, $8.06

Photo by Teri Rongen

Photo by Teri Rongen

Photo by Rachel McCall

September 21: Grounders Garlic Fries (section 326)

OK, this one might not help readers much on picking a lunch spot, but being in Seattle now, I plan on going to a lot of afternoon Mariners games.  Lunch today was in the ballpark with my dad, an exciting 2-1 Mariners win in the 12th inning against the Blue Jays.

Garlic fries are a thing at Safeco Field -- I don't know why -- but they're usually pretty good. These, however, were a sticky mess. No crispness, and picking off the outer fries revealed an unappealing mass of potato bits in the middle. Too bad. I'd hope the stand's namesake food would be done better than this.

 The 1/3 pound Big Kidd cheeseburger, on the other hand, was pretty good. The bun was a little soft with grease and sauce, but the tomato and lettuce prevented it from collapsing completely. The patty itself tasted fresh and cooked properly.

With the $12(!) Blue Moon, this was way more expensive than my normal price range, but it's in the ballpark, so it's to be expected.

Grounders Garlic Fries (Kidd Valley?)
Safeco Field
Fries, burger, beer, $28

September 20: Tat's Delicatessen

It's nice to finally have my co-workers here. The one who suggested creating this blog also suggested Tat's Delicatessen to me yesterday. Another one suggested we go there today. We invited a third to come along with us.

The line of 20+ people was out the door, into the shadow of the Smith Tower. The line moved quickly, though, and I pointed out the photo of Pat's King of Steaks on the wall among the other Philadelphia-themed decor. Nice to see they know their stuff.

Like I mentioned in my post for Calozzi's, I like a good cheesesteak as much as the next guy. Calozzi's was so good, though, I didn't want to ruin my memory of it by finding one even better. No, not yet.

Instead, I ordered the 12-inch chicken parmesan sandwich, fries, and a soda. The first six inches were outstanding, the second six inches are resting comfortably in the refrigerator. It's way too much food. Go for the smaller sandwich.

My coworkers ordered the cheesesteak and the Tat'strami. They reported their sandwiches were great, if a bit greasy. It looked good. It's on my list of places to go back to in December.

Tat's Delicatessen
159 Yesler Way
Chicken parm sandwich, fries, fountain drink, $16.99

September 19: Von's 1000 Spirits

My co-workers have arrived! When I mentioned my goal of having lunch somewhere new every day until December, one co-worker suggested that I fire up this blog. Great idea! With that in mind, I chose to walk toward Pike Place again and see what struck my fancy. Von's 1000 Spirits was fancy enough for me.

It appeared that the wait for a seat would take a while, so I grabbed a stool at the bar instead. Until I can get my company to change its policy (or reinterpret it favorably), I had to forego the row upon row of tasty looking bottles of booze, and had iced tea instead (and not the Long Island kind). Their selection is impressive -- I saw bottles from Copperworks Distilling, a local place I've wanted to try for a while now, but I have to keep waiting.

For lunch, I had the chicken adobo sandwich and fries. The sandwich was, unfortunately, dripping in the chicken broth, which made the bun dissolve, the pulled chicken fall out, and left a gloppy soup of slaw and chicken on the plate. It tasted great, but the presentation failed. I guess that's why they gave me a fork with the meal.

It's worth another shot, but I'll probably order something else next time. A 25% discount for Washington residents is an odd choice for their menu pricing, but it brings the prices down to just barely within a reasonable range.

Von's 1000 Spirits
1225 1st Ave.
Chicken adobo sandwich, fries, iced tea, $19.12

September 14: Taco Del Mar

With the arrival of the first wave of co-workers, a ton of coupons for neighborhood joints showed up in our common areas. I needed a haircut, and there was a free haircut coupon, so I spent most of my lunch hour at Rudy's.

Afterwards, I grabbed a burrito at Taco Del Mar next door. Yeah, it's a chain, but I was in a hurry, and sometimes, predictability is a good thing. My go-to lunch there is a chicken mondo burrito with black beans, chips, queso, and a soda. I brought it back to work to eat, and somehow managed to consume it in our roof garden without having the foil bits fly away into Pioneer Square.

A solid, dependable, but somewhat bland choice. Good to know it's there, in a pinch.

Taco Del Mar
107 1st Ave. S.
Mondo burrito combo (chips and soda), $9.86

September 13: Pizza Professionals

I had to run to Target at lunch today -- a quick one-stop hop through the bus tunnel -- and was short on time coming back. I thought about grabbing a sandwich out of Target's deli case, but decided against it.

Nearing the office, I stumbled across Pizza Professionals. Don't  confuse it with the Pizza Pros chain that most of the internet search engines seem to have done -- this is a stand-alone place. Service was quick, and the two-slice pizza was reasonably priced. The thin crust pizza was crisp enough that it snapped when I bit into it. Not quite cracker-thin, but close.

The guy working the register, who I assume is the owner, talked up the quality of his food, almost non-stop. "I promise you this is really good. Will you make me a promise?" he asked me. "Sure," I played along. "If it's really good, like I promised, will you tell people?"

It was really good, I tell you. Too bad I have to wait until December to eat here again.

Pizza Professionals
104 Occidental Ave. S.
Two slices and a fountain drink, $8.69

September 12: Post Alley Pizza

I decided to take a walk to Pike Place and see where I ended up. Walking along First Avenue on the way to Pike Place, I saw Post Alley Pizza down the hill. After wandering to the far end of Pike Place and finding nothing that said "you gotta eat here," I decided to walk Post Alley back and see what I found.

Nearing the end and running out of choices, I stopped at the Post Alley Pizza counter. A little pressed for time, I ordered the two-slice special, requesting a slice of pepperoni and the last lonely slice of heat-lamped pepper pizza. They heated both in their oven, and brought them out to me after a few minutes. The New York style pizza was above average; the oven crisped up the crust a little bit, just enough to keep it from being too floppy.

Worth the walk? There's better pizza closer to work. But if I'm nearby again, yeah, I'd stop in.

Post Alley Pizza
1123 Post Ave.
Two slices and a fountain drink, $8.82

September 9: Phở Fuchsia

Many years ago when I worked on a different team in Federal Way, we had a monthly lunch at a small phở shop. I've also eaten at a few other phở places in the Tacoma area, so I pretty much knew what to expect. Phở Fuchsia met those expectations.

The service was somewhat spotty; like most phở joints, I'm waved in and offered to sit at any available table. The place is relatively large, but busy, so my choices were few. Two other parties who arrived after me sat briefly near the door, but left when the cold breeze became too much for them. I've got a jacket and a hot bowl of phở gà (chicken phở), so I'm happy.

The noodles were a solid mass, but as they soaked, they became more pliable. The chicken was all white meat, something I had to request special in Federal Way. As I spooned out the last few ounces of soup, I expected the grittiness I've come to expect (bone fragments? something else?), but it wasn't there. This is, perhaps, some of the bet phở I've had.

Phở Fuchsia
213 1st Ave. S.
Phở gà and hot tea, $9.69

September 8: Delfino's Chicago Style Pizza

Another food aspect that we heard a lot about before the move to Pioneer Square was the food trucks. They're in the park almost every day, and it's a rotating cycle of possibilities. In a bit of a rush today, I grabbed a pie from the Delfino's Chicago Style Pizza truck.

I'm not a fan of true Chicago pizza (noodle-less lasagna), nor of New York pizza (floppy undercooked messes), preferring the St. Louis style of Shakey's or Pietro's, but those are hard to find around here, and would never work out of a truck. Sometimes, the best pizza is the one you have in front of you, and today was no exception.

For a Chicago pizza, it was pretty good. The crust was flaky, almost like a pastry, and it held the solid pool of tomato paste within it. It wasn't so much a traditional pizza as much as it was a bread bowl filled with soup, if the bread bowl was buttery, croissant-like goodness and the soup is a cheezy, pepperoni-topped thick mass of perfectly seasoned tomato paste.

It's definitely worth having again.

Delfino's Chicago Style Pizza

Truck on Occidental Square

Pizza and can of soda, $13.15

September 7: Calozzi's Cheesesteaks

After essentially striking out on my first three lunches (gritty dumplings, freezer-burned burger, over-priced tuna melt), I turned to the internet to see what I could find. Near the top of TripAdvisor's lunch suggestions: Calozzi's Cheesesteaks.

I'm a fan of a good, classic cheesesteak, and a few years ago, made the pilgrimage to Pat's King of Steaks in Philadelphia, who created the cheesesteak in 1930. If you don't order it with cheese whiz, you're doing it wrong.

A quick hop through the bus tunnel, and I'm at Calozzi's, outside of Rainier Square. I order the right way -- whiz wit -- and the foil-wrapped delicacy is soon mine. I forgot to order a drink, so I grab a soda from the mini-mart near the tunnel, and bring it all back to the office.

It's a sloppy, messy, drippy, gooey, hot mess -- just the way it should be. There's so much beef, the bun is dropping piles of it back into the foil when I pick it up. So. Good. Why do I have to wait until December to have it again?

Calozzi's Cheesesteaks

1306 4th Ave.

One whiz wit and a can of Coke from the mini mart, $12.69

September 2: FX McRory's

[Closed - May 11, 2017]

OK, this one doesn't really count, because I took it as a vacation day and had dinner at FX McRory's with my wife, but it's close enough to work that I'm going to include it. I think I had cod and chips, and I think my wife had manila clams, but I also had two tasty, tasty Pomegranate Sunsets off the happy hour menu and a wheaty beer, so it's a little foggy. There may have been an appetizer.

It's definitely somewhere I'd go again, but probably not at lunch, lest I get in trouble with HR for partaking on the clock.

FX McRory's
419 Occidental Ave. S.
Drinks for two, cod and chips, manila clams, and tasty drinks, $67.65

September 1: Grand Central Bakery

Grand Central Bakery, our neighbor across Occidental Park has really done a good job marketing itself. They'd given us free pastries when we were in Federal Way, when my co-workers showed up later this month, we got free pastries again. But how's lunch?

The line here was fairly long, but moved quickly. I ordered a tuna melt, chips, cookie, and soda, and then waited for it to be made. And waited. It probably wasn't 10 minutes, but it felt like it.

The sandwich itself was pretty good. The mayo/tuna mixture was a bit sloppy, but I know that some folks like their tuna melts a little messy, so I've got no big complaints about that. The separately-wrapped pickle wedge was a nice touch. The cookie was great. But $15.45, which didn't include a tip for counter service? That seemed a bit pricey.

I spoke with my college-age daughter about the price of food in Seattle, and she made a great point. In Federal Way, I expected lunch to cost about an hour's minimum wage. In Seattle, expect it to cost an hour's minimum wage. It's just a higher wage up here.

I ate in the park, watching a cover band and trying not to drip tuna on myself.

Grand Central Bakery
214 1st Ave. S.
Tuna melt, chips, cookie, soda, $15.45

August 31: Box House

Right across the street from our new office is Box House, which looks to be the place to be when there's an event at one of the stadiums, but at noon on a Wednesday is pretty quiet. I'd eaten here with friends many, many years ago when it was The Last Supper Club, and enjoyed it.

The bartender was friendly and quick to take my order, and we chatted about my co-workers arriving in a couple of weeks. My order of a cheeseburger, fries, and a soda appeared quickly.

Unfortunately, the burger patty tasted like it had been frozen for months, slightly freezer-burned and a little bitter. The fries were good. As one of only two people in the place, my soda was quickly refilled.

Yeah, I might come back here again. Maybe it was just a bad patty. I think I'll avoid the burgers, though.

Box House
124 S. Washington St.
Burger, fries, soda, $12.95

August 30: Ping's Dumpling House and Caffe Umbria

I expected that one of the most exciting things about lunch time in Pioneer Square would be the ability to get xiao long bao (soup-filled dumplings) in the International District. Unfortunately, I started with Ping's Dumpling House. TripAdvisor and Yelp warned me against it, but I still persisted and made it my first stop.

The service was as expected, seating myself at a table with a dirty washrag. The steam basket of xiao long bao was well-used, held together with a few discolored metal plates. The dumplings themselves were deflated and leaky, without the scalding burst of soup I'd come to expect. Worse, the pork filling was slightly gritty. Not very good.

Somewhat in contrast, a few hours later I went out looking for an afternoon snack, and poked my head into Caffe Umbria. The drip coffee was good, and a scoop of chocolate chip gelato hit the spot, especially after the disappointing dumplings.

Ping's Dumpling House/Food Mart
508 S. King St.
Xiao long bao, hot tea, $11.50

Caffe Umbria
320 Occidental Ave. S.
Coffee, gelato, $6.21

What's this about?

Weyerhaeuser's headquarters recently opened in Pioneer Square, Seattle, and thus, my desk has moved up here as well. One of the most exciting things about the move: all the new places to go for lunch. I was in one of the earliest move waves, so had the chance to try several places before my co-workers showed up.

In a meeting in early September, without realizing it, I blurted out that it was my goal to never eat in the same place twice before December. In retrospect, that's a worthy goal. My co-workers showed up this morning, and one of them said they thought it would be helpful if I blogged my dining experiences. Sounds like a plan. Thus, "Weyer's Lunch?" was born.

I'm not a well-spoken food critic, and not a pro by any stretch of the imagination. I don't eat healthy. I'm not above eating mediocre fast food, but I also appreciate excellent preparation, presentation, and ingredients, and try to avoid eating at chains when I'm travelling. I've eaten at the most highly rated restaurant in Florida, and the best taco truck in Wenatchee. 

To be clear: I don't speak on behalf of Weyerhaeuser; my opinions are my own and are likely wrong-headed at times. Prices listed are what show up on my bank statement, and include 15-20% tip when appropriate. My target audience is my co-workers.

With that out of the way, expect about one post a day, after the initial flurry -- I need to catch up the last few weeks. Here we go!