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| Wednesday, January 13, 2010 |
| Fireworks ... not so much |
There are four restaurants that I truly get excited over. They are:
The Berlin Inn for German food
Ruth's Chris for steak
Snow Whites for crepes and
Kell's for Shepard’s pie
For a few minutes I had Ring Side on there, but it can't honestly compare (in my opinion) to the wonderful steaks I've had at Ruth's. But this lack luster food moment isn't about steak. It involves something that's taken me years to accomplish. Not that it was difficult to accomplish, I just didn't get around to it for some reason or another. Either way it resulted in years of anticipation that would result in brining me one step closer to my goal.
What's my goal you ask? Well it's to dine at all three Kell's locations (Portland, Seattle & Dublin). I've long adored Portland's restaurant and FINALLY was making a trip to Seattle that allowed me the time to eat at the restaurant there (just a block east of Pike's Place. I was thrilled walking down the alley to the entrance, sharing the experience with my little brother who could appreciate not only the moment but the food as well because it was a weekday, and after the lunchtime rush, finding a seat was easy. In the back corner there was a booth, with a picture hanging over it that matched a painting that hung in my grandparent's house. It seemed like a sign from the heavens that we were about to have the most scrumptious of meals.
When the waitress brought buy the menus we pretended to look even though we knew what we were going to get. The godly, soul warming, happy place Shepard’s pie that made you want to run through the hills shouting and screaming for joy as you in vision fairies and leprechauns singing along as they take you to a happy place where everything is perfect. My brother was well on his way to such a happy place as the waitress brought him a perfect mug of Guinness. Making plans about the places we were going to stop in Pike's Place before catching the ferry to Bremerton to finish work our food arrived.
Sure the portion was smaller, served in a smaller dish with a side salad. It's not what Portland does, but it's lunchtime ... I can understand the smaller portion. As I waited for my pie to cool I ate my salad, ok the house ranch had a more southwestern taste to it then I would have liked. But no biggy it's just a starter for the awesome that was about to come. Eyeing the golden mashed potatoes topping I had to wonder ... where's the Guinness reduction that's usually on top which MAKES Kell's Shepard’s pie so amazing? Perhaps it's between the potatoes and the meat?
Could you imagine how yummy it would be for that sauce to be baked into the meat rather then just on top?
Well I'm still trying to imagine it, because there was no yummy sauce inside. Not only was a bummed on that account, what do I taste on my first bite but something tangy ... tangy? Why would it be tangy? Aaron was eating his clam chowder so he hadn't had a bite yet. He quickly corrected that when he saw my puzzled face. The tang tasted of vinegar, he said, with a strong aroma of oregano ... which is usually Italian right? We took another bite or two just to make sure, Aaron even poured some of his Guinness on the pie to see if it helped. It didn't take us long to push the plates aside and pray to god the waitress would come to take it away as the vinegar smell would waif into our noses.
She did come, and we asked her what would make it taste that way? She went to ask the cooks ... she returned to reclaim one of the pies to take it back into the kitchen. She apologized, took the pies off our tab and asked if I wanted something else. At that moment I was far from hungry, my stomach was starting to feel weird. I said no, and then asked if the cooks figured out what was wrong. She said no, but they were throwing them all away.
Ya I know I could have fought it, walked out without paying for a thing because of the gross mystery food. But I didn't care; it was a lunch that work would repay me for later. So I left Kell's disappointed, and worried about what it would be like in Dublin when I make it over there (hopefully within the next few years).
The perk to this story? I went down the street and grabbed a Seattle Hotdog, which has cream cheese and sweet relish on it. HEY don't knock it till you try it. It's Delicious!!!Labels: Food, Goals |
posted by Heidi @ 4:31 PM  |
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