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Fran’s, the beloved, family-owned chocolate shop has opened their third location just below the Four Season’s hotel in downtown Seattle.  The new store, situated directly across the street from the Seattle Art Museum, hopes to attract some of the area’s foot traffic.  Chocolate, after all, is not always a premeditated purchase. 

I had a chance to chat with Fran about the store and the Seattle chocolate business in general.  It’s easy to tell why Fran’s customers adore her – now a grandmother, Fran exudes such warmth that, just for a minute, I forgot she wasn’t my grandmother!  For the past 26 years, she has been pursuing her passion for perfection, a theme that is especially prevalent in Seattle artisans.  The business is run by her daughter (CEO) and her son (Chocolatier), who was recently invited by the Valrhona company to make his own blend of chocolate for the store. 

The first thing you’ll notice when you enter the new Seattle location is an absolutely giant pointillist portrait hanging on the wall. The subject is Fran’s granddaughter, but it is the medium of this image that is fascinating.  The picture is actually a life-size photograph of a collection of chocolate truffles, ranging from dark to white.  Mmmm, chocolate pixels… That’s good geek food!

Fran’s Chocolates
1325 1st Avenue at Union Street
Seattle, WA 98101 
www.franschocolates.com

Have you ever walked into a place and immediately felt like you’d found what you’ve always been looking for?  That’s how I feel about  Bricco della Regina Anna (or “Bricco” for short).  Bricco is a restaurant and wine bar located on the main drag of upper Queen Anne, on a sleepy block that’s also home to Betty, Chocopolis, and the boarded-up shell of the former Queen Anne hardware store.  The best thing about this location?  I can walk to it!  But don’t let that color my review – being within my promenade-radius is not a requirement for a great eatery.

A freestanding ledge loosely segregates Bricco’s dining room between dinner guests and passers-by who have stopped in for a glass of wine.  The latter group is quite fortunate: the wine list, carefully selected by Wine Director Andrew Bresnik, is formidable.  This isn’t surprising, given that the back wall of the dining room is a window to their walk-in wine cellar.  But if you don’t know your Semillon from your Chardonnay, don’t fret.  The wait staff is not only helpful and knowledgeable, but non-judgmental – if you can swallow your ego long enough to ask for a recommendation, you won’t be disappointed.

It’s more than just the wine that keeps me coming back to Bricco, though.  For starters, the first page of their menu lists only cheese and salumi.  In my opinion, this should have been the 11th commandment.  The rest of the menu is composed of frequently-changing, à la carte salads, panini and entreés ($4 to approx. $18).  Though the menu is small, everything is exquisitely executed.  Chef and owner Kevin Erickson has hit a bulls eye with his balance of traditional and inventive bistro fare.  And most of the dishes are so rich and beautifully presented that I feel nether guilty nor hungry when the meal is over.  A few of my personal favorites: smoked trout salad with roasted beets and crème fraîche ($12), smoked salmon bruschetta ($4), and lamb sliders (pictured bottom left).

I’d recommend leaving room for dessert, too.  Bricco’s roasted pears with huckleberry honey, aged balsamic vinegar and mascarpone is heavenly.  Throw in a glass of port, and you’ve just enjoyed the kind of leisurely decompression that’s normally reserved for European poets.

Contrary to rumors that the restaurant was up for sale, the folks behind Bricco are actually expanding its horizons.  Starting soon, Bricco will feature a full alcohol bar, complete with the sophisticated libations Seattleites have come to expect from expert mixologists.  The owners are also opening Moshi Moshi Sushi (name unconfirmed) in Ballard.  If they manage to create the same restaurant charisma as they’ve done with Bricco, I’ll be first in line, chopsticks in hand!

[photo (clockwise from upper left): cheese and salumi platter, beef tenderloin, lamb sliders, Nutella panini]

  
Imagine, if you will, an art museum restaurant.  Make the image in your head very vivid, very detailed.  In fact, close your eyes and picture this restaurant…  (OK, open your eyes now so you can keep reading.)  Now, imagine the sterile, lifeless walls of that restaurant covered with vibrant Seattle artwork.  Those heat lamps you’re picturing in the kitchen?  Replace them with pans of slowly roasting, locally-raised pork shoulders.  The cafeteria-inspired, cavernous dining room?  Swap it for about an upscale, inviting decor with a first-class bar and a wall full of Pacific Northwest wine.  Now you’re just barely starting to get the picture of TASTE, the Seattle Art Museum’s bold, revitalized restaurant.

On a recent visit to TASTE, I was very impressed with not only the atmosphere and the quality of the food, but also the karmic value of my dinner.  In the last two years, TASTE has managed to source 69% of its ingredients from local farmers, infusing over $1M back into family-owned farms.  Particularly relevant to today’s economy, TASTE’s dedication to supporting small and local farms is commendable.

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Every year I’ve been in Seattle I’ve come to appreciate more and more what a spectacular part of the country we live in.  It’s not just because Frasier took place here, or because we have such a great baseball team – it’s because of our proximity to such excellent landscape, such wonderful natural resources, and such good people.  A recent trip to Lake Chelan, a small town about 4 hours outside of Seattle, cemented my beliefs all the more.  From the orchard- and vineyard-covered rolling hills, to the deep, serene lake, I’d highly recommend Chelan for a peaceful weekend getaway.  And, since everyone likes a list, here’s my top 10.

1.  Rent a house.  There are charming hotels and B&Bs scattered throughout the town, but there are also a wonderful private homes for rent.  Renting a house has a few advantages, particularly if you’re traveling with friends.  Look for a house right on the water – the view doesn’t get any better.  Also, try to find a house with a hot tub, if that’s your thing.  You’ll want to soak your feet after a long day of wine tasting, and a Jacuzzi overlooking the lake brings any day to a tranquil end. 2. Wake up early to go fishing.  Fishing may not necessarily be your thing, but I can’t think of a better way to relax than at the end of a dock early in the morning.  Plus, if you’re lucky, you’ll be serving fresh trout omelets – yum! 3. Visit the Blueberry Hills Farm for breakfast.  You’ll need to start your day off right, and their blueberry blintzes hit the spot.  Be forewarned, though: that $3.50 side of bacon only comes with two slices! 4. Enjoy a tasting at Wapato Point Cellars.  They have a beautiful tasting room and gift shop, and the onsite staff is friendly and knowledgable.  I enjoyed their 2006 Malbec enough to walk off with a bottle. 5. Stop for lunch (and another tasting) at the Vin du Lac Winery.  In addition to some very respectable wines, they offer an excellent light lunch menu.  We gathered around an outdoor table overlooking the lake and for a leisurely lunch that hit the spot exactly.  6. Head to the South side of the lake for a tractor ride around Tsillan Cellars (pronounced “Chelan”).  This was by far my favorite winery in Chelan, and not just ‘cause I’m a sucker for tractor rides.  Their award winning wines stood up to the hype – particularly their 2006 Estate Riesling, which was very well balanced and not overly sweet.  7. Just down the road is the Sunshine Farm Market, a great roadside market with fresh produce (and goats!).  Pick up a few Washington apples to take back home for a tarte tatin.  8. Once you’re ready for dinner, I highly recommend visiting Lake Chelan Winery for their evening barbeque.  Starting at 4:00, you’ll be able to order a glass of wine to accompany killer, fall-off-the-bone ribs and soul-warming baked beans in their permanent tent behind the gift shop.  If you thought wine and chocolate pairings were good, just try wine and ribs.

View my Windows Live Maps Collection of this tour

Arial Tour of Chelan Wineries

 
I had the recent pleasure of dining at Crémant, a captivating, authentic French bistro in Madrona.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, I plan to eat my last meal on Earth in a French bistro.  To me, the rich decadence of traditional bistro fare is a reminder that you’re alive.  Though most cardiologists agree that joie de vivre and fois gras become mutually exclusive after a few consecutive evenings, the French still manage to outlive us by 5-10 years, n’est pas?

Given my vigor for all dishes French, my recent visit to Crémant hit the spot.  In a day and age when Americans are so insecure of their own culture that they’ll only eat “Freedom Fries”, my faith in humanity is restored when witnessing chef/owner Scott Emerick’s faithful execution of the most unabashedly French dishes that have existed since Louis XIV.  For example, the Foie Gras Salade Royal ($14, pictured above)is an increasing rarity among restaurants and gourmet food shops, but its inclusion on the menu signals a steadfast allegiance to everything good about French cuisine.  Furthermore, this particular foie gras had a noticeably fresh flavor and texture that paired well with the sweet crunch of the pistachios and green beans.

My personal favorite dish was the Os à Moelle Rôti ($12, pictured above), three roasted marrow bones served with a pile of salt and a small spoon.  Again, I commend the chef for his inclusion of this staple.  I would gladly return for lunch and order several more plates.

Unfortunately, there were a few negatives to the meal as well.  Besides the foie gras and marrow bones, which were plated with generous pinch of sel gris, there was a prevailing undersaltedness to many of the dishes, including the pork rillette, salt cod and potato puree, and braised pork shoulder.  And, although the wine list at Crémant is fine enough to make an Alsatian blush (little wine humor), my glass of red was served about 10° too cold, which is a shame when your wine list includes $140 Burgundies.  If these critiques seem picky, that’s because they are.  There is a clear attention to detail and an adherence to the French culinary attitude of perfection at Crémant, so these small, correctable mistakes stood out even more.

I will gladly return to Crémant, hopefully before the eve of my death.  I wonder if they’ll accept my prescription for bone marrow?

 
If you haven’t heard the term “umami” before, I recommend making a reservation at Capitol Hill’s Boom Noodle.  Umami is a Japanese word that describes the fifth taste sensation (the others are salty, sour, bitter and Dopey), usually associated with Asian flavors.  Like charisma, umami is hard to describe, but you’ll know it when you see it – or in this case, taste it.

Take for example, the Sizzling Toban Beef ($8.50 on the small plates menu, pictured above).  I was very impressed with the depth of flavors that emerged from this simple preparation.  Had the plate not been hot enough to fry an egg, I probably would have licked it clean.

The main course dishes were also quite enjoyable.  I was pleased with my Cha Su Pork Fried Rice ($10.50) and pleasantly surprised by the generous portions of both the rice and soup entrees.  If you’re an impatient eater, you may want to bring a fork – the chopsticks-only approach to rice eating is an acquired skill, and requires persistence.

However, it is the atmosphere, more than the cuisine, that defines Boom Noodle’s identity among Seattle’s Americ-Asian eateries.  In the most pierced and inked corridor of Capitol Hill, the restaurant stands out as clean and precise, like a Japanese IKEA with good food.  The conspicuous arrangement of tables and communal bar top strikes me as un-accidental: people are here to be seen.  And what a scene it is.  The whole place is loud and energetic, with Capitol Hill’s walking works of urban art studding the sparse decor.  If you’re looking for a hole in the wall, you’ve come to the wrong place.  But, if you’re looking for a great modern import of Japan’s richest flavors in a lively setting, I’d highly recommend Boom Noodle.

photo credit: Boom Noodle

 
Words can’t express my passion for beets.  They’re sweet, tender, and are versatile enough to accompany a myriad of other flavors – mild chèvre, sharp vinegar, smooth olive oil (I could keep going for a while). I know that you’re supposed to cook (boil or roast) beets with the skins on, but I never knew why… before now.  Thanks Wikipedia:

The [red beet] pigments are contained in cell vacuoles. Beetroot cells are quite unstable and will ‘leak’ when cut, heated, or when in contact with air or sunlight. This is why red beetroots leave a purple stain. Leaving the skin on when cooking, however, will maintain the integrity of the cells and therefore minimise leakage.

Makes: 6 salad-size servings
Total kitchen time: 2 hours + marinating time

Shopping list:

• 5 large red beets (skins on), stems trimmed to a small nub
• 2 large sweet onions (such as Vidalia)
• 1/4 cup cornichon, sliced into thin discs
• 3 tbsp. orange juice
• 1 1/2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
• 1.5 tbsp. finely chopped tarragon
• ooks&fgbp

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. 
2. Create a double-layer aluminum foil pouch large enough to hold all the beets.  Arrange the beets in the pouch and drizzle to coat with olive oil.  Add a generous pinch of kosher salt and pepper, plus about 3 tbsp. of water.  The water will create steam, helping the beets stay moist and also loosening the skins from the beet meat.  Seal the foil pouch tightly and roast for about 90 minutes.  Remove from the oven and open the pouch to vent the steam.
3. Meanwhile, peel the onion and slice it into 1/4" thick discs.  Separate each disc into rings (like when they make the onion volcano at Benihana.  Come on, it’s pretty cool).  Since I’m a little OCD, I only like to use the rings that are smaller in diameter than the largest beet.  Which means the outer 4-5 rings are usually discarded.  That’s up to you, though.
4. Toss the onion rings (the ones you want to use) in a little olive oil, salt and pepper.  Place on a baking sheet and add to the bottom of your oven during the last 15 minutes of the beets roasting.  This will soften and sweeten the onions just slightly, without taking away their great crunch.
5. Once the beets are cool enough to handle, rub the outsides with a paper towel to remove the skins.  Quarter the beets, then slice each quarter into 1/4" sections. 
6. In a non-reactive dish, combine the beets, onions and cornichon.  Toss with enough olive oil to just barely coat, then season with kosher salt and pepper.  Add the vinegar and orange juice, and stir to mix.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes up to 24 hours. 
7. Just before serving, top with the chopped tarragon and garnish with another pinch of salt (sea salt is best).

Although this dish (or some variation) has deep roots in traditional French cuisine, I must pay credit to Thomas Keller for inspiring this version.  He doesn’t use cornichon, but I think he’s missing out.

I first came across miracle fruit in a New York Times article back in May.  The article described a mysterious red berry from West Africa that could change the flavors of foods.  Allegedly, this strange little fruit would make limes taste like candy and had the alchemistic power to make cheap tequila taste top-shelf-pure.  Needless to say, I was intrigued.  And not just because of the implications for Mexican restaurants and fraternity parties – I was curious about what other culinary tricks this small berry could play.

A few minutes of web searching for “miracle fruit” and “miracle berry” turned up a handful of shady websites offering the extremely perishable berries at high prices with dubiously vague shipping dates.  I had a Gourmet Club party coming up and I didn’t have a warm fuzzy feeling about paying $70 for a (potentially snake oil) party gag that might not even arrive on time.  Then, I stumbled across miracle fruit tablets, a freeze dried version of the magic berry.  The tablets are far less expensive and don’t suffer from the same short shelf life as their fresh counterparts, so I decided to take the plunge.

My reservations about the water-to-wine promises of the fruit, whose active ingredient is called miraculin (just slightly scienceier than “flavor crystals”), were not eased when I saw the packaging.  Written mostly in (what I think is Chinese), these few English words appear on the back:
        Product name: Mysterious Fruit Tablets
        Ingredients: Mysterious Fruit Powder, Corn starch
        Production Factory: Taiwan Panbiotic Labratories Co., LTD
Oh, that’s much better!  Now I know what’s in these mysterious fruit tablets.  Duh!  Mysterious fruit powder!

Following the instructions I’d read online, I let the tablet dissolve on my tongue for about a minute, sloshing it around to cover all my tastebuds.  The tablets themselves don’t have much flavor; actually, they taste kinda like Flintstones Vitamins.

I must confess, I was half expecting to slip into a hallucinogenic trance, pupils dilated, with The Doors suddenly playing in the background and a kaleidoscope of limes and grapefruit dancing around me like Oompa-Loompas.

But, in fact, I felt fine.  The room didn’t spin, my cat didn’t start talking in the voice of Henry Kissinger, and my throat didn’t swell shut.  The inside of my mouth tasted as familiar as ever, and I began to wonder if these pills were authentic, or perhaps just leftover rebranded Fen-phen.  I bit, with hesitation and anxiety, into a freshly sliced lime.  It tasted sweet.  I waited patiently for the puckering, sour sensation that usually grasps my tongue, but it never came.  “OMG, these things are working!”  My hesitation melted into relief and my anxiety was displaced with excitement.  Then I raided my fridge and pantry for anything and everything that I could taste “under the influence”.  My results are below. Like an American child comparing word pronunciation with a British exchange student, sometimes the results were novel; other times were dissapointing, at best.

Apparently, miracle fruit is now starting to hit the mainstream.  You can buy the very same freeze-dried tablets I tasted from ThinkGeek to try them out for yourself.  If you do go flavor tripping, I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments below.  What tasted good to you?