Back in June, the family vacation landed us as far west as we can go in the lower 48: Orcas island off the coast of Washington. Six hour flight followed by tow hours drive, then a 90 minute ferry ride- I'm not sure if a less accessible place could have been picked without backpacking involved. But damn the food was good.
Highlights and beer-lights:
Rose’s Kitchen and Bakery: Small café atmosphere with very fresh local ingredients. King salmon, halibut, and mussels chowder. The mussels tasted of the sea, salty and wild floating in the light creamy soup. There was no skimping on the fish, no potato overload in this chowder. The bread was made in the adjacent bakery, it was crispy and a perfect match to soak up the chowder. Drew ordered a sandwich with local ham, gruyere, and butter on a baguette. The flavors melded together very well, the slightly sweet ham, fatty butter, tart cheese all on the crusty baguette. The Washington state white was a fresh, citrusy summer wine that went well with all of the dishes. In addition to baked goods including a wonderful flaky almond tart, the bakery also carried gourmet cheeses, gourmet snacks, meats, wines, and local pate. We all sampled the local pork, then rabbit pates later on in the house we rented.
Café Olga- OMG awesome oysters! I actually drool while thinking of these Judd island oysters- perfectly briny and mineral tasting- if you can put a conch to your ear and hear the ocean, you taste these and taste the ocean. Seafood plate had smoked trout, local sockeye lox with cream cheese, pickled things (capers, onions, peppers), and oysters! Dungeness crab quesadilla was ok. Not crazy great but tasty. Cream of broccoli soup that was basically fresh pureed broccoli and maybe a tiny bit of stock and cream.
No chains on this island, it would have probably cost too much and the local food was just fine. The local pub carried the usual suspects, the Alaskan on-tap was the only interesting thing as there isn't much of it in the South or Midwest. The local hippie grocery carried a tiny but fresh fish selection and fresh baked cod was on the menu for one of our evenings.
Seattle: Elysian Fields brew pub. The beers I did try were tasty, but not incredible. The farmhouse saison was very drinkable; mead, malty, slightly tart fruitiness, sweet and lighter in taste than it looked. A good example of the style and one of these beers that tasted considerably more complex than it smelled. The stout poured black with a tan lacy head. Coffee, chocolate, yeasty bread, and burnt sugar were the main flavors. It was malty and nice with a good mouthfeel, a good stout with few bells and whistles but a little high on the abv than I would have liked for a drink all night stout.
The food was the suck. Seriously? At first the veggie-patty type sandwich with goat cheese and various veggies was tasty, then as I continued to eat it fell victim to one of the vegetarian food classic blunders: too much frickin garlic, If I am burping it up, its too much. Especially if I am burping it up for the next 10 hours. The tomato soup had a pretty green pesto swirl on it, but it was pretty amateur and not terribly interesting,
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