Last week was my birthday and I ended up celebrating two days in a row. Why? Because one day just isn't enough. The older you get, the more days you get to celebrate, right? I'm sure I've heard that somewhere...Anyway, I wanted Lauren and Ari to celebrate with me so I picked a date I knew they could join us for dinner which was the day after my birthday. And we had a wonderful dinner at a Seattle classic: Il Terrazzo Carmine in Pioneer Square.
The owner was Carmine Smeraldo who passed away in 2012 but he was one of Seattle's finest restauranteurs. Much is still done his way or "old school" at the restaurant he founded in 1984. The servers wear black neckties and white jackets that are as starched and pressed as the napkins they drape over their wrists to serve.
Matching white cloths are layered to cover the tables and the tables are spaced far enough apart to assure conversations can't be overheard.
The restaurant has a country-villa charm with ladder-back chairs and cushions on the seats. I've only been there once before when we first moved back here three years ago. As soon as I walked in, I had to stop and take it all in, including the wonderful smells and aroma of the food including a whiff of strong espresso. It stopped me in my tracks. I knew this is where I wanted to go for my birthday this year.
I've been having a thing for Italian food lately. When our friends were visiting from out-of-town last month, we went to our favorite neighborhood Italian restaurant, La Rustica.
I've since talked to them since they've returned home and after going to the San Juan Islands and Mt. Rainier, they said that their time with us and going to La Rustica and Alki beach was one of the best parts of their vacation.
Now this month, I'm celebrating my birthday and fun times just continue. At the beginning of the week, I went out to lunch with my best girlfriend to McMenamins in Bothell called McMenamins Anderson School. They have taken an old school and renovated it and turned it into a hotel with a pool, a theater and multiple areas to dine with lots of beautiful courtyards. I'd never been there before and it was fun to have lunch there and explore the grounds. Carmine's was a celebration with my family and I started off with a Spritz which I drank all over Italy when we were there in 2016. They are made of the red-orange aperitif (such as Aperol or Campari) and prosecco with a splash of club soda. They are a perfect summer drink, so refreshing and colorful.
They also offered Bellinis, another popular Italian drink that originated in Venice at Harry's Bar that we visited when we were in Venice. It was hard to decided between the two, quite honestly. Several of us ordered Caesar salad made with high quality ingredients with fresh, crisp lettuce.
Bruce also ordered a round of caprese for all of us that was so good with a generous amount of mozzarella with thick cut, fresh, sweet tomatoes with flavorful basil. Perfect.
I should also mention their bread, from Grand Central Bakery was generously kept filled, with the sweet, salted butter not far away and it was addicting. Grand Central is one of the best bakeries in town making wonderful artisan breads. I would rather order a small plate of the entree (you can order a small or regular) so I can munch on the crunchy bread with it's chewy interior slathered in butter. Some of Carmine's dishes that they are known for are their large ravioli filled with crab, shrimp and spinach with primavera sauce or their pan seared sweetbreads with prosciutto and asparagus. But on this evening, I felt like their angel hair pasta tossed with tomatoes, prawns, mussels and clams which was excellent. You can't go wrong with anything you order here.
The restaurant has a country-villa charm with ladder-back chairs and cushions on the seats. I've only been there once before when we first moved back here three years ago. As soon as I walked in, I had to stop and take it all in, including the wonderful smells and aroma of the food including a whiff of strong espresso. It stopped me in my tracks. I knew this is where I wanted to go for my birthday this year.
I've been having a thing for Italian food lately. When our friends were visiting from out-of-town last month, we went to our favorite neighborhood Italian restaurant, La Rustica.
I've since talked to them since they've returned home and after going to the San Juan Islands and Mt. Rainier, they said that their time with us and going to La Rustica and Alki beach was one of the best parts of their vacation.
Now this month, I'm celebrating my birthday and fun times just continue. At the beginning of the week, I went out to lunch with my best girlfriend to McMenamins in Bothell called McMenamins Anderson School. They have taken an old school and renovated it and turned it into a hotel with a pool, a theater and multiple areas to dine with lots of beautiful courtyards. I'd never been there before and it was fun to have lunch there and explore the grounds. Carmine's was a celebration with my family and I started off with a Spritz which I drank all over Italy when we were there in 2016. They are made of the red-orange aperitif (such as Aperol or Campari) and prosecco with a splash of club soda. They are a perfect summer drink, so refreshing and colorful.
They also offered Bellinis, another popular Italian drink that originated in Venice at Harry's Bar that we visited when we were in Venice. It was hard to decided between the two, quite honestly. Several of us ordered Caesar salad made with high quality ingredients with fresh, crisp lettuce.
Bruce also ordered a round of caprese for all of us that was so good with a generous amount of mozzarella with thick cut, fresh, sweet tomatoes with flavorful basil. Perfect.
I should also mention their bread, from Grand Central Bakery was generously kept filled, with the sweet, salted butter not far away and it was addicting. Grand Central is one of the best bakeries in town making wonderful artisan breads. I would rather order a small plate of the entree (you can order a small or regular) so I can munch on the crunchy bread with it's chewy interior slathered in butter. Some of Carmine's dishes that they are known for are their large ravioli filled with crab, shrimp and spinach with primavera sauce or their pan seared sweetbreads with prosciutto and asparagus. But on this evening, I felt like their angel hair pasta tossed with tomatoes, prawns, mussels and clams which was excellent. You can't go wrong with anything you order here.
Since it was my birthday, we had the dessert tray come around and we ordered three of them to share; the red velvet cake, the cherry cheesecake, and the cream brûlée, all exemplary.
Since it was my birthday, I got a complimentary tiramisu heavy with rum, brandy and Marsala; only the best at Carmine's.
It was an excellent choice for my birthday celebration and I think everyone would agree. So, what did I do on my actual birthday? Well, Bruce surprised me by getting up early and going to our local bakery, Bakery Nouveau, and buying some pastries for breakfast. (Who knew they opened at 6:00 a.m?!) He also stopped at the grocery store to buy bacon and pick up this cute little succulent plant for me.
I woke up to the smell of bacon and to such a lovely morning surprise. I loved it. He quit work early and we went down to Alki to walk and have an early dinner.
We are having full blown summer now in Seattle and living by Alki beach feels more like living in California. I got a call from Nick in Japan during his lunch hour to wish me happy birthday so my day was complete. Sigh.
We stopped into one of our favorite restaurants, Cactus, and it was happy hour so I started off with a watermelon margarita. Happy birthday to me.
Then, we ordered some nachos and I ordered another drink since I sucked down my first one. My second drink was a mojito, another summery drink to enjoy the view with.
The nachos at Cactus are best around and one of the few places where I will even order them. Once you eat nachos here, you'll know why.
There are generous portions of meat, roasted corn, black olives, charred tomato salsa, pico de gallo, jalapeños, and the best part - their buttermilk crema and guacamole. Sooooo good. Then we ordered another happy hour dish. I got their Spiced Caesar Salad with chopped romaine hearts with chile-dusted croutons, Cotija cheese, black beans and roasted corn tossed with smoky Caesar dressing. I just love all the food at Cactus.
Bruce ordered their happy hour Mexico Street Tacos. These are three small street tacos with house-made corn tortillas; one each with house-made chorizo, carnitas Yucatecas, and spicy potato rajas. Even though this is called happy hour, it really is enough food for us and a perfect meal.
We just love hanging out a Alki beach and enjoying the views.
After dinner, we walked along the beach and sat down to watch volleyball after stopping in for some ice cream - since it was my birthday, after all.
My birthday celebration continued once again last night when Bruce and I walked up to one of our favorite neighborhood restaurants called Circa. They had a special that I saw on their Facebook page of freshly caught wild Halibut. It sounded so good and since our weather is too hot to cook right now (we're having temperatures in the upper 80's which is hot for Seattle) we decided to walk up there. We've learned from eating at Circa that Bruce and I will split a main dish and order a salad, so I ordered their Kale Caesar Salad and Bruce ordered their special, Pan Seared Halibut with Peach and Pepper Skewers and Lemon Semolina Cake.
I could have eaten my own order of this dish, it was so good. The lemon semolina cake was delicious with the halibut. It was sort of like grits only made with semolina wheat (it looks like another piece of halibut in the photo) and the lemon flavor was very subtle. It complimented the halibut perfectly. The halibut was outstanding, too. I couldn't resist their dessert, either. Well, they actually had a couple of special desserts but we opted to share an Austrian Peach Cake with Frozen French Custard.
This dessert was unbelievably delicious. It tasted like Tres Leches cake, very rich and decadent. The frozen French custard was amazing and I would have ordered this just alone. This was perfect for a hot summer day dessert. (And I'm glad Bruce and I split it!) This was the best birthday dessert. So, how many birthday celebrations was this? Two, three, four... I love on-going birthday celebrations. Can I just keep doing this all month, please?
Comments
Post a Comment