Brasa Restaurant – Seattle, WA

by Adrienne Wilson on

Allow me to apologize before proceeding to discuss the incredibly mouth-watering meal my taste-buds recently tangoed with during dinner at Seattle’s Brasa Restaurant. I apologize because I attempted to take photos of my dishes, but the lighting was far from favorable for a food photo shoot and so I ditched the camera to nosh on my meal and give it full attention. So there – sorry.

Dinner at Brasa (‘live coals’)was a real treat compliment of my father who wanted to treat me and my friend to a post-marathon meal and Portuguese inspired foreign fare. It was also a huge change of pace when looking back at some of our previous dining destinations on our weeks long road-trip. In any event the atmosphere was cozy, intimate and warm. The hostess and wait staff were friendly and especially attentive, but onto the food! To start I had a Judy Jetson martini and ordered a cooked octopus appetizer to help move the wait along for the main course. Shortly after the meal I had been waiting for arrived and it was time to really get down. I was excited for one because I had never eaten monkfish before and the waitress made it sound absolutely to-die-for. My running and travel companion ordered the cod and after a short moment of silence and thanks we went in for the kill. It was like we had burned up everything in us from the race or like we hadn’t eaten for months. I found that the monkfish wasn’t exactly as great as the waitress described, but it had its fine tasting and texture qualities to it unlike other fish I’d tasted. Everything else was top-notch and I couldn’t have asked for a better post-race dining experience.

If you go take $$$ for a real nice meal, luckily mine was on my Dad! Check out their website for any additional details, like the menu for the month through from what I can tell it hasn’t been updated since June. Reservations recommended.

Brasa is located at 2107 Third Ave, Seattle, WA. Ph. 206.728.4220.

New York’s Russian Tea Room Rises from the Dead

by Neil Woodburn on

Like the country it is named after, the Russian Tea Room in New York City has seen its glory days and stark failures.

The Tea Room’s opulent settings entertained some of the biggest names of the modern day before closing down and being mothballed in 1995 and then again in 2002. The closing was tragic for many New Yorkers who shed nostalgic tears at the demise of the hallowed institution.

Today, they have something to cheer about.

$19 million dollars in renovations later, the Russian Tea Room is back on its feet and ready to assume its historic role as a high-end eatery and tea room. New investors have dolled it up like an old Czarist residence complete with samovars and a selection of blinis, borscht, and caviar.

According to an AP article by Verena Dobnik, the Russian Tea House began life as a place to eat chocolate and sip tea for the city’s Russian expatriate crowd in 1926. Today, if investors have their way, it will be a place to down $350 dollops of caviar.

Red Horse Cafe

by Erik Olsen on

I’ve got a new favorite cafe I want to post about in Brooklyn. I don’t gush about a lot of places, but when I do gush, I mean it. The Red Horse Cafe sits on the corner of 6th Avenue and 12th Street in Park Slope and serves a predictably young, artistic, often parental crowd; but the coffee is superb and it is nicely wired so you can hang out check your email and read a good book in a comfy chair.

Occasionally, I like to highlight the best places I find around the city because there’s so much out there, it’s often hard to find the top notch spots. If you happen to sped much time in Park Slope or Brooklyn, drop by the Red Horse and have a cup of coffee and a bagel. It’s a very pleasant place to while away a Sunday morning.

World’s Most Expensive Steaks

by Neil Woodburn on

We’ve been posting recently about some of this planet’s most expensive restaurants. Today, we’d like to point you in the direction of a single expensive item: Steaks.

If one is a true steak connoisseur, there is nothing better, or more expensive, than Wagyo steak. What’s so special about it? The cows are fed beer and massaged daily. The result is a melt-in-your-mouth steak with “an ungodly amount of fat.”

So, what would you guess is the going rate for a bite of this meaty perfection? Try $33 an ounce at Bradley Ogden in Las Vegas. That’s a mere $264 for a yummy, eight-once serving.

Still hungry? Or have you just lost your appetite as I have done?

If the above photo is still making you salivate, check out this ForbesTraveler.com article detailing other great Wagyo steak deals to be had around the world. And just remember, those cows died happy.

Glow Shrooms

by Erik Olsen on

Here’s the first of several Halloweeny posts on this All Hallows’ Eve.

I know there are some of you out there for whom this will be an inspiration to scamper out into the woods in search of the next great hallucinogen. But hold on, we don’t know yet if these mushrooms can kill you. And foodies, yes, I’m sure many of you are also dreaming of glow in the dark pizza, the hottest new thin to hit Chuck E Cheese since, well, that little machine that grabs toys with a metal grappling hook. Well, I just found this little blurb from Nat Geo to fascinating not to post about. What we’ve got here are bona fide glow in the dark mushrooms from Brazil. These bioluminescent fungi were collected from Ribeira Valley Tourist State Park near São Paulo, and are – amazingly – capable of producing light through a chemical reaction.