Monsoon in Seattle

by Adrienne Wilson on

Something about weekend nights have always been synonymous with Chinese take-out or some
other form of Asian fare, but on this particular Sunday evening nothing sounds more
enchanting than Vietnamese cuisine. Inside or outside of the house Vietnamese is a good pick and easy to find in most
places, except my neighborhood. However, if your neck of the woods happens to be Seattle you may wish to pop your head
into Monsoon.

Fresh food from small farms and blends of traditional Vietnamese cuisine with Pacific Northwest innovation make
the restaurant a real gem on Seattle’s dining scene. Not to recite
reviews from all the papers and anyone whose ever dined at the
establishment, but the Seattle Times calls the food “gorgeous” which is certainly a good start. With the eyes
being the gatekeeper to much of what we tend to taste chances are you won’t be disappointed. The menu
features many very affordable seafood dishes with the priciest entree being a pan roasted muscovy duck
breast at $26. Not quite the local take-out prices but your palate will appreciate every delicious bite. Oh,
and they’ve got a wine list to brag about as well.

LA Times Critics’ Best Places

by Erik Olsen on

You have to be very suspicious of anyone who presumes to tell you the “Best Places on Earth”. How do they know? Have
they been everywhere? Doubtful. I am doubly suspicious when I read a
list like
this and the only places listed are big cities…big cities everyone knows already? Now that’s not very useful, is
it? I mean, tell me something I don’t know. Find me a place out there that’s the “greatest” that I’ve never heard
of.

OK, I’ll ease up on the poor LA Times, whose
“Critics
List” of best places features such destination surprises as Paris, London, Milan and Barcelona (once senses a bit
of a pro-Euro bias here, eh? Though to be fair, they mention Shanghai and Hawaii, too). The articles are written by
Times’s critics and columnists, and despite my desire to see more interesting variety here, the various articles are
pretty good. Kenneth Turan’s celebration of
Paris as a cineaste’s paradise is particularly good.

Ngoma Restaurant – Pan African Fare

by Adrienne Wilson on

Decorated with African folk art and taking on the atmosphere of a luxurious Kenyan wildlife lodge, Ngoma does everything but serve just one type of cuisine. Located at 5358 Wilshire Blvd in sunny Los Angeles many walks of life come to taste the different kinds of African cuisine found on the menu. Most of which comes from West, East, and South Africa with little mention of dishes from Northern Africa, but the choices are still many. Check out their menu here. Something about this eastern dish called Samaki Masala sounds too delicious: whole Tilapia in curry-tinged sauce served with Ugali and the choice of collard greens, spinach, or cabbage. Mouth-watering.

Their lunch special runs Tuesday to Friday from 11 AM to 2:30 PM for $6.99. Check them out if all the spots in Little Ethiopia are no longer off the beaten path.

Wenatchee Salmon Festival

by Erik Olsen on

And while we’re on the topic of off-beat summer festival, you might also be interested in the
Wenatchee Salmon Festival. Salmon is big in the Northwest. The big
silvery fish are a part of the culture throughout the state. Even though many of the biggest salmon runs have been
decimated by dams and pollution, the salmon is still revered and, well, eaten. And I’ll tell you, if you’ve never had
salmon at Ivar’s, well, you don’t know what you’re missing.

The Wenatchee festival is having its 15th anniversary this year and they’re having live entertainment, a raptor
display (odd, that), and of course, lots of fish. Could be a nice weekend thing for Seattle folks.

Hatch Chile Festival

by Erik Olsen on

On a road trip through New Mexico years ago I remember stopping in a McDonalds and being surprised that they
actually served hot sauce with their burgers. What I learned is that New Mexicans LOVE their spicy food. Which is
great, because I am a spicy food addict myself.

So it is no surpise that one of the more popular pepper festivals in the country takes place in the state. The
Hatch Chile Festival takes place September 2-3 in the sleepy town of
Hatch, New Mexico. Never heard of it? Well, there’s not much happening there except for the festival. But maybe that’s
enough, eh? The festival is pretty standard fare for chile celebrations. There is a chile cook-off, chile roasting, a
chile pod competition, carnival rides and fiddling contests. And if you’re really lucky, you can catch the coronation
of the Chile Queen.

If you want to read more, the LA Times
has a good piece on the
festival, or you can go to the festival’s main site.