Fire! {Navy Strength}

I have mixed feelings about bars and restaurants where the drinks can be unequivocally categorized as strong. The drinks at Navy Strength (sister bar to No Anchor) definitely fall into that category. While I certainly appreciate getting a great value, Four glasses of champagne? No problem. Calm, cool collected. Three Navy Strength cocktails and you’ll likely find me under the table. It’s taken me a couple of visits to figure out my rhythm here, but after a few visits, I think I finally have it down. Two drinks max and I have my favorite.

“Weird Beer. Rad Food.” {No Anchor}

No Anchor does a better job naming this post with their tagline than anything I could come up with on my own. “Weird beer. Rad food.” That about sums it up. Chris and Anu Apte Elford who brought us famed Seattle Belltown cocktail den, Rob Roy, have created something totally different and equally awesome in No Anchor.

Predictability {Via Tribunali Queen Anne}

B and I aren’t exactly spontaneous people. It’s not that we don’t enjoy the occasional adventure. It’s just that we find a great deal of comfort in routines that we enjoy, in looking forward to going to the places and having the experiences that we know will make us feel good. Last month, we had a pizza craving and decided to head up the hill to Via Tribunali. They have four locations, but ours is on Upper Queen Anne. We’ve been going there for years, but our visits are generally sporadic. I wouldn’t have called it a favorite so much as a place we really enjoy when we go there. Our visit in January was a little bit different, though.

An Older Man {Eden Hill}

It’s my favorite day of the year. It’s the beginning of the three month period during which I can claim to be a year younger than B. Tonight we celebrated B’s birthday with a tasting menu at Eden Hill on Queen Anne Hill. That wasn’t the original plan. We were headed for Lloydmartin without reservations since we always prefer to sit at the bar when that’s an option. They were closed for a private event, though, so we headed off down Queen Anne Ave. N to see where it would take us. I’d wanted to visit Eden Hill for quite a while. Every time I suggested it, though, B would look at their online menu and generally respond with “Meh” or some similarly underwhelming reaction. That’s B speak for “too many vegetables on the menu.” We were getting hungry, though, and needed to make a decision. Eden Hill had open bar seats. He relented and man was he glad he did.

Eden Hill’s specialty is their tasting menu. They don’t tell you anything about it except to expect to be there for at least two hours and that you will get something totally different from what’s on the menu. We don’t always jump into a tasting menu the first time we visit a restaurant, but since it was a special occasion, we went it.

I’m not going to recount everything we ate because I think most of the fun of a tasting menu is not knowing what will come out next. I know their menu varies greatly (the dish above is mackerel) as Chef Maximillian Petty is staunchly committed to fresh, local ingredients, but all the same, I would hate to ruin someone else’s experience. What I will tell you is how much we loved it. Eden Hill is a tiny 24 seat space that is lovely and welcoming. It somehow manages to feel bright even under dreary Seattle skies and subdued lighting. The team is friendly and knowledgeable. I will also tell you that, whatever else you do, have the Foie Gras Cake Batter for dessert. And as another bonus, they are one of those rare gems that takes reservations for their bar. I highly recommend that you do that as I’m fairly certain we just got lucky that we were able to walk in, even on a Wednesday night. I’m so glad we did. A very happy birthday to B.