Every major city has some sort of restaurant week, and Philadelphia is no exception. It happens several times a year, and enclaves within the city even have their own versions of it. I don’t participate in it too often as the menus can be very limiting and not worth the value. But sometimes, once in awhile, I partake. So for this last go-round, we went to Mercato. I’ve always wanted to go here. It’s a teeny little byob in midtown village that is always packed. And there’s certainly many reasons why.
The place is so small and the tables are densely packed in. You literally have to squeeze yourself into your seat. But it’s not a big deal. Since it was restaurant week, we pretty much got our pick of the menu and got to select one app, one entree, and one dessert.  Only the cioppino was excluded from the menu and the antipasti had to be shared between two as the app. Otherwise, it was all fair game. I appreciated that. Some complimentary bread with a flavored butter. Just wonderful.
M’s roasted portabella and arugula puff pastry with pecorino, pine nuts, and thyme citronette. Delicious!

Whole grilled artichoke with a extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, and a zesty citrus aioli. Again, delicious! And I don’t even like artichokes. It looked so good that I had to try it. Even if I don’t traditionally like artichokes. I’m trying actively to expand my horizons. It was so smoky and great. And we fell in love with this aioli. I could have drank it.
The crispy skin striped bass with caramelized cipollini onions, artichokes and pancetta crisp, in a chianti reduction aioli.  Ooh baby. If I wasn’t such a scallop freak, I would have ordered this. In fact, next time, I will!
So as for me, with very little surprise, I ordered the pan seared diver scallops with a wild mushroom and english pea risotto, parmesan crisp, and drizzled with truffle oil. I’m a sucker for scallops and I’m a sucker for this dish. So perfect. The risotto was creamy and dreamy and super flavorful. I love anything with peas in it! I could have licked the plate. And were it not for all the other patrons within an eyelash of me, I would have.
For dessert I got the panna cotta with cinnamon apples. Loved this too. Loved every damn thing about this place. I can see why this place is packed all the time and gets rave reviews. It deserves all of its lauds. Service was pretty good considering there were only 3 servers for the whole joint and the place was mobbed. It’s cozy but not quiet. Because you’re so tightly packed together it’s busy and loud and bustling. But it’s still adorable. And the food is lovely. I want to taste every dish!

We had a company wide dinner my last night in Seattle at the Purple Cafe in Bellevue.  It’s a fancy schmancy local chain. We had a little party room over to the side and there was a special menu for us on little clipboards. It was freakin adorable. There was wine and some signature cocktails and a few appetizers – some mini crab cakes and a variety of dips, like hummus and white bean dip.

We had a choice of house or caesar salad and I went with the house green salad. It came with an apple cider vinaigrette and this salad was amazing! Everyone agreed that this salad was delicious. I mean it was just greens and a few cherry tomatoes and barely a slice of cucumber, but I just loved it.

We had a few entree choices, and as you may have guessed, I picked the seared mediterranean sea bass. It was served in a saffron broth with fingerling potatoes, olive oil poached fennel, and white and purple pearl onions. Um… I can’t even get into how good this damn dish was. Like seriously, it was too damn good. It was a huge, perfect, and flaky hunk of sea bass, perfectly seared. I mean it was so fresh and cooked just right that it would have been amazing without any seasoning or sauce of any kind. The fennel and the little onions were perfect complements. I literally left nothing on the plate. As if I hadn’t eaten in days. And I could have eaten it all over again.

If you give me a dessert menu, I will most likely pick creme brulee.  They actually had a pumpkin variety, but I went with my plain and boring vanilla. It was so teeny and cute and good. All in all, a surprisingly delicious meal! The service was quite fine considering how many people they were dealing with. And the wait for the food wasn’t super excruciating, but we did have to wait a bit. They treated us very well!

When I decided to go to Portland, I sought some feedback on where I should eat. I usually do extensive research on my own, but I asked others for help this time. Drew Lazor from the city paper told me that Le Pigeon was a must eat. I actually remembered seeing it the last time I was in Portland, as I was staying at a crappy motel right across from it, so I heeded his advice and made a reservations. It’s a tiny spot with only 3 family style dining tables (be prepared to sit next to strangers!!!) and seats at the kitchen bar. So plan your visit in advance!

It is french! Could you guess that from le name? The menu is small, changes all the time, and is very french. You don’t see friendly things like chicken and steak and sea bass.  You see things like pigs feet, tongue, duck, and sweetbreads. So be forewarned! It had tons of decorations and art, including embroideries of employees on the walls. The dessert and cheese menus were written on these colorful old windowpanes.

The swordfish dish. A nice steak of swordfish with calamari stew, fingerling potatoes, and a saffron based sauce. Lovely and beautiful!

I went wild and got the sweetbreads with scallop, salsify, and citrus. Now I’ve only eaten sweetbreads once, and liked it, and I love me some scallops, so I decided to take the chance! I still really don’t know what particular type of sweetbread this was, but I’m assuming it was the pancreas kind, as it was pretty big. I liked this, but I could easily see how some would not. While it doesn’t have a terrible texture, it doesn’t have the greatest texture either. It’s kind of on its way to having a liver texture, but only about half way there. It was seared and I enjoyed the seared bits quite a lot. However, once I ate away at the seared bits, the inside was less cooked, and I got a bit afraid and stayed away from it. I think the last time I had sweetbreads it was cut up into much smaller pieces so there weren’t any less cooked bits. I think I would have preferred it that way. That was fine as I still had a lovely and big seared scallop to enjoy. You know me and scallops, so enjoy it I did! The salsify is a root vegetable. It’s not widely eaten, but it is in France, Italy, and Russia. I’ll leave it to the French, Italians, and the Russians. Salsify is definitely not the root vegetable for me. Now as strange as it may sound, my favorite part of this dish was what all the main ingredients came on top of – cauliflower puree. It tasted like pure cauliflower, but it was incredibly smooth and lump free, liquidy, but still with some oomph. I could eat this all day!

Now dessert is where we got completely crazy. While there were many options, some of them even crazier, nothing enticed us as much as the honey bacon apricot cornbread with maple ice cream, drizzled with bacon cooked in maple syrup. Yes folks, this cornbread has bits of bacon in it. And it’s topped with more bacon. And as crazy as it sounds, it was delicious! But the maple ice cream is actually what made it. Without it, the cornbread tastes a little too funny and smoky. But with the ice cream, it’s the perfect complement. It’s all the bizarre combinations of savory and sweet that make it so fun to eat. We laughed the whole time we ate this, because really, we couldn’t really believe we were!

Service was good and they were very friendly and helpful with explaining the menu. It’s a packed restaurant, with just a few people cooking, and everything is cooked to order, so be prepared to wait for your food. Just enjoy the complimentary bread they give you. They sprinkle a little sea salt on the butter and it makes it even that much better. We sat next to a really nice couple who recommended several places to try out, in Portland and elsewhere. And we provided them with some recommendations for spots to check out in random parts of the country. And hence, the beauty of family style sitting amongst strangers. Le Pigeon is a special experience. I hope you all get to experience it. And say yes to the crazy bacon dessert!