Now I ain’t gonna lie to ya. I like Quiznos. And who wouldn’t? It puts subway to shame. It’s all about the honey bacon club on wheat, toasted. It’s so about the toasted! Turkey, bacon, ham, swiss cheese, lettuce, red onion, tomato, and awesome honey-french dressing. There’s nothing on this I do not like. The dressing and the red onions (and it has to be red onions) put this sandwich over the top. You don’t need to try anything else. It’s a shame that there isn’t one close to me. There used to be one, but it had a sprinkler system accident, and never reopened. That was years ago. It’s so sad.

M took me out to dinner one night in his neck of the woods, Bellevue. What’s in Bellevue? Well, the place is huge. I mean, it’s technically a suburb of Seattle, but it’s not anyone’s suburb. It’s a big ass city on its own. It’s the second largest city center in all of Washington. Its downtown rivals any large city’s downtown. It has a giant mall. Lots of people live there. Anyway, we grabbed a quick bite at the Pumphouse. It’s a bar, and not in a particularly attractive location. But once inside, it’s homey. You wouldn’t expect it to be like that. It’s slightly divey, but not in a bad way, definitely not fancy, and without one ounce of pretense. Anyone can hang out here. I got a french dip sandwich. I always have a soft place in my heart for the french dip. I guess I like anything that comes with something you can dip into, especially au jus. The fries were ok. I also had my first taste of a local brew – Mac & Jacks. It’s a brewery from Redmond, you know, neighbor to Bellevue, and home of Microsoft. Everybody knows Mac & Jacks around here, namely it’s Mac & Jack’s amber ale. Namely, it’s tasty.

One of my favorite things about flying, and I know this sounds totally dorky, is reading the in-flight magazine. And since I fly US Airways 90% of the time, I’ve gotten to know it well. I look forward to the two different crosswords and the two sudokus. I also look forward to the one food column in there written by John Edge. So I’m reading it, and the January column coincidentally happens to be about How To Cook A Wolf, a restaurant in Seattle. He raved about it, so you know what? I went!

The place is fairly teeny tiny, it can’t possibly sit more than 25-35 people. They don’t take reservations either. Their menu is small. The place was packed when I went, but there was one little spot for me at the counter. Right by the door, of course. But since I didn’t have any other options, I grabbed it! It’s very moody, dark, yet warm. The counter is made of cork and the facade is natural stone. The ceiling is lined with pine. It’s adorable.

I guess you would consider this place a tapas type restaurant. It’s definitely a small plates and sharing place. And a wine bar. Tons of wine. Everybody seemed to be some type of sommelier who worked there. They were very into their wine. The crowd is also rather… older. And fancy. Everyone was dressed up and sophisticated looking. And then I walked in with my t-shirt and jeans, plus I wasn’t 50-years old. Even though I know I wasn’t actually the youngest person in there (since I’m deceptively young looking), I still looked like I was the youngest person there, by far. Like 30 years far. But they were still very nice to me.Onto the food! Since it was only me, I couldn’t order tons of stuff and share it, so I went with one recommendation from the article, and one that I would have picked anyway. So the first dish was soft-boiled eggs with anchovy mayonnaise. Yes folks, hard boiled eggs. Sounds boring, right? You have no idea how amazing these eggs were! I mean the concept is so simple. Soft boiled eggs so the yolks are still a bit soft, cut them in half, squeeze a bit of anchovy flavored mayo on top of the eggs, and throw some little herbs on them while you’re at it. Doesn’t seem particularly exciting or enticing, but these were some of the best things I’ve ever tasted. Seriously.Ok, so then I ordered the scallops. They were seared and served with garbanzos, golden raisins, and hummus with a vinaigrette . Very simple yet perfectly prepared. It doesn’t seem like I ate that much food, but I was definitely full. I wanted some dessert anyway, and the server recommended the homemade sorbet. No pic, as it was just three scoops of sorbet in a bowl. I was surprised it wasn’t decorated at all with a mint leaf or something, but it was quite delicious. Just light enough that it didn’t make me much more full than I was.

Just a few notes… I was sitting next to a raucous party and they were getting tons of food. Among them, the beet salad. They just kept going on and on about it, so as as note to yourself, try the beet salad. I kinda wished I’d had more capacity in my belly and had room for that. But I can only gorge so much. So if you’re in the mood for an amazing and slightly sophisticated meal, stop here, get your name on the list, and eventually get to eat. You will wait! But it’ll all be worth it.