portfolio

I have only lived in Seattle for a couple of weeks now, but have come across a great wine shop. My definition of a great wine shop is one that carries a range of wine (in a global sense), leans more towards wines you would not normally find elsewhere, and has an attentive, fun, and helpful staff willing to work with whatever parameters are given them. Seattle Cellars in Belltown is a great wine shop. In addition to excellent selections and a helpful staff, they have tasting every Thursday from 7-9. I know where I'll be spending many of my Thursday evenings...

On the one hand it feels overwhelming trying to cover every place I might go out in my new hometown of Seattle; however, I am taking some solace in the fact that this will be more of a running dairy instead of a city guide of sorts. That said, on to installment #1...

Bell and I decided to buck the Seattle casual trend, dress up a bit, and hit a restaurant we have never been to: Purple Cafe. The restaurant was big, with a pretty cool interior. Overall I liked the scene, but it was also quite loud. Food: average, but we agreed that our crab cakes appetizer was excellent. We have a nice bottle of French wine from the Languedoc Roussillon region called Soulenes. Honestly, there were many good options, as Purple Cafe is really part wine bar, part restaurant. But we literally chose the wine by picking it without knowing what to expect. Needless to say it was a pleasant surprise.

After dinner we headed over to a going-away part of a friend of mine at Twist. This was a pretty cool lounge, with a few good areas to sit with friend. The problem was that most of the lounge seating was along one wall - pretty touch to talk to multiple people when you are all lined up in a row. That said, it was a pretty cool scene and worth a return visit.

In late April of this year Isabell met me for a weekend in Houston. Most reasonable people would ask, "Why meet in Houston? It's not a destination." ... and they would be right. But after having lived in Houston for just over a year myself, I found the city is tough to beat when it comes to restaurants and the arts. Here is a run down of a few of the places Bell and I hit up - some of my Houston favorites:

~ Mark's, from chef Mark Cox. This is the best restaurant I have ever been to - hands down. Everything from the excellent and constantly changing menu of American cuisine to the great wine list to the old church-turned-restaurant atmosphere makes Mark's number one in my book. One of my good friends, Emily Resling used to be the wine director at Mark's, making each visit a even more of treat. On the night Bell and I came in to the restaurant she pulled what we both agree is the best bottle of wine either of us has ever had: a 2004 Joseph Swan pinot noir. Amazing. Emily's since moved on to a new position in Seattle (the new hometown for both of us), but remains a great wine insider for me.

~ Empire Cafe ranks right near the top of my list of favorite coffee houses. The cafe serves a great breakfast, has excellent coffee and espresso drinks and has nice outdoor patio - a must-have in Texas.

Isabell and I recently took a trip to Las Vegas with some friends. Las Vegas does not top my list of favorite travel destinations, as I am neither a big gambler nor one who loves to stay up until 4am. However, over the past few years Las Vegas has evolved into a place for top-class restaurants. So Bell and I decided we would go to Vegas not for the usual attractions, but so we could we what we do best: eat.

Here are a couple of highlights from our trip:

~ Breakfast at Bouchon, the famous younger sibling of Napa Valley's French Laundry. Renowned chef Thomas Keller offers an excellent breakfast menu - a true rarity in Vegas. The restaurant sits in a quiet courtyard area in The Venetian Towers. Bell and I didn't plan on going here... we sort of stumbled across the place. Needless to say it was a great find for two people looking to escape the noise of slot machines and eat a tasty breakfast.