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Chutney's is one of my favorite upscale Indian dining spots on the Eastside. (In fact, it is the only upscale Indian dining spot that I know of in Greater Seattle!)
Other nice Indian restaurants...
Chutney's is one of my favorite upscale Indian dining spots on the Eastside. (In fact, it is the only upscale Indian dining spot that I know of in Greater Seattle!)
Other nice Indian restaurants are Cedars in the U-District and Mayuri and Udupi Palace in Bellevue, but they are not as nicely done up as Chutney's Bellevue.
There are actually a total of 5 Chutney's locations around the Seattle area, but the Bellevue location (just north of Bellevue Square), is the flagship location, and the which the owner, Bill Khanna, oversees personally.
The decor is very nicely done up, the service is friendly and polite, and the wine list is comprehensive. It is always nice to have a cooling Riesling or Gewurztraminer with a fiery Chicken Vindaloo :-)
Anyways, I have tried the curried mussels appetizer, and it is just heavenly. The brininess of the mussels is offset by the rich coconut and curry flavor of the sauce. The two flavors complement each other like the yin and yang concepts so commonly propounded in Chinese culture.
The Chicken Tikka Masala, one of my perennial favorites, is also especially well-executed here. Rich in tomato flavor, the chicken is cooked to perfection - not overly dry and stringy due to overcooking as I have noticed it being done in some other Indian restaurants.
Kudos go to Bill for building up such a nice restaurant - if you do visit Chutneys Bellevue, ask for Bill, and tell him that Bert sent you. Bill is a great and hospitable guy whom I'm sure would be more than happy to listen to any feedback from you, whether good or not so good :-)
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Costco
Category:
Automotive
1801 10th Ave NW
Issaquah, Washington 98027
(425) 313-0964
Costco, Target and Nordstrom Rack. Need I say more?
Costco is so fantastic. As part of company policy, they cap their profit margins at 15%, and always carry good-quality, higher-end items which...
Costco, Target and Nordstrom Rack. Need I say more?
Costco is so fantastic. As part of company policy, they cap their profit margins at 15%, and always carry good-quality, higher-end items which appeals to the middle and middle-upper class families which form the majority of the population on the Eastside (Redmond, Bellevue, Kirkland).
From Costco, I just bought a bottle of French Bordeaux wine (which uses mostly Cabernet Sauvignon grapes), a first-growth (or grand cru) '03 Chateau Angelus for $130. This is a fantastic deal and has a lot of potential to appreciate in price if stored properly, in my humble opinion.
Target is kind of a more retail-friendly version of Costco, with less of a warehouse, bulk product feel, but still very good quality brands (like Isaac Mizrahi). There is one in Redmond at the end of 520, and one in Factoria in the Factoria Square Mall.
Nordstrom typically carries high-end, stylish items, and their "outlet" version, Nordstrom Rack, carries previous years unsold inventory at deep discounts. Since I am not typically a fussy dresser and do not have to follow the current season's latest fashions, I am more than happy to purchase the high-quality apparel that is readily available at Nordstrom Rack. They have a branch in downtown Seattle next to the flagship Nordstrom store, and another branch just south of the Factoria Square Mall.
The other two places that I like to shop at are the Seattle Premium Outlets next to the Tulalip casino, and Robson Street in Vancouver, BC.
Seattle Premium Outlets carry the good solid stylish American brands like Polo, Calvin Klein, Banana Republic, and Nike. They have a wide variety of clothing sizes at discounts of 20-30% over regular retail. This place is very popular among the Hongkongers who live in Vancouver, especially with current USD-Canadian dollar exchange rates. On Victoria Day (a Canadian holiday), when I visited the outlets, every single car in the parking lot had BC plates, and 70% of the people I saw in the outlet mall were Asian and speaking Cantonese :-) According to the cashiers that I chatted with, they are ferrying them over by the busloads now as part of organized tours. Who would have thought that an outlet mall would become a tourist attraction?!!!
Last but not least, I really like Robson Street in Vancouver, BC. It is the closest shopping experience I have seen to the Champs d'Elysees in Paris, or SoHo and Bleeker Street in NYC. There is a distinct European feel to it, with many sidewalk cafes and European labels, like Chanel, Prada, Armani and even fcuk, for example. (Incidentally, fcuk stands for French Connection UK, and not a misspelled version of something else that you may have been thinking).
I really really wish we had something like Robson Street here is Seattle. I think it would revitalize the shopping economy here. Perhaps when we finally tear down the Alaskan Way viaduct and open up the waterfront with the Olympic Sculpture Park, we could do a more Euro-style shopping district here, bordering Pike Place market and Pioneer Square.
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Mark Bass, the director of instruction at Willows Run Golf Academy in Redmond, is a great golf instructor.
It is worth noting that in all sports, a great athlete does not make a great teacher....
Mark Bass, the director of instruction at Willows Run Golf Academy in Redmond, is a great golf instructor.
It is worth noting that in all sports, a great athlete does not make a great teacher. You could have Tiger Woods himself come in to teach you, but I doubt that he would be a better golf teacher than David Leadbetter, for example.
With this point in mind, I would like to say that Mark Bass is a great golf instructor. He completely reoriented my golf swing around body weight transfer rather than arm power. He also straightened out my swing plane, which helped my accuracy tremendously, especially on the short irons.
What makes him a great teacher is that he has that unique ability to look at your swing and tell you what you're doing wrong, and what you need to work on to improve it. He also covers course strategy in his instruction, including what type of shot to play when, and course management skills.
If you are at all interested to pick up golf, or lower your handicap if you already play, I would wholeheartedly recommend Mark as an instructor.
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A little-known fact about the Pro Sports Club in Bellevue is that some of their classes (and changing room facilities for the duration of the classes) are actually open to the public, for a slight...
A little-known fact about the Pro Sports Club in Bellevue is that some of their classes (and changing room facilities for the duration of the classes) are actually open to the public, for a slight surcharge over member prices.
For example, many of their tennis classes are open to the public, and avid tennis players can take advantage of the excellent instruction provided by the tennis pros there, including tennis director Paul Moseby and assistant pro Sunny Park, who are both USPTA level 1 certified tennis instructors.
For more info on USPTA certification, see this site:
http://uspta.com/index.cfm/MenuItemID/1627/MenuSubID/278.htm
I have personally benefited tremendously from the instruction of Sunny, and am in the process of raising the level of my tennis game from a NTRP 3.0 to a 3.5 (gotta work on that topspin backhand, rather than just slicing all the time :-) )
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Nowadays, I don't mind paying a bit more for a good haircut. I used to go to Supercuts in Kirkland, but the hairstylist that I liked there went on extended medical leave, and the rest of them were...
Nowadays, I don't mind paying a bit more for a good haircut. I used to go to Supercuts in Kirkland, but the hairstylist that I liked there went on extended medical leave, and the rest of them were terrible with Asian hair, even for a guy where the cut is not so critical.
Not wanting to deal with the hassle of an inconsistent and inexperienced stylist, nor wanting to deal with the travel and expense of going to a nice hair joint in Seattle (like Seven or Gary Manuel), I settled for Paule Attar which is just one block north of Bellevue Square (on the other side of the block).
The stylists there are always well-trained, friendly and professional, and the cost of the haircut there is not too prohibitive either - about $30 for a man's haircut if I recall correctly. They also offer other spa services such as facials and dermabrasions which I have not tried, but I'm sure any woman would appreciate. I am very happy with paying $30 for a good, consistent haircut on the Eastside.
Now, my fav fav hairstylist is this lady called Julie who owns a salon called, you guessed it, Julie's which is on Cambie St in Vancouver, BC (a few blocks north of the King Edward Ave intersection). She really knows Asian hair and does a fantastic job at only around C$20 for a man's cut. I heard she's currently out for a month in Europe (Paris or Milan, probably) styling models' hair for the catwalks.
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I just went for this advanced driving skills class today. It was fantastic. I have finally learned to drive my car, as opposed to learning to operate a motor vehicle as I did in my teens/early...
I just went for this advanced driving skills class today. It was fantastic. I have finally learned to drive my car, as opposed to learning to operate a motor vehicle as I did in my teens/early twenties.
You can check out the school website at:
http://www.proformanceracingschool.com/
In the morning, we went over a lecture covering how to properly setup the car, where to look, how to properly use ABS/non-ABS brakes, how to properly execute a turn, etc. We went over a couple of driving exercises, and then proceeded to the racetrack in the afternoon.
It is amazing how much difference a driver's skill makes to the car's overall performance. When my instructor took the steering wheel and put the pedal to the metal around the racetrack, my G35 coupe _smoked_ two Porsche 911s! Definitely one of the more satisfying moments in my life :-)
I would highly recommend this one-day course ($400+) to anyone who operates a car. The skills they teach in this course are very useful even on normal roads, and could potentially save your life one day, were you go get into a life-threatening situation on the road:-)
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I have been taking a good number of excellent hands-on cooking classes at this place called Culinary Communion: http://www.culinarycommunion.com
They have a branch in West Seattle and a branch...
I have been taking a good number of excellent hands-on cooking classes at this place called Culinary Communion: http://www.culinarycommunion.com
They have a branch in West Seattle and a branch in Snoqualmie. The owner-instructor, Gabriel Claycamp is a great, funny guy who has an encyclopediac knowledge about food and its preparations.
Gabe graduated at the top of his class from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY (the most prestigious cooking school in the USA). After that, he was the sous chef at the Tasting Room in Manhattan (one of the top restaurants there, with the largest all-American wine list on the eastern seaboard), and then moved to Seattle to become the executive chef at Anthony's Homeport. Deciding that he would prefer to teach and impart his vast storehouse of cooking knowledge, he started Culinary Communion.
My cooking skills have improved tremendously as a result of this class, and I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who is interested in taking cooking classes.
Classes are typically 3 hours long, and start out with a lecture by the instructor, followed by the hands-on preparation of several dishes that are chosen to allow practice on the topic being taught. At the end of the lesson, students and instructors sit down to have a meal together, enjoying the food that they prepared. All this, plus wine during the class and the meal, comes up to $70 per class which is very reasonable IMO, especially considering that the meal is restaurant-quality.
I'm looking forward to taking the advanced cooking skills series this fall. Maybe after that, I'll open my own restaurant! :-)
If you ever take classes with them, tell Gabe or Heidi (his wife, the business manager) that Bertrand sent ya ;-)
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The best Korean food I've had in the Pacific Northwest area is at this restaurant called Jang Mo Jib on Robson Street in Vancouver, BC. Their traditional dishes (kalbi beef short ribs, seafood...
The best Korean food I've had in the Pacific Northwest area is at this restaurant called Jang Mo Jib on Robson Street in Vancouver, BC. Their traditional dishes (kalbi beef short ribs, seafood pancake, etc.) are excellent and the seafood pancake is prepared quite uniquely (reminiscent of Chicago deep dish pizza versus traditional Italian thin crust).
They also have more contemporary Korean dishes that are not commonly found in other Korean restaurants. I don't remember the name, but there was this hot pot noodle dish that makes my mouth water just thinking about.
Another dish that they are famous for is their beef bone soup. I did not find this terribly exciting though, perhaps because the flavor was a bit too bland for my taste. It comes with a bowl of salt for you to season the soup to taste, but even then, I was not terribly impressed. Everything else I have tried was excellent though.
I would recommend this above Seattle area restaurants such as Ho Soon Yi in Edmonds and Blue Ginger in Bellevue. Both are good restaurants, but not up to the standard of Jang Mo Jib, in my humble opinion.
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One of the most memorable dining experiences I have had recently was in upstate New York at the restaurant Blue Hills at Stone Barns. This restaurant is unique because it is situated in the middle...
One of the most memorable dining experiences I have had recently was in upstate New York at the restaurant Blue Hills at Stone Barns. This restaurant is unique because it is situated in the middle of a working farm, and gets a large proportion of its produce from the farm.
Before dinner, we toured the farm area and saw the chicken coops and (huge) greenhouse where they grow all the vegetables and fruits. Because it is a working farm that has to turn a profit, the restaurant actually has to buy all the produce from the farm at market prices.
Dinner was spectacular. The service was impeccable and even though the style of food preparation was relatively simple, it only served to highlight the difference that fresh ingredients can make in the taste of the food. If you've never tasted farm-fresh eggs before, you will have to - the consistency and color of the yolk is quite unlike anything you've ever seen from a store-bought egg. The pork on the menu is straight from the Berkshire pigs that they rear on the farm, and was quite assuredly the most succulent pork I have ever tasted in my life.
After dinner, we went on a tour of the kitchen and the wine cellar and charcuterie room. The sous chef is apparently so deeply engaged in charcuterie that he doesn't even work "on the line" anymore (ie. in the kitchen). The fragrance from the charcuterie (or meat curing) room was amazingly pungent that the smell hits you like a sledgehammer even from a couple of feet away. A fellow foodie friend remarked that he was in heaven and did not want to leave after smelling the charcuterie.
I've been privileged to have the opportunity to dine at some very nice restaurants before (Lumiere in Vancouver, Jules Verne in Paris, Jean Georges and Aquavit in New York), but Blue Hills was a singularly unique experience, and I highly recommend it to anyone who visits New York and has a free evening to spend. (Blue Hills also has a restaurant in Manhattan for those on tighter schedules).
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A croissant by any other name, would it smell as sweet? What is it about this simple pastry that makes men's hearts sing, kings abdicate their thrones... waitaminute... I think I got my allusions...
A croissant by any other name, would it smell as sweet? What is it about this simple pastry that makes men's hearts sing, kings abdicate their thrones... waitaminute... I think I got my allusions mixed up.
So where can you find the best croissants? Why in France, of course! The best breakfast one could have would have to be spent on a lazy morning in a Parisian cafe, enjoying a croissant with a cafe au lait and watching the world go by.
Europe is a bit far to travel just to get a good croissant, unfortunately. So what are the best offerings that we have around here?
The thing about croissants is that they are a very delicate pastry. All that layering and folding of dough and butter is a pretty labor-intensive process, and you have to be pretty diligent to roll a good croissant. This results in the quality of local croissants on offer ranging from dry and cardboard-like to rich buttery melt-in-your-mouth goodness.
The two best croissant bakeries I've found so far are Cafe Besalu in Ballard and Le Fournil on Eastlake. Cafe Besalu is famous for their ginger cookies but their croissants are really good too. My favorite however, is Le Fournil, maybe because they have store parking. Go check them out!
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