September 6th, 2011 at 19:05
I’m in trouble. Or should I say, both Ty and I are in trouble. Why? Because we tried out Jalapeños Family Mexican Restaurant, tonight — and loved it.
We had to stop by Haggen on the way home tonight, and as everyone knows, shopping on an empty stomach is never a good idea — especially in a store like Haggen, when things are a bit more on the pricey side. We pulled into the parking lot and thought about what we could do for dinner before heading into the store. The Barkley Village has a handful food choices: Bob’s Burgers (no way), Quizznos (nope), Jalapeños, Little Tokyo (I forgot about Clarissa’s review!), and Haggen itself (usually means sushi, for me). We decided it was time to try something new, and after scanning over the Jalapenos menu on my phone, we opted to try them.
And I’m so glad we did!
Upon walking in, I was a little nervous as to the quality of the place. It’s very clean, in a modern and colorful way — which immediately had me thinking “cheap chain restaurant”. (After spending more time there, that feeling went away.) We picked a table by the window and were handed our menus. The first thing I noticed was that right on the front of the menu, it says “Vegetarian Friendly” — awesome!
Since I’d already perused the menu on my phone, I had an idea of what I wanted. The veggie fajitas looked super interesting and full of deliciousness. The description says: Grilled bell peppers, squash, carrots, potatoes, onions, zucchini, mushrooms, green onions, and tomatoes. Served with rice, black beans, sour cream, guacamole and choice of tortillas. Um, yum? I made sure to ask for no cheese or sour cream (it does come with cheese, even though it doesn’t say so). Our server confirmed that I was looking for no dairy — always a plus when someone makes the (obvious) connection. At the top of the vegetarian section, it also says that only vegetable oil is used in food preparation — good to know! I love it when I don’t have to dig for answers.
To drink, I was happy to learn that their flavored lemonades and iced teas are made using fruit purees, rather than flavored syrups. Another win! I ordered a peach iced tea and Ty got a raspberry lemonade, both of which were delicious.
And to top things off (as if we weren’t expecting enough calories already…), I really needed some sort of special salsa to enjoy the chips with. The chip basket came with a salsa, but I’ve grown really partial to pico de gallo / salsa fresca, recently, so the “normal” saucy salsa just wasn’t cutting it. Jalapeños has what they call a “salsa bar” with eight or so different kinds of salsa to choose from. I’m not one for spice, so I decided to try the pineapple salsa, which is listed as mild.
And – OH. MY. GOD. I totally wanted to buy a vat of that stuff and bring it home with me! That is a recipe that I am definitely going to try to duplicate at home, instead of my normal pico de gallo recipe. It looks so innocent and unassuming, but it really was incredible enough for me to write “OMG yum” on Facebook. (And I never say “OMG”.)
The portions were enormous, as you can see. I was impressed with the quality of the veggies that came with the fajitas, and that they didn’t need to cover them up with a “special sauce” or anything, like so many places do. This dish wasn’t lacking in flavor at all! One of the things I worry about when veganizing a vegetarian option is that the only thing vegetarian about it in the first place was the lack of meat, and no real attempt to make a great veggie dish. Not so with these fajitas. I could taste every single vegetable they used and they all had amazing flavors and were cooked just right. I’ll be honest when I say that I’m really looking forward to having my leftovers for lunch tomorrow!
Edited Saturday, September 10th: On Friday night, we returned to Jalapeños for another go and I ordered the veggie fajitas again. Delicious, of course. But while talking to my friend Clarissa at the Farmer’s Market today, she mentioned going to the Fairhaven restaurant a while after they opened and getting shredded beef in with her food — apparently they use the same tongs for everything, so it cross-contaminated. Lo and behold, when I got home and was enjoying some of my leftovers for lunch, I found a large piece of semi-shredded beef in with my veggies. I’m pretty disappointed in that, and I’ll probably reconsider going there again. I’m pretty bummed, but will be trying to recreate the pineapple salsa at home; that was the best part, anyway.
February 15th, 2010 at 19:13
I just have to write a quick note about Billy McHale’s. First and foremost, they specialize in ribs, steak, and burgers, so this is not a vegan-friendly place. However, we went there tonight for Ty’s birthday, as he loves their chicken strips and brownie sundaes.
I ordered the “Mushroom Cheddar Burger” with a Gardenburger, no cheese, and no mayo. I’m not sure if the Gardenburger was vegan or not (the “Original” is not), but regardless, it was my only choice. Our server, Sahara, was super nice and even made sure to mention that the mushrooms were cooked in a beef broth, so I was able to have them cooked another way. It impressed me that she made the connection between my lack of cheese and mayo, and the broth.
The only downside was that apparently they didn’t get the “no mayo” memo, in the kitchen, as my bun had mayo on it. I mentioned it to our server, and she looked quite mortified until I assured her that I don’t have an allergy. I ate my meal and enjoyed it, but I’ll probably have some kind of salad, the next time we go, if we go. All of their salads have some kind of meat, egg, or cheese, but I’m sure they can tweak a salad fairly easily.
January 20th, 2010 at 19:36
Having lunch with my co-workers today turned out pretty much like I expected … we had Thai food! Denise really has a thing for Thai food, so I wasn’t surprised. We were in Everett, so we went to a Thai place across the street from the convention center, called Thai Gusto.
I was sent out of class about 15 minutes early, to get us a table and order some appetizers to be ready for when everyone else got there. While I was waiting, I talked with one of the servers and she brought me a Thai iced tea (without the creamy milk stuff). She also stopped back to check if the tea was too sweet, and topped it off with some unsweetened tea. I asked about the possibility of ordering pahd thai without the fish sauce and egg, and she said that would certainly be fine. She also went one step further to confirm that I was able to have soy sauce, which I thought was really great.
All in all, Thai Gusto gets an A grade, from me. It also had a really great atmosphere, an awesomely-designed menu, and the servers were very kind and accommodating. So if you’re ever around the Everett area and are feeling for some Thai food, check out Thai Gusto. I think you’ll be pleased with your experience.
January 19th, 2010 at 20:00
I’m in Seattle, for a few days. Ty had to come down for some work stuff, and I had the chance to stay with him in his hotel. My work has two 12-month classes called EVOLVE, and the first class for each group meets tomorrow and Thursday, in Everett and Lynnwood. So instead of driving down from Bellingham and back up each day, I’ll be driving up from Seattle. And I get to stay with Ty, which makes life easier on both of us.
Since our hotel room doesn’t have a kitchen or fridge, we’re stuck eating out or eating packaged food. There’s a small market in the lobby of the hotel, so I’ll be able to purchase semi-fresh fruit for my breakfast, which is good. Dinners are another story.
Where we are, on the west side of Lake Union, there’s not much to choose from for healthy food. Lots of burger/steak and seafood joints. Tonight we had dinner at Jillian’s, about a block from our hotel. It’s mostly a billiards club, with your usual “bar plus a bit more” type of menu. I was able to order a flatbread pizza, which was really good. It had a pesto sauce (hopefully with no cheese in it!) and “roasted” veggies on top. (I don’t think they were really roasted, but whatever.) I also stole a few fries off of Ty’s plate. Not very healthy, but vegan!
I’m looking forward to Thursday night. I’ll be having dinner with my dad at our favorite Chinese place in Mountlake Terrace. I’ll be getting Moo Shu Vegetables, which I know is vegan. In the past I’ve gotten Moo Shu Pork, but there’s so little pork (and it’s so flavorless) anyway, so I don’t think my tastebuds will even notice the difference.
We’ll see what kinds of choices I’ll have for lunch, tomorrow. No idea where we’ll go during our break from class, but my boss has a penchant for Thai food. Hmm.
