Back to the blog with a review!

After a long weekend relaxing and exploring some new (and some repeat) places, I have lots to write about from the past few days while my parents were in town.  I’m holding off because my dad took lots of pictures and I want him to send them my way so I can include them in that post.

In the meantime, a review of a new restaurant!

Tangerine

Across the street from our apartment, we’ve got a 7-Eleven, Santa Fe Cafe (decent New Mexican cuisine), Zeek’s pizza (a local, OK chain),Chef Liao (yum yum yum Asian food, with award-winning pot stickers) and a few off-the-wall type places. When we first moved in, there was Phinney Market and a Pottery Store in the same building  as Santa Fe Cafe, but both closed.  We were especially sad about Phinney Market, as it was a great place to pick up small things, shop locally and grab a delicious sandwich once in a while.  BUT, Phinney Market opened back up, under new ownership, and it seems better than ever…excitement all around!

So, that is not the point of this post, so enough about Phinney Market. 

Soon after the pottery shop closed, there was a sign announcing a Thai restaurant coming soon…soon meant several months, and I spent the entire time dreaming about having Thai across the street.  I envisioned mountains of pad thai and kee mao noodles piled on our kitchen table.  Fried tofu dancing around our apartment.  Thai iced tea running through the streets.  Let’s just say, I love Thai food and I was excited about the prospect of having it so close…that makes me seem less crazy.

Well, just a couple weeks ago, on a gorgeously warm and sunny Sunday Matt noticed Tangerine open! It was crowded and people were sitting inside and outside at cute little tables.  The interior blended into the outdoor seating with the help of a mechanical garage door-style store-front.  We had plans that night, but we vowed to go later in the week….during the week it didn’t seem to be open!  My guess was that as a new business, they were taking it slowly and opening up on days when there would be some guaranteed traffic.  So we held off.

My parents were going to be in town the following weekend, so I figured we wouldn’t get a chance to try it out then.  I underestimated just how sleepy my parents would be coming from East coast time, and we ended up having Friday night free for dinner.  We trotted over to Tangerine like good little local diners…they only take cash right now!  I should have predicted this, but I didn’t, so we failed to have cash on us. We went with something else.

Tonight, our normal “Thai Tuesday”-turned-“International Tuesday” with a regular group of friends was cancelled due to travel plans, illnesses, job-related interferences and other interruptions.  Rather than being healthy, abstemious and smart (ie. eating leftovers from our fridge), we decided to indulge and try Tangerine since Matt had noticed they are open during the week!

It was rainy all day and pretty chilly this evening, so needless to say there was no outdoor seating.  We started with Thai Iced Tea (my favorite!) and admired the cute interior of a space that used to be a tiny, cramped pottery studio and storefront.  So adorable in there…pretty minimal decorations, mirrors on several walls, deep colors, cozy and very inviting.  The server was friendly and even though he was juggling a few tables at once, did a great job of keeping tabs on us throughout the meal.

We decided to split an appetizer of fried tofu and a red curry with chicken.  The menu at Tangerine does not have the vast array of dishes you’ll find at a lot of Thai restaurants, but everything they did have sounds great!  The server also told us about a special curry they make with red curry and duck that they roast right there in the restaurant.  We’ll definitely be trying that one out! So many things on the menu looked amazing…I’m surprised we held back and only ordered one entree.

The fried tofu appetizer was decently sized, with 10-12 small pieces, a few fried veggies (carrots and broccoli) and a light and spicy sauce.  I enjoyed it, though I wasn’t blown away…I’m still learning to love tofu, and our “regular” Thai place has this AMAZING fried tofu in their dishes that I just can’t figure out how to replicate.  Apparently, neither can any other restaurant, because I have yet to find a tofu that challenges it.  Maybe I’ll have to ask them for their secret! I did like the snacky-ness of the tofu dish…little bite size pieces with a zingy sauce…I could definitely see myself craving this at certain times.

Our curry came out with a big bowl of jasmine rice shortly after we finished our appetizer.  Curry is always dangerous, because most places will keep refilling your rice bowl, and the curry will keep getting soaked up by that rice.  I’m definitely glad we split this…I’m still feeling full a couple hours later! Next time, we’ll just go with a dish…no appetizer.  We ordered medium spice (2 stars on a scale of None-Five), and I’m glad we didn’t go any higher…it was definitely hot! The only thing I would have changed with the curry is to add some veggies (onions and maybe a few more red peppers).  It was primarily chicken and bamboo shoots, both of which there was a generous amount of, but only a couple pieces of red pepper that we found, and no onions (which I am crazy about).  But the taste was GREAT!  Red curry is so flavorful, and this particular one did not disappoint.  I’m pretty sure we were both contemplating licking the bowl clean 🙂

The price was also pretty reasonable…not crazy cheap, but way within range for a quick takeout curry or pad thai.  I’m crossing my fingers that they can get some frequent customers and take advantage of summer zoo-goers so they can stay in business!  I know we’ll be going back! 

Hooray for supporting new, local small businesses!

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hooray also for fun blog contests!  Jenn at Prior Fat Girl is giving away Holey Donuts! I am dying to try these, so hopefully I get lucky…but I’m also contemplating splurging and ordering some for when my old roommate is in town in August.  They look amazing!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 5th, 2009 at 9:57 pm and is filed under Contests, Family, Fun, Life, Matthew, Reviews, Seattle, Yum. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.