New Year’s resolutions were a bit late to kick in for many this year, as celebratory get togethers ran well into January due to the Huskies making it to the championship game. So, now, a month into the New Year, it’s time to revisit Dining Out Healthy, or, for some, Dining Out to Lose Weight. We tried to focus on such options while attempting to live a healthy January.
Dry January is a separate issue, but, due to calories and dis-inhibition, our healthy issue does not include sampling many of the alcoholic beverages offered. (We will have to go back for that for at least one of the places we sampled.)
Top of Queen Anne
Perhaps the easiest “diet” experience was our visit to Bounty Kitchen, 7 Boston Street, 206.695.2017, http://www.bountykitchenseattle.com/, on Boston just a few feet East of Queen Anne Avenue. Bounty Kitchen focuses on vegetables and grains but is not strictly vegetarian or vegan. One orders at the counter then finds a seat either along the outside or at the rather large communal table. For those who have been around long enough, the setting is somewhat reminiscent of the Surrogate Hostess in the ‘80s (but we spoke with the owner and she had never heard of it so that must be purely coincidental). Bounty Kitchen recently retreated from its second location on Capitol Hill, (also coincidentally just a few blocks from the old Surrogate Hostess site). Despite that setback, rumored to be over a rent increase at the Capitol Hill location, Bounty Kitchen’s original location seems to be going strong.
Appropriately for our diet issue we tried the “‘On the Wagon’ Detox Salad” made from a wide variety of greens with almonds, dried cherries and blueberries, beets, hemp seeds and more with a maple cayenne lemon vinaigrette. As promised it was crunchy with broad spectrum of flavor and filling enough that we took home leftovers (which held up well for a later meal). We accompanied this with a (rather generous) cup of daily special curried apple and sweet potato soup, which was savory and filling (perhaps why we had leftovers of the salad). Our non-diet diner had the Forager Scramble, scrambled eggs with seasonal mushrooms, spinach, potatoes, scallions with Beecher’s cheese crumbled on top. This is one of their served all day every day brunch features. We would order both of these items again, as well as the soup.
Bounty Kitchen touts itself as a neighborhood café, and the parking situation in that immediate area might force that to be true. But, apart from that issue, this is definitely a spot to return to for all day breakfast/brunch and interesting salads. Our conclusion is this was a good place for healthy and diet options and we would gladly return whenever in the neighborhood and/or up for the parking challenge.
Down the Hill to Fremont
One of the most recent new additions to local chain, Heavy Restaurant Group (think Purple), Livbud, 3400 Stone Way North, 206.855.6117, https://www.livbudcafe.com/, emphasizes locally sourced food with a heavy emphasis on vegetarian and vegan options. We went for a Saturday night dinner and that is apparently not their busy time so it was a leisurely meal with no pressure to turn our table and the staff was extremely friendly and hospitable. At least a few of the staff appear to have great enthusiasm for the restaurant’s theme (or mission) for healthy local food.
We tried the Green Curry Mussels (Penn Coves, of course), the Black Cod and the tender green salad. The flavor of the mussels was fantastic (not a word we use often) and even won over our diner who was not looking forward to the dish. We were a little disappointed in the portion size, but we would still happily order it again. The black cod and salad portions were more ample, and they were both fine, but they were outshone by the mussels. We accompanied this by one of the non-alcoholic cocktails, the no groin, which was good and approximated the flavor of the alcoholic drink, but the portion was similar to the alcoholic drink so it disappeared quickly. They also offer low proof cocktails that looked interesting for when we return after our diet month is over. Our non-diet diner had a glass of their Verdicchio, but they very patiently and graciously brought her samples of four wines to help her decide.
Our only disappointment with the food came with the dessert when we ordered the Apple Cider Cheesecake, which was a frozen vegan confection that did not remind us of cheesecake. They graciously replaced it with some of their fresh daily bakery items left over from brunch, a vegan (but not gluten-free) elderberry muffin with a cinnamon crumble top — our non-diet diner was quite satisfied with it.
Livbud rather daringly opened up and has so far successfully operated in a location with the closed portion of Stone Way in front of it. Parking on the North side of the closed street can be a challenge, but Livbud does validate parking in the building (the same building as Brooks). That neighborhood is full of restaurant options, but we really enjoyed our visit to Livbud and we do plan to return. They have a two-person dinner special for Saturday nights (pasta and wine) but that will have to wait for a non-diet edition.
Across the Lake (to Bellevue)
Following a recommendation, we travelled East for Indian food at Desi Tadka Indian Grill, 304 105th Ave NE, Bellevue, 206.497.8000, https://desi
tadkabellevue.com/, a fully vegetarian Punjabi restaurant. This restaurant is almost hidden behind the Safeway and just South of Lincoln Square.
We tried a wide variety of their dishes, anticipating leftovers to take home. We ordered the Paneer Tikka Masala (a cheese and tomato dish), the Baingan Bhartha (eggplant with peas and tomatoes), the Saag Aloo (mustard greens with spinach, broccoli and potatoes), and the Malabar Vegetable Curry (mixed vegetables in a coconut-based curry). We asked for medium spicy, but, with the exception of the curry, they all came out as mild. The non-diet diner accompanied this with garlic naan served with ample rice. The sauces were quite flavorful, but, with the exception of the eggplant, it was difficult to taste the vegetables in each dish. We indulged in two lassis, mango for the non-diet diner and a Lassi Jeera (with salt and pepper) for one with no sugar. It is an interesting beverage that one could get used to (especially on a diet).
The food at Desi Tadka was all flavorful and all vegetarian, but our diet diner definitely did not lose weight that day, possible due to the ample rice served with the dishes. We observed what appeared to be a good number of loyal patrons, especially for lunch to-go, but we will probably not be joining that group on a regular basis as we have Indian restaurants we prefer on the western side of the lake. Conclusion: not great for a diet, good for a vegetarian, we would meet someone there if suggested but otherwise we are not hurrying back.
Dining Out is brought to you by Christopher Howard, now retired from law firm life, but still dining out, together with friends and family who help choose and sample the restaurants. Send comments and suggestions to him at chh@f2t.com or 206.669.5956.
