Saturday, January 8, 2011

IMS day one, Buca di Beppo

A post by Trobairitz has jogged my memory . I have a few more photos of our December trek to Seattle for the IMS: International Motorcycle Show. It was day one, we left Vancouver early in the morning, went to the IMS, then for dinner Rick decided that we should have dinner at Buca di Peppo

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(Troubadour posing with his date du jour)

It's hard to tell from this photo but it was pouring out. Our hotel is a mere 3 blocks away but we were all crammed into Rick's Trooper and had to navigate the closed roads, construction zones, one way streets and lack of parking in order to get there. It's hard to imagine that it took at least half an hour circling around the block numerous times we had probably travelled 5 miles to finally get here.

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(Troubadour & Trobairitz)

We didn't have to wait long for our table and when we got seated all was quiet as we were all studying the menu. From the outside the restaurant didn't look that big, but once inside it was enormous. There were hallways everywhere which lead to different large rooms, all filled with patrons. It was nearly a full house and things were hopping. We had to go through the kitchen to get to our table

Troubadour & Trobairitz were using this weekend as sort of a romantic get-a-way so they decided to splurge and purchase a smoothie/cooler sort of peach fizz something or other.

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Being big spenders that we are the rest of us decided to stick with our tap water but when the peach concoction arrived it looked so good that we were tempted to ask for a taste to see if it tasted as good as it looked

so one by one we practiced our best raised finger technique

Now I don't really understand the dynamics of the situation but Troubadour was actually the first to dip his lips into this beverage while Trobairitz anxiously looked on

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(Troubadour with his little finger standing at attention technique)

finally Trobaritz had her chance to take a sip

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the glass was passed around to Rick

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(RickRick showing his best finger technique)

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(Mrs Skoot sampling the peach nectar beverage)

and finally the glass made its way full circle to me

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After my turn the glass was turned back to Trobaritz whose job was to finish it off so that we could dig into the piece of peach that was sitting in the glass . So with the peach concoction consumed the glass was devoid of liquid and passed back to Troubadour who did the honours of dividing this delicacy

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with the precision of a seasoned chef with a very sharp carving knife he did some mental calculations in order to equally divide this into 5 exact portions

the proof is in the execution and eventually while we were all staring at him, he delivered the goods

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(5 equal pieces of peach cut with precision by Troubadour)

Buca di Beppo is an Italian Family style restaurant. Dishes are very large and it is usual to share so we ordered the full course. Salad for starters and 3 main courses for us to divide (oriental style), and here is one example

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I'm getting hungry again just looking at these photos. I know we are going to come back on a future visit

There was so much food we had to force it down as we had no way to keep the food at the hotel, so doggy bags could not be considered and we didn't want to throw it all away. I don't know how it happened but there is an old Chinese proverb which loosely translates to "there is always room for dessert". So we did what anyone else would do . . . we ordered dessert. A large bowl of Tiramisu was soon before us

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we passed the bowl around and everyone had their turn and still we had half left

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It was so very light in texture and I am told "very low" in calories. That's why we talked a bit longer and eventually finished it off. With stomaches full we waddled back to Rick's Trooper and back to our hotel for the night.

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The next morning (Sunday) we headed over to the Jade Garden Restaurant, in Seattle's Chinatown for our farewell dim-sum breakfast. We came here last year and found the food good and very in-expensive. We were not sure if they made a mistake or not so we were very interested in how much the bill would be this year. To our surprise it was nearly to the dollar, the same as last year

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To avoid line-ups get here before 10am. When we left there were people waiting out the door fighting for our table.

and here is the promised group photo that Trobaritz was wondering about on her blog post

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(Tbolt, RickRick, Trobairtz, Troubadour, Ms Skoot & bobskoot)
Seattle Chinatown, in front of the Jade Garden Restaurant
voted best "Best Dim Sum" in Seattle

11 comments:

  1. You sir, are a great story teller.

    You had me in tears laughing as I was reading your tale.

    Good times were definitely had. It was a pleasure visiting with you and Mrs. Skoot and we look forward to our next adventure together.

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  2. A romantic dinner with you in tow? It boggles the mind, you dog.

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  3. Great Food Porn! I am especially impressed with the division of the peach. We used to have a restaurant like that here and we have some good memories of the place, but it is now closed. Looks like all had a wonderful time I believe that chinese proverbs never lie.

    Jim

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  4. Bob,
    I agree with Trobairitz, you are a great story teller..very enjoyale read. It amazes me that you did find that extra spot for dessert...lol Cheers

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  5. It looks like you had a great time. Nice food pics.

    Richard

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  6. Hi Bobskoot,
    I just came from Trobairitz's post from the same day. Good food and good times despite the rain and cold. Wish we could have made it up there!

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  7. Dear Bobskoot:

    Well, it looks like everyone had a good time. Events like these form the bonds of great correspondence for years to come.

    The restsaurant you guys hit is part of a chain. There is one nearby here. Not only do they routinely walk people through the kitchen, but there is a special table in the kitchen that some guests think is cool to reserve.

    The decor, the menu, and the ambience is a part of the overall dining experience.

    The one here has a "pope room," where nearly all of the decorations are old-style Italian Catholic religious. I had dinner in this room and I rather enjoyed it.

    I had an experience here that was hysterical. Instead of ordering, I told the waitress, "Ask the chef to make me his specialty." She told me she couldn't do it... As the chef in this Italian place was from Guatemala, and she couldn't speak Spanish.

    If I were on a romantic getaway (or even out with a chance of hitting a home run) you can bet that you (and anyone else other than the lady) would be the farthest thing from my mind and proximity.

    I can't believe five people shared one drink. I wouldn't do that if I had the only martini in a lifeboat full of Victoria Secret models. What I would have done was ordered three. One for the lady... One for myself... And the other to be fought over by the occupants of the table.

    In fact, I would have denied them a sip from the third, until they had earned it by arm-wrestling each other or drawing first blood in a knife fight.

    Dinner with me is always different.

    Fondest regards,
    Jack • reep • Toad
    Twisted Roads

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  8. I chime in with complimenting your telling of stories. I hear that some of them are actually true, as well.

    A romantic getaway with you in tow?

    I never knew that bobskoots were aphrodisiacs!

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  9. I thought the food photos were tantalizing until I got to the tiramisu. Oh man! That looked heavenly.

    Sounds like you almost might have been able to walk to the restaurant faster then finding a parking spot. :) And then been able to walk off that stuffing dinner.

    Looks like it was a great time!

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  10. Trobairitz: it was a great place. I liked it. definitely a place to consider going back to

    Mr Conchscooter: Yes, it was a romantic dinner. I was sandwiched between two roses, but I'm not complaining

    cpa3485/jimbud: Troubadour did a fine job of dividing equally so we didn't have to fight for the larger piece

    Breve: You know the old saying, "There's always room for jello ?" I just changed it a bit

    RichardM: too bad you didn't stop overnight. You could have taken the airporter into town and we could have picked you up. Then you too could have had a meal with us and Troubadour would have had to divide the peach into 6 pieces

    BlueKat: I was really hoping that you and Ron would have come to Seattle too. This was our 2nd year together.

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  11. Jack: sometimes you really amaze me with your knowledge of "things". Yes, there was a Pope's room and lots of photos on the walls. While this is a chain you would never know it. It looked like it had been here for a hundred years.

    If you come to Seattle next year we could reserve that table in the Kitchen, then we could harrass the cooks all night

    Is there anything that you don't know ?

    Irondad: of course it was a romantic evening. I am very quiet and you would never know that I was there . . .

    Lori/Beemergirl: yes, our hotel was just a mere 3 blocks away, BUT there is a lowered freeway inbetween which prevents you from crossing the street. As such there are few viaducts which cross. We tried the closest one but they were doing construction and closed off the exits, and also closed down some other streets so we were driving around in circles trying to get to the other side.

    Rick was driving and we were all giving him a bad time since he used to live in Seattle. We had a great time together.

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