Trick
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Top restaurant: Cafe Juanita
Top newcomer:Marination Mobile
Can be found in West Seattle on Saturdays at the corner of Graham and 35th .
Zagat:
"this blue food truck with a menu that rocks, offering cheap options from pork-centric sliders and tacos to the savory, spicy splendor of kimchi rice and bulgogi and even Spam musubi. Though you'll likely wait in line, you'll get a friendly smile from the server who hands your food out the window; daily locations are listed on its website"
Cafe Juanita? Really? Talk about old school!
Nice to know, after all these years, that CJ and Chef Holly are not resting on their laurels.
She is one of the great ones; we're lucky to have her.
I used to have a lot of respect for Zagat's recommendations ... until last week I saw on a KFC commercial that it was voted best fried chicken on Zagat. Hmmm ...
Yeah, makes you wonder. Of course, for years and years, Pizza Hut was voted best pizza in Western Wa. Always important to consider market saturation in any of those ratings.
I DO think they are a bit more dependable for their ratings of upscale restaurants. Most of your KFC lovers probably wouldn't really enjoy a high-end fine dining meal, and most of your fine-dining denizens probably prefer Ezell's or they know of some gas station in Tukwila that has great fried chicken (or Spring Hill if they are REALLY snooty. I need to try their's; I've heard it's sublime!). Different crowds, into their food for different reasons.
Trick
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I agree with both of you Sue and Dawsonct about Zagat.
Cafe' Juanita may be old school, but heck, I have never had a bad meal there.
I like the trend of the "food truck" that will just increase in the future,as well as the quality and creativeness they'll bring.
A mobile eatery being along side of Cafe' Juanita's excellence is pretty prestigious and I say keep it coming.
I WANT A FOOD TRUCK!!
Years ago, I had these grandiose schemes for my eponymous restaurant, all the while my chef and her friends where joking about cooking over a campfire with a hubcap and a stick. The longer I spend in the industry, the more I am right there with them; I want something very simple without much between me, the food, and the customers. Simple, of course, does not need to mean bland or ordinary. There is no law saying you can't serve incredible cuisine in modest surroundings.
---
It's funny how in most of the rest of the world, street food means simple, healthy, fresh, fast food. In America, the equivalent type of meal is about the worst things you can put into your body.
Don't get me wrong, I have had several very nice meals at Cafe Juanita, but it's been several years and there are so many great newer places! But I guess if it's still rated #1 it's time to go back for another visit.
Trick
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Hehehe....I like the hubcap and stick idea!
I too have been in the industry for some time and believe that it doesn't take a grandiose space to produce truly good cuisine.
True about the rest of the world that thrives off of good, fresh,made to order,local ingredients for their fast food.
I still crave my Paseo Cuban sandwich weekly!!!
We'll get there eventually.
pigeonmom
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I'd like an area here with a bunch of food trucks clumped together like Portland has.
KFC "offers" "delicious" "fried" chicken at "a" reasonable "price". While some reviewers said it was just "the" thing, some referred to it as "greasy glop." -- Zagotcha
daughter is using a food truck to cater her wedding this summer...I can't wait :)
westseattledood
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Well, since you all have brought up fried chicken and nobody has mention it yet - Uncle Mike's on 16th in WC serves amazing fried chicken dinners - only on Sunday though - at an amazing price. I'm pretty sure they are not (yet) Zagat rated.
Check them out. Now, I've only had the fried chicken once, but it was wonderful. And everybody else says the same thing about it.
Also, you probably should get some sweet tater pie for dessert just to do it right. :)
miws
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"I'd like an area here with a bunch of food trucks clumped together......"
The following may become West Seattle's new favorite mantra, in relation to the above quote, just as "Trader Joe's!!" was, in relation to any mention of a vacant building or lot:
The vacant Huling lots!! ;-)
Mike
While I wouldn't put Café Juanita at the cutting edge of Seattle cuisine, it definitely should be on any short list of best restaurants. But THE best one restaurant among all of the choices out there. I don't think there really is such a thing. The field is too diverse.
When I lived in NYC, I always kept up with the latest Zagats. It was a useful primer to staying on top of an overwhelming number of food choices. But Zagats has been a devalued currency among foodies for a while now. And I know a local chef who described some inconsiderate and arrogant behavior on the part of Tim Zagat which disappointed me further.
pigeonmom: I'm with you. Portland's downtown cluster of street food vendors is a model that many Seattle food truck owners wish Seattle would emulate.
They do have occasional gatherings of food trucks over in a large empty lot in the Interbay. However, it tends to get over-mobbed and people have to wait in line over an hour for food, which I'm not really into, as this isn't the 1980's and I'm not a citizen of Soviet Russia.
No kidding PM, that is one of the great things about Portland. It's only a few blocks from the train station too, makes for a great break from train food, which sure as hell ain't what it used to be.
ellenater
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There are actually TWO groupings in Portland: one in SW (the business district by the train station), and one across the bridge off SE Hawthorne. So we are doubly at a loss. :( Last time we were in PDX we got gluten free smoked salmon crepes at the SE Hawthorne grouping. Tiny's coffee is pretty great too. I miss Portland. :(
I wish there was a way to take the best of Seattle and Portland and put it in one package. It may be a bit of home-town jingoism, but Seattle has the ever-so-slight upper hand for me.
High-speed rail would sure solve any problems of jealousy.
Imagine being able to say, as you're pulling out of King St., "I'll be there in an hour!"
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