Bromo-less in Seattle

Sheryl and I love to travel, but to be perfectly honest, the first thing we do when we hit a new city at home or abroad is scope out the best places to eat. [Aren’t you supposed to be on a diet?-ed. It’s not January 1st yet. What year?] In any case, the restaurants with the biggest reps in Seattle, at least for out-of-towners, seem to be the ones run by Tom Douglas, one of the pioneers of Northwest cuisine. We tried his flagship Dahlia Lounge tonight. It wouldn’t say it’s a gastronomic destination in the sense that the best restaurants in LA and New York are, but it’s damn good. And unlike most restaurants in those cities, it is completely devoid of attitude, therefore more relaxed. We went with Madeleine and felt completely welcome–she was far from the only kid in the place.

Speaking of Madeleine, she downed some Washington oysters quicker than I could get my fork over to spear one. (At six, she’s already caught her parents’ foodie disease–sushi’s her favorite.) Sheryl and I split some mussels and sausage in a very dunkable provencal aioli before she had the cod and I opted for the wild salmon. You’d think it was local, but actually it was Alaskan king, probably the same as I could have had in LA. Somehow it tasted better here. Good pastries too. [I didn’t eat them. I promise. Uhuh.]

Back in the hotel, I checked into the internet (seems like half this city is WiFi) to see the Hindrocket has given Tom Friedman a pretty thorough working over. He makes Friedman sound like an old fogey. A few years ago, who would have done that?