Food – Page 26 – Sequim Daily Photo

Tea, anyone?

The Empress Hotel dominates the skyline for visitors who arrive in Victoria via the Coho Ferry. For many, afternoon tea at the Empress is on the must-do list. Although we march along the tourist circuit, we consider ourselves more neighbors than tourists and thus scale back our lists accordingly. But that doesn’t keep me from taking a look at what’s on offer.

Here’s a peek into the tea room. Weekday. Mid-December. Sliding toward the end of afternoon service. During the height of the tourist season this room would be packed with tea sippers.

Off season – now until December 31st – this will set you back $48.95 Canadian, per person. And I’m they do throw in a pot of tea. During the summer it runs $59.95 Canadian, though the offering might be different as well.

Best of the Peninsula: Pizza

The Peninsula Daily News polling gave best pizza honors to Westside Pizza this year. There are branches in both Sequim and Port Angeles. We were out and hungry the other day and stopped for the veggie version above. This was their smallest version, which they call “medium” because their sizes are only medium, large, and grand. I guess no one wants small with our supersized mentality.

We decided to take a table in their dining room. They were busy enough – I suspect a lot of their business is takeout and delivery.

Bountiful

We’ve noticed lately that apple trees around here are profuse with ripening fruit. Once we began to pay attention it seemed as if there were loaded apple trees everywhere.

This was one of a small orchard of five or six trees covered with apples. Strong winds the night before meant I went home with a bag of gorgeous fallen fruit that begged to become a pie, with plenty left over for more apple goodies. (Thank you, Blythe!)

It’s open!

Signs are up, paper is off the windows, and Kiwi’s Fish and Chips has been officially open for business for about a week (though not when I took this shot around 9 a.m.).

So far there are two reviews on Yelp.com. One’s great, one’s not. That sounds about par for the course with a new restaurant. But the location is good, on Washington Street near Sequim Avenue, and the fish qualifies fish and chips as health food, right? And think of the lycopene if you add catsup!

Next year’s crop

It’s not too soon to think about next year’s garlic crop and I discovered that Blythe’s garlic seed crop at Barbolian Fields is disappearing fast. I could – and will – use some of this year’s garlic crop to seed next year’s. But Blythe sells a veritable rainbow of interesting and exotic garlic, making it impossible to stick to the tried and true. And I find it really hard to keep from getting excited when talking garlic with Blythe. She holds them with the gentle reverence of an artisan. In her hands garlic heads become beautiful jewels as she points out richly colored stripes, discusses their origins, or compares one head to another. She has collected garlics from garlic growing regions worldwide – Romania, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Czechoslovakiah, Asia. Who can resist planting a United Nations of Garlic?

This is a little more than half of Blythe’s remaining crop, much of which she sells by mail order. Needless to say, it wasn’t a quick visit or easy decision-making.

Thimbleberry

I acquired a taste for thimbleberries this past summer. It grows wild around here and it’s very tasty if you catch it just right. The flavor is similar to a raspberry, though not as sweet and juicy. It grows caplike on its pulpy base and the form isn’t suitable for more than a tiny taste treat if you find it along the trail.

Delicious!

We went out for a late dinner at the new Sequim Seafood and Smokehouse Restaurant on Saturday night. It was a quiet night, though there was a large group in another corner. The staff told us that they’ve been busy but that it’s quieted down some since Labor Day. The restaurant has been open eight weeks now.

I won’t pretend to be a restaurant critic here. I’ll just say that our dinners were wonderful. They offer fresh, “wild caught,” high quality seafood that was very well prepared. My prawns, above, were perfect.

My husband had halibut. I would have coveted it if my prawns hadn’t been so good. His fish was fresh, delicious, and beautifully cooked. This is what seafood is supposed to taste like.

I don’t take this meal for granted. We had a seafood lunch in Port Townsend a few months ago that cost more and should never have left the kitchen.

Sequim Seafood and Smokehouse has a small, sensible menu, just right to match startup ambitions for a new restaurant. It includes the expected chowder and fish and chips as well as dinner dishes like we had. They presently serve dinner only but hope to eventually serve lunch, too. The staff is friendly and pleasant. Service was good and the setting is attractive. We don’t go out to dinner regularly or often, but we’ll definitely put this spot on our list, right up at the top. If you like seafood it’s worth a try. The restaurant is located on West Washington, in the same shopping center as Safeway.