Han + Diana Northwest Trip: The First Night

Finally, we're bringing you the wanderings, thoughts, and most importantly, delicious eats we experienced earlier this month!! Basically, our appetites (very happily) tore through the pacific northwest. I don't know about you, Han, but my stomach is still growing from our trip. That's what I call a success!

Our itinerary was, in one word, daunting. So much to eat in so little time. Ever the strategizing consultant, Han came up with the brilliant idea of having two dinners on our first night, so we could fit in more foodseeing. Genius.

We landed in Seattle and headed straight to dinner spot #1: Elliott's Oyster House. This is what we were greeted with when we stepped in:


We were so hungry and ate more of this bread than we should have.

It was warm sourdough and magical butter, how could we stop?

We both had a cup of the oyster stew: willapa bay yearling oysters simmered in natural nectar with cream, bacon, shallots and croutons.

I cannot describe to you how amazing this stew was. Wonderfully creamy, and the flavors all went together perfectly. The stars of the stew were the biggest oysters I'd ever seen... ever. Plump, juicy, and fresh to the max!

We also shared dungeness crab cakes:

The crab cakes were pleasantly all crab, and again, very fresh. The slaw and chili sweet&sour sauce that came with were both asian-inspired. (The best way to be inspired.)

And then pan fried oysters served with bourbon whiskey sauce and tartar sauce:

The oysters themselves were absolutely delightful, and as they were in the stew, gargantuan. The above picture shows only TWO of these oysters... both bigger than Han's finger! I was a bit disappointed with the sauces though. The bourbon whiskey sauce was a little too jarring, and the tartar sauce could have been thicker and could have used more relish. I would have also preferred a lighter breading to keep the focus on the actual oyster.

By this time, Han and I were almost dying from the quantity of food inhaled. But we were not defeated, because we then drove straight to dinner spot #2: Serious Pie. Serious Pie is a Tom Douglas restaurant, and as we learned during our stay in Seattle, Tom Douglas basically is the king of the Seattle dining scene and owns 99/100 of the top Seattle restaurants.

After our feast at Elliott's, we had room to share only one pizza, so we followed Tyler Florence's footsteps and ordered the chanterelle mushrooms and truffle cheese pizza.

This pizza was pretty good, and I particularly enjoyed the crust, but I wasn't blown away by any of it. To be fair, by the time I ate the first piece of pizza, there was only 1% of space left in my stomach.

As you can see, our first night was a fantastic warm-up for the rest of the trip! Stay tuned.

Elliott's Oyster House
1201 Alaskan Way, Pier 56,
Seattle, WA 98101 (Seattle waterfront)
(206)623-4340

Serious Pie
316 Virginia
Seattle, WA 98121
(206)838-7388