Ugh, it’s been a while. Here’s why – we needed to visit the place we used to call home, (that would be Seattle), and contend with a condominium’s-worth of belongings we’d placed in climate-controlled storage some eighteen months ago.

…that and it’s been about a million degrees Fahrenheit and the humidity has been hovering around one thousand percent in Scottsdale lately. Well, not quite that bad, but close…

Alrighty then, back to the Puget Sound – during our four years and two weeks, (yes, really), of living there, we sampled a tiny portion of the Emerald City’s culinary offerings, including:

Altura
Café Juanita
Canlis
Cantinetta
Dahlia Lounge
How To Cook A Wolf
John Howie Steak
La Medussa
Lark
Loulay
Monsoon
Poppy
Seastar
Sitka & Spruce
Steelhead Diner
The Herb Farm
The Whale Wins
Tilikum Place Café
Westward
Wild Ginger

OK, OK, I’ll stop now…

This trip we visited old favorites and stumbled onto – and into – new finds, including:

De Lille Cellars
John Howie Steak
Le Caviste
Miller’s Guild at Hotel Max
Monsoon
Purple Café & Wine Bar
Super Six
Two Vintners

OK, OK, I’ll stop now…

Seriously, I’m astounded by the caliber of food and wine in – and around – Seattle. Recall, back in 2011 we were relocating from the Bay Area to the Pacific Northwest, and I’ll admit to a certain level of skepticism regarding the culinary scene when we arrived in the Emerald City. Happily, our fears proved to be entirely unfounded. We also made the decision to delve into Washington and Oregon wines, rather than cling to our Sonoma County and Central Coast favorites, (sorry Napa), and never regretted making that decision either… Fast forward to 2016 and the culinary scene is just as vibrant as it was 5+ years ago, and Washington state wines continue to impress.

Surprises? Yes. Traffic sucks even worse than it did eighteen months ago, despite a super-duper new floating bridge. Construction cranes everywhere you look, both in downtown Seattle and downtown Bellevue. Housing? …don’t get me started.

I didn’t expect $80/pound cheese, nor did I expect $60/8 oz. filet, but I must say both were divine, absolutely divine!

Hmmm… Now, if we can only figure out how to support the equivalent of Le Caviste or Super Six here in Scottsdale…