The Copper Hog Gastropub (Restaurant)

1327 N State St.
Bellingham, WA 98225

(360) 927-7888‎

--7/10-- On the goodness scale

I've been to The Hog twice, and both times have been I've gone home satisfied. The interior of The Copper Hog is reminiscent of an English pub, with wood decorations making up the majority of the decor. A large copper pig (how unexpected) greets visitors along with a large board featuring food and drink specials as well as desserts. The menu features a wide variety of cuisines, including typical pub meals, some Asian themed dishes, as well as steaks and burgers. Everything sounds delicious, and choosing just one or two items can be a challenge.

We started with the curry chips, which I high recommend. Typical steak fries are smothered in an Asian curry, which our Japanese friend claimed was excellent. Most of the appetizers are around $6 or $7 and are aptly priced for the size.

The Copper Hog has an ample beer selection, with several imports on tap as well as a few local micro brew favorites. While the beer deals aren't a steal, they are reasonably priced and happy hour features dollar off draught beers. The happy hour menu also includes $2 sliders, which are a good deal if you're looking for something smaller. The sliders come in several varieties including poke and falafel. Both are tasty.

If you are looking for a burger and fries, the Copper Hog can accommodate you, but what if you want something a little more exotic, like seared ahi tuna or a cold soba noodle salad, The Hog is still your place. The menu variety makes The Copper Hog a restaurant that you will want to repeat as it wouldn't be possible to try all the flavors they have to offer in one evening. We ordered the falafel burger and it was spectacular, featuring a little bit too much sauce for my liking, but that is to be expected if you don't ask for less. All of the ingredients were fresh the presentation was great.

The Copper Hog is not a typical college bar, and you won't find large crowds of college students hanging out. Instead the atmosphere is relaxed and there are usu sally a few stragglers watching soccer on one of several TVs in the bar. I've never experienced a problem finding a table, and unless its a very busy Friday night, I don't think it will be an issue.

The only problem with The Hog is the price. Located in downtown Bellingham, most of its neighbors are cheap bars and late night eats. The Copper Hog is not necessarily over priced, but compared to some of the other deals in town, it is a little expensive.

If you're looking for an early evening meal or want to take guests out for something a little bit fancier than Subway but don't want to get dressed up, I would recommend The Hog as a place with great food, good drinks, and a great local staff that loves to talk about their food.

Cafe Panini (Restaurant)

1537 Cole St
Enumclaw, WA 98022-3017
(360) 802-5132

Open 7 days a week

--6/10-- On the goodness scale

The Good: I arrived at the the Cafe Panini at 7:30 on a Friday and it was packed, we had to wait twenty minutes for a table in the dining area. Luckily they have a good magazine selection. Whoever owns Panini must live by the motto that simplicity is king, because all of their menu items, as well as the presentation and the decor tend towards the very simple. None of the paninis offer anything extraordinary, but they all sound appetizing. As a quick note, Panini does offer several delicious sounding vegetarian options. I consider myself to be something of a sandwich connoisseur, and thus have a hard time ordering something from a restaurant when I could just as easily make it at home myself. That said I went ahead and ordered "The Soprano" which Panini describes as a real "killer." It included several Italian meats, a good helping of provolone, and some veggies, mostly olives and onions. The panini was tasty, if not a little lonely on the plate all by itself. This goes back to what I said about simplicity, my dinner came with a sandwich and nothing else. Depending on your mood, this could be seen as a negative or a positive, but I give that Cafe Panini is a cafe, I deemed it appropriate. Our server was knowledgeable about the food, and was very helpful in ordering. She was attentive to any changes, both my parents ordered their salads with light dressing and noted that the chef had prepared them exactly as ordered, and provided pleasant conversation. In addition, the wine pour was large, almost double what seems to be the standard, and the drinks were reasonably priced. They have a few Italian beers that I hadn't tried before and if you are of the mind to try new things I would recommend it. My parents both ordered pasta, again I have a hard time with this, pasta is so easy to prepare that it defeats my purpose for going out, and liked what they had. Unlike some restaurants, Cafe Panini has found a good balance in the sauciness, making sure things don't get soupy but that there is still plenty of flavor to be soaked up. The sausage in the bolognese sauce was quite good, it tasted something like a smoked Italian, a flavor that I hadn't experienced before.

The Bad: Cafe Panini, in addition to being known for its sandwiches, is also reportedly famous for its pies. Not wanting to pass up the opportunity to sample such famous baked goods, I ordered a slice of the Jumbleberry, which is a mishmash of several different berries including blue, black, and rasp. Most of the other reviews that I read on Cafe Panini recommended the candy or cookie pies, but I consider those to be in a different sort of category. Our pie arrived with whipped cream instead of ice cream, the menu didn't specifically say that ice cream was included, but I thought that was industry standard for pie serving, and the slice was a little bit small for my taste. The berry filling was excellent, the combination of different berries creating a sour/sweet combination that tantalized the tongue, but the crust was lacking. Instead of a nice flaky crust that breaks apart when you fork it, the crust was rather floppy and limp, almost soggy looking. I don't know if it was a product of sitting out all day or the way the chef chose to prepare it, but it didn't do it for me. Having such delicious filling and then a lackluster crust ruined my pie eating experience and I felt almost as If I had been cheated. Such a reputable pie dealer would certainly have mastered the art of creating a crust that compliments the pie. Instead we were left picking the berries out of the middle. One last complaint, and this is little more then a nit pick, the bill was not itemized so it was very hard to tell what each item cost. We were trying to figure out the price of the pie but were having a hard time. I believe that it was $7, which seems very pricey for a piece of pie that fell short of expectation. Don't expect a whole pie to be much cheaper, many of them are between $25 and $30. I would stay home and make your own if you have a craving.

The Tasty: Good sandwiches, good food, all around a good dining experience. Try the pie if you want, maybe your palette is different than mine, but I would recommend looking elsewhere for dessert. For the money, dinner for three with drinks was around $60, I would say that Cafe Panini is a good place to go if you are someone who loves paninis or someone who loves pasta. Otherwise you may come away feeling a bit underwhelmed.

Blue C Sushi (Restaurant)

503 Bellevue Square Bellevue,WA 98004
(425) 454-8288
11:00am-11:00pm
Happy Hour: 4:00pm-7:00pm Daily
R: 4:00pm-Close
F&Sat 10:00pm-Close Friday & Saturday

--8/10-- on the Wes Simons Scale of Goodness

Blue C Sushi in the Bellevue Square mall features a comfortable environment to enjoy a large selection of sushi or to have a couple of drinks with friends, although if you're looking for something authentic with a bit of Asian flair, I would look elsewhere. Blue C Sushi is the perfect embodiment of the industrial style that has taken over so many new venues. Sparsely decorated and with an upper floor bar that features almost gloomy lighting, Blue C may not be the most inviting restaurant, but it serves up a decent happy hour and has a large enough menu to warrant a return visit.

The downstairs features a conveyor belt where patrons can view their choices before selecting what they want to eat. Happy Hour patrons must sit upstairs in the bar so I didn't get much of a chance to look at what was available, but there was ample seating and the prices were clearly displayed on the wall.

Moving from the well lit downstairs to the bar is a little like stepping into a cave after being out in the sunshine. The overhead lighting is turned down so low that it takes a few blinks for one's eyes to adjust. The bar is very trendy looking and I can't help but think that the low lighting is meant to draw the eye to the artfully arranged liqueur selection. We sat ourselves and despite there not being very many other patrons, service was a little slow. We looked over the happy hour menu and chatted for about ten minutes before our waitress finally stopped by. We order drinks, myself a beer and my companion a mixed drink, which were moderately Happy Hour priced. The beer was $3 and the specialty cocktail was $5. The beer seemed a little expensive, but it was imported Japanese beer so I wasn't going to complain. Our drinks were brought promptly and my compainoncomplained that her drink was too strong. I happen to like strong drinks and thought that it was excellent.

The waitress brought us a sheet of paper which features the menu on it and the customer checks how many of each item they would like to order. While this may give the impression that ordering is less personable than the old tell the waitress what you want, it seems that it helps to minimize mistakes. Order taking with sushi can be especially tricky because of the sheer volume of items ordered. With only two people eating we order six different things and the addition of additional eater would have greatly increased the work for the waitress. It didn't take long for our food to arrive, and we were both pleasantly surprised with the amount we received, especially for the price.

During Happy Hour a large number of the available dishes are discounted, some $1 off other $2 off. Not everything on the menu is discounted, but like I said earlier, the happy hour menu isn't skimpish. We ordered a few basics, tuna roll, California roll and an avocado roll which were all nicely prepared. The rice was adequately sticky and the fish didn't taste too fishy. We also ordered a spicy crab roll a salmon roll which were a little more complex. These rolls were also equally good and while they weren't the best sushi I've ever had, I don't have any complaints. Now for the good stuff. In addition to the traditional sushi fare, Blue C also offers a number of items for the adjoining noodle house. We didn't spring for any noodles, but we did order a healthy serving of edamame paste and calamari. Calamari isn't a rarity, but I found the Blue C variety to be delicious. The squid chunks are large so you aren't stuck biting into a big glob of batter with a little bit of squid in the middle, and at the happy hour price of $3 you can't really go wrong. The calamari came with a mayonnaise sauce that wasn't too rich and had a nice tang.

The edamame puree deserves it's own paragraph, not just because it was something that I haven't tried before, but because it was excellent tasting. The edamame puree was served as a big dollop in the middle of a plate along with a few veggies and sweet potato crisps for dipping. The puree looked very much like smooth as silk guacamole, but the edamame had a much cleaner taste. The flavor wasn't intense, but there was just a hint of the salty soy taste of edamame. Despite it's Asian roots, I would think that the edamame puree could easily replace guacamole at any fiesta, although I don't know how well it would go with salsa. The not too salty almost sweet sweet potato skins were an excellent compliment to the planer edamame flavor. We dipped several different pieces of sushi into the puree and it was a good accompaniment. If you're dining at Blue C, or at Boom Noodle, I would highly recommend ordering the edamame puree and trying it for yourself.

We ordered green tea ice cream for dessert, and while I was a little disappointed that it came in a paper cup, straight from the freezer at the grocery store it looked like to me, the packaging was different looking enough that I guessed that it was actually from a smaller manufacturer. If that was the case, kudos to Blue C for giving them some props. The ice cream was delicious, and featured a much stronger green tea flavor than other brands I had tried.

Despite the quirky atmosphere, I enjoyed eating at Blue C and if I'm ever in the area again craving some sushi I'll definitely stop by. Good food and an overly long happy hour makes Blue C the place to be (I didn't try to rhyme that, it just came out that way).

The Barking Frog (Restaraunt)

14580 NE 145th St Woodinville, WA 98072
Hours: M-F, 6AM-10PM
(425) 424-2999

--9/10-- on the Wes Simons Scale of Goodness

The Barking Frog, located on the Willows Lodge property in Woodinville, WA, is one of my newest favorite places to eat. Part wine bar, part fancy dinner destination and part business lunch, the Barking Frog offers opportunities to satisfy all types of diners. I will admit that I'm not a person who goes out to a fancy dinner very often. I prefer to cook at home, giving myself the opportunity to tailor food exactly to my taste, and exactly to my budget. However, I've been lucky enough to enjoy a meal at the Frog twice in the last month, and both times I was treated to a meal that far surpassed my expectations.

My first time to the Frog was for dinner, which offers a much different atmosphere than lunch. Most of the items on the dinner menu are more than twice the cost of the lunch menu items, so there is a considerable difference between the two. My companion and I started off with the Popcorn Lobster and the Grand Marnier Prawns. A note about the prawns, they are somewhat locally famous, and most of the staff consider them to be the best tasting dish that the Frog serves. I had them both times I went, and I will second that notion.

Both appetizers were delicious, although I would recommend the prawns over the lobster. There is something a little bit unsettling about having your appetizers deep friend, especially with so many succulent choices awaiting on the entree menu.

Along with out appetizers we also ordered two cocktails, me a martini and my companion a pomegranate lemon drop, both of which were in the $10 dollar range. Cost aside, both drinks were delicious and I've been hard pressed to find a martini that tasted so good.

We wanted to sample as much of the menu as possible without gorging outselves so we opted to split a beet salad and the stuffed quail entree. The beet salad not only tasted good, but it was also well presented. The Frog, and I believe this to be very indicative of their overall style, presents itself as a fine dining opportunity without making you feel like you've strayed too far from home. The atmosphere is friendly and the decor is nice without reeking of fortune.

All of the staff was willing to assist two slightly inexperienced eaters in navigating the menu. The sommelier (wine guy) came by our table and asked what wine we had selected for dinner. The Frog has an enormous wine list (about 10 times the length of the menu if I'm remembering correctly) and we had selected one of the less expensive options that we thought would go well with the quail. The sommelier offered to show us a different wine which he thought would accompany the quail better. We indulged him, and I fully expected him to point out a bottle topping a hundred dollars. Instead, he selected a wine in a similar price range, and even talked to us a bit about the choice. I thought that this made the dining experience much more enjoyable. The staff was knowledgeable about the food, and the sommelier knew his stuff.

Needless to say our Quail was great and the wine was great too. If I had to make one complaint about the Frog, and I guess I have too, I would say that their dessert menu is a little lacking. There are only five or six choices and one of them is ice cream. This may be due to the fact that by the time anyone reaches the point in their meal where they are even considering dessert, their taste buds have been so overwhelmed that anything further they eat simply slides down the old gullet unnoticed, sort of like a seagull slurping back some fish.

Don't fret if you've got a sweet tooth. I have it on good authority that the dessert menu is being heavily revised in the near future, to include some most delicious pastries.

The Barking Frog is a real treat, and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a great night out to dinner. The lunch menu is much more casual, and much less costly, and features a few burgers, soups and sandwiches. Be sure to chat up the staff and ask what's good and what's coming up as there are always new items being added.