Monsoon Restaurant - Capitol Hill

A recent lunch date took us to Monsoon Restaurant on Capital Hill.  After some difficulty in finding the place ("oh, the other side of street. i see now!"), it was time for "classic Saigon meets Northwest innovation".
The interior is spacious, well lit and modern.  While my recollections of the food are a bit fuzzy, consultation with Country Girl reveals that we both enjoyed it a great deal.

Surf and Turf à la Maison

Grilled top loin, Atlantic lobster tail paired with butternut squash, broccoli and rice pilaf.   How was it? All kinds of awesome.

Spooning Leads to Forking

At least that's what I learned from Country Girl.  Dunno whether it applies to dogs though KW and Kyra are on their way to finding out. 

Marvelous Meatloaf, Roasted Asparagus and Finglering Potatoes

Being the incredibly kind woman that she is, Country Girl signed us up for another cooking class not too long ago.  While it turned out to be more of a demonstration than a class, it was a fun and educational experience. 

The entree of the four courses was "a modern take on an old classic", meatloaf.  I don't recall the specifics of the modern take.  I do recall we made the dish the following week, paired it with an exciting asparagus and potato recipe we found separately and it turned out very nicely.

Lucia Italian Kitchen + Bar - Greenlake

A recent coupon purchase took us to Lucia Italian Kitchen + Bar in Greenlake.  Despite some uneven service, eats were pretty good.  

Modern, stark interior with minimal decoration may sound off putting, Lucia does it quite well.  A comfortable, almost elegant environment is the result.  

Food was as about as endearing as the setting as it was also very pleasant.  We started with the beet salad with fried goat cheese and the pear gorgonzola crostini. Salad was great and the crostini had potential.  We agreed that the texture was a bit off and toasting the bread likely would help.  The shrimp scampi was light and flavorful, while Country Girl enjoyed her gnocchi with braised short ribs.  Service started rough as we got our complimentary bread after our server took our starters order.  Not very nice.  That aside, service was largely fine.

Chicken Piccata

Courtesy of the Family Circle All Time Favorite Recipes and Country Girl's wicked cooking skilz, another fabulous chicken dish recently showed up on our dinner plates.  This time, chicken piccata.  More smashing success by my fav chef.

Chicken Lasagna Rolls

Adding to her many skills and talents, Country Girl has recently harnessed the power of Pinstabook to find an array of delicious and interesting dishes for us to try.  One such splendid find are these chicken lasagna rolls.  Social media is largely lost on City Boy, so I don't know any of the particulars of the recipe.  What I do know is that these were fantastic.