Tom Douglas, I Adore Thee

A month into being a Seattleite and I think I have found a new god. Tom Douglas. Every city has it's chef and restauranteur of note, and I can't believe I found one so quickly (although I know there are more out there in the Emerald City and I shall find you, oh yes, I shall.....)

We had already hit the Palace Kitchen a few weeks ago for lovely cocktails and gourmet comfort food. And I got a crush. But now that we've had our second date at Dahlia Lounge, I really think this could go somewhere. Amongst lush purple and red fabrics, amber lighting and plush booths, Dahlia dishes out Asian and Indian-inspired cuisine with a touch of whimsy.

We attended with a group of friends and it was a great place to bring an out-of-towner since it was bit adventurous, but also somewhat classic. Dahlia offers little tastes from the sea bar - 2 to 3 bite portions of their aquatic lovelies, and we sampled the Dungeness crab, chili paste, tempura crispies. It was refined with a bit of punch and went down very smoothly. Just the right consistency for crab meat. In addition, we tried the shrimp and scallion potstickers with black vinegar and soy dipping sauce - perfectly golden brown cripsy without being too overdone or greasy. And a good bite of shrimp - no wimps here. Finally, we rounded out appys with the curried vegetable samosas, served with three toppings: avocado with jicama, honey mango, and cilantro yogurt. These were just lovely. Sample all three toppings with a single bite and you are in prime Indian food heaven.

Our entrees spanned from sauteéd Alaskan halibut with Full Circle Farm cranberry beans, warm string bean salad, bacon, tomato vinegar (devine, light, and sauteed to a lovely golden brown) to the Washington beef strip loin, served with buttered sweet corn, pickled peppers, Beechers cheddar dumplings, grilled scallions. We had seafood lovers and haters at the table and Dahlia was a great choice. They did both exquisitely well with lots of creativity but not too much weirdness. I felt like this was a great example of the culinary creativity that exists on the Seattle food scene. I described it recently to someone as a town that is not content to be a copycat food city like NY or SF but to carve out it's own niche to delight it's bold, eager denizens.

Can't wait to eat my way through the other Douglas establishments. Bring it!