Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Seattle Weekend Wrap-Up

Those of you who know us, know we love happy hours. That wonderful hour (or two) where cocktails and food are served at reduced prices. So it's no surprise we treated ourselves to a happy hour at cozy local bar Frank's in Seattle's Revenna neighborhood. What makes Frank's so great? It's a local neighborhood oyster house and champagne parlor. Wait...what? Yes, oysters and champagne at happy hour prices! Sorry the dim cozy lighting wasn't suitable for photos of the 3 different varieties of beautifully iced oysters or Frank's fantastic cheddar biscuits with shaved ham, gruyere and apple butter.

Franks Oyster House and Champagne Bar
Frank's Cozy Bar

We had some time to kill before heading downtown for some late night grub, so we occupied our time with some indoor doggie fetch. Her name is Saffy and eventually she did manage to squeeze her square shaped body underneath the record console to get her ball and then couldn't figure out how to get out. Silly. Adorable. Frenchie.

Saffy!
Saffy Wants That Ball

We stayed close to the Ravenna neighborhood at the art deco inspired Hotel Deca. Centrally located close to University Way (strangely known as "The Ave") and I-5, we loved the industrial art deco facade and decor of the hotel.

Hotel Deca Art Deco Entrance
Hotel Deca
Our Hotel Deca Room

After checking into the hotel we headed down to the Ave to get some thai food. After painfully deciding not to eat our thai noodles in the wonderfully smelling restaurant we headed back to the hotel, eventually succumbing to all the yummy looking restaurants. We decided some soup would be good power boost and stopped off for some udon noodles. U:Don (get it udon in the U-district?) is a cafeteria style udon noodle restaurant with a pay by the piece tempura bar. Yum. It was a nice warm pick-me-up.

U Don Sign
Tempura & Udon
Udon with poached egg & grated ginger and croquette

Later that night we cruised down to Tacoma to the Museum of Glass. What a beautiful museum! We were there at night and didn't get a chance to see the museum's outdoor pieces in its full glory.

Museum of Glass Water Sculpture
Glass Water Sculpture

But we did manage to see all the galleries and the Hot Shop domed workspace, which was fascinating. We watched in theater-style seating as a group of people work on huge glass flowers. The surprising part, how quiet and zen it was. The artists moved seamlessly without saying a word to each other, working in unison. Very tranquil.

Hot Shop Dome

We weren't allow to photograph the main exhibit, but we did snap a few photos of the children and art series where glass artist replicated a grade schooler's drawing into glass. Those were hilarious! Kids have crazy imaginations.

Grade Schooler's Drawings Turned Into Glass

There were numerous large glass pieces and an exhibit dedicated to large glass sculptures, but the large glass panels were the most impressive in our opinion.

Museum Main Gallery Huge Glass Wall Panels

We enjoyed a lovely dinner and high tailed it back to Seattle for a sweet late night martini and some dessert at Dilettante Mocha Cafe. The chocolate maker is known for delicious chocolate truffle martinis. Between us we tried the Mint Kiss (Effemere Truffle Sauce and a generous portion of Vodka), Mocha Martini (Ephemere Truffle Sauce, Coffee Liquer and generous portion of Vodka) and a Sea Salt Carmel Martini (Ephemere Truffle Sauce, fresh Cream Caramel Sauce, Vodka & Caramel Bailey's with a Salted Coco Rim). We also shared a Mocha Silk cake (flourless, all chocolate gateau fortified with espresso) and a chocolate moussee. We went to bed that night happy and a bit buzzed.

Salted Carmel Martini
Dilettante's Mocha Silk Cake
Dilettante's Chocolate Mousse

The next morning we trekked across Lake Washington to enjoy some dumplings, but found ourselves unmotivated for the drive home afterwards, so we stopped off for some donuts and coffee at Seattle's famous Top Pot Hand-Forged Doughnuts. We got their famous maple bar, bavarian cream and shots of espresso for the road.

Top Pot Donuts
Top Pot Donut Case

We had such a great time in Seattle, we're already thinking which Seattle neighborhoods are up next for a food tour!

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