These posts were written by hillel.
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by hillel on July 1st, 2009 in SeattlePI, Software  —  No Comments »

(This post is being simulcast on the Seattle PI and Tastingmenu. I encourage readers of each to check out the other. End of announcement.)
I know our task is to write about great restaurants. But in the broadest sense, our job is to alert you to ways to get great food nearby. And in that respect, [...]

by hillel on June 23rd, 2009 in Restaurants, Seattle, SeattlePI  —  2 Comments »

(This post is being simulcast on the Seattle PI and Tastingmenu. I encourage readers of each to check out the other. End of announcement.)
Small-ish cylinder of cake. Large-ish dollop of frosting. You’re talking cupcake my friend. And that’s my language.
I’ll admit to being turned off by the trendiness of cupcakes. In general when something becomes [...]

by hillel on June 16th, 2009 in Restaurants, Seattle, SeattlePI  —  1 Comment »

(This post is being simulcast on the Seattle PI and Tastingmenu. I encourage readers of each to check out the other. End of announcement.)
Some confessions up front. Two of my co-workers have basically moved into Volunteer Park Cafe. They work out of the cafe many days out of the week. This adorable little cafe located [...]

by hillel on June 9th, 2009 in Restaurants, Seattle, SeattlePI  —  3 Comments »

Seattle does not exactly have a thriving street food scene. Skillet recently got temporarily closed down, while Maximus Minimus is now open for business (the truck is shaped like a pig!!!). City regulations make it a difficult challenge (though I hear that may be changing). What many people don’t understand about quality street food (the [...]

by hillel on June 1st, 2009 in Restaurants, Seattle, SeattlePI  —  2 Comments »

Seattle is a funny place. Despite having a non-trivial Chinese population and an actual Chinatown (with an arch and everything) it’s got almost no superlative Chinese food. You may think that the odds of a town having good Italian food are greater than it having good Chinese food, but we come up mostly empty on [...]

by hillel on May 7th, 2009 in About, Industry, Poppy  —  2 Comments »

It seems like you can’t go more than a few days recently without having someone sing her praises. Of course, it’s all well deserved. Here at Tastingmenu, we’ve known how great Dana is for some time (even before she started writing here — in fact it’s why we wanted her to share her opinions on [...]

by hillel on May 4th, 2009 in Ingredients  —  7 Comments »

I am a big fan of vegetables. Fresh, flavorful, crispy, juicy vegetables can’t be beat. One of my favorite meals of all time was almost entirely composed of vegetables. (The meal was prepared emphasizing the greatness of the vegetables themselves rather than trying to simulate some sort of meat-based dish.) I would eat a lot [...]

by hillel on April 17th, 2009 in New York, Restaurants  —  2 Comments »

Shit. This is not good.

by hillel on March 23rd, 2009 in Austin, Restaurants  —  7 Comments »

I recently got to spend a few days in Austin, Texas. Frankly, Texas scares me a little. I know it’s an unfair generalization but I just worry they don’t get “my kind”. Everyone assures me that Austin is different. The conference was a bust (SXSWi) but we made the best of it. Not only did [...]

by hillel on March 21st, 2009 in About, Poppy  —  2 Comments »

Amidst the avalanche of press that my co-blogger is getting you might have missed the latest from Seattle Magazine calling her “The Sweet Chemist” and a “Rebel Chef”. I though she just liked trying to make excellent desserts, I didn’t realize she was rebelling.

Check it out.
(Note for Seattle Magazine: how about posting the picture [...]

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