Uli's Famous Sausage ~ Seattle, Wa (Pike Place Mkt)

While visiting Pike Place Market, I stopped by the Uli's Famous Sausage stand for a quick bite to eat.
I love sausage, it's gotta be in my genes. Something about the smell, texture, flavor, and taste send me back to family holidays. The only thing I like better than sausage is bacon, but that's another post for another time...

What we ate:

Lunch: Polska Kielbasa, South African Boerewors
~ I wasn't really sure which to pick, as there are, what, 27 varieties?! I knew I wanted to compare my taste memory of the kielbasa at R & D sausage on Waterloo in Cleveland to this guy's stuff. It's pretty close to some of the best sausage I've ever had. Something about the fresh flavors and spice sent me. Oh, and the garlic? No kissing anyone else today, unless they were eating the same thing!
The boerewors was just as flavorful as the kielbasa, but the coriander made it really stand out. This was important, as I received my sausage in a plate, already cut and mixed together. It was annoying, because I wasn't sure I'd be able to tell which was which. wrong... I wasn't really a fan of the Boerewors, mostly due to the coriander. I think it was a bit overpowering, and not something that I could grow used to...
Fresh Polish Kielbassa $6.49 per lb.
South African Boerewors $6.99 per lb.

Before we left Seattle, we stopped back to pick up some take-away.
After some hemming and hawing, we picked the Boudin Blanc ($6.99/#) and Thuringer Rostbratwurst ($6.49/#). We cooked these during the super bowl, and they were well received. Everyone was surprised at the boudin blanc. A beautifully white sausage with flecks of rice, meat and spice. This was impressively hot and garlicky. The Thuringer was another story. Thuringers are named for the former German region of Thuringia, and often include corriander and such. They can be dried, which is how I've had them before. Uli's was fresh and dense. Oh, the flavor was so good. It was the closest in texture to what I love- dense, almost fat-less sausages with so much flavor, you're better off eating only a small portion.

1511 Pike Place Market, Seattle, WA 98101 206.839.1000
www.ulisfamoussausage.com

R&D Sausage ~ 15714 Waterloo Rd. ~ 216-692-1832

Lefty's Burger (Vandalizer) ~ Moscow, ID

Lefty's is a cool little diner located on the inside corner of the Palouse Mall in Moscow, ID. I wouldn't say they have the best burgers in the area, but they are in the running. What they do have, other than an off the wall sense of humor ("Meat, Drink, and be Merry" ~ see the murals), excellent fries, and killer milkshakes, is the Vandalizer.
It's a challenge that's 2# of beef, all the fixin's, fries, milkshake, and bun. Eat it in 1 hour, keep it down for 5 minutes, and the meal (plus a t-shirt) is free.

What makes the vandalizer so appealing, other than chalking up another of the 7 deadly sins (3 down!), is the vanity of (almost) immortality. See, they actually keep track of who finishes this hunk o' cow. Not only that, but they record the height, weight, age, and time it took to finish, and engrave it on a little metal tag that hangs by the door. Yes, your name can go next to the 14 year old kid who ate it in 42 minutes.

What's not to love? Let me tell you.
First, that is the biggest 2 pounds of food ever *EVER* The waitress told me that they measure it in the back to make sure it's proper weight before it comes out. I think the scale is a bit off. I've finished the NYC sumo burger after eating a surf and turf with a 2# london broil, and it was a challenge, but didn't stop me.

This did.

The one thing that prevented me from finishing was the 5 hour drive to Seattle I was planning for the next morning. I didn't really want to have a ton of protein weighing me down during the trip (that turned out to be fairly white knuckle over the Snoqualmie Pass). The other thing was age and metabolism. I just am not the eater I used to be.
After 30, I think things generally go either straight to the waist, or straight to the arteries. Either way, I'll pass.

That said, one of my dining companions, who's a decade younger and more up to the challenge than the overly cocksure author, went for it. He was plowing steadily through the burger and working on the milkshake. At this point (20 minutes in), I stopped eating and started picking. I have to say that their milkshakes are d@mn good.

Sean worked it good, but we were starting to get worried around 40 minutes in when he stopped, took off his sweatshirt and gave a sigh that made me think of Mr. Creosote ( It's only a wafer thin mint). The next 20 minutes were torture. Not to us, but to Sean. While I had decided that my $20 burger would go into the budget as sin/stupidity tax, he kept going.

50 minutes, and the pacing started. He sat back down to the now cold burger and started dipping it into the fry sauce lazily. This was either a vision of determination against defeat... or youthful stupidity. I still can't say.
As sean got down the rest of the beef, he started working on the soggy, cold, kind of really gross fatty bun. Setting aside the lettuce, tomato, fries, and shake, he worked on it, but was beaten by the clock. An hour passed and there were merely scraps to finish.

It was so close, but at the end of it all- not enough. Neither of us had finished the challenge. Each out $25 with tax and tip. I took my remaining bits home, thinking I would throw it on the scale to see if it really was 2#. By the time I got home, I really didn't want to see what was in the styrofoam clamshell of death. I'll take their word for it...

I think I'll stick to human sized meals...

Luna ~ Spokane, WA

High on the South Hill in Spokane, Wa sits a decent sized building that once used to be a post office. While the outward appearance might have you thinking "Double-wide" the food inside will have you thinking otherwise.

We've stopped at Luna before, but only to find that it was packed. Rightfully so, as they hide some of the best food on the hill within the folds of their menu. As an acquaintance of ours put it, "their bread is 'slap-your-momma good!'." That's not all that's good. Seafood, salad, deserts, oh my!

What we ate:
Apps~
.Calamari fritti Romano with greens tossed with an anchovy vinaigrette and lemon aioli
.Ahi tuna tartare with avocado, tomato, onion, mustard greens and fresh wasabi vinaigrette

Now there's nothing wrong with starting your meal with 2 seafood apps. There is something wrong with inhaling them. The calamari was perfect. Not rubbery, but crisp, slightly al dente, and flavorful. The tuna tartare was a wonderful puck of three layers. Almost a deconstructed plate, but not quite. The flavor parings were typical of ahi dishes that we've had. What was excellent about this dish was the freshness of it all.

Entrees:
.Luna signature salad with caramelized walnuts, craisins, gorgonzola cheese and red onions
.Coconut curry crusted prawns with Thai sauce, jasmine rice and cabbage slaw
I might be inclined to complain here, if only because my shrimp didn't meet my expectations. But I just can't. Truthfully, I probably would have been happier with another selection, but as it was, the thai spices were spot-on, the slaw was crisp, cool, and well seasoned.

Desserts:
Cappucino Pot de Crème
Chocolate Mocha Turtle Tort
I've had pots de crème that were good, I've had ones that were bad (very bad- scrambled), and this was a fairly good one. It had the texture of a packaged gelatin-filled mix, but that's just being picky. Homogenous is good in crèmes. I guess I was slightly disappointed in that it wasn't the right piece to finish the meal. My bad; oh well.

The overall impression is that Luna is a good restaurant with great service that excels in providing fresh ingredients, awesome baked goods, and plenty of choices so you can create your own feel for the evening. We'll be back soon!