Keisha & Kingfish: A reason to celebrate!

A couple of weeks ago on a very pleasant Sunday evening I had the very awesome honor of dining with the amazing Antonio Esqueda! We got together to celebrate my recent acceptance to Seattle University. Graduate school has been on my mind and in my plans for the past five years since I graduated from Western in March 2007. So it was a great time to get together with my long time mentor and friend and to share a delicious celebratory meal!

Let’s dish:

I arrived at Kingfish Café a few minutes after Antonio. He was eyeing the menu pretty seriously when I came in…hugs & pleasantries! We sat for a few minutes chatting about this and that. Then, I shared with him my “highlight” entrees since I’d been to Kingfish quite a few times. A note to Kingfish: this place has delicious food, is great, service is good, people come and line up outside before opening time and fill up the seats. It’s popular! It’s small. The capacity has to be around 60-70. But it’s worth the wait, if you have the time!

After perusing the menu we decided…..Antonio ordered the “My Way or the Highway Buttermilk Fried Chicken”! The chefs do not share their recipe for this amazing chicken, but it is divine! Served with mashed potatoes and spicy collard greens! Whoa Nelly! Antonio certain enjoyed and as I always say sharing is caring; he graciously gave me the leg from his three piece combo.

I ordered the “Simply Griddled Catfish.” The catfish was good, but not as impressive as the chicken. My meal also came with herb grits (so delicious!) and spicy collard greens! The greens were indeed on point. It is a favorite side dish of mine. But between the two I would recommend the fried chicken entrée. Oh, lest I forget, Antonio also ordered a side of macaroni and cheese! It was the bomb.com and then some. I was so happy with his mac & cheese, it became our mac & cheese! 

All in all we were stuffed beyond words! Kingfish Café is such a treat! I high recommend to anyone and everyone who enjoys good soul food, but get there earlier in the day if possible. It gets packed in Kingfish Cafe!!

Our First 10K

On Saturday, 2/18, Keisha and I ran our first 10K together at Magnuson Park in Seattle.

It was pouring down rain on the drive from Renton to Seattle but by the time I had parked it had stopped raining. But it was still very, very cold.

By the time I had picked up my bib number there were only 5 minutes left until showtime.

After a quick stretch, Keisha and I lined up with the masses and off we went!

There were a couple parts of the course that had huge, deep mud puddles, which unfortunately we had to run through. This happened two different times since the course was 5k in distance and we did that course twice. Even though my feet were drenched in mud and water, I trekked on.

Approximately 80 minutes from the time we started, with sore legs but in excited spirits, Keisha and I crossed the finish line together and made a beeline for the water.

Here are some commemorative photos we took:

Revel: To engage in lively and noisy festivities, especially those that involve drinking and dancing

Folks, sorry that we have been MIA from our food blog. As you may have guessed, the holiday season was very busy and though Keisha and I managed to meet up for many delicious meals we haven't had time to blog about them.

Last week we made plans to go to Revel and I made a decision that I would blog about it. So here it goes...

Dez joined us for dinner as our guest blogger. The three of us - Dez, Keisha and I - shared the pork belly, kimchi and bean sprout pancake; the shrimp and bacon, pickled ginger and cilantro dumpling; and the short rib, sambal daikon, mustard green rice with egg yolk. Dez and Keisha both got an alcholic beverage, while I stuck to soda water. Because the three of us were so wrapped up in conversation I don't remember how long the wait for food was, but soon enough the pancake arrived at our table with a 4-sauce/condiment rack to accompany it. We dug into the pancake and it was delicious! It actually resembled my mom's homemade pancake quite a bit! Next we were served the rice with egg yolk. It was placed in the middle of our small table and Keisha proceeded to mix the different ingredients together and dish a serving onto each of our plates. To complete the meal, our server brought out our dumplings. Let me pause here to rave about these dumplings. Being Korean, I have eaten my fair share of dumplings in different shapes, sizes and fillings. These shrimp and bacon dumplings are definitely in my top 3!

BUT I have to say, overall, the food didn't taste much different from the traditional Korean food I grew up with. The restaurant has more class, style and flair than a Korean restaurant but you definitely pay for that experience. The food, though sounded interesting and different on the menu, tasted like straight-up, delicious Korean food. For 3x the cost of a Korean restaurant. If you liked Revel you should also check out Korean restaurants. Same great taste and usually quality but for a lot less.  

After our Revel dinner, the three of us took a drive over to the Wallingford Molly Moon's where Dez tried the ice cream there for the first time! And the best part is that Dez treated us to our ice cream cones! Keisha stuck to her usual - scout mint - and I stuck to mine - maple walnut. A sweet way to end our Monday evening.

Enjoy the pictures below. They have also been uploaded to our Facebook Two Seattle Foodies' page.