Main Street Alehouse, Bothell

There's a reason they call it comfort food. Comfort food is often a warm dish, full of carbs and fat and love. It conjures up memories of home and childhood, family and friends, not to mention holidays and long weekends. Comfort food fills, calms and soothes.

So macaroni and cheese is a perfect food to consume when surrounded by grief. My Aunt Delphine passed away last week. She was 83 and lead a truly amazing, grace-filled life. This weekend was a whirlwind of precious time with family, celebrating her.

On Thursday, after the viewing, family gathered at a nearby alehouse in Bothell. I don't make it up to Bothell often, but was impressed right away. My kind of spot. The Main Street Alehouse has a fantastic tap selection, a menu full of comforting pub grub, several large screens to watch the game, and they graciously accommodated our large party. I can't remember the final count, but our group was in the mid-high teens.

The best surprise was the bowls of warm potato chips, house-made. I can easily pass up a bowl of Lays, and most of the time even Tim's Cascade doesn't quite do it for me. But these were little slices of calorie-laden heaven. Betcha can't eat just one? More like betcha can't stop eating them at all. So good!

My mom noted the mac 'n' cheese on the menu, and my cousin Wayne and I waxed poetic about it's culinary goodness. I briefly explained this blog and our passion for this dish. I had a soccer game later in the evening, so stuck with a half-order and a few bites of my Mom's house salad with fresh vinaigrette. The half order was plenty. I liked the choice of penne as the pasta itself. The cheddar cheese was classic - a good cheesy sauce. And the pieces of bacon gave just that extra bit of smokey goodness - I had no problem finishing the whole bowl. And still felt fine running around the soccer field an hour and half later.

The Main Street Alehouse is a fantastic restaurant. Definitely worth a trip outside Seattle city-limits for this one!

Wild Mountain, Part 2

Wild Mountain Cafe

Yesterday, Susanna and Noelle made a much needed post-election appointment to dish over our new President-Elect Obama and eat macaroni and cheese. It was necessary. It had been too long since we'd had a formal macaroni and cheese date. At noon on a Saturday, we needed something that would be on a brunch or lunch menu. And we found 8am Mac N Cheese:

8am Mac 'n Cheese ~ Holy cheese in Heaven, Batman! We’re pretty sure they’d serve this stuff in the hereafter, or at least in the trailer park I grew up in. Our 4 cheese blend is an ooey, gooey extravaganza known to increase your desire to…take up the harp! Or get a satellite dish. Comes with grilled organic country bread... $7.75

Love from both of us over Mac and Cheese on a breakfast menu! We walked into the little house, greeted by a friendly wait staff, eager to order.



Wild Mountain Cafe has character. Integrity. It's recycled space. Recycled dishware, flatware, and charm. It feels like home, and as Susanna pointed out, you can still feel the energy of the past residents.

Before we even had a chance to sit down, we were offered coffee. Both of us said yes. The coffee was deliciously strong, cut nicely with a little cream. I don't normally pair coffee with my mac 'n' cheese (my personal preference is usually red wine) - but it was a nice combination. Perfect for rehashing our election-week giddiness.

The macaroni and cheese at Wild Mountain Cafe is classic. Elbow macaroni. Four cheeses. A nice hint of garlicy goodness. The portion is good for 2-3 meals. It's rich and decadent (as all good mac 'n' cheese should be!). It reheats well. This is partly due to its consistency - they've mastered making the cheese sauce creamy.


No add-ons - this is a classic dish served well. Can't wait to go back and try something else on their menu. If their preparation of mac 'n' cheese is an indicator, it's sure to be tasty!

Whym

This one I did on my own. Noelle and I have started to realize that mac finds us. First, our friends all know that we're doing this blog so they feed us new places to check out all the time. But we're also attuned now, so whenever and wherever I eat out, the first thing I do is scan the menu for mac-n-cheese. Whym, the new 24 hour diner on Denny and 1st that replaced Minnie's, was just such a place. I met my friend, Ed, for lunch and politics. Mac-n-cheese was on the menu. $10. I ordered it.

I'm starting to realize that there is a mac-onomy (if you will forgive the neologism), families of mac-n-cheese. For instance, there is the NOLA style of baked spaghetti noodles in a faint cheese custard (found in Turkey, as well). There is the homestyle, ooey gooey mac-n-cheese, which is surprisingly elusive. There is the pasta in a cheese sauce that somehow doesn't equal mac-n-cheese. And there is the penne in a ceramic baking dish with a thin cheese sauce topped by chopped tomatoes, as at Crave and Whym.

Whym's version was distinctive in its intense garlicky overtones. In fact, I was more conscious of the garlic than the mac-n-cheese with this dish. The portion was a little small. It came with cheese topped foccaccia, which felt like a lot of carbs for one dish. (Sometimes I wish a side salad would automatically come with all mac.) If you love garlic, check it out, but I think it's safe to say I'm not a fan. Next time I'll try the burger.

Twist

Noelle and I talked tonight about how behind we are on our postings and it really is now or never when it comes to the tasting reviews. So, now it is.

We went to Twist on 1st and Bell tonight. They have a generous happy hour from 4 - 11 p.m. Sunday - Thursday. $2.50 house wines, $5 martinis, $2.50 small bites like really good chicken potstickers, and $5 for a human sized portion of crab mac-n-cheese.

1. Description: ribbed elbow pasta, melted shredded cheese topping, creamy sauce.

2. Portion size: Good. A little small, perhaps, but not overwhelming and I (with probably the smaller appetite of the two of us) was pretty satisfied once I let it settle.

3. Taste: I wasn't wowed. It tasted like pasta and cheese sauce. I couldn't discern any crab but Lorraine, who was guest tasting, said she did. It was good, with a nice pepper kick-back, but would have benefited from a touch of salt (none to be found on the table). All in all, I didn't find that it melded together into that magical alchemy of mac-n-cheese.

Still, Twist is a screaming deal and the hallway tables were lovely. I'd definitely go again... but I'd probably go with the chicken potstickers and the banana split.

Taking it International

I just returned from a marvelous two week trip to Turkey. Fantastic experience. I have never felt so welcomed or taken care of. Beautiful textures and colors everywhere. I loved being in such a different culture.

But that's not the important part. No. I am a mac-n-cheese huntress. I doubted that Turkey, home of the doner kebab and endless tomato and cucumber salads, would have mac-n-cheese, but I was duty bound to explore the possibility. Lo and behold...



Turkish mac-n-cheese. A.K.A. firinda makarna

Stylistically, it's strangely NOLA like-- noodles baked into a casserole with a bland egg /cheese sauce. Like many things in Turkey, it had parsley and onion. It also had a hint of spice, which, according to the recipes I'm looking up online now, is nutmeg. Unfortunately, I only got to try it once at a cafeteria style restaurant on Istiklal Caddesi, so I have no comparison, but the other versions I saw looked similar. Wherever you go, there it is. Mac-n-cheese, bringing the world together through a shared language of pasta and cheese.

(Apologies for the lousy photos. I dropped my gorgeous camera in the Mediterranean and was stuck with a disposable film camera for the rest of my trip.)

Mea Culpa

Noelle and I have been eating mac-n-cheese. Promise. We're at least three experiences behind on our posting (it IS July, after all...), but it's been busy what with boyfriends (her, mostly) and travel (me, mostly) and job drama (both of us to varying degrees). By August, I will have posted what I have.