To 700 and Beyond!

My Triple D journey began on Memorial Day 2008 with a visit to the Village Café in Richmond, Virginia.  In the 10+ years I have been to 699 places from Maine to Florida to Hawaii and many in between.  As I flew out to work in Seattle I was planning to visit a few more places and the first would be my 700th!  I called my nephew wo had recently moved to the area to see if he'd like to join me, so him and his fiancée would be with me on this milestone visit.

There were several places I had to choose from for this visit but after checking out all the places I decided on a places that looked like it would be fun and a good looking menu.  I spent the day with my nephew, Keith and his fiancée, Michele, then we headed to "The Red Door" in the north side of Seattle.  The Red Door is in the Fremont area of Seattle, an area of shops and eateries.

We walked up the stairs to the restaurant which has seating both inside and out.  We decided to eat in the bar area, which we were told is called "The Jungle" due to some fun late night parties.  We were served by Pete, who with his wife, Emily are the owners.  Pete spent a lot of time with us talking about the history of the restaurant and the building, which was actually in a different location and physically moved to the present location.

The Red Door in  Seattle

The menu has a large selection to choose from.  We decided to share a couple of appetizers and then each choose a main meal.  We chose the Korean Chicken Wings with Ranch Dressing and the Soft Pretzel with cheese.  The wings were very tasty with medium spice sauce called Gochujang, it was very good, the Ranch really enhanced the taste.  The pretzel was large and the cheese had a small amount of spice which was really good.  Michele chose the Mushroom Dip, a vegetarian version of a French Dip.  Pete told us that one of his managers is vegetarian and designed the sandwich for those that choose not to eat meat.  When it came to the table I was amazed because it looked like a French Dip! Keith chose the Chicken Fire Circle sandwich which looked spicy and he said was very spicy, loaded with jalapenos and Chipotle Mayo.  I chose the Fish and Chips (Alaskan Cod and fresh cut fries), which was featured on their Triple D episode.  The fish was very good, moist and tasty.

Red Door's bar area, the bottles are displayed in a former drugstore pantry from a past store in the building

My Fish and Chips dinner

After dinner we took some pictures wth Pete and he showed us around the restaurant.  I really enjoyed the meal and atmosphere of The Red Door.  It's a real neighborhood place, many of the other diners are regulars, it has a real family atmosphere.  I highly recommend The Red Door when vising the Seattle area.  This was a great place to celebrate my 700th Triple D visit!

The recently displayed "The Guy Ate Here" pan

Pete and I

Keith, Michele, me and Pete at The Red Door

On a side note, Pete told me that after I had emailed them prior to my visit, him and Emily were so impressed with my travels that they decided to display both the Guy Fieri signed Triple D poster and the "Guy Ate Here" pan.

My next place was in the downtown area and is open during business hours so I decided to get up early and try to get there shortly after their 630a opening.  "Piroshki on 3rd" is a Russian/European café and bakery.  I ordered from the front counter and found a table in the small dining room.

Piroshki on3rd, a Russian/European Bakery in Downtown Seattle

Front Counter and dining area

I ordered a sausage pastry and a Hot Cross Bun.  The sausage pastry is best described as a pig=in-the-blnket, The pastry roll was delicious.  Growing up I had always heard of Hot Cross Buns but had never had one.  The bun was a round roll with cinnamon and raisins, but was not overly sweet and very good.  I really enjoyed both, my biggest disappointment was the staff was not very friendly and I could sense that although they had both the Triple D poster and pan in display they really couldn't care less about my visit, which was very disappointing.

Piroshki on 3rd's "Guy Ate Here" pan

Sausage Pastry

Hot Cross Bun

My next place is one that has alluded me for a long time.  It's in the Capitol City of Olympia which is  little over a hours drive south of the Seattle airport.     I made a late morning drive because in the afternoon the drive south can be very tough!  I arrived at "Fish Tale Brew Pub" shortly after they opened.  The place has a number of different sections, a family section, bar and a small lounge to try their many beer offerings.  I took a seat in the bar area and was greeted by my server.  They specialize in pub food and local seafood.

In the State Capitol city of Olympia

This is the only mention of being on the show I could find

It's a brew pub, I found this funny!

Inside Fish Tale Brew Pub

I decided to try the Crab Cakes, 3 small cakes served over mixed greens and a side of aioli mayo.  They were really good!  I am a bit spoiled by having the best crab cakes in Baltimore but these were very good, almost on par with what I am used to.  After finishing the meal I asked my server if I could get my book signed and she gave me a very quizzical look but she did.

My Fish Tale Crab Cake meal

As I headed out of Olympia back to Seattle I passed a McDonalds where there as a mild protest going on about wages, I had heard that this was going on around the country but this was first time I had seen it!

A protest at a nearby Olympia, Washington McDonalds

After driving back from Olympia I had two places left to try on this trip.  I had to fight the two negative parts of the Emerald City, rain and traffic! I made my way to a place on the northeast side of the city.  "Wood Shop BBQ" is a small neighborhood place with a large bar.  The walls are decorated with paintings of barbecue smokers, the different types of wood used and their smoke levels and a map of the main barbecue areas of the USA inside an outline of the State of Washington.

Wood Shop BBQ in Seattle

I loved the BBQ wall with info about the popular BBQ areas of the USA 

Surprised to see Salina, Kansas on the BBQ wall!

I went up the bar to order my meal and took a seat at one of the few tables in the dining room.  Wood Shop does a huge take-out business and also a huge business at the bar.  I ordered a half a rack of ribs which came out very quickly.  The rack sat on two slices of white bread and was accompanied by some house made spicy pickles.  On the table was Wood Shops 3 house made sauces, one mild, one hot and another called coffee, which was a medium spice with a gritty coffee taste, it was pretty good.  The ribs were fall off the bone and had a nice heat kick.  They were some of he better ribs that I have ever had!

Wood Shop's Half Rack of Ribs

Wood Shop's sauces - Coffee, Regular and Spicy

After getting my book signed I headed out to my last place on the southwest side of the city.  It took about 30 minutes to get there.  "Bok A Bok Fried Chicken" is in an eclectic neighborhood with all types of restaurants and shops.  I noticed Vietnamese, Mexican, and Italian to name just a few.  Bok A Bok is a Korean place.  I decided to try their specialty and got the Chicken Drumstick plate.  It comes with a choice of sauce and I selected the Sesame Soy Garlic which came on the side.

Bok A Bok in Seattle

The Bok A Bok symbol

That's what Bok A Bok chicken is!

My meal and it was delicious.  The chicken was crunchy fried with flecks of Korean chili in the batter, but it wasn't very spicy.  I asked the chef about it when he came out to sign my book ad he told me that it is freeze dried and chopped so the potency of the spice only comes out when it's cooked out.

Some of the best fried chicken ever!

Bok A Bok's Guy poster

I headed back to the hotel to get ready for my week of work.  This was a great Triple D trip!  I was able to get to my milestone 700th Triple D place made more special by sharing it with my nephew Keith and Michele! My Tripe D count was now 704!