Talaricos is a peculiar pizza place.

In terms of ambiance it is dark with a slightly asian flavor (I think it was a chinese restaurant when they got the place and they didn’t bother to update some of the decor). There’s a fireplace, a little stage (that I’ve never seen used except as a waiting area when they get busy) and lots of high booths. They have lots of big screen TVs, which tend to have some sort of sporting event on ‘em.

Foodwise, it’s solid. The core of their offering is the enormous single slices of pizza that they sell. 1 slice (with their tasty ceasar salad) is enough to fill up on. They have a mess of interesting toppings including a great spicy sausage, goat cheese, and more. The crust is east-coast-style thin, for the pizza snobs out there.

Holy crap, what a good meal.

My wife made reservations at Le Gourmand after searching for interesting tasting menus in the Seattle area. Le Gourmand was what she settled on.

We arrived at the tiny little restaurant a little bit late for our 7pm reservation. It’s in a bit of an odd location—certainly not where I’d expect to find a high-end restaurant (kind of at the foot of the hill between Phinney Ridge and Ballard).

Diners can choose between a half a dozen different appetizers and entrees or can elect to go with the 7 course tasting menu. Either way, your last course is a small salad (odd—aren’t salads traditionally an early course?).

I elected to go with the tasting menu and was not disappointed.

I’ll enter in a few of the items for comparative purposes, but Le Gourmand changes it’s menu often, so don’t expect to find them on the menu.

The centerpiece of every dish is some sort of sauce (I’m sure there were other things that I should’ve been paying attention to, but you could dip a piece of cardboard in any of these sauces and be happy). The base of each sauce is a stock of some kind (“The chef works on his stocks all day,” we were told) with liberal amounts of cognac and interesting pureed vegetables. Given the richness of all of the dishes, it’s pretty amazing that there isn’t a drop of heavy cream in most of the recipes.

Oh, I should mention that the desserts were staggeringly good. We shared a Creme Brulee with brandied raspberries which was outstanding.

As we walked out we noticed there was a little bar attached to the restaurant—we’ll likely come back on a Wednesday or Thursday (it was packed on a Saturday).

A final note: this is an experience, not a meal. Don’t go expecting to be out of there in less than 3 hours (especially if you go with the tasting menu). And don’t go Sun-Tues (they aren’t open).

(disclaimer: We recently moved down from Anchorage Alaska—which boasts exactly one mediocre Indian Restaurant. Since our move own, I’ve eaten at “Flavor of India” in Pioneer Square, which is pretty darn mediocre. To be fair, the only food I ever ate was their lunch buffet.)

I’ve walked by Maharaja a dozen times. The wife and I finally gave it a shot a month or so back (we meant to go to Jack’s, but it was closed for a “Snow Day”).

We found the whole experience pretty wonderful.

They offer a vegetarian or non-vegetarian combo which seems like a pretty flexible way to have a taste from a lot of menu items, so we went for it (though I’d rather be called a “carnivore” than a “non-vegetarian”, dammit!).

It offered a choice of samosas, a chicken dish of our choice, a veg dish of our choice, tandoori chicken, rice, raita, and our choice of naan.

Service was solid, decor is standard for an Indian place (kinda gaudy), and (according to other reviews on Yelp) they evidently deliver. Woot.

We’ll be going back soon, just as soon as we finish the copious leftovers we brought home.

How can you argue with a sushi place whose web address is “www.sushiwhore.com”?

Mashiko serves it up right, although sushi purists might turn their nose up at the menu.

For a guy who lives for interesting eats, I really enjoyed reading their expansive menu. My favorite “feature” was a little icon next to each of the menu items that was a “Mashiko Original”. The sushi rolls definitely ventured well outside of standard japanese flavors with ingredients like chiles, cilantro, and more.

Desserts were also creative, with tempura fried red bean ice cream and tempura apple slices with plum wine sherbet (both were winners, but the latter was the better of the two).

Tamarind Tree is the kind of restaurant that you have to know about to find. Hidden off the road in the International District (you’ll drive by it two or three times before you actually see it), it’s nonetheless pretty slammed even on weeknights.

It looks out of place. It’s jammed between strip malls, so you’d expect that a tiny little junky restaurant. What you find is a tastefully decorated restaurant with (non-tacky) water art, nice table settings, and cozy outdoor seating (they’ve co-opted some of the parking lot and managed to wall it off in a way that doesn’t feel like you’re eating in a parking lot).

It’s a tug-of-war of expectation setting. You start off confident that the place is going to be easy on the wallet. When you see the interior (and the crowds), your expectations change. Happily, when you see the prices on the menu, you’ll see that you can have an app and entree for under $15 (though you’ll certainly not have room for both).

Note, there’s also a unique cocktails menu (with prices that are more in line with the rest of the world).

Blackbird is a great addition to west Seattle.

Food: The restaurant features upscale food that’s fresh and inventive. Items on the menu are clearly labeled as organic, vegetarian, and vegan (as appropriate). The menu was relatively small (with a selection of small plate offerings as well as entrees), but offers a nice variety.