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Here's an update from Tom Douglas restaurants, based on the email preferences you have on file with us. We would love to hear your feedback, so feel free to contact us at any time.

February 2024 Update:

 

Seattle Kitchen Newsletter Topics - Upcoming Events
Valentine's Dinner

February 14th
Palace Ballroom  7-10pm

Join us for another love fest in the Palace Ballroom this Valentines Day as we cozy up and hunker down to a rustic Italian dinner while listening to classic jazz standards from the Black Lab Trio. 

Now that's amoré.

Cocktail Hour

Pomegranate Bellinis

Guanciale Crostini

Hedgehog Mushroom, Red Hawk Cheese Toast

Prosciutto and Cameo Apples

~

Seared Tuna, Rosehips and Truffles

~

Fennel Zupetta, Bombolini, Burrata

~

Organic Quail,

Rub with Love Butternut Squash Risotto

~

Olive and Pine Nut Stuffed Flank Steak,

Braised Tomato, Porcini Bread Pudding

~

Chocolate Fonduta

Pistachio Biscotti, Almond Biscotti,

Cornmeal Cookies and Fruit

The cost of dinner is $110 per person, plus tax and gratuity.  This includes all wine pairings, a five course dinner and a cocktail reception to kick off the evening.  There will be a No Host cash bar available for the evening.  Please email Sarah Flotard at sarahf@tomdougslas.com or call 206.448.2001 to make your reservation in advance. (Tickets must be purchased by February 13th. We are unable to offer tickets at the door.)

You may choose to add flowers, a box of Theo organic chocolates or a Valentine's suite at Hotel Ändra to your dinner at the time of your reservation.  Call for more information.


Little Tastes 2007

Dahlia Lounge

Join us, once again, as we begin a new series of flavorful tasting in the private dining room of the Dahlia Lounge   Our Little Tastes of Japan filled up very quickly and now you have dibs on the upcoming tastings.  Each Little Tastes is held from 5:30-7pm and includes a tasting along with a foodie chat!   

Little Tastes to come...

March 7th, Bread, a tasting and discussion with our very own Head Bread Baker, Gwen Grande.

April 18th, Spring Lamb tasting, paired with wines and a chat.

For reservations, please call Dahlia Lounge at 206.682.4142 or email dennis@tomdouglas.com. Cost is $25 inclusive.


Spanish Wine Dinner

February 27th
Dahlia Lounge
6 to 8:30pm

Join us for a rare treat!  We will have four top notch wine producers from Spain showcasing their wines, each from several different growing regions.

We will start with a Juve y Camps sparkling wine, made by a three generation old producer from the Penedes region. Following is a delicious white wine from a small winery called Itsas Mendes in the Basque region near the French border.   We are drinking two Riojas, one from the classic aged-in-American-oak school and the other made in a new world style with tons of hedonistic fruit. We will finish with a rare wine from the island of Mallorca. The An is made in miniscule quantities, and at that, only in the best years.  This is a voluptuous wine with ripeness, fullness, complexity and length, yet, amazingly has a firm balanced structure. 

Please join us for this exciting evening to meet these small producers and enjoy their wines. Chef Mark Fuller and Executive Chef Eric Tanaka have created a special Spanish influenced menu to pair with these unique and rare wines.

Dinner costs $95, plus tax and gratuity and includes all five wine pairings and personal stories from all of the vintners.  Please email dennis@tomdouglas.com or call 206.682.4142 to make your reservations. 

Top of the news - Tom's Letter
Tom's Letter: San Francisco

I just returned from the San Francisco Fancy Food Show and am here to report what you'll be seeing in your grocery isles this coming spring, summer and fall.  It's funny how the tempo, texture and taste of the show changes with each year.   After 2001, the show felt like a library, as it was shortly after 9-11.  People weren't flying and new businesses (especially small start ups) were put on hold.  Compared to attendance this year...it was pretty stunning. 

This show was jammed!  Every available exhibitor space was spoken for and the aisles were crowded with buyers, gawkers and wannabes - people with million-dollar-ideas looking at ways to get started.  Years ago, when I first started going, the show was all about coffee. Every booth seemed to have a coffee this or a coffee that to sell.  This time, it was about hard goods - gourmet versions of mayonnaise, cake mixes and nut butters.

The flavor of the show changes each year, almost instantly, with news of what's happening in the food press.  The products on display reflect the trends incredibly fast, not unlike the big couture fashion shows influence local fashion on the streets.  Five years ago the show floor was inundated with products focused on low-carb.  Two years ago saw an influx of salt caramels and organics. 

This year watch for everything pomegranate, packaged in a more earthy friendly (less global warming!) way.   There were vitamin-enhanced goods galore and certainly no trans fats.  Teas of every flavor are still incredibly hot and frozen foods have begun to introduce lots of modern Indian flavors.  Rick Bayless has a new line of Mexican Pizzas coming out and Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa mixes are still hot this year.  I see the beginning of the end of the cocktail mixer phenomena.  So many people have gotten into it, and while it was a really strong category about two years ago, the market has now been saturated. 

Good eats in San Francisco:

I am drawn to shop the Ferry Terminal Market the way I used to be drawn to Union Square and Union Street.  There are a few "must stops for food" shops that I find charming ~

  • Miette Organic Patisserie - butterscotch pudding and the best honey graham crackers
  • Mistral Rotisserie Provencale - roast leg of lamb, broccoli rabe, and creamy polenta - take it to go and eat on the benches facing the Bay.
  • Also, around town for the umpteenth time - the best chicken in America - Zuni Café.
  • Nice tapas and atmosphere at Terzo

Cheers! ~ Tom Douglas

Seattle Kitchen Newsletter Topics - Side Dish
Breakfast on the Go

We all know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  At Dahlia Bakery, you'll never have to miss breakfast again.  Check out our new breakfast eats - made to order and bound to make any officemates mouth water.

  • Steiber Farms Fried Egg Sandwich with cheese and bacon with our hand formed 'English Muffin'  ~ $4.95
  • Dahlia Donuts with Mascarpone & Cranberry Compote, 6 per bag ~ $3.95
  • Bakery Granola Parfait - sweet and grainy dahlia bakery granola layered up with Greek yogurt that we scent with Snoqualmie fireweed honey and vanilla ~ $4.50

Valentine Menus

We've put together some lovely and romantic dinners this year for you to both wow your honey and fill your bellies!  Not only will all of our favorites be available (what's a Valentines Day without sharing the Dahlia Seafood Sampler for Two?)  Choose from his and hers entrees of London Broil or Maine Lobster at Dahlia Lounge

At Lola, we'll have pretty blood oranges on the greens and succulent juicy braised short rib.  Down at Etta's and over at Palace Kitchen, the Chefs are getting sexy with seafood and serving oysters, scallops and crab - romantic food to share!  You can view all of our online menus at www.tomdouglas.com, under each restaurants title.

Seattle Kitchen Newsletter Topics - Meet the Staff
Gwen Grande, head bread baker & Serious Pie chef

How long have you been baking?

- Eight years

But you're so young!  How did you get started?

- I started right out of high school.  I attended culinary school and started baking then.  I grew up cooking.  Me and my dad would make our own bread, pasta and sausages.  In high school I helped my friends' mom catering on the side and she suggested I go to culinary school, so I did. (Thanks, Marsha!)

Did you ever think you'd be slinging pizza pies for a living?

- No.  Definitely not

What have you learned working over at Serious Pie?

- How to make really good pizza.  Funny thing is, in school I had a brown bag final (where culinary students get a bunch of ingredients handed to them and they have to make something straight away).  In my bag I had a bunch of ingredients that I thought 'Man, this would be great pizza'.  It was a horrible flop, though.  My teachers were not impressed.  It's ironic that now I make really good pizza.

What's your favorite thing to bake?

- I love making ficelle and ciabatta.  I could make those two breads all day and be really happy.

You're getting married soon.  Do you know what you'll serve for dinner?

- We're going to do a French Rivieria theme and serve big seafood platters, raw oysters, bread, cheese, wine & lots of booze.

If you could be anywhere else right now, where would you be?

- On vacation in the Bahamas in the sunshine with the salt water ocean.

Seattle Kitchen Newsletter Topics - Recipes and Tips
Brown Butter Spaetzle

Serves 4 

Spaetzle (the name means "little sparrow" in German) is a tiny homemade noodle.  Sauté the finished spaetzle in butter until the noodles are a bit crusty and the butter is gently browned. This makes the perfect side dish for a wintry supper of crisp-skinned roast chicken or juicy roast pork.

You can buy a special piece of equipment to push the spaetzle dough into the boiling water -- but a metal colander with medium size holes (ie. not a fine mesh sieve) works fine for us. When you're not scraping the dough through it, though, don't leave the metal colander sitting over the pot of boiling water.  If the colander gets too hot, it will cook the dough and holes will get plugged.


We hope you enjoyed this edition of the Tom Douglas Seattle Kitchen Newsletter. We also want to encourage you to give us your thoughts and ideas on how to make this newsletter more useful.

:: Give us your feedback

If you would like to make reservations or learn more about any of our restaurants/locations, use these links:

Lola | Dahlia Lounge | Etta's | Palace Kitchen
Palace Ballroom | Dahlia Bakery | Serious Pie | Rub with Love

Until next time...
http://www.tomdouglas.com

Tom Douglas Restaurants is concerned about your privacy. We do not rent, sell or exchange email addresses. Write us at: Tom Douglas Restaurants, 2030 5th Ave Seattle,WA 98121

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