Many of you know that we love to offer foodies opportunities to come and enjoy focused tastings at a very reasonable price, and here’s a few we'll be hosting at our joints:

Beer and Brats

"Beer and Brats" at the Palace Ballroom on Oct 30th. Host chef, and home brewer - Warren Peterson is passionate about the combo and is leading the sausage making team and has selected all the beer matches. This is going to be one fun evening!

Reserve a spot by calling Christy at 206-448-2001. For more information go to our Events page.

Please go to our Events page to see some more exciting upcoming events, including "Piemontese Table" and our annual Cookbook Social at the Palace Ballroom, plus the Winemaker Dinner at Etta's!

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Twenty years ago, damn we're old. Twenty years ago...really? Twenty years ago, holy cow...twenty years ago...we leased a failing restaurant and renamed it the Dahlia Lounge. We poured every ounce of money, heart and soul we had into it. Twenty years later - wow - through the efforts of hundreds of people and thousands of loyal customers, she still stands.

Nineteen and two-thirds years ago, we had a restaurant baby – a daughter named Loretta...aaah, perspective! There have been raves and a few rants, accolades and rewards, but none greater than the Dahlia being described as the “Quintessential Seattle Restaurant.”

Through the years and recipes we’ve witnessed wedding proposals and break-ups, funerals and make-ups, birthdays and anniversaries, and many graduations from universities. And some people who were just hungry. We hope that somehow we played a part in one of these scenarios for you.

What do we love most about the restaurant business? Folks and family gathering around the table with us, celebrating life, talking politics, religion, sex and sometimes even local, sustainable, organic farming techniques. But mostly just talking. Many passionate cooks, thoughtful waiters, and cool headed managers have passed through these doors. All committed to our mission begun in 1989 and still thriving through 2009 to offer you, our honored customers and friends, deliciousness served with graciousness.

Thanks for twenty years...oh my!

-Tom

Dateline Montreal...
They really do speak mainly French here!

I’m not really an idiot, but I was kind of surprised. I guess I expected maybe a 50/50 mix with English, but having just spent four days of Loretta’s fall break there I came away thinking 90/10 en Françoise. Strolling through the older parts of town you might easily feel that you were on the streets of Paris. Most every corner is dotted with bistros, brasseries, cafes, boutiques and small groceries.

Jackie and I are thinking about opening a bagel bakery and this grand city is famous for a wood fired version. Both St. Viateur and Fairmont bagel bakeries were on my list to visit with the locals evenly split on which is better. To me there was no contest. Fairmont easily bested their rival with a nicely chewy texture, achieved through a honey-sweetened water boil. Then they are dredged in sesame seeds, plopped onto 6 foot long wood slats and slipped into the wood burning brick oven for baking. YUM!

Some memorable meals were eaten at Le Local, Garde Manger, L’Express, Holder and a delicious “Smoked Meat” (same as pastrami) sandwich with deli mustard on rye at Schwartz’s on Rue Saint Laurent. I would definitely visit for a weekend in this city again, but next time I would bone up on my French first.

A Special Thanks

Thanks to our friends at Chinook winery, the Dahlia 20th Anniversary Red Table Wine is debuting at all the joints in November. This along with a 2010 Dahlia desk calendar celebrating the artist of our restaurants ($15) with a percentage benefitting Food Lifeline, are just part of the celebrations happening beginning November 1st and going through the end of the year.

Please check the website for highlights every day to learn more about our “web only prizes” starting November 1st. What kind of surprises you may ask? Well, let’s just start right now by saying the first twenty people to email katieo@tomdouglas.com and tell me what year Dahlia Lounge moved across the street to our current location will get a free Dahlia brunch ($20 value)! So, be sure to visit the website daily to qualify for our new tasty prize offerings!

Want us to email you each day in November what those web-only prizes are? If yes, click here.