Matador in West Seattle:  Ok… here’s the deal.  This was my first time going to Matador in West Seattle and honestly I probably won’t be back.  It wasn’t because of the food, the scene, or them being too busy or anything like that.  The bottom line; the bartender was a bit of a slime ball.  I know this might sound a little harsh but here’s why:

We sat down at 12:30pm.  It was a pretty bright day in Seattle and the restaurant was a little on the dark side so my eyes were still adjusting.  After we sat down, I saw the happy hour menu on the table and saw the times ” happy hour “4 – 6″ and “10 – 1″.  Since my eyes were still adjusting I didn’t see the actual Happy Hours were “4pm to 6pm” and “10pm to 1am”.  At the end of the day, I’m responsible for not seeing this.

Here is were I have a serious issue.  While we were ordering our food, we picked four items straight from the Happy Hour menu.  I was holding the Happy Hour menu while I was ordering.  I was pointing to the items on the Happy Hour menu that we were ordering.  Did it not occur to the bartender that I was mistaken whether it was happy hour and that maybe he could have given me a heads up?  Needless to say I was a little surprised at the sticker shock of my tab.  Instead of being somewhere in the expected mid $20 range, it was in $46 and some change.  When I asked the bartender why my tab was higher than expected, he said something to the effect of “sorry, it wasn’t happy hour”.

So my advice is this…  When going to the West Seattle Matador, just be very aware of what time it is, what menu you’re ordering from, and double check your tab at the end of the meal.  And don’t expect the dark haired bartender with a beard to be forth coming about what your final bill may be.

Lesson learned.

Dinner at Duke’s on Alki:  I had the Bacon Blue burger and I have to say it was pretty damn good.  My partner in crime had the Fisherman’s plate (I think that’s the name) and it was really good.  The broth was very flavorful and the clams and fish in the broth were excellent.  We sat at the bar and the service was good with the only glitch being the service was a touch slow.  Other than that, it was all good.

Now, not only would the burger be just fine on it’s own, this “x-rated lime sauce” is like no other sauce I’ve ever had.  The flavor was outstanding as well as delivering a bit of fire at the end.

Not to drag on, and on, and on, and on…. but I can easily say this is one of the top three burgers in the Tri-Cities.  And don’t even get me started about their onion rings….

It was a tough call not getting the Bloomin’ Onion because I haven’t had one of those in a while.  But we decided to start off with the Crab Cakes and they were pretty good.  I hadn’t had them before and would probably order them again.  For dinner, I ordered my usual Ribeye but had them grill it on their flame grill and not the flat top grill.  The flame grill takes that marbling in the ribeye and gets a helluva flavor on it.

We ordered dessert and it was the killer.  I normally don’t order dessert but the Sydney’s Sinful Sunday was calling my name.  There was something about that ice cream rolled in toasted coconut that was calling my name…

I made sure I got my money’s worth.  For $12.99 All You Can Eat Wings, I made out like a bandit.  Here’s the Final Score:

• Hot Buffalo Wings (Pretty Good)
• Spicy & Tangy (Pretty Good)
• Garlic Wings (Pretty Effing Good)
• Mexi Lime Wings (FAIL)
• Atomic Wings (Pretty Effing Hot & Good)

Apparently, it’s all you can eat wings every Wednesday.  Definitely worth it.

The first night I went with their basic cheeseburger. The second night I had their signature “Ultimate BBQ Burger”. It was good enough that no extra sauces of any kind were needed and it was gone in about 2 minutes.

On a side note… I’m hoping that someone there has a craving for some coffee sometime soon (she knows who she is). #justsayin

Southwest Burger from R.F. McDougalls

Wow.  What a burger.

I’d like to think I’ve eaten my fair share of burgers in my life.  I’d also like to think that eating all these burgers have given me a certain level of expertise on deciding what makes a good burger.  I popped into R.F. McDougalls in Richland last Saturday and wasn’t quite sure what I was hungry for.

The Southwest Burger caught my eye, so I figured what the hell.  A burger with homemade cilantro mayo, Pepperjack cheese, and jalapenos sounds pretty tasty.  I tore through that burger like a fat kid eating cake.  Dom (a great bartender) even asked me if I wanted some ketchup and bbq sauce.  I said yes, before I took my first bite and never looked back.  This is one of the first burgers that was perfect upon delivery.

Wow.  What a burger.

Tonight’s steak was probably the top 2 best steaks I’ve had from Cedars.  Hands down.  I ordered it medium-rare and it came out cooked to perfection.  It seriously could not have been cooked any better.  This ribeye was warm and red all the way through and the peppercorn sauce wasn’t over powering.  Yum.

I actually don’t mind shamelessly plugging Cedars because Dave the owner has always taken such great care of my parents when they eat there, that it seems like I need to do a little more writing just to balance it all out.  So the next time you’re in the mood for a damn good steak.  Go to Cedars and get the peppercorn ribeye, it’ll be worth it.  If it’s not worth it, call me and I’ll come down and eat it for you.

After realizing what the deal was, I asked Randy (a great bartender) if I could get a side of their “Atomic” sauce.  He asks me if I’m serious.  I say yes.  The other bartender behind the bar asks me if I’m serious.  I say yes.  They ask me if I would like to try a sample of the sauce before hand just to make sure I know how hot it is.  I say no.  Seriously, this is how it went….

Randy heads back to the kitchen and grabs me a side of the Atomic sauce and in the mean time, I’m told by others that while the Atomic sauce is being made, eye protection needs to be worn so that it doesn’t get in the preparer’s eyes.  Am I too concerned?  No.

Long story short, I tore through those wings with my new found sauce, like a fat kid going though cake.  They had excellent flavor and great heat that wasn’t over bearing.

I had the chance to sit there and talk shop with the owner and he made sure to remind me that they do half off wings on Tuesdays starting at 3pm and ending around 10ish.  Yeah, I’ll be there for that.

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