Barrels of goodness at Cedars

One of the more comfortable places to enjoy drinks and apps with friends on a cold Tri-Cities night is Cedars on Clover Island.  Cedars has a nice lounge with a real wood fireplace with plenty of seating.

Our night kicked off a bottle of red wine, some Jack Daniels, a little Bacardi, and of course Cedars’ famous Rum Barrels.  For the appetizers, we enjoyed their potato skins, mozzarella sticks, chicken fingers, and Bruschetta.

The drinks were excellent and the food was pretty darn good.  One thing that has always bugged me about Cedars is this:  It’s a joint that has every ability to be a top-notch, first class restaurant but chooses to go the “mediocre route” with food like an old school salad bar, chicken strips, potato skins, and cheese sticks.  Yes, I know.  We all ate everything I find annoying.  I just wish there were more restaurants in the Tri-Cities willing to push the envelope with their menu a little more.

Don’t get me wrong, I will always continue to eat and drink at Cedars.  Their dinner menu is above average and it’s a warm and inviting place.

P.S.  I haven’t been there in a while and since then, Cedars has updated their Happy Hour menu.  Hours are between 4pm and 6pm and they have various, and well-valued drinks and food specials.

If you’re looking for a good alternative to going to the grocery story to shop for beef, steak, organic meats, or seafood; there’s a great option available.  You can go to MeatHub.com and find anything you could want for dinner.  They have pre-made sausages, deli meat, and an assortment of smoked meat.

Give them a shot.  You can’t go wrong.

Saturday, June 26th

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.

Friday, June 25th

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.

Yet again, Kom over at Yummie Pho served up a delicious bowl of Pho.  How can you ever go wrong with a Lunch Special #9 without meatballs and a Spring Roll.

I just got back from eating lunch at 6 Degrees in Kennewick and my head is still spinning from sensory overload.  I decided on the “Light My Fire” burger and was blown away with my first bite.  This half-pound burger from heaven had jalapenos, avacado, a chipotle lime sour cream AND their “x-rated lime sauce” was EFFING 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….

I had dinner at Outback in Kennewick on Wednesday (which I haven’t done in a while) and can say I am rarely disappointed. I even had some company that made it even made it that much better.

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…

My day started with an “all day potluck” at my day job.  I can truthfully say I ate enough to break the button on my pants.  Then a friend IM’d me and said “hey, why don’t you meet me and my friends at Richland Jackson’s because it’s all you can eat wings”.  I said “sure, I might as well finish out the day strong”.

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.

So I’ve been to Famous Dave’s BBQ in Kennewick more in the past week than I have been since relocating back to the Tri-Cities. I figured it was time to belly up to the bar and see what this place had in the way of a good burger. Here is what I’ve found; the burgers at Famous Dave’s are some of the best in the TC. They’re thick and juicy and have that hit of char you can only get from a good BBQ grill.

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.