Seattle

I am beginning to realize that brunch will be a running theme in many of my post. As I have mentioned before, I love brunch! What’s not to love about it…socializing, coffee, food and day drinks (possibly bottomless day drinks, if you are lucky). It’s a great way to spend a vacation or weekend day with a friend or significant other, especially if you are a foodie at heart like myself. So of course, in typically fashion, I met up with two of my high school girlfriends in Seattle to partake in this wonderful and fun activity. I guess I should have named my blog “coffee, brunch, wine & travel”, but it’s too long and too late for that.

I asked my friends to pick out the brunch spot and they made quite a unique pick, Ma’ono Fried Chicken & Whiskey. Ma’ono is a Hawaiian cuisine restaurant in West Seattle that focuses on fried chicken. In fact, the fried chicken is so popular there that it is encouraged to make reservations and pre-order your half or whole chicken for the table in advance, which we did. Don’t be confused by Ma’ono’s outside appearance (slightly “hole in the wall-ish” looking), inside it boost quite a hip and trendy atmosphere with a great brunch vibe. They do offer bottomless mimosa for $12 bucks, but we opted for bloody marys and local WA state beer. Our fried chicken came with gravy and biscuits. And with the additions of Coconut Banana French Toast, Mac N’ Kimcheese and Double Garlic Greens, we had a complete meal for sharing. So, I must be honest, I am not a food critic nor am I picky eater and I pretty much enjoyed it all. However, both my friends were not too excited about the mac n kimcheese (too spicy) or double garlic greens (well flavored, but tough). Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our time there discussing life, love, death, babies, childfree life, travel, food and of course wine!

After brunch, we headed back into Seattle proper. My friend was very excited to introduce me to a wine bar in her former neighborhood of Madrona. We pulled up to Bottlehouse and I could immediately tell we were in store for a fun afternoon tasting. Appropriately, Bottlehouse from the outside appears as a house. Inside it has the feel of an urban winery with a tasting bar that sells wine, beer and small plates. In the front of the restaurant there seemed to be an interactive hosted wine tasting. We decided to just sit down at a table and order a custom red and white wine flights based on our servers’ recommendation. We enjoyed our wine, cheese and charcuterie, and even splurge on their delicious dessert, House Pot De Crème! Honestly, I did not want to leave this place and I felt the pull of jealously wishing that my neighborhood in DC had a place like this. But as mentioned, this trip also involved visiting my family and it was time to head back home for the day.

It really was a great day. Travel and friendships are two things that are very important to me. I feel very lucky to incorporate the both of them together! More to come…