Is Home Skillet closed for good? That’d be a bummer.
I believe so.
Yeah, I looked them up again, and supposedly May 1st was their last day. Truly a bummer.
Sorry to hear Maison Thai wasn’t impressive. I think I’ll have to go for the sake of my friend. What was the dish you had there that you considered the best?
Is Herb Niemann’s Steakhouse in Everson still open? Is Willows Inn within your radius? How about Chuckanut Manor? Fork at Agate Bay? Acme Diner?
I don’t recall honestly what we had at Thai Maison. Of the other places you mention, we’ve been to the Fork and liked it pretty well. I thought about doing Willows for an occasion, but then before I got to that, they had SO MUCH bad press with the chef and the horrible work environment. So I passed…
We have 2 kids and generally eat out together, so we’ll go for the family casual as opposed to the fancy most times. Our typical places are Wanida, Muto Ramen, Fiamma burger or pizza, Blue Fin, D’Annas or Mambo, Ambo Ethiopian. I’d say that’s most of the regular rotation.
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I am completely new here and live in Vancouver although I will be up that way quite a few times in September and passing through to the proper Vancouver in October.
I know you all don’t know me but I’d love to join in if you don’t mind meeting a complete stranger although where you eat might define whether or not I decide on making the drive. I much prefer reading recipes and watching cooking shows even if it’s sometimes through my fingers to eating a lot of it. Things sound good but my tastes are a lot simpler; I’m not terribly adventurous.
I’m happiest with really good authentic Mexican food but that is so hard to find up here. I prefer to make my own but it doesn’t seem worth the effort most of the time for just one person. Eventually, I will find a Costco/share the cooking buddy where we can go halves on food and cooking!
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Welcome to HO and to the PNW board! If you’re in Van, I may be the one closest to you being in Bellingham. Just had my nexus interview, so I’m hopeful that crossing will be much more straightforward and quicker, which means more visits.
So it sounds like your eating tastes run simple but that food is a source of entertainment and exploration to you? You’re right about not having too much good Mex here. Not enough folks. Plenty of good Asian though!
Why do you travel up and down this part of the coast? Curious… is it for work? Or something else? I have a kid in college in Tacoma, so we are up and down much more often than we used to be.
As for a meetup, I’m hoping to get a few more interested people. And then we can figure out a plan as a group. I’d be just as happy getting together at someone’s house as going to a restaurant. In fact, I’ve been covid careful and always prefer an outdoor option, so houses can be easier in that respect. While we still have our decent weather!
Meanwhile you should post on the pinned top post Let’s introduce ourselves and get to know one another better
so we the posters can get to know you.
Just popping in in order to welcome Ruins. I am unlikely to join the get-together. I am not very sociable and it is too far for me. Unless I am getting the Vancouvers messed up it sounds like you live near me. I don’t think there are many of us here from the SW Washington/PDX area. I don’t post often but lurk frequently. There was one person who made a few posts who lived in Vancouver but left after a not well received post to the Trader Joes thread. Too bad. That poster seemed to enjoy food shopping and I was looking forward to see more posts from him/her. I hope you are not so easily scared off. I looked at your bio. Cynical Pollyana, I like that! I think I might have even described myself that way before.
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So now that you mention it, I’m not sure which Van either. I thought Ruins was chatting about Van BC. You’re right @Rainycatcooks that there aren’t too many of us, at least that have said where we’re from. I think that Kaleo and I are in the nw corner of WA, and then the rest are Seattle and south of there.
The tip off for me was that Ruins wrote drive up but you never know. As we like to say around here: I live in Vancouver (not BC), Washington (not DC). Or something like that. I don’t actually live in Vancouver (I live in the sticks) but it is where I do most of my shopping.
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This is what I saw, and it confused me… “up that way” could mean where I am, where the more southern people are, or they just moved here from another part of the country and so are doing several trips. Anyhoo, so you live in Van, WA? You can’t call that the sticks if you’re a stone’s throw from Portland!
I live in a rural area East of Vancouver WA. Some would consider it the sticks. I don’t really. I was just joking. It is becoming more and more suburban by the day. I have literally watched hills in the town west of me get quarried until almost flat and then filled with houses. I agree that being so close to Portland hardly makes it feel rural.
Buildings are going up, and forested hillsides are getting cleared, all the time here too. People need places to live, but there seems to be no appetite for high density up rather than out housing where amenities are walkable. Everyone wants their own 1/4 acre or more and that’s why the undeveloped land is disappearing…
Yep, and I have to admit I am part of the problem. I did decide to buy an already built house rather than building one which was something I almost did. I fool myself into feeling superior about that. I did not cut down any trees for my house after all. Shady logic, I know.
To keep this food related. The good thing for me is I keep getting better places to shop for food. I used to have to drive to Portland for Trader Joes or any “gourmet” food store like Zupans. We also have bigger “international” food isles than we used to have. Less food related. I now have an ER within about a 1/2 hour drive which could save my life someday.
I didn’t mean to cast aspersions. Just saying that places are getting built up everywhere! It’s good to live in a place near amenities.
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Wahine and I tried Maison Thai today, and were very impressed with both dishes we ordered. We got the red Choo-Chee curry with the crispy chicken thigh, and the house fried rice with beef steak. We thought both were most excellent–as good as any Thai we’ve ever had.
We’ll try the other B-town Thai places you mentioned, but Maison Thai set a very high bar with us.
The only thing I found odd was the MT heat rating, 0-3. #2 was not very hot at all. On the positive side, the brown rice served with the curry was variegated, nutty and delicious, very much like N. American wild rice. Our server said her favorites are that same red curry and the pad see-ew. I also want to try the Dungeness crab fried rice.
I’m really glad you enjoyed. Just goes to show you we all have different evaluations of the same places. That choo chee curry was one the dishes we ordered. With tofu. I was bummed that it was just tofu and sauce. No other veg. I’ve never had a curry that was just protein and sauce and felt disappointed in that.**
Very strange. Our Choo-Chee came swimming with red and green peppers. It also had a lot of shredded chicken in addition to the crispy chicken thigh on top.
Maybe it’s a quality control issue.
Sure, could be. I’m willing to test inductive logic by going back to Thai Maison.
They charge enough that scrimping is not likely happening. The owners (culinary school grads in Thailand) are also the cooks).
