Kelli Wong Photography

I recently had another delicious and memorable dinner out at the Harvest Vine.  I took some family from out of town so they could experience it.  The food is tapas style from the Basque region.  Click here to see my other post from the Harvest Vine from last summer.  Some of the items from that visit featured their seasonal summer menu, such as the Pimientos de Padrons- green peppers covered in sea salt.  The menu is always changing so its nice to come back and try new things.
Click here to see their menu.

To start, we were presented with the nightly pinxto- a red and golden beet soup.  Next, our bottle of wine arrived.  We ordered a 2011 Nexus Cosecha Ribera del Duero.  A delicious light red wine that went perfectly with our dinner.  We also ate bread and ash rubbed goat cheese with squash preserves and a blue cheese with candied walnuts.  Then the Remolachas arrived, a colorful beet salad with olive oil and sea salt.  Our waiter then surprised us with a 2008 Don PX Sherry to sip w…

Pioneer Square has a new delicious spot to eat, Laika Lounge, which opened recently.  They serve traditional Russian food and craft cocktails.  I was invited by the owner, Tatiana, to come try it out.  We sat together and chatted while we sipped drinks and ate.  I immediately loved the flow of the place-part coffee shop, part café and bar.  The restaurant gave off a European feel right in the heart of Pioneer Square. 

To start off my experience at Laika Lounge, I sipped on one of their handcrafted cocktails, The Lenin.  The drink resembled a Creamsicle and had Vodka, muddled oranges and  house-make Midnight in Moscow Syrup.  A unique aspect about Laika is they make all their own syrups for their cocktails and coffee drinks.

I then ordered the Beetroot Vereniki.  It had sage, parmesan, poppyseed, horseradish and crème fraiche.  I simply loved it and could have eaten a second plate.  The flavors blended well together and the crème fraiche seemed liked the perfect accompany to the dish.…