Matt Dillon (the chef) is my hero.

Matt Dillon  is my culinary hero.  Everytime I eat at one of his restaurants it is a delicious experience.  I always very excited when I get to eat one of his restaurants.

Last nite I ate at Bar Sajor in the heart of Pioneer Square.  Bar Sajour is different from Sitka and Spruce where Bar Sajour is more influenced by Spain, Portugal, and North Africa.  They only use wood burning stoves and a fireplace.  There are no traditional ovens at Bar Sajor.

The menu is broken up in to your starters, from the wood burning oven and from the the fireplace.  Also the plates can be shared or ordered individually.  In order to get a little taste of as much as we could, we decided to share.

We started with the bread and butter and oysters.  Both sound so simple, and something found at any restaurant, but this is Bar Sajour.  The bread is thick, hearty,chewy, but not hard and crusty with amazing butter with the flakes of sea salt.

The oysters were blue pool and shigoku.  I'm not a big oyster connoisseur, but thought we would try them.  They were served with lemon, horseradish, and a champagne vinaigrette (which was delicious).  All 3 of these with the oysters, i would had a few more.  The blue pool were my favorites, a little sweet, and not briney or fishy.

We then moved onto from the fireplace.  We the 3 items from the fireplace, grilled asparagus, pan roasted sea scallops, and porchetta with fennel sausage.  These all seemed to be the popular dishes of the evening.  I kept seeing these dishes come from the kitchen.

Grilled asparagus with sourdough bread pudding local cheddar and cranberries.  the best part of this dish was the bread pudding and the cheese.  The asparagus just provided the veggies i needed for the day.

Pan roasted scallops with caraway brown butter with radishes,sunflower, and sunchoke puree.  The scallops were perfectly done, and I love radishes, so this was a nice touch.

Porchetta with fennel sausage with chive dumplings, wild watercress, and salt cured shoulder.  This is meat lovers paradise.  Meaty goodness wrapped together.  The fennel sausage is made in house and was out of this world.  I just a little more of this. Definitely a heavier dish, but all in all very tasty.

For dessert, we opted for a chocolate cake and butter ice cream.  Hands down, one of the best desserts I have had in a long time.  It was simple and delicious.  The cake was not overly sweet, but just had a that chocolate flavor you want, and then just a scoop of the butter ice cream, it is the perfect dessert.   The best way to end this meal.

Thank You Matt Dillon for all the fabulous food you do at Bar Sajor, Sitka and Spruce, Corson Building, and London Plane.  You are my hero!!!

Joule

After a very long day, I just wanted to sit down and relax with nice dinner.  It was around 7 on Wednesday, and I couldn't decide where to go.  As I made my way home, I was driving towards Wallingford.  Then it hit me.... Joule.  I have been wanting to try this place, but it always has been booked.  I'm thinking it probably is now since it is around 7, but what they hey...I am gonna give it a try.  I find sort of legal place to park, and drop the boyfriend off to see what the chances are.  He runs back and says 20 minute, but we can have a drink outside by the fire pit.  Sign me up..we are so in.

I have heard nothing but great things about this place, so I was so excited to give it a try. We ended up not having to wait, and were able to be seated immediately at the communal table.   Joule offers modern take on Korean cuisine.  Their dishes are served family style and meant to be shared.  This just means I can order more food..EXCELLENT!!

The menu all looks tasty, but here is what we had:

We started with the white stuffed kimchi and spicy rice cake with house made chorizo.                

When we ordered
these the waitress said these pair really nice together.  We received the kimchi first.  This was different from your standard kimchi or kimchi I have had before.  It was good, but to me it was just a little too much vinegar or too acidic.  It needed a little something.  We finished this before the spicy rice cake came out.  When it did, i had wished I would have waited and not finished the kimchi.  The spicy rice cake is what it needed.  This is one tasty dish.  The chorizo is unexpected, but works well worth it.  The dish has a kick to it, but it is not overwhelming spice.  It slowly builds and develops with each bite.

We then moved to the bigger plates,  Octopus, bok choy, hot bacon vinaigrette (you had me at hot bacon), and "that" short rib steak, kalbi, grilled kimchi.  I don't think I ever had Octopus cooked so well. It was tender, and just had a great grilled smokey flavor too it.  The bacon vinaigrette just enhanced this flavor and complimented it nicely.  I was told by the waitress they are known for their steaks.  They offer 4 different steaks on the menu, but the one we ordered is their signature streaks.  This was one good steak.  The spices that were on this steak just provided this wonderful and memorable flavor.  Who knew Korean spices could make steak so good.  Hands down one of the best steaks I have had. The taste still lingers in my head and my taste buds are craving. This is a must have if you visit.  In fact all is a must have if you visit.   I can't wait to go back, and plotting my order.