BlatherMunch15: walla walla wash and kalamazoo!

To get our heads out of our (asses) computers, me and the World's Tiniest Architect headed for the Walla Walla Valley, for a foodie respite sans laptops.

With all the viniculture and winemaking, Walla Walla is trying to turn itself into the new Napa. They've  attracted some big city chefs and restaurateurs turning this charming college/penitentiary town into one of the best-restauranted towns of its size I know.

(IAs we rolled along, I sang a few songs of the open road then launched into my didactic monologues recounting my long, fascinating life which almost put the Architect into an at-wheel coma. I waxed on about the fond memories of being witness to state's the last execution in 2000 -- an experience shared by Seattle P-I reporter, now food editor, Rebekah Denn. Death in the wee hours made me hungry, and sadly these wonderful new eateries did not yet exist. I slaked my post execution cravings on cheeseburgers, and canned beer).

26 Brix  207 W Main St., Walla Walla
Owned by former Seattle chef Mike Davis, Brix is a big place in an old building with old brick, a short,sweet menu and a fabulous men's room with monstrous, rococco urinals. We had tortelloni (a large tubular pasta cut on the bias) stuffed with ricotta, goat cheese, toasted pine nuts and warm bacon with balsamic. Also roast chicken in a deep pool of the corniest polenta we've ever had which bought me to a litany of old jokes from college which I felt needed to be recounted (just for the record) but the recitation of which nearly ruined the evening. I don't remember the deserts that well: it was a yogic orgasm of pineapple, anise langues du chats. lime ice cream, dulce leche, cilantro syrup, and huckleberry creme brulée arranged on several plates in some order. It's all jumbled in my mind like one of those college post-beer sex fests recalled only as fleeting flashes of blazing body parts, breathing, and fistfuls of hair.

Saffron Mediterranean Kitchen 125 W Alder, Walla Walla
Chris Ainsworth, ended up in Seattle at the Fish Club after following Boston Super chef Todd English around the country opening restaurants. His menu would seem to be risky in the small town of Walla Walla, but he he packs them in every night to scarf up Kobe beef cheeks; grilled quail; juniper spiced lamb. We had little plates --as many as we could -- Kobe beef tongue on skewers with pig heart, salsa verde, and a sardine sauce (which lept up off the plate and screamed in my face); a small, olive oil-poached octopus with potato purée and pimentos; pappardelle with braised pork; a grilled asparagus salad with grilled young onions, sherry vinegar, peppers, and Valdeon, a blue-veined French cheese. This pushed us as we pushed it and we put it away admirably (everyone said so). This joint would be as hot in Seattle as it is in Squalor Waller, and we were glad we came. Ainsworth's wife is named Island (more proof that no or very few men actually can be one... an island, I mean) a four foot tall Seattle native of Vietnamese extraction, who runs their Pho place next door by day, and nights at Saffron, she smoothing the edges, and unruffles the feathers of the poor saps who can't get in.

Colville Street Patisserie  40 S. Colville,Walla Walla
Matt Zack has worked for Essential Baking in Seattle and was the pastry chef at the long gone 727 Pine when it was still under the reign of Chef Danielle Custer and still terrific in Seattle's Elliot Grand Hyatt. He's doing classical French pastry but has some rare riffs that have given him a cultish following.

Cannelé, hard and cold outside,
soft and warm inside

Like the kouign aman, the buttery, caramelized, salty, barely sweet, pastry of Breton. Also the cannelé, a small French pastry with a soft and tender custard center and a dark, thick caramelized crust that has a mystique in France and are hard to find elsewhere. Zack uses the traditional bee's wax to line his ice-cold fluted, tin-lined copper molds, which are filled with the batter, then placed in a very hot oven and baked for a very long time, Their outer crunch and perfume-y custardy innards give glimpses of lifestyles probably never even dreamed of in the Palouse. There is real coffee; and brioche, danish and croissants.

(Being offline and unplugged, I found myself growing snappish and mean. Betraying our sacred trust, I picked phony little arguments with The Architect giving an excuse to stomp out of our suite of rooms at La Quinta to sneak off to an Internet cafe and drown my consciousness and sense of disconnectivity in long draughts of Yahoo, Google, and TypePad).

We drove North to Dayton and Waitsburg, two burgeoning wine burgs straining to be become LaConnerized. In Waitsburg, we again found ex-pat Seattleites who have built Seattle-quality eating establishments in the tiny town and are not only making the wine travelers very happy but are also bringing in the locals.

jimgermanbar  119 Main St. Waitsburg

Jim German, an artist was a Belltown and Pike Market habitue and dayjobber; working at Campagne among other places. He and partner Claire Johnson, another artist have bought and revamped a century-old Odd Fellows Hall in this partly moribund little ag town to install his bar, and her gallery, the AMO Art Gallery. He serves little plates, Etruscan snacks, beer from Waitsburg’s Laut Nepur brewery, inexpensive European wine, and big, classic  drinks, coming as he does from the Belltown cocktail culture. She serves large paintings.

WhoopemUp Hollow  120 Main St., Waitsburg,

Me-o-my-oh, Whoompemup is Cajun and as authentic as a buffalo fish. There's jambalaya, with andouille, tasso, duck, chicken, battered fried okra and rice. There's barbecued baby back ribs (not sure where the babies came from, trust they're local); and fried catfish, seafood etouffée, cheesy grits, and 4 (four) kinds of cornbread come served-up in a bucket like Champagne.

There's no comparable Cajun/creole place in Seattle any more, and this leapt into that breach, for us. More Seattleites: Bryant Bader was day chef at the venerable Bill's Off Broadway on Pine Street in Seattle where he was famed as a soup-maker and innovator in what is essentially a breakfast/lunch place. He and his wife Valerie Mudry, a well-known Seattle pastry chef and chocolatier (Brasa, Fish Club) have joined with some locals to create this homey, sophisticated, well-appointed delivery system for the ultimate comfort cuisine.

Needles to say, lipid levels and blood pressure high-flying, we aimed the prow of the old Desoto westward after four days, fasting and living on nothing but pure air and pure water, but with one little stop on the way home:

Los Hernandez, 3706 Main St. in Union Gap. 3706 Main St., Union Gap

This tiny family run place is renowned on both sides of the mountains for one thing: tamales. (Besides, that's all they sell). They have all the usual kinds: chicken, pork, etc. but this time of year there's asparagus & cheese, which may not be entirely authentico, but make people drive to the Yakima Valley on day trips from Seattle to pick up a dozen or so.

Comments

[sparky]

My favorite part of the state, for sure. But since you are a wealthy writer and such, and I am....not, it is nice to read about all those places and experience it vicariously.
This goes into my travel file under "next time."

[joanie hussein]

What a wonderful read, Michael. I love road trips and can't wait for our yearly trek to Chelan.

We will have to include detours taking us to some of these various places. Last year's attempts at winery stops was ill-planned and unproductive.

Walla Walla? I would never have thought a market existed in Walla Walla for such high achievers in the culinary arts! I imagine that these entrepreneurs are not rolling in "dough" and that their trade is somewhat seasonal? Mainly tourists?

Or have these small towns experienced such growth that they can sustain wonderful eateries described above?

Your post piques my curiosity.

BTW, one of my vegetarian parents this year gave me a book called Omnivore's Dilemma. I thought of that at your mention of pig heart above. There is a limit to the choices on my personal menu.

Anyway, great column and sounds like you had a really fun time. Sorry and glad you missed posting. We missed you.

[sparky]

Joanie, WW is becoming a mecca for the wine lovers of the West. It is a year-round destination, and their wines are delectable...and expensive! They really are becoming the Napa of the north. Because of the costs involved,we have been focusing our forays around Red Mountain and the Columbia Valley...just as excellent and half the price. When we'd go to WW, we'd stay in the EconoLodge because it takes dogs and has free wi-fi and didn't cost a week's wages! So, there are much nicer lodgings in Tri-Cities that take doggies, have the wi-fi and they throw in free breakfast. Ice House Brewery has great fish and chips,
(I am not a huge beer fan but their food is good) and there is a really good Mexican restaurant in Kennewick we visit each time. So, our culinary experience in Eastern WA is a lot different than Michael's but maybe someday we can visit some of those places too.

By the way, can you elaborate on how your winery visit was un-productive? I love going into unknown wineries to see if their stuff is good or crappy...in hot weather, most let PuppyDog come in and lie on the cool tile or cement floors. We learn a lot about the process of winemaking and marketing every time we visit with the owners. Kinda like being able to go chat up a chef at a nice restaurant..if you could do such a thing.

[joanie hussein]

Ah, sorry, Sparky. I just returned from having brunch with my twelve kids, their twelve SO's, and my sixty-four grandkids.

Now, regarding winery tours. I said ill-planned? Well, how about - "hey, guys, let's catch a few wineries on the way..."

We tried. Went out of our way for a couple (two) only to find that one (kind of by the Gorge) was more interested in our buying cute things and cookbooks while the guy behind the wine counter continued talking to a neighbor of some sort. (He wasn't a traveler!)

Guess we could have ordered a bottle but we were sort of interested in ambiance as well. There wasn't any.

Then we went to another one off the beaten track which wasn't open yet.

I had googled a winery map of sorts and we tried. It really needs to be a trip all by itself with definite confirmed reservations - at least confirmed that they are open-type reservations.

We decided it was time to just move on to Chelan.

The best winery visits we've had are those we run into on our smaller day trips. We found a teeny-tiny one near Coupeville, I think, that was a ramshackle kind of place with a sign out front. The proprietor was great fun, we shared a lot of memories, and he poured freely. We bought freely as well.

Maybe we were supposed to roll up in our Rolls to get the "treatment" at the first.

Who knows?

I'm still a novice at winery tours.

[Lazy Murrow]

I go Pogo!

Swaller dollar cauliflower alleygaroo!

[joanie]

No, worruM yzaL,
It's !ogoP og I.

[sparky]

If you ever go into a Safeway, go to the wine department and ask for the 2008 guide to Washington Wineries. It lists them all and the days and hours they are open. We dont go to the ones that require an appointment because then you are inferring you will buy something from them...and what if the wine is crap? We also dont go into the ones that charge a tasting fee..again, what if it is crap? I come home with a lot of bottles of different kinds since we only go over about 3 times a year, and some of them can only be purchased at the winery. So we are not ones to go in and eat and drink up all the free stuff and then leave. I know what you mean about inattentive servers..that is one thing that will make us walk out. We don't need personalized service, but being acknowledged that we have come in to taste would be nice. We have found that more to be the case in WW than Red Mountain or Columbia Valley.
Chelan and Leavenworth are on the list of to do's. Gotta rob a bank first to pay for gas.

[joanie]

C'mon chucks. Come out to play. Sparky misses you. So do I - a little bit. A teeny-tiny bit. (imagine a smiley face here)

Without salesman, who would have sold me my beloved place at Birch Bay and little Subie?

Besides, I'm leaving for a few hours.

[pthom]

seriouseats.com does food blogging about x100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 times better