Tag: Everett

I never expected to find a Hawaiian restaurant in Everett, Washington. That is exactly what I found when I was walking through the cute downtown area.

Kama’ Aina Grindz is truly authentic Hawaiian cuisine. The owner is from Oahu, Hawaii. The food he serves up are dishes he grew up eating.

The restaurant is decorated with artwork representing Hawaii. Even when I walked through the door I was greeted with a loud Aloha!

  

I was curious about the name he chose. I headed to the website to learn about the meaning. Kama means child and Aina means land. Putting that together is means “Child of the Land”. Grindz is Hawaiian slang for “Eat”.

They did not have regular soda on the menu. They had a locally produced soda from the Dry Soda Company. These were all natural sodas that are caffeine and sodium free. They had some unique flavors to try. I went for Cucumber. There was a slight sweetness that was all natural. This soda was very refreshing with the taste of cucumber.

For dinner I ordered the Wiki Wiki Noodles Miso Ramen. This fresh made soup was loaded with shitake mushrooms, Julienne eggs, cubed tofu, and fresh made noodles.

This soup was fantastic. It was a nice salty broth. The eggs were really sweet. The tofu did not add any flavor but did add extra texture. The noodles were great. I needed to use a spoon and a fork to eat the soup because the noodles were so long. This was definitely a soup that is a whole meal.

After I finished, my waitress brought me a small dessert on the house. It was a raspberry-papaya sorbet. To me it was like a Hawaiian shaved ice. The taste was slightly tart and sweet. There was a nice creaminess too.

Kama’ Aina Grindz was a really great surprise. I am really glad I checked them out. If you are interested in visiting them check out their website at http://kamaainagrindz.com/

Mahalo!

Enjoy!
T

 

About 30 minutes north of downtown Seattle is Everett, Washington. Everett is home to a Boeing assembly plant. It is a huge plant that you cannot miss if you drive by. Everett’s downtown area is being revamped with lots of new restaurants, hotels, and fun things to do. One of those newer restaurants is The New Mexicans.

The owners are from Hatch, New Mexico. They are bringing some great flavors from New Mexico to the chilly North West in the form of their families recipes.

  

Since Hatch, New Mexico is known for their green chile peppers, I wanted to make sure I got a dish that incorporated them. The Green Chile Stew fit the requirement.

This stew had a green chile sauce base that was loaded with chucky pork, celery, okra, carrots, corn, and potatoes. The stew was deeply flavorful. The green chiles added more heat than I anticipated. The pork was extremely tender and fell apart as I picked it up. The stew was also served with a fresh hot roll. I used this to help cut down on the heat.

The table shared a basket of freshly made Sopapillas. These were amazing and acted as a wonderful dessert.  The dough was deep fried and came out extremely hot  and had melted butter on top. The dough itself was sweet and because of the butter there was a slight saltiness. These were addicting to eat. It was the pairing of both sweet and salty that did it for me.

This was the perfect place to grab lunch. When I talked to a few of the other patrons, this place apparently has a great happy hour and breakfast menu. Looks like I will be coming back.

Check them out at http://www.thenewmexicans.com/

Enjoy!

T

While in Everett, Washington, it was a must for me to enjoy a fresh seafood dinner. It was recommended that I check out Anthony’s Homeport that was in walking distance of my hotel. Anthony’s is located at the end of the pier at Everett Marina, not far from the Puget Sound Naval Complex. There are wonderful views of the water from both inside and outside of the restaurant.

      

It is peach season in Washington and Anthony’s wants to make sure everyone knows. They hung banners up to grab your attention and had fancy peach dessert and drink menus at each table.

    

I could not pass up something local so I started off with their Peach Cosmo. I loved that there was a fresh slice of peach floating in the drink. The flavor of the Cosmo was fantastic. The fresh peach puree that was used in the drink made all the difference; it kept the taste smooth with a touch of sweetness.

The table shared the fan favorite baked Dungeness crab, shrimp, and artichoke dip. I can understand why this dip is so popular, it is extremely creamy and loaded with crab meat and tiny bay shrimp. I could have easily filled up on this rich dish if I wasn’t sharing it.

Anthony’s had a Sunset dinner menu that I was excited to try. It came with an appetizer, chowder, an entrée plus a dessert. To start with I went for the Bay shrimp cocktail. The shrimp were kind of local, just down the road in Oregon. They were bite sized and chilled perfectly with a fresh cocktail sauce on top. Eating the shrimp with the chopped lettuce added a great crunch to each bite.

As soon as I finished my last bite of shrimp the cup of clam chowder came out. The broth was creamy, just like you would expect and it was loaded with fresh clams. That is really the key to perfect clam chowder – fresh clams, not frozen or canned.

They had many awesome options of seafood main courses. It was a hard choice but I settled on the ‘Northwest Duet” which was Alder planked wild Alaska Silver Salmon, topped with Oregon bay shrimp, and citrus butter. Plus it came with fresh green beans and a rice pilaf. It sounded like a lot of food but is was the prefect size portion. The citrus butter was not heavy and the zing of citrus complemented the shrimp and salmon. The salmon was cooked perfectly keeping it light and flakey.

For dessert I went for their Burnt Cream – which is their version of Crème Brulee. The sugar on top was caramelized exquisitely. The cream itself as smooth and had a fantastic vanilla flavor. The sweetness was the perfect way to send the meal.

If you are near the naval complex or the Everett Marina, stop by Anthony’s Homeport. Go for dinner or have a drink while you watch the sunset over the water.  www.anthonys.com

    

Enjoy!

T