New Column! The Department of Grub and Grog debuts with a look at the Tom Douglas Empire.

Ms KayCee from our new Department of Grub & Grog REALLY likes the pretzels at Tom Douglas's Bravehorse Tavern.

When I first moved to Seattle three years ago, I was dinking around the kitchen section of Metropolitan Market in West Seattle. I headed over to the cookbooks and snagged a book by local chef Tom Douglas. Despite developing my love for food while living in Portland, I was new to Seattle and I had never heard of Tom Douglas. I stood there reviewing his recipes and was amazed. Later that afternoon I went home and googled Tom, found out he had a few restaurants in Seattle and I couldn’t wait to begin my journey.

My first Tom Douglas restaurant experience was a lazy afternoon at Serious Pie. After ordering their special of the day, a pizza of Wild Boar Sausage with Yukon Potatoes and Sea Salt, I was in love. I had never experienced a pizza so amazing with so many flavors. At that moment, I became a member of the “Tom Douglas Fan Club”.

For my birthday, my lovely wife made reservations at Palace Kitchen. She knew what a fan I was simply based on a cookbook and Serious Pie, so she wanted to add to my list of TD restaurant experiences. Twelve of my closest friends and I sat at Palace Kitchen, in a warm room, sipping on weak drinks, eating sub-par food. Now, if it was 3am in the morning and I was walking down Broadway and wanted something to eat, this food would be amazing, but it was not 3am and I had not had enough off the weak drinks to be inebriated enough to not realize how bland, boring, unseasoned, overcooked and horribly plated this food was. I was so disappointed after that experience but because Serious Pie was so amazing I remained a fan, a disappointed fan but still a fan.

When I heard that TD was getting ready to implode on South Lake Union with 3 new restaurants and another Serious Pie, I couldn’t be happier since I live and work in the area. When Serious Pie opened in SLU, I was there with bells on. I ate pizza, drank wine and walked out as happy as a pig in mud. On my way out the door I stopped at the café on the bottom floor and picked up a peanut butter cookie from the Dahlia Bakery. This was the best cookie I had ever eaten and the perfect end to my lunch. Could it be that TD is just the king of pizza and cookies? Well, no.

A few days later I headed to the Bravehorse Tavern with some work associates. We had no idea what to expect but when we walked in we couldn’t have been happier. This was our kind of place. Waiters in jeans and t-shirts, long communal tables, a bar planted dead center in the restaurant and shuffleboard tables. We sat down and ordered fresh baked pretzels, house made sausage, fried cheese curds, sandwiches, potatoes and drinks. We stayed there for 4 hours! The food was simple and perfect. Fresh pretzels were being baked right next to me and the smell from the oven made my heart flutter. Bravehorse Tavern regained my faith in TD after the horrible experience at Palace Kitchen.

MORE after the JUMP!

Bottom line; Serious Pie, YES! Palace Kitchen, HELL NO! Bravehorse Tavern, DAMN YES! CUOCO??? A Northern Italia-centric TD restaurant in South Lake Union. Well, I had to know. So last Friday my wife and I decided to plan a double-date with some friends. We took the S.L.U.T from my office down to Cuoco and the excitement was a little overwhelming because I had been salivating over the menu all day. We were immediately greeted by the hostess and sat at our table, right next to another group of lesbians. (I always wonder if this is coincidence or on purpose.) Regardless, their khaki shorts, polo shirts, and visors would not spoil my anticipation or deter from the ambiance and since Cuoco had very dim lighting, I could barely see their Dorothy Hamill haircuts but sadly, that also meant I could barely see my wife or my friends.

Our waiter greeted us and I could tell he was not really excited about being there…I found him to be very boring and a little too straightforward to add any excitement to our evening. We ordered our cocktails and I had a wonderful Limoncello Basil Collins with vodka (I don’t do gin). The drink was refreshing, mixed perfectly and had just the right amount of basil to add a level of flavor but not too much so as to overwhelm your taste buds. After ordering our drinks our appetizer was presented. We ordered the housemade bread served with extra virgin olive oil tasting and Burrata (mozzarella) with figs and olive topped crostini. Our server very perfectly explained the differences in the olive oils and I appreciated his knowledge but felt he was reading from a script. (It reminded me of when Cindy Crawford tried to be in actress in the 90’s: pure fail.) When he sat the Burrata plate on the table and we dug in and it was gone in 30 seconds. I can’t decide if that was because we were so hungry or because there was actually something special about the dish. I am going to go with hungry because nothing stands out to me about the dish in this moment.

It was time for our entrees. My wife and I shared the Cuoco lasagna made with 7 layers of fresh pasta sheets, bolognese, béchamel and parmesan. We decided on a vegetable side of leeks, cipollini onions and balsamic reduction. Our friends ordered the gnocchi, lamb ravioli and a fava bean with poached egg dish. I grabbed my fork and begin tasting from everyone’s plate. Our lasagna was decent but not spectacular. It was a little dry and the sauce was basic and flavorless. The sausage used in the lasagna was ground fine and spiced just enough to compliment the béchamel, but this was not the best lasagna I have had in Seattle, not even close. I tried my friend’s gnocchi and the sauce was spectacular, creamy and tart with texture from the walnut pieces added at the end. On the other hand the gnocchi was soft and boring. I prefer chewy and dense or light and airy; this was neither and I was sad that it wasn’t better. I skipped the lamb ravioli for personal reasons; yeah I know I am a big sissy. Our side of leeks and onions were meh. Nothing exciting and honestly the onions and leeks were underdone and not caramelized enough to add the sweet flavor that I love from leeks and onions.

Now here is where Cuoco surprised me and won a tiny itty bitty piece of my heart. My friend had a fava bean dish topped with a perfectly poached egg. As the dish sat in front of her I patiently anticipated the breaking of the egg, she cut through it and it was glorious. The yolk poured over the fava beans and then married with the olive oil, fresh ground pepper and salt on the plate. I grabbed my fork and help myself to the perfect bite of all that goodness. The texture of the fava beans was hard yet soft enough to create a buttery taste and the freshness of the beans added even more flavor; the yolk from the egg and the simple seasoning of salt and freshly ground pepper created the perfect sauce to coat the beans. I was in heaven. After finishing off three or four bites of her dish, I sat back and thought wow that was so good. But, then I looked around the table, saw the other dishes and thought about the overall inconsistency of the dishes and realized I was ready to go upstairs to the Bravehorse for a pretzel and a beer. Cuoco is a Northern Italian disappointment, not because of the food but because of how much you have to pay for food that isn’t worth the money. I expected more from my boy Tom Douglas so I will have to put Cuoco in the group in between HELL – YES and HELL – NO,  I am thinking I will call it, “only when drunk or someone else is paying”  or in this case, “unless someone else is paying and I am too drunk to drive to Cascina Spinasse”.

The next TD joint to try will be Ting Momo, Tom Douglas does Tibet. That should be interesting.