Skillet Street Food
2941 First Avenue S.
Seattle (SoDo), Washington
March 5, 2010
Looking back, I don't quite remember when or how I found out about Skillet, a food cart that is built in those old school air-streamers. My guess is that I was probably on some food blog about two to three years ago, and how Seattle has a number of food and foodie renegades who want to do things different from the norm. I liked the idea that Skillet, who say they are "a modern American diner", would park in various spots every weekend throughout Seattle, and the only way people knew where they were was if they followed them on Twitter or went to their website. "How in the world do you follow a truly mobile food establishment?" you may be asking, and one possible answer is "with determination." There are articles online where owner Joshua Henderson had to deal with peculiar rules and regulations in Seattle, some legit, some a bit questionable. Two to three years later, Skillet has continued to maintain their reputation for offering quality food, and when I say "quality", it's no joke.
On a day where I would pick up family from the airport, I looked to see where Skillet would be, as this would be the day I would have my first Skillet meal. I've read about the quality of what they simply called "The Burger", and how it featured their own bacon jam. I know, various porkaholics are praising anything and everything for their tasty swine, so while I knew Skillet's bacon jam was not sweet but savory, I was still interested in how it tasted and what it would be like on a burger.
Some Google Map research the day before lead to the discover that this place wouldn't be difficult to find. It was in the SoDo part of Seattle, or within the vicinity of Safeco Field. It's very much the industrial part of Seattle, which is where Skillet first started. I knew I would be ordering The Burger, which is described as "grass fed (beef), arugula, bacon jam, bleu, soft roll", but they were also serving a Fried Chicken Sammy: "apple celery root slaw, piquillo pepper aioli". I love a good burger, so once I reached SoDo, I rolled down my window to sense the smell of good food. I looked for smoke, as some other websites and blogs had said, but nothing. I was close to the address listed, and to my right a thing of beauty: the silver bullet, the Air-Streamer. The food cart known as Skillet.
(Above photo taken from Skillet's Facebook gallery.)
I turned down the street, made myself around, and in an open lot with no parking restriction signs, I parked my car and waited in line. It had only taken about seven minutes for me to reach the front, and I chose to eat "The Burger" with fries. On other websites and blogs, The Burger had a price of $7. Another one said it would be $8. On this day it was $11, which I'll be honest, was a bit pricey. However, reviews of Skillet would mention that this is a true gourmet burger, that quality is obvious, so if I was going to pay $11 for a burger, I might as well go for the fries for an additional $2. After only a two minute wait, my name was called, and Henderson himself handed me the box of food, the box being eco-friendly.
There were no tables or chairs, and while I had the option to walk to my car and eat, I chose to hang on the wall and eat with the rest of the others. I had the fries first because while I love a food burger, I wasn't going to pig out just yet. Yet out of this box was an aroma that was too hard to resist, and I also didn't want to weigh myself down on fries before I had my first bite. Then I had it. Oh man. This was also my first hamburger from grass-fed beef, something I've known about and have wanted to try in recent years, but had yet to try (I have seen them available at local farmer's markets). The first thing I loved was the quality of the beef, this was no cheapy corn-filled McDonald's beef. It was juicy, and mix that with the bun, it was delightful. Yeah, maybe delightful isn't a word I'd use in normal conversations, but give me a bit of liberty, this is what the burger was. The bleu cheese was not overwhelming, and I think that had a lot to do with the quality of the beef, it was a perfect gel. But what sealed it for me was the bacon jam. Wicked this was. Ladies, if you want your man to go absolutely nuts, slap some bacon jam on you and let him go crazy. Bacon in a hamburger or cheeseburger is one thing, but to have this new "jam" that mixes up bacon with onions, herbs, and... oh man. As I'm eating the sandwich, the sandwich slowly breaks about because it's moist and juicy. This is only a cue for the bacon jam to hit close to the fries, but you realize while you would love to have your fries covered in bacon jam, it would take away from the burger.
The sandwich itself is not as small as photos I had seen in blogs, it was a nice, "healthy" size, definitely not a slider. I wanted to take my time. There is no need for any additional sauces, all the flavor you need is there (although they do have ketchup bottles near the cashier). As I'm eating the sandwich, I'm realizing that the whole idea behind Skillet is that they're serving "gourmet food" as "street food" out of an air-streamer, this isn't Grade F Wendy's beef. When I was done, it felt like I had a great burger. Maybe it had to do with the search, the anticipation, but a big part of it was having something described as being of quality, and realizing it is very much that. I highly recommend this place, wherever they may be. If you happen to be in Seattle and see them parked somewhere, find the best place to park and wait in line.
DESSERT
Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream
1622.5 N 45th St.
Seattle (Wallingford), Washington
March 5, 2010
While I love my food, I don't normally have a dessert when I'm at a restaurant, nor do I have a snack when I go home. It's final, that's it. However, with a lot of extra time on hands, I wanted to visit one of two places. One was Family Doughtnut Shop (2100 N Northgate Way), the other was Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream (1622.5 N 45th St., Wallingford). While I love a good doughnut, I also like a quality ice cream, and this is an ice cream shoppe that is not only of homemade quality, but with as many of his ingredients being local and regional. On top of this, owner Molly Moon Neitzel was the executive director of Music for America, the website that ran my column The Run-Off Groove for almost five years. I at least wanted to say hello and show my support of a business that has received praised in many websites, blogs, and national food magazines.
While she was not at the time, it was great to see a small but humble ice cream shop which at the time featured a lady with a newspaper, a lady with her child, and another lady bringing in an older lady (60's or 70's) for a scoop. The younger lady wanted her to try an ice cream that had a spicy flavor (I think it was the pomegranate curry sorbet) and the older lady goes "oh no, this would be too much for me". I chose the Maple Walnut in a waffle cone, which are made in the store. I love the creaminess of the ice cream, and the flavor... nice quality maple that didn't taste artificial, and the walnuts were just the right size. They also serve it up to three scoops, or if you're into it, you can have their flavors turned into a milkshake. I did have a sample of their Vivace Coffee flavor, which has a nice rich taste, so if you love your (why or why did I need) cappucino and want to try it frozen, go here. According to her store blog, Molly Moon's will soon have their own ice cream truck, which will be perfect with spring only a few weeks away.
Excellent.
