Giuseppes Italian Restaurant
1414 Cornwall Ave
Bellingham, WA 98225
(360) 714-9100
Website
We finally wandered into Giuseppes the other night to try one of the last few Italian places in Bellingham we hadn't been to yet.
Giuseppes is newly remodeled and I LOVED the atmosphere. It was cozy and warm feeling, even when the whole place was packed by 6pm. Around that time, they started the live piano music and I was in heaven.
The food at Giuseppes was fine, but once again I just wasn't that excited by it or blown away. It was nothing I couldn't make myself at home and the prices were once again in the $16-$20 range. I had the Shrimp pesto dish. (Linguini alla Bella) It was great pesto and succulent shrimp, but honestly it needed something to cut through all that richness. I added fresh tomatoes to my dish, which helped, but it needed something tangy like lemon or artichoke hearts. My husband had a gorgonzola cream sauce which suffered from the same problem. It needed something light and acidic to balance out the richness of the sauce.
The highlight of the meal was Tiramisu for dessert that I thought was absolutely perfect. My reccomendation if you are on a budget is to eat at home and then go to Giuseppes for wine & Tiramisu on a live piano night to soak up the romantic atmosphere. Otherwise, their pasta is quite good, but for me, not worth the hefty price tag.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Jimmy's House of Orient
I have eaten at this Thai restaurant on Holly Street twice now. The first time the food seemed like decent thai food in a somewhat funky atmosphere. Honestly, I was so amused at the techno beats and tight shirts all the waiters were wearing that I barely noticed the food. It had the atmostphere of a hip gay hangout instead of an exotic thai house.
I did notice that no one I saw in the restaurant looked even faintly Thai. This was our first attempt at finding a thai place in bellingham since moving from Seattle, where all the great Thai places are obviously run by Thai people. So I overlooked the caucasian males in skin tight shirts, but wasn't thrilled enough to go back.
Fast forward to yesterday.... With a 2 inch coating of ice on the roads and a strong craving for thai food, I started calling around to see who was open. Jimmy's was the only one who answered the phones and I remembered reading that they had won "best takeout" in the one of those newspaper awards thingys.
We didn't have a menu, so I started by asking if they had "pad woonsen". WHAT? No, I don't think so" answered the guy on the phone. Ok, how about "Pad Prik King" (a thai staple) "Phad prik who?" he answered. Finally I just asked for something with meat and plenty of veggies. "Oh, you defnitely want the Holy Basil" he said. That sounded excellent to me since I love fresh basil. Yum.
My husband brought the food home and imagine my dismay when I opened up my Holy Basil and found absolutely no basil whatsoever. Oh no wait, are those little green flecks dried basil? Apparently so.
WHO THE HECK PUTS DRIED BASIL IN A DISH CALLED "HOLY BASIL"??????
Second of all, if they were out of basil, why on earth did he recommend that dish to me? The sauce tasted like chicken broth, soy sauce and red chili flakes. Boring Boring Boring.
Jimmy's, you get a huge, giant thumbsdown. (second only to Blue Fin Sushi)
I did notice that no one I saw in the restaurant looked even faintly Thai. This was our first attempt at finding a thai place in bellingham since moving from Seattle, where all the great Thai places are obviously run by Thai people. So I overlooked the caucasian males in skin tight shirts, but wasn't thrilled enough to go back.
Fast forward to yesterday.... With a 2 inch coating of ice on the roads and a strong craving for thai food, I started calling around to see who was open. Jimmy's was the only one who answered the phones and I remembered reading that they had won "best takeout" in the one of those newspaper awards thingys.
We didn't have a menu, so I started by asking if they had "pad woonsen". WHAT? No, I don't think so" answered the guy on the phone. Ok, how about "Pad Prik King" (a thai staple) "Phad prik who?" he answered. Finally I just asked for something with meat and plenty of veggies. "Oh, you defnitely want the Holy Basil" he said. That sounded excellent to me since I love fresh basil. Yum.
My husband brought the food home and imagine my dismay when I opened up my Holy Basil and found absolutely no basil whatsoever. Oh no wait, are those little green flecks dried basil? Apparently so.
WHO THE HECK PUTS DRIED BASIL IN A DISH CALLED "HOLY BASIL"??????
Second of all, if they were out of basil, why on earth did he recommend that dish to me? The sauce tasted like chicken broth, soy sauce and red chili flakes. Boring Boring Boring.
Jimmy's, you get a huge, giant thumbsdown. (second only to Blue Fin Sushi)
Callaloo
Callaloo Carribean Kitchen
1212 N State St
Bellingham, WA 98225
(360) 676-5375
We ate at the new Carribean restaurant downtown a few weeks ago with some friends. I was quite excited to try it since I generally love that sort of exotic thing, but we ended up being underwhelmed. I ordered the house soup special which contained Okra, coconut milk and some other green stuff. Somehow it sounded yummy and healthy on the menu, despite the okra, but in person it just tasted green, like cooked okra. No spices to liven it up and only the faint taste of the coconut milk. I could barely get it down, maybe it was authentic, but it definitely was not what I expected.
Everyone else ordered a pasta special that had prawns, andouille sausage and veggies in a cajun cream sauce. It was pricey, around $16 if I remember right. The taste was fine, the prawns were beautiful, but it was loaded with eggplant which is definitely an acquired taste. Nobody loved it, although it was "ok".
I could see going back to try some of the more standard fair like jerk chicken, but the dishes we had that night didn't do much to make us want to go back again.
1212 N State St
Bellingham, WA 98225
(360) 676-5375
We ate at the new Carribean restaurant downtown a few weeks ago with some friends. I was quite excited to try it since I generally love that sort of exotic thing, but we ended up being underwhelmed. I ordered the house soup special which contained Okra, coconut milk and some other green stuff. Somehow it sounded yummy and healthy on the menu, despite the okra, but in person it just tasted green, like cooked okra. No spices to liven it up and only the faint taste of the coconut milk. I could barely get it down, maybe it was authentic, but it definitely was not what I expected.
Everyone else ordered a pasta special that had prawns, andouille sausage and veggies in a cajun cream sauce. It was pricey, around $16 if I remember right. The taste was fine, the prawns were beautiful, but it was loaded with eggplant which is definitely an acquired taste. Nobody loved it, although it was "ok".
I could see going back to try some of the more standard fair like jerk chicken, but the dishes we had that night didn't do much to make us want to go back again.
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