Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I love msg150! I'm in Seattle and work near the International District (full disclosure: I actually know the guys behind msg150, although I have not lunched with them on an official blog outing). The meticulousness, with which they document their trip around the DLZ (designated lunch zone), has resulted in some otherwise hidden gems surfacing as lunch options. No one else comes close to the coverage of the ID in Seattle. I don't always agree with their final overall ratings of a particular place, but with reviews from three to 11 (or more) lunchers it's easy to understand a variety of perspectives. The blog is funny, honest, and thorough.

today, Stilton!

dark!

I am thinking about a deconstructed (separating the breast & stuffing the legs) roasted turkey, or just roasting with some onions chucked in the pan.

stove-top then oven (dressing, not stuffing)

turkey, mayo, good bread.

Dark meat!

Hiroyuki Sakai on the original & Mario Batali (with sous chef Anne Burrell) on ICA.

My problem with grilled cheese is never getting the cheese slices to fit the bread properly and ending up uneven. After a tip from somewhere (I can't remember where now), I started shredding the cheese using the largest shred size on my shredder. Piling it on the bread that way results in cheese levels much easier to control. Of course, this does mean that sometimes errant shreds of cheese spill a little out of the sandwich and get browned, but I've learned to love that....

The sound and smell of the sear on the chicken skin as I place thighs in the stainless steel skillet on high as the fat renders and magical fond is born.

At the small startup where I work, most people actually go out to lunch most days of the week. Luckily, we are situated in a really great lunch food area near Pioneer Square in Seattle, and right next door to the 'international district'. Downtown/pike place market & the waterfront are both quick bus rides away. The groups change and like to vary the cuisine, price, walking distance, and atmosphere regularly. We have had lots of interesting discussions on the efficiency of particular lunch spots in dealing with the lunch rush and compile recommendations on online collaborative mapping sites.

I was pleasantly surprised the first time we all traipsed 6 blocks (slightly up hill) to spend over an hour at a busy dim sum place in the international district and all of my other coworkers were proficient in using chopsticks (the only utensils provided) and had favorites beyond the pork siu mai and humbow. We have (Armandino Batali's) Salumi around the corner and can have a great lunch if we leave early or late enough to avoid the line. Expensive lunches range up to $10 a piece, but usually stay around $5. The really cheap bahn mi ('two dollar sandwiches') are slightly further out of reach, but can be found.

Overall, I'm pretty lucky at work and can always find someone willing to go to the local cafe for a tasty sandwich on local bread with seasonal ingredients, enjoy a sizzling bibimbap, sip a huge bowl of pho, or even find a nice plate of linguine all vongole.