Lunch #9: Specialty's Cafe & Bakery

With today's lunch we completed a full circumnavigation of the DLZ and were pulled in by the first of a few chain restaurants that will be caught up in the MSG150. Specialty's is in the base of Paul Alan's swanky office building next to Union Station. As we left the office, Dave repeated a number of good arguments that we could use to amend rule #1 so that we could avoid these chains, but we are committed to eating at every restaurant in the ID and Specialty's is no exception. Dave stayed behind.

Specialty's Cafe & Bakery, Seattle
Address: 505 5th Avenue S, Seattle, WA 98104
Cuisine: American: Deli, American: Bakery
Average rating: 2.8 chopsticks
Lunch date: 11/29/2007 @ 11:39:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 1 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 6 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 8 minutes
Chopstix quality: N/A
Do they use MSG?: No
Where is the owner/chef from?: Based out of San Francisco, they have 17 stores in 4 cities. The guy who pass our sandwiches through the window was from Seattle.
Number of tables: 1
Number of occupied tables: 1 (100%)
Number of business lunch tables: 1 (100%)
Number of "local" tables: 1 (100%)
Healthcode Score: 18
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: Hot Italian - $6.25
Rating:

Geary's Review

Specialty's is a chain out of San Francisco that is capitalizing on putting "gourmet" delis with fresh baked goods into high rent office parks and business districts. They are focused on serving the business workers and do so by making it easy to cater meetings and order pick-up on the web. Their web site claims that they often get discounts on rent because a good deli improves the value of the office space. You order at the counter and the sandwiches is delivered to-go out of a magical sandwich cave. There is limited seating inside at stools along the window.

If I were in an office park, miles from decent food, I might be glad if there were a Specialty's near by, but I'm not. I work in a location where I can eat a month of lunches at different places that I think are much better than average and be served by the owners.

Specialty's has good cookies and the sandwiches are fine, but not good as the $2.50 sub at the S&FB and a lot more expensive.

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: Hot Italian - $6.25
Rating:

Emmett's Review

Meh. My first experience at Specialty's was meh, so I wasn't particularly looking forward to this second visit. However, I went in with an open mind and was pleasantly surprised. The guy taking my order was a bit too smug for my taste. He had a sarcastic look on his face, spoke with that faux-pleasantness-I'm-better-than-you attitude that always pisses me off. We're not at the Apple Store dude! Anyhoo, he took my order quickly and professionally, so I headed over to the bullpen to collect my food.

I ordered the Hot Italian and a cookie. Oh the cookies. I know they're good, but we're here to judge the lunch, not the dessert. The sandwich was good. Not great, but tasty. The bread was the best part, the Hot Italian came on a nice focaccia with a good mix of veggies and meat. The sandwich wasn't too hot though, I think they just toasted the bread or something.

The cookie was great.

So though good, for sandwiches I'd prefer Subway, Quiznos, Tats, and Salumi to Specialty's. But if my friends are going, I'll tag along.

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: Hot Cheesy Steak - $6.35
Rating:

Adam's Review

Can you say "out of place"? Specialty's doesn't really fit the mold of the places we're going. Whatever, its in the DLZ.

I've been here before, so I knew I wanted to get one of their "hot" sandwiches. I got the Hot Cheesy Steak Sandwich, which was a nice and flavorful. What would you expect on a Hot Cheesy Steak Sandwich? Roast Beef. Cheese. Hotness. But they put lots of other stuff on there too: Provolone, Plain Cream Cheese, Red Onion, Mushroom, Mixed Bell Peppers, Pepperoncini, Toasted Country Ciabatta Roll, Mayonnaise, Stone Ground Mustard, Roast Beef.(from their sandwiches page)

In general, I'm not a big fan of chain restaurants. As far as chains go, this is decent.

Fast service. Accepts Credit Card. Slightly Expensive for what you get. Basically, it gets a rating of "meh." Basically, there is nothing wrong with the place.

Luncher: Rob

Lunch: The Mediterranean - $7.25
Rating:

Rob's Review

Specialty's. Good thing Chinatown is now called the International District, otherwise this chain sandwich and bakery place wouldn't be allowed. Yeah, the sandwiches I've had there have been a mixed bag, and they've all had a certain oily edge to them, for better or for worse. The Mediterranean -- "new!" -- was pretty good. Ingredients were fresh, and the overall taste was good, but, in the end, there's nothing I found particularly special about it. It's just a regular old lunch. With kalamata olives. I guess that's one special thing about this sandwich -- I think it's the first I've seen with kalamata olives. One odd thing about their thyme focaccia bread: there is a sprinkling of salt on top. It's good salt and seems to go with the sandwich, but I'm just generally not a big fan of salt on my bread. Their freshly baked cookies are quite good, though. Mmm, cookies.

I was tempted to skip out on Specialty's, but the next handful of restaurants definitely don't serve my kind. So this will be my last lunch with the MSG150 crowd until Made in Kitchen, which I'm quite looking forward to. I wish my fellow lunchers the best of luck at the Maxang Deli.

Luncher: Michael

Lunch: Hot Hammer - $7.75
Rating:

Specialty's Cafe & Bakery Photos

Specialty's Cafe & Bakery


Specialty's Cafe & Bakery


The Bakery Part


The Sandwich Part


Cookie


Hot Italian (AKA Fabio)


Hot Cheesy Steak


Hot Hammer


The Mediterranean

Lunch #8: Szechuan Noodle Bowl

We headed out, again, for the Szechuan Noodle Bowl and this time it was open. The window lures were faded, but were enough to build a some excitement in the MSG150 group as we entered. We were a large group for such a small place, but got there early enough that they were able to seat us all at one table without a wait.

Szechuan Noodle Bowl, Seattle
Address: 420 8th Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104
Cuisine: Chinese: Szechuan
Average rating: 4.1 chopsticks
Lunch date: 11/28/2007 @ 11:45:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 0 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 12 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 60 minutes
Chopstix quality: Smooth Wood
Do they use MSG?: No
Where is the owner/chef from?: Husband is from Chongqing and wife is from Shanghai.
Number of tables: 9
Number of occupied tables: 7 (77%)
Number of business lunch tables: 4 (57%)
Number of "local" tables: 0 (0%)
Healthcode Score: 0
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: Original Beef Noodle with Soup - $5.75
Rating:

Adam's Review

I finally found one: I'm going to rate this place a 5.

The atmosphere here is stunning. I grew up in rural eastern Washington, so I'm no newbie to plastic horsies (90% of the girls in Deer Park are "the crazy horse girl" from your high school). Apparently the owners of Szechuan Noodle Bowl aren't newbs either. The pictures on the wall of plastic horsies really class the joint up.

The starters: Green Onion Pancakes. There were eight of us, and the pancakes were cut into six slices... therefore we had to order two of them. This was a $3 treasure. I sacrificed myself, and decided that I wouldn't eat a piece of the first pancake. When the second pancake came out, I ate my piece like an addict eats crack. I'm recalling all of the flavors right now. Flaky and savory dough. Fresh from the pan warmness. Mild but "present" onion flavor. I'm pretty sure that the next time I go to Szechuan Noodle Bowl, I'm just going to order a short-stack of these.

After devouring through our first appetizer, we were all thanking our respective gods that we had also ordered the Dumplings with Hot and Spicy Sauce. The filling in these dumplings was p-e-r-f-e-c-t. Firm enough maintain its shape, but soft enough that you don't feel like you're eating Pb (Thats lead). On the second bite of my dumpling, I scooped some of the Hot and Spicy sauce into my dumpling. Jackpot. The sauce is tangy, spicy, and all sorts of awesome.

Because almost everyone else was ordering the Szechuan Beef Noodle, I decided to get something different: Original Beef Noodle with Soup. Basically, a less spiced version of the Szechuan Beef Noodle with Soup. The most obvious difference between the two is the color of the broth. Mine is mostly clear with a yellowy-brown tint. The Szechuan version was so dark that you couldn't see the bottom of the bowl. The bowl the soup comes in is kind of small, but amazingly filling. What I found most amazing about this soup was the tenderness of the meat. The meat was soft and completely not stringy!

.

Awesome atmosphere. Amazing food. Low Prices. Nice Service.

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: Szechuan Beef Noodle with Soup - $5.75
Rating:

Geary's Review

The Szechuan Noodle Bowl is not much to look at, but what it lacks in atmosphere, it more than makes up in tasty goodness. The small restaurant has very basic furnishings and decor including, oddly, large artful photos of plastic toy horses.

In addition to each of us ordering a noodle soup, we also ordered Green Onion Pancakes and Won Ton in Hot & Spicy Sauce for the table to share. Both were exceptional. The pancake was rich and flavorful and served just seconds after it was pulled from the griddle. The Won Ton were outstanding. The dough was meaty (in a good way) and clearly handmade. The filling was well seasoned and firm. The dumpling trinity was rounded out with a tangy and spicy sauce that brought the tastes and textures together in delicious harmony.

I ordered the Szechuan Beef Noodle with Soup which came out of the kitchen first. I could hardly contain myself trying to be polite and wait for others to be served. The broth was amazingly rich. It was like liquid spicy pot roast. The beef chunks were tender and not at all stringing. The bok choy was fresh and crisp. It was a perfect beefy concoction.

The Szechuan Noodle Bowl is #1 for me so far in the MSG150 quest and I am torn between giving it four or five chopsticks. If we allowed half ratings I would split the difference. I am tempted to hold out five chopsticks only for perfection, but I fear if I do that I will never rate anything a five. So the Szechuan Noodle Bowl earns from chopsticks from me.

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: Szechuan Beef Noodle with Soup - $5.75
Rating:

Emmett's Review

I was pleasantly surprised Szechuan Noodle Bowl. Both the exterior and the interior are very unassuming, so at first glance, there's not much to talk about. They have pictures of fake horsies on the wall. They claim all their food is made fresh and from scratch. Their menu is also short and with a limited set of options.

We ordered the green onion pancake and 10 dumplings in hot and spicy sauce to share. The pancake was good, the dumplings were out of this world. They were piping hot, spicy, flavorful, and awesome. I think next time I might make a whole meal of the dumplings. For the main course I went with the Szechuan Beef Noodle with Soup. The broth was dark and rich with beefy flavor. The beef itself was like pot roast, and was very tender. The noodles were roundish flour/egg noodles, and had a nice flavor and consistency. They added some hot to the soup so it had a nice spicy tasty, but not overwhelming. The spicyiness mixed with the beef reminded me of pepperoni, in a good way.

Overall, very good lunch. I'll definitely be back.

Luncher: Dave

Lunch: Szechuan Beef Tendon Noodle with Soup - $5.75
Rating:

Dave's Review

this place is a definite keeper. the appetizers were very good. the pancakes were thick and savory, and the sauce on the dumplings had a nice tanginess that was a good foil for the pork filling. we made a rookie mistake: finishing the pancakes before the dumplings came meant that we didn't have pancake left over to sop up dumpling broth. never again!

the bread-and-butter here is clearly the szechwan noodle bowls. which if you think about it is a pretty convenient coincidence, given the name of the joint. mine, the szechwan beef tendon version, was spectacular. the broth was unbelievably rich and beefy, and the spiciness was spot-on. i'm a sucker for thick flour noodles, and these were fantastic, soft like udon; they were almost more like dumplings. last but certainly not least, the tendon was soft, rich, and gelatinous.

for me the bottom line is this: if you're going for noodle soup in the ID, pho is the default choice. but as of now, as much as i love Pho Bac, i'm thinking i'm going to be heading for szechwan instead.

Luncher: Erin

Lunch: Shredded Chicken Noodle with Soup - $5.75
Rating:

Erin's Review

Given the dingy, cafeteria setting, I did not expect much. I was wrong. Our table shared Green Onion Pancake, Pork Wontons, and I had the shredded chicken noodle in soup. The Green onion pancakes were the best I’ve had, crispy fried on the inside and soaking up sauce perfectly. The wontons were flavorful and the wrap was fresh. My soup was in a tasty chicken broth, not spicy, with fresh steamed baby bok choi and chicken breast with the round buckwheat noodles. It was warming and delicious and I could only eat half. I will more than likely go back to have this soup again. Four Chopsticks.

Luncher: Rob

Lunch: Vegetable Noodle with Soup - $5.00
Rating:

Rob's Review

I'm torn on Szechuan Noodle Bowl. On the plus side, their green onion pancake was quite good and when I ordered the vegetable noodle with soup they asked if I wanted veggie or meat broth, which is always a good sign to me. On the minus side, the soup turned out to be just noodles and bok choy and broth; everyone else's bowls consisted of noodles and bok choy and broth and meat -- it would've been nice if they'd swapped in something else for the meat, like mushrooms or tofu. I did think that, by themselves, the noodles were chewy goodness and the bok choy was fresh and the veggie broth was pretty solid, but all together the dish didn't add up to something greater than the sum of its parts. The veggie broth didn't have much kick to it, either, but spooning in some hot sauce fixed that. All in all, I don't feel particularly compelled to order the vegetable noodle with soup again, but there's at least one other main veggie dish to try, as well as the veggie dumplings (which, I suppose, could be a main dish in and of themselves -- 10 pieces per order!). So, if some other dish clicks for me, I'd easily bump my rating up to 4.

Luncher: Al

Lunch: Szechuan Beef Noodle with Soup - $5.75
Rating:

Al's Review

I need a ghost writer if you expect me to contribute to this blog.

Luncher: Jeff

Lunch: Szechuan Beef Noodle with Soup - $5.75
Rating:

Szechuan Noodle Bowl Photos

Szechuan Noodle Bowl


Window Lures


Green Onion Pancake


Won Ton with Hot and Spicy Sauce


Swallowing Clouds of Goodness


Szechuan Beef Noodle with Soup


Szechuan Beef Noodle with Soup in action


Szechuan Beef Tendon Noodle with Soup


Shredded Chicken Noodle with Soup


Vegetable Noodle with Soup

Lunch #7: Sweet & Fresh Bakery

The MSG150 crew headed out today for the Szechuan Noodle Bowl but were let down by our first "Closed on Monday" sign. Unfazed and in strict accordance with unwritten sub-rule #1-1.B, we headed south on 8th to find the next spot. Based on early scouting reports of the MSG150 route, many of us had assumed that the next stop would be Specialties, but we were wrong. Although the S.E. border is the Gobi Desert of the DLZ, there is a pork bun filled oasis known as the Sweet & Fresh Bakery on 8th just south of Weller. We paused before entering to discuss briefly whether it passed rule #1. The consensus was yes, so in we went.

Sweet & Fresh Bakery, Seattle
Address: 610 8th Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104
Cuisine: Chinese: Bakery
Average rating: 3.5 chopsticks
Lunch date: 11/26/2007 @ 11:45:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 0 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 0 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 20 minutes
Chopstix quality: N/A
Do they use MSG?: No
Where is the owner/chef from?: Owner/Chef from Saigon, with Chinese Heritage
Number of tables: 1
Number of occupied tables: 0 (0%)
Number of business lunch tables: 0
Number of "local" tables: 0
Healthcode Score: 0
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: Pork Pie and a Ham and Cheese Croissant - $3.45
Rating:

Emmett's Review

I have a hard time holding this place to the same standard as our other lunch places - it's missing menus, silverware (or chopsticks), table service, napkins. On the other hand, as a stand-up take-out lunch place - not bad. Their options are limited to a bunch of meat buns, sponge cakes, and fruit tarts, with some submarine sandwiches available for special order. I wanted some savory, went for the ham/cheese croissant, and the pork bun.

The ham and cheese croissant was greasy, and didn't seem like it was made recently, but altogether not bad. It was a little low on the ham and cheese, but was still consumable. The pork pot pie, on the other hand, was fantastic. I warmed it in the microwave for 30 seconds. It had a nice flaky consistency, the pork was mildly spiced, shredded, filled the inside with some diced veggies.

Pros - quick, clean, polite counter staff, some tasty baked options. Cons - lots of bread. Verdict - I might stop in if I was nearby but wouldn't make it special trip.

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: BBQ Pork Bun, Curry Chicken Bun, and a Sub Sandwich - $5.10
Rating:

Adam's Review

Not quite a diamond, but this is definitely a precious gem in the rough. None of us knew that this place existed before we walked up to it this afternoon.

I walked up to the counter, and ordered what sounded good. I ordered a BBQ Pork Bun (I'm sure it has a real name, but I don't know it), a chicken curry bun, and a submarine sandwich. I Started of by eating the BBQ Pork Bun. The bread was slightly sweet and pretty fluffy. The meat BBQ pork filling was good, but lacking. I wish the bun would have had about 2 times as much filling. The whole unit was served cold, and it definitely would have been better heated up.

The next thing I ate was the Chicken curry bun. I spied a microwave behind the counter, so I asked the nice woman back there to toss my bun in her microwave oven. 30 seconds of modern technology improved the bun even more. Again, the bun was sweet and fluffy. The chicken curry filling is just what you would imagine... it was chicken curry. It was good.

Then I started on the best part. This is a $2.50 submarine sandwich. This is the American cousin of the "$2 Vietnamese sandwich." The sandwich was turkey, ham, iceberg lettuce, mayo, and pickled carrot shreds. Everything was pretty standard, but the carrots definitely gave it a really great taste. The real winner on this sandwich was the bread. It was crispy, flaky, buttery, and unbelievably delicious. I tried to buy some of the bread, but was told that they only make it for the sandwiches.

Amazing Prices. Great food. Even better food. I'll eat here again.

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: Chicken Pie, Pork Pie, & Submarine Sandwich - $5.50
Rating:

Geary's Review

The Sweet & Fresh Bakery passed the letter rule #1 but only barley meets the spirit of the rule. Unlike the Sun Bakery with tables and a menu, the S&FB has only 6 stools along the window and no hot menu items. Besides the buns, cakes, and pastries in the cases they have only a submarine sandwich (with or without cheese) to offer the hungry lunch seeker. But, like other similar spots it was all good and affordable and the service (owner) was very friendly.

I was curious about the meat pies so I ordered both. I ate what I assumed was the chicken one first. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until after I had eaten most of it that I realized there was a microwave behind the counter and if I’d asked, the friendly woman serving us would have headed it up. Even cold, the pie was very flavorful and the crust was light and flaky. The pork one, heated up, was even better, but other than being warmer, I couldn’t tell the difference. Maybe I got two chicken (or two pork) by accident.

I also ordered the submarine sandwich with cheese. If there is a real standout at the S&FB, this is it. The sub comes on a freshly baked toasty baguette with fairly typical sub ingredients (ham, turkey, mayo, American cheese, and iceberg lettuce) but with one exception, it has a smattering of pickled carrots nestled between the cold cuts. Yum! This is the same stuff that (in part) gives the bahn mi sandwiches their tang. And, at $2.50 with cheese, it’s a much better deal than you might find elsewhere.

PS: Rob wants me to point out that there are no real vegi-friendly options available here other than sweets. You can see Rob in the pictures below ducking out of the door in search of some place that understands his kind.

Luncher: Erin

Lunch: BBQ Pork Bun, and a egg tart - $2.25
Rating:

Erin's Review

This is a hole-in-the-wall bakery – but surprisingly good. They have a variety of meat buns, perhaps 8-10 varieties, filled with bbq pork, chicken & flavors. They also have a variety of baked goods. I had a bbq pork bun and a large egg tart for a grand total of $2.25 – for both items. The bbq bun was fresh, and the bun was every so slightly sweet and chewy on the outside. Meat inside was flavorful, although it could have been more filled, and I would have them heat it up next time. The egg tart/custard was about 2” across (twice as big as the ones you get for Dim Sum) and had a flakey crust with a good, smooth egg custard inside. I also had a taste of a fruit tart and a steamed bun with egg, Chinese sausage and meat inside. All tasted fresh. They had some interesting looking custards, cakes and cream puffs, and they also made traditional Chinese layer cakes – the kind that are light and fluffy, frosted with whipping cream and topped with fruit. I would return for a dirt cheap and tasty meat bun and a sweet treat. This earned a 3 chopstick rating from me.

Luncher: Michael

Lunch: BBQ Pork Bun, Bun with Red Bean Paste, and Chicken Pie - $3.95
Rating:

Michael's Review

What's not to love about this little bakery? The have it all right here: Ham and cheese on crunchy fresh baked french rolls. Tasty bbq pork hom bow. Buns with red bean. Very tasty, very cheap, and ready to eat right now. And if you need a wedding or birthdcake they can do that too. This place is a keeper.

Luncher: Jeff

Lunch: BBQ Pork Bun, Chicken Pie, and a Fruit Tart - $3.50
Rating:

Sweet & Fresh Bakery Photos

Sweet & Fresh Bakery


Dine-in facilities are lacking


Buns of goodness


More sweets


Ham & Cheese Croissant


Meat Pie anticipation


Custard Pie


$2.50 Submarine Sandwich


Inside a meat pie


Half a Fruit Pastry