Friday, January 23, 2009

Lunch #65: Harbor City

Harbor City Last summer we got word that Harbor City had changed hands and was reopening as a dim sum joint. Our previous lunch there was good and we were not overly excited to have yet another dim sum place to visit. I've lost count, but I think we can no longer count the ID dim sum spots on our fingers. We ventured out today with a small, yet eager, crew of four.

There are other changes to note in the ID: Vegetarian Bistro has gone out of business [tear]; China Gate has a sign up that declares, "Under new management" [joy]; Made in Kitchen closed its doors (the city shut them down because of the stupid name) and is being replaced by The Crawfish King in a couple of weeks (possibly as early as the 23rd); And, there's a new hole-in-the-wall that the MSG150 crew has high hopes for but you'll have to wait until next week to fine out what it is.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, MSG150 was featured in Seattle Magazine's cheap eats issues. Also, fellow Seattle luncher Elliot lauded us in his blog as having "somewhat questionable wisdom". Thanks for the compliment Elliot, but where did you see any wisdom? I think even completely questionable wisdom would have been a stretch.

Harbor City, Seattle
Address: 707 S King St, Seattle, WA 98104
Cuisine: Chinese: Dim Sum
Average rating: 4 chopsticks
Lunch date: 12/1/2008 @ 11:55:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 0 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 0 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 35 minutes
Chopstix quality: Smoothed Wood
Do they use MSG?: Yes
Where is the owner/chef from?: Canton
Number of tables: 18
Number of occupied tables: 18 (100%)
Number of business lunch tables: 1 (5%)
Number of "local" tables: 17 (94%)
Healthcode Score: 45
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon
Harbor City

Family Style Dishes

  • Sticky Rice
  • Pork and Ginger Dumpling
  • Shrimp and Cilantro Dumpling
  • Shrimp Dumpling
  • Sticky Rice
  • Shu mai
  • Fried Shrimp Dumpling
  • BBQ Pork Pastry
  • Green Pepper with Shrimp
  • Green Onion Bun

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: Family Style - $9.00
Rating: 4 Chopsticks

Geary's Review

The first thing I noticed upon returning was that the new Harbor City was packed. We were only one of two tables when we ate here last. Today, however, we were sat at the last available table. We were also the only non-Chinese table in the place. My hopes were high.

We started off quickly and within a few minutes had our table full of dim sum. There was nothing fancy, but everything was hot and tasty. A couple of items stood out. The Pork & Ginger Dumplings were excellent. Always a favorite of mine, these were fresh and flavorful. The Green Onion Bun was also a winner.

The four of us ate our fill of good dim sum for under $9 each. This place is second only to Jade Garden in my current ID dim sum rankings. I will be back again.

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: Family Style - $9.00
Rating: 4 Chopsticks

Emmett's Review

We're back for a re-review, and this time Harbor City has moved on from serving merely typical Cantonese fare and added Dim Sum to their menu. After the raw shrimp experience at Duk Li I was skittish about these cart-less, boutique Dim Sum places. However, I enjoyed the service last time at Harbor City, and they were commended by the health department, so my mouth is open.

There is a hustle and bustle to this place. It's positively jammed packed with locals, chit chatting, drinking tea, etc. I was ready to lay down at Mahjong but then realized my competitive Mahjong skills are limited to the shareware version I played when I was 11 years old. Dominos on the other hand, well. . . let's not go there. We were seated and served quickly, thanksfully the great service is still here.

Food was above-average, mostly fried, but all-in-all fresh and definitely competes well with Jade Garden. I will return.

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: Family Style - $9.00
Rating: 4 Chopsticks

Adam's Review

A new Dim Sum restaurant? It's time to rock and roll. We rolled up on this mission with an elite commando force of Dim Sum-ers... all with at least 4 tours of Dim Sum duty.

This place had a couple of dumplings that I'd never had before: the pork and ginger dumpling, and the shrimp and cilantro dumpling. Both of these had excellent flavor, and I would highly recommend both of them. We also had some of our traditional dim sum dishes: shu mai, sticky rice, and a few others. All of these dishes were also pretty tasty and quite fresh.

This place has quite a few tables, and was totally full. For a new-ish restaurant I thought this was quite impressive. We were the only whitefolk in the whole place.

At some point we'll have to make an ordered list of the best Dim Sum restaurants in Chinatown, and when we do this one should have a pretty solid place near the top.

Luncher: Jared

Lunch: Family Style - $9.00
Rating: 4 Chopsticks

Harbor City Photos

Harbor City
Harbor City

Harbor City window
Harbor City window

Fried Shrimp Dumpling
Fried Shrimp Dumpling

Shrimp Dumplings, Pork & Ginger Dumplings, Shrimp & Cilantro Dumplings
Shrimp Dumplings, Pork & Ginger Dumplings, Shrimp & Cilantro Dumplings

Shu Mai, Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf
Shu Mai, Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf

BBQ Pork Pastry
BBQ Pork Pastry

The Spread
The Spread

Green Pepper with Shrimp
Green Pepper with Shrimp

Green Onion Bun
Green Onion Bun

Dim Sum Prices
Dim Sum Prices

Monday, January 12, 2009

Lunch #64: Pacific Cafe

Pacific Cafe Without a clear goal, MSG150 has spent the last few month going back to favorite spots and watching for changes in the ID. Soon after our Fort St. George review, Pacific Cafe, opened in the shell of a failed restaurant next to the sketchy bar on 5th and Main. About that time Brad Cassiday, a freelance writer for the Seattlest, found our blog and asked if he could join us for lunch so we invited him to try out Pacific Cafe with us. We showed up with a crew of six and met Brad at the door.

Pacific Cafe, Seattle
Address: 416 5th Ave S, Seattle, WA
Cuisine: Chinese: Hong Kong
Average rating: 2.9 chopsticks
Lunch date: 9/12/2008 @ 12:00:00
Time taken to be seated: 3 minutes
Time to take order: 5 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 30 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 75 minutes
Chopstix quality: Fork
Do they use MSG?: Yes
Where is the owner/chef from?: Hong Kong
Number of tables: 11
Number of occupied tables: 11 (100%)
Number of business lunch tables: 6 (54%)
Number of "local" tables: 6 (54%)
Healthcode Score: N/A
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon
Pacific Cafe

Luncher: Emmett

#9 - Sliced Beef with OnionsLunch: #9 - Sliced Beef with Onions - $5.95
Rating: 3 Chopsticks

Emmett's Review

Happy 2009. We ate at this restaurant back in September 2008, when the Seahawks still had a chance at not sucking and Lehman Brothers still existed. We got lazy and started watching our fortunes dwindle, and we hosted this thing at Hing Hay park, which turned out to be a fun filled evening.

Our bud Joey apparently knew somebody who knew somebody who ran this place, and it looks real pretty on the outside, so we were totally psyched to go in. We found a table in the back, and joined up with some blogger guy who writes about Football and wanted to do a Pre-Game Football Food article or something. My choice this day was #9 - the Sliced Beef with Onions, which I guess appeals to my German Midwestern roots in some way. It had lots of black pepper on it, was very saucy, and it sucked. Alright it didn't totally suck. I mean it looked good on the outside, and like You, Me, and Dupree, it had all this potential. But then it just wasn't good, and I wanted to leave.

Service was slow, food was unremarkable, I'll probably never come back even though our new office is a block away.

Luncher: Geary

#2 - Singapore Style Fried Rice NoodlesLunch: #2 - Singapore Style Fried Rice Noodles - $5.95
Rating: 3 Chopsticks

Geary's Review

Pacific Cafe is clean and has a modern feeling. There is a big flatscreen TV over the service bar broadcasting beautifuil photos of menu items toward the folks waitng for tables in the small entry way. As we sized up the menu we noticed that nobody was using chopsticks. It's strckly forks and knives at the Pacific Cafe.

I went with #2, Singapore Style Fried Rice Noodles. The H&SS starter was marginal. It was bland and neither sour nor spicy. The noodles were passable, but nothing really outstanding. The dish consisted of wide rice noodles with shrimp, small bits of BBQ pork, and a few veggies tossed with a dry curry. It was certainly no better than the $4 Singapore noodles on the Golden City lunch menu.

Luncher: Adam

#1 - Shanghai Style Stir Fried NoodlesLunch: #1 - Shanghai Style Stir Fried Noodles - $5.95
Rating: 3 Chopsticks

Adam's Review

A new restaurant? Awesome. It's good to have my eatin' shoes back on, and it's time to review.

When you see a lunch special menu like this one, it's hard to determine what to get. A great method: pick something from the beginning of the list, they must be putting great things at the front. I was following this method to the extreme when I ordered: "#1 please."

The Shanghai Noodles were pretty delicious. You can't really go wrong with a dish like this. Loaded with lots of tasty ingredients and cooked to a nice consistency.

The restaurant is clean. They give you forks (not chopsticks). And there isn't hot sauce on every table. This isn't your standard Chinese restaurant. Not quite a 4 for me, but it's close.

Luncher: Rob

#47 - Tofu with Shiitake MushroomsLunch: #47 - Tofu with Shiitake Mushrooms - $5.75
Rating: 3 Chopsticks

Rob's Review

When I picked the Tofu and Shiitake Mushroom dish from the hundred or so lunch options, the waitress asked, "No meat?" in order to make sure I would not be disappointed when a meat-less meal showed up. Points to them for looking out for their customers. On the menu was one other veggie option, plus a couple of fish dishes, so there you go. The restaurant was packed, and it took about three hours for our food to arrive. Well, it felt like three hours because I was hungry and lots of other patrons were eating, but it was really about half an hour, and the wait staff apologized for the inconvenience. But still, a long wait for a pile of rice, veggies and tofu. The food was fine, but nothing great. The sauce was light and tasty, the tofu was the usual deep-fried stuff, the mushrooms and whatnot were decent. So yeah, it was a lunch. I'll have to make sure to go early or late next time to get faster service.

Luncher: Jared

#43 - Shredded Pork with Vegetables on RiceLunch: #43 - Shredded Pork with Vegetables on Rice - $5.75
Rating: 3 Chopsticks

Luncher: Michael

#11 - Sliced Beef in Tomatoes SauceLunch: #11 - Sliced Beef in Tomatoes Sauce - $5.95
Rating: 2 Chopsticks

Luncher: Joey

#19 - Grilled Pork and Chicken SteakLunch: #19 - Grilled Pork and Chicken Steak - $6.50
Rating: 3 Chopsticks

VIP Luncher: Brad from Seattlest

#3 - Sliced Beef with Stir Fried Flat NoodlesLunch: #3 - Sliced Beef with Stir Fried Flat Noodles - $5.95
Rating: 3 Chopsticks

Brad's Review

The noodles were really good, and it made me realize that I don't eat noodles nearly enough. Especially with fall coming, the noodles were a big hit for me. The beef was better than average and the scallions were crispy. Kinda surprised the server didn't push drinks more, since that's were the profits are. The place was packed and the location is perfect. The porkchop for $6 is a steal.

Pacific Cafe Photos

Pacific Cafe - Hong Kong Kitchen
Pacific Cafe - Hong Kong Kitchen

Pacific Cafe Menu
Pacific Cafe Menu

H&SS
H&SS

#11 - Sliced Beef in Tomatoes Sauce
#11 - Sliced Beef in Tomatoes Sauce

#2 - Singapore Style Fried Rice Noodles
#2 - Singapore Style Fried Rice Noodles

#3 - Sliced Beef with Stir Fried Flat Noodles
#3 - Sliced Beef with Stir Fried Flat Noodles

#19 - Grilled Pork and Chicken Steak
#19 - Grilled Pork and Chicken Steak

#47 - Tofu with Shiitake Mushrooms
#47 - Tofu with Shiitake Mushrooms

#43 - Shredded Pork with Vegetables on Rice
#43 - Shredded Pork with Vegetables on Rice

#9 - Sliced Beef with Onions
#9 - Sliced Beef with Onions

#1 - Shanghai Style Stir Fried Noodles
#1 - Shanghai Style Stir Fried Noodles