Beautiful Food - An Ode to Fresh Bistro

OMG, this is my new favorite restaurant. Fresh Bistro is in West Seattle at the Alaska Junction, and you can check out their website at http://www.freshbistroseattle.com/ for location and directions. I am not a person who would consider themselves a "foodie." Sure, I like food, but I'll be honest that I tend to go for value over quality much of the time - like a 2-for-1 deal at Denny's or some stuff like that. When I first read the menus at Fresh Bistro I'll admit I balked at the price. But I figured I was up for the adventure, and we could go at lunch time and just eat an appetizer - that would surely save money. Plus I can walk there from home, so that makes it appealing too. We went last month, shortly after they opened, for lunch. I just loved the decor - it's so fresh and clean and simple. He had the sweet potato crab cakes and I had the open-faced meatloaf on focaccia with the most awesome baby zucchini "fries." The portions were so beautifully arranged on the plates that I just wanted to sit and look at it. Seriously. The attention put into the display was remarkable. You can see photos of the restaurant and some of their dishes at http://www.herbanfeast.com/freshbistro/our-location.html Their lemon shortcake (filled with rosemary mascarpone cream) was one of the most amazing desserts I've ever had in my life, and their delicate, slightly carbonated strawberry lavender lemonade went with it perfectly. I've never really put a lot of thought into the concept of Beautiful Food before. One doesn't usually get up near 300 pounds by pondering the beauty of their food - LOL! But I found myself wanting beautiful food after eating there. Most importantly, I felt like I deserved beautiful food. Surprisingly (or maybe not so surprisingly), I felt as satisfied by a small plate of beautiful food as I would've had I gotten some not-so-beautiful plate of chicken fried steak and hashbrowns at IHOP. A week later I was off from work and went mid-week for lunch. This time I had the wagyu steak frites - a 6oz. flank steak (or similar) steak with a huge portion of crisp and thin sea salt truffle fries. And again I had to have the lemon shortcake because of its awesomeness the last time. I had the same reaction to the place this time - the service is wonderful, the space and food are beautiful, and I felt special eating there. On Tuesday I went to the gym (which is right across the street) and went there by myself afterward. Now, I really did balk at the prices on the dinner menu (I think the cheapest entree is $20), but decided I could just get an appetizer again and a dessert. I've been hearing raves about the Basil Creme Brulee with cherry tomatoes and balsamic compote. (I'm told it sounds weird but is out-of-this-world.) So that's what I decided to do. At dinner I walked in and they had little bread plates on the table. That's something I hadn't seen at lunch. They brought me a basket of bread: a small, crusty oval-shaped roll (like french bread, I guess), and 2 small biscuits that I immediately got excited about because I'd had their bigger counterpart at the West Seattle Farmers Market - a savory biscuit that I think has cheese and peppers in it. And they brought out a beautiful 2-section plate - one side had herb butter and the other side had spreadable goat cheese!! I was already in heaven and I hadn't ordered yet. I ended up ordering the sweet potato crab cakes and the "Beets Me" salad. The crab cakes were amazing - and I was delighted by how they arranged it on the plate - with these little micro-greens delicately placed in the space between each one, and each one garnished so perfectly on top. The beet salad plate had 3 parts to it: sauteed beet greens (which I'd never had), roasted beet salad (cold, with either goat or feta cheese - I confuse the two sometimes), and a thin, tall shot-glass type glass of golden beet gazpacho. I was so full from all of this - both of body and spirit - I never even made it to the creme brulee! But that's okay; it's an excuse to go back. No, it's not the cheapest place I've eaten, but I've decided I am worth every penny. And it's made me think a lot about the food I eat and the way I nourish my body on many levels. This goes back to self-care, I guess. A lot of it also has to do with this book I'm reading right now (and will share in another post another time) called Master Your Metabolism by Jillian Michaels. I hope that if you're in West Seattle that you'll check this restaurant out. Maybe I'll see you there. :)