Local Vine... Take 2!

For a little while, I thought tonight's Thursday Night Bite might be of the home cooking variety.  We use Amazon Fresh for at least 95% of our grocery shopping.  In addition to meaning that I rarely set foot in a grocery store, it also means that we have access to some interesting food items that aren't available in local stores.  My latest discovery are FRESH HATCH GREEN CHILES.  This is a HUGE deal if you're from New Mexico.  When they arrived yesterday, I promptly thrust my nose into the package, expecting to smell home... the scent was scarce and waning.  I didn't care.  I'll take it!  Now comes the challenge of roasting them in my Seattle oven rather than in a gas-powered, New Mexico roaster (to be driven home leaving your car smelling like chile for a week) as they should be.  In any case, my plan for tonight was to roast my 4 lbs. (yes, 4lbs, not 40) in my Viking oven.  
Anyway, my plans were derailed in favor of another Local Vine night.  The logic was that I'll be more relaxed on Friday night and enjoy roasting and peeling my green chile that much more.



I can already tell that parking at TLV is going to be prohibitive to frequent visits.  I know as well as anyone that parking in Belltown can be a serious nightmare, but at least the streets are laid out in a vague grid format making navigation slightly less painful.  Capitol Hill streets, on the other hand, pretty much look like someone threw a handful of spaghetti on a plate and used that to create the map of the whole neighborhood.  We drove around for a good 20 minutes looking for parking before deciding to actually drive by the restaurant.  By some amazing twist of fate, the space right in front of TLV was available.


This week is their grand opening.  There was a pretty decent crowd overall, and it looks like they are going to be consistently busy.  We took advantage of some happy hour deals and also tried their keg wines.  We ordered almost exactly what we did the last time, with the exception that this time around, we added the Thick Cut Locally Cured Bacon with Maple Jalapeño Glaze to our menu.  B loved it as he loves all things bacon.  I really enjoyed it, but it definitely tasted like breakfast... think, mopping up your waffle syrup with a piece of bacon.


The food at the new TLV is very good, but what still makes the place ours (bad parking and all) is that it's our Cheers... Not everyone knows our names, but the familiar faces make the experience.  I just hope there's some super secret squirrel trick to the parking situation that we'll catch onto before too long!


Anyway, food photos...

Snack Tray - Roasted kale, Marcona almonds, spiced pecans and olives

Sweet Potato wedges minus 2 (I forgot to take a photo) - They were more wedge-like last time

Meatballs

Steak brochettes with lime crema

Bacon

Espresso Chocolate Mousse