Mushrooms & Seattle Food Experiences
Recently my boyfriend and I flew into Seattle and then drove 2.5 hours east to a small Bavarian town called Leavenworth to celebrate our 3 year anniversary. The day we flew in we hung around in Seattle doing a food tour at Pike Place Market, gaining a new perspective of Seattle from the top of the Space Needle, and ate one of the best meals I’ve ever had at Bateau.
One of the reasons I love traveling so much is to eat the food. Even though I was still in the United States, there are always different food places to explore, new food experiences to try, and other locally perfected foods.
If going to Seattle, I highly recommend doing a food tour through Eat Seattle Tours. The 2-hour tour was led by a highly experienced young chef who was well versed in the Seattle food scene who took us on a food adventure throughout the market where he took us to some of his favorite and well-known spots while providing us a lot of history about the market. Throughout the tour we stopped at and sampled something from 10 different market vendors. Everything we tasted was so good, but there were a few highlights.
The chocolate chip cookie at Indi Chocolate was seriously the best. Made from chocolate (that they produce), cocoa nibs, browned butter, and sea salt.
Clam chowder from Pike Place Chowder. I live close to Bodega Bay where there is outstanding clam chowder, but this chowder was something else. It was unlike any clam chowder I’ve ever had. It was absolutely perfect!
Pulled pork tacos on the freshest homemade masa tortillas from Maiz. I’ve never met a taco I didn’t like, but the tortillas play a big role and these ones were so fresh and the perfect thickness so you didn’t have it falling apart as you ate it.
Okay, so now on to the part where we start talking about mushrooms. After the Pike Place Market, we went to the top of the Space Needle, then found our hotel, changed, and headed out to dinner at Bateau. I picked out this restaurant as a surprise for my boyfriend. It was mostly a surprise because he wouldn’t expect me to pick a restaurant that only does steaks, but since I started eating more red meat to help up my iron content (as I’m dealing with some anemia), I particularly fell in love steaks when my boyfriend made me a steak for the first time.
Bateau was more than just a restaurant, it was a truly unique food experience unlike any I’ve had. Each day they butcher a quarter of a cow into the different steak cuts for that days menu. This means that it is a first come first serve basis as most cuts are only single cuts. The menu is handwritten on a chalkboard every day and the wait staff literally crosses off the cuts of meat as they are ordered.
Steaks and other menu items are served a la carte. We paired my 4 oz filet and my boyfriends 10 oz cut (which I can’t remember) with the Bateau salad, frites & aioli, and roasted mushrooms.
I first have to say that everything we had was literally the best thing ever. However, the mushrooms really stood out to me because I’ve never had just a plate of roasted mushrooms. There were a variety of mushrooms, including oyster, lions mane, brown beech, shiitake, white beach, and King oyster mushrooms.
I’m gaining a new appreciation for and taste for different mushrooms. After watching the documentary, Fantastic Fungi, on Netflix and episodes on Down to Earth with Zac Efron where they talk about the incredible benefits of mushrooms not only for humans but for the ecosystem I’ve been so intrigued by mushrooms. I’ve started getting out of my comfort zone preparing new mushroom varieties at home that I get from Far West Fungi at my local farmers market.
I’ve really been into Lion’s Mane recently. I made salmon cakes with lion’s mane, which were delicious and then after the Bateau experience, I came home and tried to recreate the roasted mushrooms we ate there. Lion’s mane isn’t just a cool looking mushroom, but they also have beneficial effects on the brain, heart, and gut. Here are some of the cool benefits of lion’s mane:
Enhances brain health and protects against dementia
Helps relieve symptoms of mild depression and anxiety
Has anti-inflammatory properties
May help reduce the prevalence of stomach ulcers by limiting the growth of H. pylori as well as reduce inflammation caused by ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease
Improves blood sugar management
May reduce the risk of heart disease by lowering triglyceride levels and decreasing the rate of blood clotting
Lion’s mane and many other mushrooms can be eaten cooked or are great as tinctures or powders that can be added into different recipes, coffee or tea beverages, or smoothies. Make sure you purchase from a reputable source and if you opt to go out foraging for your own mushrooms, make sure you go with a trained professional who knows how to differentiate between the different mushrooms to ensure you know you are eating ones that are safe for human consumption.
Be Health-full,
Heather
