Faith "VWX" Y.'s Profile

Does the U-District need more tea places? Sure, why the heck not. Make it tea central!

What makes Tea Republik stand out is its variety of offerings and mellow vibe. They have fragrant loose leaf tea served in cute little pots and giant iced teas infused with fresh fruit and juice. Consider it a more sophisticated cousin of bubble tea.

I tried the Tropical Rainforest (photo included) which had muddled limes and apple slices adorning a mountain of lightly sweetened tea/juice. The Lavender Earl Grey was refreshing and elegant as well; it's sweetened with creme and brown sugar. It's nice to be able to have two sizes to choose from as well. The large only set me back $4. The large lasted me 3+ hours as I stayed glued to my laptop with their free wi-fi. My friend got a $4 hot tea and was able to split with a friend and both were quite satisfied.

They have some desserts available but no hot food as of yet. You might need to take a break from studying to wander down the Ave for food and come back. I like the layout and decorations but the space is mostly dominated by 2 person tables. It'd be nice to see another couch or bigger table in case friends want to have an elegant tea time.

First, the emoticon in their name is way adorable.

Second, third, fourth and so forth, this place has already found its way into the noodle section of my heart. U: Don is a great place to visit and shake up your "pho 5X a week" routine. (You know you have a pho routine).

The first thing I noticed was someone hand rolling and cutting udon noodles at the beginning of the line. Fresh noodles are hard to get by so I was pleasantly surprised it wasn't coming out of packages. There are three different bowl sizes and then you choose your broth which includes kitsune, curry, niku and more. Then slide your tray over to fried food nirvana: the tempura bar.

The tempura can add up but you can get a nice fluttered piece of lightly battered eggplant or crunchy shrimp tempura for $.99. There's also potato croquettes, bacon tomato and triangles of onigiri (rice balls w/ fish or ume). There's unlimited free tempura flakes and you can throw in a bottle of ramune for a sweet bubbly. Total cost? $7-$10 max unless you're on tempura overload.

For those complaining about the service, remember that it's cafeteria-style, not Canlis. I found it charming that they greeted every customer in Japanese (both coming and going). If that's the extent of their courtesy, works for me as long as the noodles continue to be tasty and cheap.

Not to disrespect my hometown of Seattle but the museums in San Francisco are some of the best I've seen on the West Coast. The Legion of Honor is no exception.

The first thing you see is "The Thinker" by Rodin in the courtyard. For some reason, I thought it was a very nice looking copy so asked a museum employee where the "real" statue was. Fine arts faux pas right there. Also didn't realize there are several casts of this statue all over the world, everyone wins!

Since there was barely an hour to closing, my friends and I got to slip in for free. They were displaying Bernini's tortured cast of Medusa as one of their special exhibitions, originally on display at the Capitoline Museum in Rome (where I was lucky enough to see it for the first time studying abroad). Two other special exhibits were "The Mourners" and "Pisarro's People" (the latter for an extra fee).

By far, my favorite rooms housed an impressive Rodin sculpture collection and gorgeous paintings by instantly recognizable French Impressionists, both extremely beautiful and distinctive of their era. Their permanent collection alone is impressive for a small museum.

It's a relatively small place and I was able to see everything I wanted in the hour we had left. In addition to the wonderfully grand name, it's less stuffy than most arts museums and they have a mini glass pyramid homage to the Louvre out front. Plus they allow non-flash photography in most of the exhibits. Love their style and would pay a second, third and fourth visit in a heartbeat.

I don't care who you are, Ike's has a 99.9% chance of featuring the sandwiches of your dreams. Gluten-free? They have it. Vegan? Please, you have 17 vegan sammiches to choose from. Carnivore? By all means, drool over the pastrami, ham, turkey, bacon, halal chicken, fried chicken, sliced rib eye ... it goes on and on.

Their endless veggie, vegan and carnivorous combinations are too much to display on one blackboard so to access their full list, check out their online menu while you wait in line. Remember, sharing is caring so it's fun to split with a friend and tackle two delicious sandwiches at a time.

After agonizing deliberation, I settled on the Paul Reubens with poppy seed coleslaw, pastrami and swiss nestled between two out-of-this-world pieces of Dutch Crunch bread. Crazy messy. Crazy delicious.

For those who hate waiting, too bad. The line will always be long but it goes quickly and they're efficient. Plus you get a bag of Dirty chips with your order! As a tip, there's not much room to sit and in order not to PO the neighbors, no sitting on stoops either. There are a few parks nearby so plop down on a bench and dig in.

Also, I love their pop-culture sandwich names. Some nuggets are:

"Sometimes I'm a Vegetarian"
"Name of Girl I'm Dating" (I think you're supposed to actually say the name)
"Peg Bundy"
"Menage a Trois"

Food can have a sense of humor!

Banya 5, where have you been all my life?

Traipsed in here for their Happy Hour deal which is a $20 admission (instead of $35) between 10 am -2 pm on Wed, Thurs and Fri's. I tacked on a 50-minute salt scrub so the admission was waived, double yay!

The guy at reception was super friendly and informative when I explained I was a newbie. You do have to sign a waiver form because the 5 pools and rooms can be quite intense if you have certain health issues. As for the amenities, everyone seems to rotate in whatever fashion they please but I found it especially pleasant to go from extreme hot to extreme cold.

PARILKA:
- Super heated dry sauna with three stadium type levels of wood seating
- The higher you go, the hotter it is
- Guys were wearing beanies (to keep in the heat?) Maybe it was a fashion statement

TURKISH STEAM ROOM:
- My favorite! It's scented with fresh eucalyptus and the steam starts anew every 10 minutes or so (albeit, a little loudly). When it's at its peak, you can barely see the person sitting right next to you

COLD PLUNGE POOL:
- Try really really hard not to scream bloody murder when you take the plunge
- I could hardly last a few seconds but saw people lingering and even dunking their heads. What are you, polar bears??

SALT WATER TEPID POOL:
- Lovely in-between temperature from the hot tub and cold plunge pool

The Salt Scrub was absolutely divine but for you more modest people, you're only going to have a wee towel to cover thy bum. It's a "wet" room so they douse you with what feels like gallons of just-right temperature water before starting on a full body honey massage (local honey to boot!). Then they scrub you to an inch of your life and do it all over again on your other side (yes, you get another towel to cover your chest if you're a lady). The 50-min service also includes an add-on like a head/scalp massage or body lotion application.

Overall, not sure how people spend all day here because I looked like raisin's cousin twice removed after just an hour. Most people seemed like regulars and there were maybe a dozen or so folks throughout my stay which is on the less crowded side since they can only accomodate 40 at a time. Each pool is pretty small (accommodates 4-5 people) so I can't imagine when the place is at its full capacity.

They also have a real-time people counter on their website so you can decide last minute whether or not you want to kick it with a bunch of people or when it's more tranquil. Banya on!

A brand-new ice-skating rink in Capitol Hill? Now that's a Christmas miracle! Wait, it's not real ice? *excitement fades*

It's more appropriate to call this a "skating" rink, not an "ice" skating rink. The surface is made of some synthetic polymer material. Now, I wouldn't mind that so much if it worked just as well as real ice but alas, even people who are decent ice-skaters had trouble navigating the rink. There's a LOT of resistance and although they insist that you have to wait for your blades to heat up, I didn't see a single person that was gliding effortlessly. In fact, a lot of folks tried for a little while but many didn't stay for more than half an hour at best. Also, the surface ends up leaving this weird dry feeling on your hands afterwards.

For $12 (includes skate rentals regardless of whether or not you need them), I expected a bona fide ice-skating rink and my buddies and I left feeling disappointed. We had a lot of fun trying but we couldn't skate backwards and spinning was completely out of the question. Their skates weren't terribly comfortable either and many of us tried at least 2 pairs.

One extra star for being super nice folks (also responsive to e-mail), having a great mix of music and offering a hot chocolate stand.

However, I was really hoping to have an accessible place to go skating this winter but it looks like I'll have to take myself to Bellevue instead. The idea was grand but the execution is wanting.

Do ubiquitous frozen yogurt shops make you yawn? Is ColdStone Creamery so circa 2003?

Well then, may I introduce you to Sub-Zero, the first franchise store in WA that makes ice-cream via LIQUID NITROGEN?!

Besides making you feel like this must be how the Jetsons eat their ice-cream, this place has an intimidating variety of choices. Be prepared to stand there for a few minutes absorbing the menu and an extra minute thrown in to gawk at the giant metal liquid nitrogen tank next to the counter.

Their website says that "the merging of science and culinary arts transforms milk and sugar almost instantly into ice cream. So why is liquid nitrogen-frozen ice cream so good? It's all in the flash freeze. Since the ice cream is frozen so quickly (15 seconds or less), the milk molecules stay very small and the water particles don't have time to grow into ice crystals."

1.) Step up to the counter and the friendly owner or employee will ask if you want frozen yogurt, ice-cream, frozen custard, etc all with different fat %'s listed. There are at least 40+ flavors and mix-ins to choose from

2.) The employee will then pour said choice in a giant metal bowl in liquid form as well as your mix-ins. I chose Berries O'Chocolate which included chocolate shavings, raspberry syrup and slivered almonds

3.) Then they send it down to a station that's reminiscent of a science lab where giant puffs of "sub-zero" liquid nitrogen envelops the bowl as the employee stirs it to your desired consistency. Oh by the way, YOU CAN CHOOSE YOUR DESIRED CONSISTENCY. Like what? Teeth Tingler is closer to soft-serve, Numb Tongue is more akin to traditional ice-cream and Brain Freeze is the hardest one which is best if you want to take yours to-go.

The shebang lasted 5 minutes or less and a large was presented to us with 3 giant scoops in a waffle bowl for a little over $7. It was  almost too difficult for my sister and I to tackle together. But man oh man, how much more customized can you get?

Check out the photos and give this place a visit if you're in the Federal WAy area. Right next to Best Buy! They were open Black Friday with a full espresso menu to entice those ridiculous, frozen souls shivering in line.

I came here for the "Friends and Family" brunch which meant 1/2 off the entire brunch and drink menu. That probably already helps steer my review in a more positive direction, I think I may have rated it 2.5 stars if I had paid full price.

The service was great and the view was pure Seattle on a crisp fall day overlooking Lake Union. The place was bustling but we got seated promptly and started with hibiscus mimosas. They were presented prettily with a swirl of orange rind but not too memorable as mimosas go.

We ordered up guacamole, strawberry crepes and a chorizo scramble to share. The guac was tasty but I prefer mine with more texture. They served it with large buttery puff pastry strips which was unique but almost too rich for me in combination with the guac. My friend said she was underwhelmed by her chorizo scramble and half her plate was groaning with beans. That's a LOT of beans for midday!

As for the crepes, I wish they had used a lighter hand with the caramel sauce and more than 1.5 strawberries. When it comes to fruit, more is better especially when it's one of 2 ingredients on the crepe (including the sauce). 1/2 way through, the heavy sauce had soaked through it so much that it was a lost soggy cause.

The decor is modern but funky and I can see this being a chill place to hang out in the summertime on their perfectly located deck or their bar. However, I'm hesitant to pay full prices for the quality of food received ... if they made a few tweaks, I'm game.

To save a little bit of dough, my lady friends and I decided to camp out at the HRH (as it likes to be known). Of course, we didn't realize an inch on the map means a mile in heels to the main strip. Can you say ouch?

With distance aside, it was like staying at a rock n' roll memorabilia museum slash night club extravaganza.

YAY:
- Plenty of restaurants but mostly on the "meh" side
- Great displays of costumes, instruments and pictures of Johnny Cash, Santana, Britney Spears, Michael Jackson etc. Btw, X-Tina was a tiny thing judging from her "Dirty" video costume
- Fluffy fluffy fluffy pillows. No really, FLUFFY PILLOWY HEAVEN

NAY:  
- Our rooms had dirty glasses and a full waste bin when we strolled in. Tsk tsk housekeeping
- They tacked on an extra $20 a day "resort" fee that included "free" wi-fi, access to the pool and I swear they said ice. Seriously? That's sneaky business not to include this in the room fee and they should have made it clear when the reservation was first made with a travel agent
- Constant party-rocking in the pool area. It was utter madness. It felt like MTV Beach Party/Spring Break/Girls Gone Wild Parts I-X. It also felt like a pool side audition of Jersey Shore. We escaped to the other pool where people were a little more sane but you could still hear the pounding music and drunken roars. Also negative? They kicked us out at 5 pm when there was obviously still daylight. Ex-nay!

This place makes Old Country Buffet seem like a desolate fast-food joint. For $30, it's reasonably priced for all-you-can-indulge and for $37, unlimited mimosas, bloody Marys and champagne. Bubbly!

I love that even during the brunch hours (8 am - 3 pm), they had everything from fluffy pancakes to kalbi Korean short ribs. I don't know about you but that's exactly how my palate functions, in a myriad of savory and sweet flavors and textures.

A chef will whip up a customized omelette or you can serve yourself from row after row of seafood, Asian, fruits and veggies, pasta, eggs benedict and even sushi.

And if you're feeling frisky, try hitting up the dessert area first. A case of mouth-watering and creamy gelato awaits you as well as a pastry case of little colorful delicacies (rich chocolate mousse atop tangy passion fruit, tiny gold-flecked wafer cones, chocolate covered strawberries!)

Finally, this is a buffet that understand portions. A significant chunk of their offerings come pre-portioned in mini cups, bowls and dishes so it's easier to try a taste of everything. Usually, I find myself putting 5 lbs of mac and cheese on my plate by accident so this was a nice change.

The wait wasn't too long but it is rather silly to have a cashier line AND a "waiting to get into the buffet before I keel over from hunger" line.