MORSEL & Bean in Seattle! The biscuit kings of the Pacific North West!

As I prepare to depart Seattle I decided that I needed to do a review of my absolute favorite place to eat in here. I decided that the criteria to base this on was the place that I've gone to the most and never gotten sick of it once. Well, that place is easily Morsel & Bean in Ballard. They do biscuits, you see. Before I visited them that first time, I didn't really care one way or another about biscuits. But during my daily walks I passed the place and always saw it full of people so naturally I was interested. One day I decided to stroll through the door and my life was never the same. 

Morsel makes their own biscuits, biscuit sandwiches, and excellent coffee drinks. On average they will have their classic Buttermilk, Cheddar Chive and then usually a special flavor. I'm here to tell you this, it doesn't matter what you get, every single thing they offer is fantastic.

Remember Mike? He visited me in Seattle and I brought him to Morsel!

I'm going to tell you about a few of their offerings, but let's start with my absolute favorite. The "Fast Break." Bacon, egg, cheddar, and roasted tomato jam on the biscuit of your choice. I got it on a cheddar chive in this picture here. The biscuit itself is hearty and dense, yet also fluffy and flaky at times. Generous portion of egg and bacon, and then tomato jam. But if you're looking at this one, wondering why that tomato jam looks a little weird, it's because it's not tomato jam at all. It's bacon jam. Listen, if you don't know about bacon jam, at this point, you need to go spend a few minutes on Google educating yourself. Bacon jam comes in many different styles, I honestly have never had two that were the same, but I have liked them all. That being said, Morsel makes the best bacon jam I have ever tasted, hands down. 

I can't tell you what's in it besides bacon, but i can tell you it's delicious, sweet and has a nice spicy bite to it. Not only do I get it every time I visit Morsel, but most times I even get an extra side of Bacon jam to use later in the week. So believe me, while the tomato jam is good on the Fast Break, bacon jam takes it to the next level. 

Now if you're in the biscuit game already and bacon jam alone doesn't get you where you need to be, might I suggest adding some of their maple butter to the Fast Break in addition to the bacon jam. Gives it that burst of sweet maple flavor before the burn creeps in. Seriously, this is just about one of the most delicious things you will ever eat on planet Earth. 

Not sure the usual breakfast sandwich is quite what you're looking for? Perhaps try the Cheesy Biscuit. It's an open face biscuit topped with roasted garlic butter, Beechers Cheese Curds, and roasted tomato jam. Again, this is one amazing sandwich, but folks, when you're going head to head, bacon vs tomato, bacon is going to take it ten out of ten times. This sandwich is buttery garlic goodness. The melty cheese curds are creamy and burst with flavor. Pro tip, you can add crumbled bacon to this one if you're looking to roll like the FGFB crew. If a sandwich doesn't have Bacon squared, you probably aren't doing it right. 

But listen, I know there are some weird mutant freaks out there in the world who don't like bacon. It's a big crazy world and we're all different. For those of you, if you're looking to try something different on your Cheesy Biscuit, I suggest Morsels own Apple Butter. It's a sweet and savory treat that tastes like something way to fancy for me to be eating while watching Rick and Morty in my underwear on a Saturday.

While we're talking Apple Butter, one of the dudes at Morsel also introIduced me to putting it into lemonade. When he first suggested it, I recoiled as if he had suggested pouring battery acid into it. Which, a moment later made no sense whatsoever. He assured me it was incredible so I tried it and let me tell you, it's a summer drink you never thought of, but should have. The cinnamon & sugar in the apple butter makes for a nice swirl and the apple pulp you suck up through your straw gives the lemonade a whole new life.

Looking for something a little more tart? Give their Strawberry Balsamic Jam a try. I would usually get a Fast Break and then also get another biscuit with a side of this stuff. It's incredibly flavorful, in fact, most times if I don't use it all on the biscuit, I will just eat the rest. Big chunks of strawberries too. The "fixins" also include classics like Honey Butter, Chocolate Hazelnut Butter, and Herbed Goat cheese. But if you want to know my runner up behind the bacon jam, it's something I never knew existed before I hit up Morsel. FIG HONEY. It's just honey with fig chunks in it. It has also joined the ranks of one that I get an extra side of to use later in the week. Give it a try for sure!

They whip up all manner of fancy coffee drinks, hot chocolate, and Chai Lattes. As well as cold brew coffee, juices and much more. But you know what else they have? An awesome staff. The crew in their Ballard location are always friendly and incredibly nice. Even on a Saturday morning when the line is thirty people long, out the door and down the sidewalk. As someone who came to this city not knowing anyone, I found it really refreshing how friendly they were, because it's not always that way out here! The mood in the place is always upbeat and fast paced, but they never shy away from great customer service.

If you want one last indication of how much I loved this place, I hate waiting in lines and nine times out of ten if there was a line of thirty people before me, just about anywhere, I would bail on it and leave. I've waited in the line at Morsel on a Saturday morning when I thought I was going to beat the lines and go early. Guess what? Other people were way more dedicated to that plan. But I waited. Not just once, I waited in a line like that multiple times and didn't even worry about it once. And I'd do it again. It's that damn good. 

I'm giving Morsel an A+. Before them, I never knew that biscuits could be more than those powdery fake butter tasting ones that KFC deals out. It was always fun to try their flavor of the day, but even on the days when I went late and they didn't have any of those left, I was never disappointed, because the buttermilk are that damn good. Greatest Bacon Jam on Earth, and awesome staff, this place has it all. If you live in Seattle and haven't been, make the trip. If you visit Seattle and you're snapping selfies by the Fremont Troll, take a quick detour to Morsel. If you've never thought of visiting Seattle, well...Morsel is reason alone. I think that just about gets my point across.  

For more info on Morsel & Bean, check out their website!

http://www.morselseattle.com/

Review by Rich Brunelle, who has written his last food review in Seattle for the time being. But that doesn't mean he doesn't still have a few Seattle reviews to send out when he gets back to the East Coast.

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Wingstop Smoke 9 wings!

I had seen Wing Stop around before but never ended up stopping into one. So when one of our readers emailed us asking if we had tried their new Smoke 9 wings, I decided that it was time for the FGFB to roll up on a Wing Stop and see what they were all about. 

We were turned away from the first location because their card reader was down. Hey, It happens right? No big deal! Not like I expected them to roll out a red carpet for the me. They can't all be Qdoba, right? 

Luckily there was another location just twenty minutes away!

This location was nestled in a little mall area with plenty of parking. We parked right in this handicap spot in front and strolled in like we owned the place. (Just kidding. We would never do that. Respect.)

The inside was clean and decorated with lots of Aeronautics memorabilia. It took me a second to put that together. Planes? Wings? Wing Stop? Ohhhh okay.

Then the sign was staring me in the face. The wings that took them nine times to perfect! A dry rub with a mesquite bite and smoky finish! The Smoke 9 Wings! So not only did I order those, but also decided to try lots of other stuff. If you're going to do a review, you might as well do it right, right?

Let's start with the coleslaw. It's never incredible. It's often terrible. I grew up eating the stuff from KFC and loving it, but these days that's been downgraded to just liking it. This slaw was a lot like KFC's. A lot like it. Maybe slightly less sweet. Not bad!

 We got an order of their regular seasoned fries. Let me tell you something. I rarely even think about fries these days because they are so similar from one restaurant to another. Rarely am I surprised by them. These fries? EXCELLENT. Whatever their seasoning is, it was delicious. I looked online to see what people were saying and it seems like their recipe is still a secret. But not only was the seasoning great but they were hand cut and still had skin in places, plus they were cooked to perfection. Big thumbs on on these fries.

Then there was the option for Parmesan fries, so we tried that too! Same great fries but with a ton of Parmesan cheese all over them. Still delicious but not nearly as good as the ones with just the Wing Stop seasoning on them.

Their menu also boasted a cheese sauce you could buy in different sizes to dip your fries or chicken in. Normally I wouldn't have been enticed by this, but they called it "Aged Cheddar cheese sauce." Aged you say? Cheddar, you say? Well, guess what? It tasted exactly like the horrid nacho cheese sauce you get at the movies with those cardboard-like yellow chips. Not a fan. The top congealed like  a wound scabbing over maybe two minutes after I uncovered it and I never went back. 

If you're going to get chicken at a place you absolutely need to try their rolls. It's an unspoken rule. The last chicken place we reviewed, you know, the one that's Oprah's favorite, had incredible rolls. Off the charts awesome. KFC has those biscuits, which used to be good but now they are the smaller than the damn croutons on my salad. These rolls? Not bad at all! They come out glistening with butter and are quite soft. No complaints here!

In case you're doubting me on the fries, here's the aftermath. When all was said and done we ate every one of those little crumbs out of the regular seasoned fries and left a good amount of the Parmesan ones.

So did we try any chicken at this wing joint or what? Yup, we did. We started out with some Hickory Smoked BBQ boneless wings. Some of you wing purists will be asking why I went boneless. The answer is quite simple: I'm all set with gnawing at gristle and bone like a mad dog. Also if we're coming at it from a monetary standpoint, you're throwing a third of what you're paying for in the trash. You go boneless, you waste NOTHING. See? This is how you save the environment, FGFB Style. 

Their boneless wings are damn good. A generous portion of white meat chicken surrounded in thick, crunchy breading and slathered in sweet and smokey bbq sauce. They had a very sweet base with a nice tangy burn as you ate more of them.

They reminded me a lot of the Honey BBQ Boneless wings from Applebees, but if they were made with all around better ingredients. Better chicken, top notch breading and a much more interesting bbq sauce. I totally give these a thumbs up.

Next up we went with the Garlic Parmesan Chicken tenders!

I have to say, their chicken tenders themselves were excellent. Delicious slabs of white meat chicken breaded with a thinner coating than the boneless wings. The meat was still juicy but not to the point where the breading got soggy. The Garlic Parmesan flavor was good, but again, the issue with the fries is kind of the same here. The cheese ends up sprinkling off. If they had used a garlic oil and shaved pieces of the cheese it might be way better. But all in all, the fingers were great and I'd imagine if they were rolled in any of their signature sauces they would be excellent.

Finally we reach the main event of the evening. The Smoke 9 boneless wings. These had a very unique smell, before I even bit into one. I was intrigued by the notion of putting a dry rub of flavor on fried chicken. Is this a thing that happens? I've put down my fair share of chicken and it's usually only sauces that they are rolled in.

It took them nine tries to get it right, but I'll tell you what, the ninth time is the charm. These things were great! They tasted a lot like the seasoning on the fries but with a massive added smokey flavor! 

Excellent chunks of chicken, thick breading and plenty of flavor dust. The rub made me think of the flavor particles you'd see on Doritos. Which then made me realize this flavor would be awesome on chips. Smoky, slightly sweet, with a definite garlic flavor and maybe even some citrus in there! These had a lot going on!

As I got to the bottom I was met with a puddle of Smoke 9 flavored grease. I'd like to tell you that I let these last two go and tossed them away because I knew how bad this was for me. But, my friends, I'm not going to start lying to you now. I actually dug them deeper into the puddle, trying to cover them with as much of the Smoke 9 flavor as I could, and boy, was it great.

I'm giving the Smoke 9 Wings from Wing Stop a solid B+! Little greasy at the end but all around good chicken and a very unique flavor that I would absolutely go back for.

The Smoke 9 flavor at Wing Stop is only there for a limited time so make sure you go get them soon!
For more info on this and other Wing Stop items, check out their website!

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Review by Rich Brunelle, who currently lives in Seattle, Washington and spends his days walking around his neighborhood counting how many dudes have the Macklemore haircut.

Cheese Wizards Food Truck!

Since I moved to Seattle a year ago I've been trying as many restaurants, food trucks, bakeries and specialty shops as I can. There's maybe a million of them so I have my work cut out for me. But one there was one that I wanted to try over them all, that somehow eluded me. That one? The Cheese Wizards. Legend has it these wizards use forbidden magic to create some of the greatest grilled cheese sandwiches that this land has ever known.  I had seen the truck around, but usually parked for the night. Once it drove by me when I was out for an adventure and when I stopped to watch it pass, the driver looked over at me and tipped his giant wizard hat. Yes, you read that right. The wizard behind the wheel was wearing a giant wizard hat. 

So when I heard they were finally coming to my neighborhood I decided the time had come for FGFB to meet...

THE CHEESE WIZARDS. 

When I arrived they were still setting up, so I used this time wisely to creep around and take a good look at their truck. I have to say, there's a lot of food trucks out there that embrace their gimmicks, but none hold a candle to the Cheese Wizards. 

The bright yellow of the truck is so vibrant that it could easily be seen by even the most blind of cave trolls. The front of the truck is decorated with dual battle axes and owls.

Their logo is everywhere you look and for good reason. It's just about the greatest logo I have ever seen. Second only to our own, of course.

Their menu is fantastic. It's dubbed the Nom-Nomicon and features such wonderful sandwiches as, "The Goblin King, the Voldemortadella, the Forest Lord, and the original Cheese Wizard. The menu has a ton of great little hidden jokes and references. My favorite was where they call bacon their "Highest level flavor magic."

After much deliberation I decided to keep it simple so I got the Cheese Wizard with Bacon while my lady friend decided she wanted to take on the Voldemortadella.  The actual wizards themselves were awesome. Fun guys, joking around, answering any questions anyone had. They also gave out free hot apple cider. And here I thought they might just be conjurers of cheap tricks!

Once we ordered I was too excited. It didn't take long at all for our sandwiches to be ready. But in my brain it was a lifetime. I stood there like...

But when the head Wizard suggested we check out their sauce station, I instantly perked up. Sauces you say? Something every fat man loves? And so many that it needs a station? What manner of witchcraft was this guy spinning?

Not only was there an ornate sauce station, featuring six special sauces, (as well as some standard sauces in bottles),  but check out the artwork that accompanied them...

Adventure Time?!?! Could the Cheese Wizards be any cooler?

Oh, and just so you know, you have to milk your sauce of choice from this thing like it's a cows udder. Both cool and kind of gross at the same time!

Suddenly my name was called. My sandwich was ready. The Cheese Wizard in the truck handed it out to me like this:

And before I closed up the box he reminded me to grab a sauce before I left. I looked into the box and saw one, single sauce cup. Immediately I realized that they probably only give you one sauce per sandwich because it's mentioned on the menu. I didn't want to be the fat guy asking for extra sauce cups, so I approached the Wizards Sauce station with a little bit of sadness in my heart, knowing I could only try one...

But in the end I couldn't choose just one. So I squirted some of the Smaugs Smokey BBQ into the box, and filled the sauce cup with Merlins Magic Mustard Honey, closed up the box and began the journey home.  Why didn't we eat them there? No good lighting for pictures! So after a quick jaunt over the Misty Mountains, we got home and it was finally time to experience what the Cheese Wizards had conjured up for us.

Behold, the Cheese Wizard.  Heaps of Tillamook cheddar and lots of creamy Monterey Jack on buttery french bread. Plus I added bacon. The menu let me know that it's a "classic grilled cheese loved by apprentices and old maesters alike." I took one bite and I was like:

So. Good. The bread is perfectly cooked. Buttery and crispy on the outside. Inside, a ridiculous mixture of creamy cheeses and bacon. Every bite was perfect. It was the kind of sandwich that you savor. Every bite was slowly chewed so I could enjoy it.

After the first bite I was fully under the Cheese Wizards spell. Incredible all around. When dipped in the sauces it was even better. The mustard was sweet but had a nice bite to it and the bbq was dark and smokey. I wouldn't have wanted either sauce on every bite of this sandwich,  so I was glad I had the option to dip. Not that the sauces were bad, at all, but because the sandwich alone was so damn good. It was great to go from a bite with nothing on it, to one with sauce and back.

If I have one negative thing to say about Cheese Wizards it's gotta be the side salad. Listen, on Fatguyfoodblog, we're never going to praise salad. Not once, ever. Now, I understand they are trying to have a healthier option here to go with the cheese packed sandwich. Especially out here in Seattle, people are very conscious of what they eat. I also know that having a frialator in a food truck is a pain in the ass, which is why a lot of them don't offer fries. But the salad isn't the best fit for this, especially when you're taking your sandwich home. By the time you dig in, the greens are a bit warm and soggy and it's just weird. Did I eat mine? Yes I ate every bite. I'm not a fool, I know this body needs some green if it's going to run at 110% at all time, but I think I would have rather had a handful of chips instead of salad. Or...in a perfect world, some Tater Tots.

I also got to try a bite of the Voldemortadella, but I won't spend too much time on it because I didn't eat the entire thing. It was also a magical sandwich. The menu says it's "Provolone and Mozzarella, cream cheese, mortadella, salami, black forest ham, and herbed olive muffeletta." The stand out flavors in this were definitely cheese and olives. If you like olives, you would lose your mind over this. I found it to be a very unique and interesting bite. I might actually get this one the next time I visit the Wizards!

In the end, when we were finished and I'm looking back on my dinner with the Cheese Wizards over a pipe full of the halflings leaf, I have to say, I'm quite impressed all around. Not only is their presentation second to none, but the entire experience was fun, and the food was incredible. Some might say the price tag is a little steep for a grilled cheese sandwich, but I honestly wouldn't think twice about. Worth every cent.

So if you're cruising through Seattle and you spy that familiar logo on the site of a giant, yellow caravan covered in owls and axes, hop on your horse and follow it through the fields of Rohan and through the Fangorn Forest until it reaches it's stop. Tell them Fatguyfoodblog sent you! Then let the Cheese Wizards work their magic. Trust me, you'll be happy you did.

I give the Cheese Wizards a solid A!

For more information check out the Cheese Wizards online HERE and be sure to LIKE their Facebook page HERE.

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Review by Rich

FGFB NEW YEARS CHINESE FOOD SPOTLIGHT: Golden City in Seattle!

We're kicking off the new year by having each of us write a review of a Chinese restaurant in our areas! We realized that for many, getting a ton of Chinese food and staying at home has replaced going out to bars and dodging drunk drivers on New Years Eve. So we thought we'd each try a different spot in a different state and report back! Well, we're starting in the upper left side of the good ol' U.S. of A in Seattle with Rich! 

Many of you know that I moved out here from the east coast a year ago. What you might now know, is that Chinese food simply IS. NOT. AS. GOOD. On the west coast. I know, I know, bombard me with the argument that it's "MORE AUTHENTIC", and "NOT AMERICANIZED" all you'd like. I heard these stories of sub par Chinese food and didn't quite understand until the first time I tried to order it and didn't see the classic staples I had known all my life. No chicken fingers?! No teriyaki sticks? No boneless spare ribs? I was like: 

But luckily we tracked down a place that has a handful of great items and we if we're smart about ordering we can tweak their menu a little bit to make it more what we want. Golden City in Ballard is that place! Located at 5518 20th ave in Seattle, it's nestled right in the middle of Ballard. There's a bar attached that I have never been in. The inside is your traditional decor. I know they do a ton of takeout, but I rarely see anyone sitting down eating inside. I would have gotten a picture of the outside but when we got the food it was already dark out. Rookie mistake right?

This year we started with an order of Crab Cheese Wonton...known on the East Coast as CRAB RANGOONS! 

The Crab Cheese Wontons at Golden City are pretty damn great. Their shell is very crispy all around and in the middle there's a blob of weird cream cheese goo just like we all enjoy. I find both the cream cheese and crab flavors to not be as prominent as in Chinese places back east, but they are still awesome, despite having NO DUCK SAUCE TO DIP THEM IN. Yes, that's another issue. Every restaurant out here has that terrible red sweet and sour sauce instead of duck sauce. At least the ones I have come into contact with. But duck sauce aside, these bad boys get a thumbs up from me. 

Next up...ALMOND CHICKEN without the sauce, aka: CHICKEN FINGERS (kinda). 

What we found here is that there's no way we've found to order just chicken like this. They are sort of like mini Chinese chicken fingers. Instead they come as Almond chicken covered in a sauce that looks like something a goblin would have puked up in an 80's horror movie. The trick is, you order it with the sauce on the side and you're left with a batch of golden, crispy chicken fingers that are damn good.

Then we also got some veggie Lo Mein. With the rest of the meal being pretty meat-heavy, it only made sense to get a bunch of noodles and vegetables, right? RIGHT?

As far as Lo Mein goes, it was par the course. Noodles, lots of big veggies and that familiar sauce. It was good, but probably the least memorable part of the meal. A little less broccoli might have made this better. Can we all agree that cooked broccoli taste a little bit like farts? I think we can. Less of that in my meal, the better.

But the main event of this Golden City feast was the General Tao's chicken. This stuff is spectacular. It's made with a different batter than the chicken fingers. This one seems a bit tougher to stand up against the sauce that the pieces are drowning in, and that's a good thing. Each bite has just the right bit of crunch, and the sauce is out of this world. Borderline too spicy after you've eaten a bunch, but also very sweet and tangy. There's what seems to be razor thin slices of garlic in here too and each one bursts with flavor. This is right up there with my favorite "Generals" chicken ever.

For all those out there who may not believe the legend that West Coast Chinese food is lacking, I can tell you that at least up here in Seattle, I haven't found and equivalent to back home in New England.  But I'm glad to have found Golden City to quench my thirst for crab rangoons when it gets too intense. Ahem, Crab Cheese Wontons, sorry.

But if you find yourself in Ballard and are looking for some damn good General Tao's Chicken, head on into Golden City and that and a side of Crab Cheese Wontons will be sure to make you leave happy. Check out their website for more info!
http://www.goldencityseattle.com/

Stay tuned for three more Chinese food restaurant reviews coming up next!

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