7302 15th Ave NW
Seattle, WA 98107
206.706.3092
http://lunchboxlaboratory.com/
The boys, about to commence lunching with.
not just whelmed....OVERwhelmed!
Café Presse and some dude.
"Who is this freak taking pictures?"
Madame Get In My Belly!
Spreadable pork. Yum.
Jacob: My meal was pretty excellent. The pork rillete spread was excellent, especially with the stone ground mustard. My croque monsieur was delicious, though I have to say that Liam's madame looked more tasty to me. Overall, I'd give give the meal an 8 out of 10. It's nice to have a decent french-ish lunch that is filling, not too expensive, and not precious. It was quite hearty and filling, but the addition of the pork rillete paté and its subtle yumminess was nice. I'm glad that we have Café Presse in Seattle.
Liam: The pork rillette was nice and smooth, but not moussey. There was a little bit of pork grain there, and it was delicious. The quarter-inch layer of fat on one side of the pork was just an added bonus. Served with stone ground and dijon mustard, it was hard to choose which one would be added. I tried to treat them as equals, but I think I may have preferred the dijon. The cornichons were a nice touch, and I got to eat all of them since Jacob "doesn't like pickles" (what's up with that? I may have to reconsider this whole LWTB thing).
mmmmmmmm...pork 'n' pickles
On to the pommes frites. We got ours with a little side of mayonnaise. This isn't your standard Best Foods/Hellman's (depending on which side of the Mississippi you live on) mayo, this was a (seemingly) home made mayo. It was more of a pinkish/peachy white than store-bought, and it was really good. The pommes frites were really good as well, in spite of the little clump of hair...sorry, two separate little clumps of hair we found in them. Did the hair stop us from eating the frites? No. Of course not. It was deep fried. I'm sure it was just as sanitary as the frites. Did I save the hair to show the waiter and try to get the frites for free? No. Darnit. I just threw it on the floor without thinking ahead. Oh well. I'd order them again, hopefully without the clumps of hair next time.
I'm saying 8/10 too. In spite of the hairy frites. My sandwich and the pork rillette was too delicious to say otherwise. And like I said, the frites were good, as was the dippin' sauce. And the price matched the quality of the food.
I had heard about this place from a friend of mine and I thought it was really intriguing. As you can see, the entire of Skillet is an Airstream trailer. It travels to different parts of the city, depending on the day. The food is gourmet grill food and sandwiches, and you have to either eat on the street or take it back to work/home with you.
The line was really long, but it felt like part of the experience. Besides, we had our friends Tim and David along with us, so it was fine.
I ordered the burger (grilled kobe-style beef, cambazola, bacon jam!, arugula, brioche bun, with handcut fries). I asked them if they'd cook it rare for me, since I like my meats dangerous, and the lady said the cooks would probably jump for joy to be able to cook a burger to a color other than grey.
We all tried the poutine (just now I tried to look it up on the internet as "putain", but I have found that that is a very different word.), which was french fries with gravy and cheese curds mixed in - very rich and delightful. All in all, I give my meal an 9 out of 10. I think if I would have been a little more hungry, and my burger was a tiny bit bigger, I would have said a 10 out of 10.
Liam: I had the lemongrass pork, with ginger aioli and cole slaw, and I too got the poutine upgrade for my fries. I'll start with the poutine. It was delicious, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't the poutine I'm used to. I prefer a little bit more gravy, and my cheese curds on top instead of mixed in. To taste what I'm talking about (aboot?) head up to Belgian Frites on Commercial Drive in Vancouver, BC. Of course I finished every last fry/curd/morsel of my poutine, so I'm not giving it bad marks on any account.
Now the pork. Mmmmm, pork! I loves me some pork, it's well known (HELLO! Bacon of the Month Club). And this pork was deliciously delicious! Lemongrassy, gingery, perfectly pulled and cooked. And the ginger aioli was fab. There were a couple of big hunks of lemongrass and ginger in the sandwich, which gave it a nice touch.
Deliciously delicious pork, oozing from my manos!
I would definitely eat here again, and soon! I need to try the burger, because it looks terrific. And it features 'bacon jam' which can only be good.
I'm saying 8/10, partly because I don't want to copy Jacob again, and partly because I'm being picky and asking for, nay, demanding, more gravy on my poutine. As I said to David, poutine contains 2 of my favorite things in foodville: gravy/dipping sauce and cheese. How can one go wrong?