Quinn's Pub, Seattle

Whoa. I had heard that this place was good, but I didn't realize that it was going to be *this* good. A self-billed gastropub in the middle of the laid back Capitol Hill area (1001 East Pike Street, 325-7111), Quinn's is run by the team behind Restaurant Zoë, one of the most popular restuarants in the city. And while I was quite happy with all of the beer that they had on tap, I was more impressed by the food, which could be had in small plate fashion to go with your drinks.

What caught my eye right away was the bone marrow, which I was really after given how I was unable to get it at St. John in London. It was cut longitudinally, making it easy to extract the rich marrow with your hands using the bread. At first, I wasn't sure about the Bordelaise sauce and escargot that topped it, but it fared fine in the end, with the latter hardly even tasting like snails. We also grabbed a bit of beef tartare, which was tender and spiced up nicely.

But the thing that was so good that I had to interrupt our dinner conversation with an exclamation of sheer delight was the pork belly Cobb salad. It was already tasty enough from the generous chunk of Stilton cheese on top, but it also featured a slice of the most tender and flavorful pork belly underneath. Sure, it was due to the layers of fat, but ohhhh was it tasty. My reaction was similar to my first time eating Kobe beef: one of pure joy. This is another one of those places that I would easily go to all the time if I lived nearby.