Palomino

I know that Bainbridge teens head to this restaurant for prom nights, but I had never been until last night. Don and I met Julie and Jamie who are in town for the Emerald City Comicom convention. Palomino has an odd mix of fine dining ambience combined with the feel of a food court . (The same vibe happens for me at Cutter's in Pike Place Market or PF Chang's in EveryCity, USA.)

Don't get me wrong--the food was good. Just not outstanding or surprising. We shared a crab artichoke dip with thin flat bread—creamy, rich, tasty, and similar to what we had at Thanksgiving. Jamie’s dish worked best—deconstructed lamb lasagna, with noodles, tomatoes and mushrooms while the mahi-mahi that Don and I ordered was bit overdone and, well, good. . . but not anything I couldn't cook at home.  Julie had a flatbread pizza and a plate with an assortment of salami and prosciutto.

I loved the warm chocolate lava cake with raspberries and crème fraiche ice cream and am looking forward to going back and trying every one of the other desserts too—tiramisu, Sicilian donuts with orange honey-ricotta cream, bread pudding and apple-ginger crumb cake. (Note to self: come back here for dessert at the end of a long day shopping in Seattle.)

Palomino is an accessible, easy place to get to--there were other Comicom groups of folks, what looked like a bridal shower group,  young folks and tourists. It has both a regular restaurant and also an area just outside the restaurant proper--the "food-court," with an abbreviated menu including sandwiches and flatbread pizzas.

We really love to see Julie and Jamie when they come to Comicom. I'm already thinking of where we can go out to dinner next year--besides Palomino.