Everett, Wash.
Published: Friday, September 12, 2008

Reviewer hangs up her notebook

Anna Poole has some final applause and a bone or two to pick with area restaurants.

By Anna Poole
Herald Restaurant Critic

 Before I pass the salt and pepper to the next Herald restaurant reviewers, I'd like to share some of my experiences, comments and favorite places I've encountered during the last seven years.

But first -- the Herald's first-ever Restaurant Critic Awards:

For all those who brought to my table an attitude, dirty flatware, glasses with lipstick, runny grits, undercooked rice, stinky fish, rubber eggs, withered peas and noodles cooked to a glutinous mass, I present the Soggy Taco Award.

For The Sisters in downtown Everett and Dragon Place on Rucker after returning from the ashes of devastating fires, 31 Scoops of Thanks.

For the chef who wrote an e-mail saying how dare you sneak into my restaurant, and the restaurant owners who insisted I ruined their business, the Rubber Spatula Award. Please apply generously.

For the restaurant owners who wanted a review to boost their business or badgered my editors, I hand you a Greasy Spoon Award.

For the restaurants that opened and closed before I had time to visit and write a review or closed after my review, I'm sorry it worked out that way. And, let's make a footnote on the menu that Snohomish County lost a piece of our living history when the Petosa's local restaurant chain closed.

For the Herald readers who wrote that I was a whiner-crybaby and know nothing about restaurants while asking if I grew up eating hamburgers at Dick's, the answer is "No." I grew up on green chili-cheese Lotaburgers, and you two get the Crumb Face Award.

For the restaurant owners who said my bad experience wouldn't be repeated on other customers, the Boeing lunch groups, the evidence room retirees, the pastor in Stanwood, the mom of a teenage cook and all the other Herald readers who wrote e-mails suggesting places to visit, saying my reviews were informative and accurate or they experienced the same good-bad-indifferent dining experience, you get the Silver Spoon Award.

For the Herald reader who asked in 2005 whether there are any quiet restaurants in Snohomish or Island counties, I give the I'm Still Looking Award.

In seven years, I wrote more than 350 reviews, ate in quite a few places I didn't write about and turned some restaurants into my favorite places. Here's my short list:

For breakfast, the girls win. Kate of Kate's Greek and American Deli on Colby Avenue and Wendy of Wendy's Country Cafe on California Street greet you with a smile and hot coffee. Then you get a great breakfast. Two other favorites are Jake's Cafe in Snohomish, a place that's always friendly, and the Duvall Grill in Duvall, where a green chili-cheese omelet is always on the menu.

Guys with grills moved indoors during the last seven years and started dishin' up their smoked specialties. Great barbecue can be found all across Snohomish County, and some of my favorite joints include Big Easy on Evergreen Way, Depot Cafe and Smokehouse on McDougall Avenue, Bodacious BBQ in Granite Falls, Mountain Man BBQ in Sultan and Old School BBQ, for Texas-style, in Monroe.

My dining companion liked the BBQ Shack in Snohomish because the barbecued meats are as good as any around but he said their beans are better.

For a sandwich, Sandwich Xpress on 128th Street comes in first, with Great Harvest Bread on Everett Mall Way a close second. My dining companion returned to Wendy's Country Cafe for burger dips and ranked the lunches at Chelsea's Place in Mukilteo as the best.

Comfort food, for me, is a plate of spaghetti and meatballs, and my list of favorites (in alphabetical order): Brooklyn Brothers Pizzeria on Hewitt, Capri Ristorante Italiano in the Mill Creek Towne Center, Cristiano's Pizza Etc. in Marysville, Gianni's Italian Restaurant on Evergreen Way, Luca's Ristorante & Pizzeria in Lake Stevens, Mardini's in Snohomish and Trattoria Giuseppe in Clinton.

My friend's favorites were Mia Roma in Kenmore and Froso's in Marysville, which is a Greek-Italian restaurant. My two favorite Greek restaurants are Kafe Neo in Edmonds or Marysville and Zorba's in Oak Harbor.

For Italian that goes beyond pasta and pizza, I like to visit Girardi's in Edmonds, Nana Carmella's in Monroe and Stella Mia in Bothell.

If your comfort food is a well-prepared pork chop, steak or salmon filet, make a visit to Chanterelle in Edmonds, Fraser's Gourmet Hideaway in Oak Harbor, Grouchy Chef in Mukilteo, Gordon's on Blueberry Hill in Freeland, John's Grill in Mukilteo, Prohibition Grille on Hewitt or Sockeye's in Monroe.

And, if a hot bowl of soup with lemongrass, bean sprouts and hot chili oil is among your comfort foods, my dinner partner and I agreed that Pasteur's Noodle Soup on Highway 99 gets to be No. 1 because the broth is the most complex and tasty of any we've sampled, and Pho Five Star in Edmonds is No. 1A because the menu includes a vegetarian pho with lots of mushrooms.

Almost everyone has a favorite Thai restaurant, and my friend and I are just the same. When we weren't doing reviews, we liked to eat at Zab Thai on Evergreen Way.

Marysville, for some reason, is home to the best buffets around -- Eagles Buffet inside the Tulalip Casino and Golden Corral on State Avenue.

Mexican restaurants abound in Snohomish and Island counties and there are a lot of good choices, so I'm limiting my list to five. For enchilada-taco dinners my choices include any Tacos Guaymas or Taqueria El Rinconsito, La Cuesta on 41st Street, Las Brisas in Edmonds and Playa Bonita in Arlington.

For fine dining Mexican style, there's only one place for me -- Frida's in Bothell. And for fine dining Thai style, go to Jasmin in Stanwood. Other ethnic favorites of mine are Sakuma in Mukilteo for authentic Japanese cuisine, Elizabeth and Alexanders in Bothell for English tea without the frou-frou, Jade Monkey on Colby for excellent Chinese dishes (also T&T Seafood in Edmonds), Terezia's European Deli & Bistro in Mukilteo for German cuisine with a Budapest accent, and Cafe India in Lynnwood or Clay Oven in Monroe for authentic Indian dishes.

It's been my pleasure to tell you about these restaurants, and I know we'll miss each other. But you never know who might be sitting at the table next to you because … Herald reviewers arrive unannounced.
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA