Several years in a row, I have gone to The Alley at the Bite of Seattle with my dad, my friends, or on my own, and for years it was $10 per plate. Last year it was a little more, but this year, they doubled the $10 amount to $20 per plate! I read it ahead of time, before going, but it made my dad and I hesitant about going all three days like we used to do. Furthermore, the parking this year went up to $20 itself. So, the Bite is not exactly cheap anymore. At least there is no entrance fee. So, if you can walk there from where you live, you are pretty lucky. Seems like everything went up in price this year, more than usual.
The Alley was advertising "6 LARGE BITES," but that isn't actually true. There were definitely two that were quite small. Some were what I would consider medium-large size, and maybe a couple were large. However, everything filled us up, to the point we did not need to eat anything else while we were there, as we walked around.
The Bites are reviewed as shown above, from the center, and clockwise:
Community Table by Farestart: Santa Fe Bowl: Hot brown rice, matchstick carrots, black beans, corn niblets, cherry tomato halves, green chili tomatillo sauce, cotija cheese, Pico de Gallao, avocado, lime sauce, tortilla crisps. - We were asked if we wanted the tortilla crisps, obviously yes! This bite had a beautiful presentation, in a small cup. Mine was well balanced. From the list of ingredients I see that it does not show it has chicken, but I am certain mine had chicken! My dad did not have chicken in his, and he did not like it as much as me. I liked it very well. It was a bit challenging to eat, without spilling it out of the cup, but the plate was there, so that was a minor issue. My dad thought it may have been better if we dumped it on the plate and stirred it up a bit. I enjoyed mine just fine. It had nice texture and flavor.
Gather Kitchen & Bar: Westport Albacore with watermelon, heirloom tomato, wild arugula, and balsamic gratrique. - First of all, we got a rather small portion of this dish. It did not look like there was much left, yet we were there in the afternoon, and it wasn't that busy yet. It was also a bit of a mystery dish. I did not have a menu in front of me, but I had read the menu a night or two before, and thought, "this is the potato salad." My dad argued that it was not. It seemed to have the texture of potato salad, in some parts, with a type of melon, like cantaloupe, but certainly not watermelon, as described. It had a bit of a bite to it, which was nice. Despite the fact I had no idea what I was eating, until I read the description later, and it was an underwhelming proportion, I actually quite liked this dish. My dad did not really like it. He did not like the textures. He also said he does not like albacore. I never had it before, that I know of. I liked it fine.
Bounty Kitchen: Thai Basil Peanut Salad: Mixed greens, purple and nappa cabbage, lemongrass and peanuts. - The person serving us this dish was very friendly and offered more than expected. I really liked the colors of this salad. This was the first thing I tried. I liked it so much, I had a taste, and waited till later to finish the rest. It was spicy, with a nice blend of flavors. Seemed like a Thai style coleslaw. It was one of my favorites on the plate. Though I liked everything I had on my plate.
Pescos Pit BBQ: "The Piggy Parfait": Pecos Best Potato Salad Ever (with bacon), topped with chopped pork and drizzled with the Pecos "The Only" Sauce. - This was my favorite of the bites on my dish today. The meat was nice and tender, the sauce was tangy and spicy (they had extra spicy sauce to add, which is what I had), I did not realize at first I was eating potato salad, but then it was obvious, and very good. The potato salad seemed to have cheese in it, besides bacon, and it complimented the barbecue pork very well.
Din Tai Fung: Vegetable and Pork Wonton with Spicy Sauce & Bok Choy. - My dad's favorite dish on the plate today. In fact, he could not stop talking about it the rest of the day. I felt mine could have been a little more firm, his came from a fresh, new batch. The flavor was delicious, though. The booth also gave out red pens, which I liked very much.
Krigles Bakery: Apple Spice Pie (& Brown Sugar Cherry PIe) - We only got one slice of pie, but it was a generous portion. It had a strong cinnamon taste which made it unique and pleasant. It did not need ice cream, but that might have been nice with it.
We also were given a 12 fl oz bottle of water to compliment our meal. It seemed smaller than 12 fl oz, but it was nice to have.
When previewing the menu over the 3 days, this day looked the best for me. My dad thought the other two looked better. I really enjoyed everything on my plate today, and it filled me up plenty.
Afterwards, we walked around a bit, listened to some music, enjoyed the perfect weather in the sunshine. Something that looked interesting to me, but I did not try, was ice cream served in a cone shaped as a "J." My dad said it looked like a disaster waiting to happen. I am not sure I will be trying it, but I thought it was visually interesting.
(Proceeds from "The Alley" at The Bite of Seattle go to Food Lifeline, providing meals to people every day who suffer with hunger across Western Washington. For more information, go to this link.)
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