Toulouse Petit, Seattle WA

I was a bit concerned when I browsed the menu. Tons of items and 3 full services, breakfast, lunch and dinner. My strategy, get one of the basics, a burger or French/Creole classic. If they can’t do a classic right, the rest of the menu probably stinks anyway.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. I started with a fabulous in-house Creole Bloody Mary. The salted and spiced rim of the glass was a nice touch. But the flavor of the Bloody was something I couldn’t get enough of. Spicy, savory, hot around the lips, a bit of horseradish sinus sting, acid notes from the tomato and curing liquid from the olives was perfect. Damn good.

Sticking with my “basics” philosophy, I ordered a lamb burger. My sandwich, a North African spiced lamb sirloin burger on brioche was no slouch. My only complaint, I found four pieces of gristle in my lamb, tough enough for me to spit out. While this gristle problem was easily fixed by me, I think four pieces is a little high in one burger. They cooked my burger medium-rare as requested. Not to go unnoticed, the fries were crispy and well seasoned and I ate nearly all of them (which I rarely do). It was probably the side of mayo they gave me. I love fries with mayo.