Rachel’s Food Tourism: Eat
Derek surprised me with dinner up in Bellingham for my birthday. For those of you not in the PNW, Bellingham is a cute town about an hour and a half north of Seattle. It’s full of tons of beautiful parks and scenery and home to Western Washington University, which is where I did my under grad. Derek chose to have my birthday dinner up in Bellingham because the last time I was at a major crossroads in my life was when I graduated from college. Now that I’m at another crossroads, he thought it was a great time to be back up there. I thought that was really sweet!
He made reservations at a cute little French restaurant called Eat. It was great! The decor was quirky and colorful. I’m not sure if this place was there when I was in school, but I wish I had known about it if it was! The staff was friendly and helpful and made the experience even better.
We ended up being there during Happy Hour, so we started with some appetizers from that menu. I could make a whole meal out of just the goodies on this menu! We shared the petite charcuterie plate and the Coq Au Vin Wings. Both were excellent! The charcuterie plate was only $5 and had so much stuff on it we needed more bread. There were 2 slices of paté, some pickled veggies, country ham and several kinds of salami. The wings were delicious and innovative. They had a sticky glaze that was slightly sweet and flavored with red wine. They were also crunchy and succulent. It was also a good portion for only $6!
For dinner, I ordered the Beef Bourguignon and Derek got the Duck Cassoulet. Both of them impressed! My dish had big hunks of beef and a thick and savory sauce. All of that was on top of perfectly creamy mashed potatoes, which was great for sopping up all of the amazing sauce! Derek’s Cassoulet was white beans in a tomato-y sauce and topped with a duck leg and crispy pork belly. There was also a piece of crispy fried kale on top.
Beef Bourguignon
Cassoulet
I will definitely be going back to Eat the next time I’m up in Bellingham! The service was great, prices reasonable and the food was outstanding! If you haven’t ever been up to Bellingham, I definitely recommend visiting! You can tour Western’s beautiful campus, see some of the lovely parks (Boulevard is one of my favorites!) and walk around town. Not to mention you can top off your visit with a meal at Eat. The brunch menu also looks amazing so I might be trying that next time. Other places to check out in Bellingham are Mallard’s which has some amazing (and interestingly flavored!) ice cream and the Boundary Bay Brewery.
What’s been your favorite unexpected restaurant find?
In other news, I wrote a guest post for Revel & Glitter! I shared Midnight Cocoa and spooky marshmallows, so go check it out!