May 28th, 2009:
Ray's Boathouse and Deadliest Catch Boat Scout out!
He said...
After a hectic week with J Diggity’s (Mandys mate) birthday, me heading to Boise and Mandy going to a Bible convention in Vegas, it was great to get back into the swing of things with a proper Thursday date night. Being my turn to organize and Seattle turning on yet another cracker of an evening, I decided on somewhere with a deck and a view. Rays Boat House in Ballard.
I found Rays the previous weekend on a scooter trip to Golden Gardens, or as I like to call it bitterly, bitterly disappointing gardens! I’ll explain: Being Australian, we keep things simple. Down there the mountains with snow on them are called the "Snowy Mountains". The mountains with a blue haze outside Sydney, "Blue Mountains". Every road that runs along a beach, "Beach Road". You get the picture. So when first asked if I wanted to visit the beach Golden Gardens, I was stoked. Picturing miles of untouched golden sand flanked with well kept Japanese gardens, I jetted off as soon as I could only to discover volcanic black sand and rubbish filled weeds. But I digress.
Rays was perfect! It really was. Greeted with complimentary valet parking, we were hastily seated in a booth by the window.
[Waiting in the lounge for our table, looking very dapper]
[Mandy and me enjoying the view]
Rays is actually on a warf so we couldn’t be closer to the water. Overlooking the Puget Sound, sipping on chilled African Amber (Mac & Jacks, $5.50ea), we lazily watched the boats sail by without a care in the world.
For appetizers we shared chilled pached gulf prawns with avocado, yellow tomato gelee, dungeness crab and arugula salad, basil oil, maldon sea salt ($13). Not the best prawns I’ve ever had, but not too bad either. The basil oil dressing was fantastic, though I’ve now decided I prefer prawns heated.
Our server John was well versed in the menu and the source of its ingredients. Selling me on the seasonal special, I ordered locally caught sockeye salmon on mashed potato with a cumquat dressing ($29). Bloody beautiful! It really was the best fish I’ve had since the barramundi dinner I had on my last night in Australia.
Mandy ordered a healthy Monterey Bay Mackerel in Sake Kasu, served with sushi rice, sesame-edamame salad, shiso leaf, pickled ginger ($26). I’m not a mackerel fan, and it was overly bony and a struggle for her to eat. Delicately marinated with Asian flavors, Mandy had to use her hands to get to the meat and in the end gave up due to the bones, and her fear of choking. She did like the flavor though, had it not been such a struggle to enjoy.
[the sunset was included with the meal!]
Rays gets a top score in almost all of the ratings. It was a little pricey, but well worth it for the view, food and service. Get there ASAP!
Cheers,
Brett
After a hectic week with J Diggity’s (Mandys mate) birthday, me heading to Boise and Mandy going to a Bible convention in Vegas, it was great to get back into the swing of things with a proper Thursday date night. Being my turn to organize and Seattle turning on yet another cracker of an evening, I decided on somewhere with a deck and a view. Rays Boat House in Ballard.
I found Rays the previous weekend on a scooter trip to Golden Gardens, or as I like to call it bitterly, bitterly disappointing gardens! I’ll explain: Being Australian, we keep things simple. Down there the mountains with snow on them are called the "Snowy Mountains". The mountains with a blue haze outside Sydney, "Blue Mountains". Every road that runs along a beach, "Beach Road". You get the picture. So when first asked if I wanted to visit the beach Golden Gardens, I was stoked. Picturing miles of untouched golden sand flanked with well kept Japanese gardens, I jetted off as soon as I could only to discover volcanic black sand and rubbish filled weeds. But I digress.Rays was perfect! It really was. Greeted with complimentary valet parking, we were hastily seated in a booth by the window.
[Waiting in the lounge for our table, looking very dapper]
[Mandy and me enjoying the view]
Rays is actually on a warf so we couldn’t be closer to the water. Overlooking the Puget Sound, sipping on chilled African Amber (Mac & Jacks, $5.50ea), we lazily watched the boats sail by without a care in the world.
For appetizers we shared chilled pached gulf prawns with avocado, yellow tomato gelee, dungeness crab and arugula salad, basil oil, maldon sea salt ($13). Not the best prawns I’ve ever had, but not too bad either. The basil oil dressing was fantastic, though I’ve now decided I prefer prawns heated.
Our server John was well versed in the menu and the source of its ingredients. Selling me on the seasonal special, I ordered locally caught sockeye salmon on mashed potato with a cumquat dressing ($29). Bloody beautiful! It really was the best fish I’ve had since the barramundi dinner I had on my last night in Australia.
Mandy ordered a healthy Monterey Bay Mackerel in Sake Kasu, served with sushi rice, sesame-edamame salad, shiso leaf, pickled ginger ($26). I’m not a mackerel fan, and it was overly bony and a struggle for her to eat. Delicately marinated with Asian flavors, Mandy had to use her hands to get to the meat and in the end gave up due to the bones, and her fear of choking. She did like the flavor though, had it not been such a struggle to enjoy.
Cheers,
Brett
RATING:
Ray’s Boathouse
Romance: 5
Cool Ambiance/Interior: 4
All Around Service: 5
Cost: $$$$
Would we recommend it? 4.5: Wonderful! Will definitely be back!
Ray’s Boathouse
Romance: 5
Cool Ambiance/Interior: 4
All Around Service: 5
Cost: $$$$
Would we recommend it? 4.5: Wonderful! Will definitely be back!
She said:
I was so excited when Brett told me he was taking me to Ray's for dinner -- it had been about 75 degrees on Thursday, and was fixing to be a perfect evening to sit back and enjoy a gorgeous view of the sound (with a gorgeous man!) and let the sun set behind the mountains. Plus, the food there is amazing. We had a great time!
Because we finished [dinner] rather early, we decided, on our drive back, to go for a wee-bit of a scavenger hunt... One of Brett's FAVorite shows is The Deadliest Catch... and for those of you who aren't aware, the boats are actually docked here in Seattle! Ballard, to be exact. So he and i decided to go scouting to try to find them. And we did! We found them back on a side-street dock (as we arrived, it was really dodgy, there seemed to be some sort of drug deal going on, but whatever...)
We found a couple of the boats ...
[The Deadliest Barge]
[The Northwestern]
And then decided to have a mini-photo shoot while we were there. The light was just wonderful!
All in all, was a wonderful night, full of fish, fun, and fillyness! Oh, i mean sillyness!!
xoxo, Mandy
I was so excited when Brett told me he was taking me to Ray's for dinner -- it had been about 75 degrees on Thursday, and was fixing to be a perfect evening to sit back and enjoy a gorgeous view of the sound (with a gorgeous man!) and let the sun set behind the mountains. Plus, the food there is amazing. We had a great time!
Because we finished [dinner] rather early, we decided, on our drive back, to go for a wee-bit of a scavenger hunt... One of Brett's FAVorite shows is The Deadliest Catch... and for those of you who aren't aware, the boats are actually docked here in Seattle! Ballard, to be exact. So he and i decided to go scouting to try to find them. And we did! We found them back on a side-street dock (as we arrived, it was really dodgy, there seemed to be some sort of drug deal going on, but whatever...)
We found a couple of the boats ...
[The Deadliest Barge]
[The Northwestern]
And then decided to have a mini-photo shoot while we were there. The light was just wonderful!
All in all, was a wonderful night, full of fish, fun, and fillyness! Oh, i mean sillyness!!
xoxo, Mandy
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