“Blaine it on my experiencing destinations that people don't ordinarily go to. Chunkanut up to my love of fresh local foods including those that are Mt. Baker-ed. My cat Salmon I are both interested in seafood, but I told her that she would not be able to go. She hopes I have a whale-watcher of a time. I am a true chocoholic and nothing is better than dipping it in raspberries. May the Peace Arch be with you”.
The above is what I wrote in order to indulge in a culinary press trip to the Bellingham/Mt. Baker area of Washington state aka Whatcom County, located between Seattle and Vancouver. Let’s begin with Day 1 of the FAM tour…Forever A Meal.
Landing at the Bellingham airport (which would have been a two-hour drive from Seattle), I am transported to historic (sometimes hysteric) Fairhaven, a suburb of Bellingham, and checking into the Fairhaven Village Inn. I view the Wednesday Farmer’s Market directly across the street as well as the surrounding Boulevard Park and boardwalk.
There is no time to rest in one of the 22-room quaint inn although do notice the amenities and check out the comfortableness of the bed. I am off to a lobby room to meet my fellow writers as well as the mucky mucks of tourism. Itinerary in hand, name badge on my shirt, we are moved to the terrace for a wine tasting and cheese plate.
Ken Peck, owner and winemaker of Dakota Creek in Blaine, shares a red and white wine as we meet Connie Shannon, the owner of Fairhaven Village Inn who gives us a brief history of the inn along with some tales of Fairhaven. There is much discussion about the use of local foods that we will be pigging out on and will meet with Dirty Dan later.
Now, that we’ve noshed, it is time for dinner at Fino Wine Bar. The restaurant is located at the Chrysalis Inn on Tenth Street and overlooking the waterfront. I view the hundreds of wine corks and think about Andra Douglas’ parrot, Dina...her favorite toy.
The affettalo misto arrives consisting of: prosciutto, coppa, soppressata, tuscan salami and a Mediterranean olive medley. European-style bread with tomato-caper butter, pesto butter and garlic-chive butter accompany it. We are sipping a 2007 oisly & thesee touraine (sauvignon blanc) white wine; loire, france and red wine from Castilla Spain, 2007 lopez panache tempranillo as the next course arrives. It is a charbroiled vegetable salad; marinated mozzarella, soft garlic, mache, balsamic vinaigrette. I ignore that I am allergic to balsamic vinegar and regret it later on.
I choose the pan-seared scallops with a tomato-basil sauce and summer vegetable couscous as my entrée. Dirty Dan Harris and his sidekick come by to tell us all about the history of his discovery We forgo dessert as we are bound for a “Dessert Crawl”, where we will hit five different restaurants to indulge in the sweets. Chef Craig McDonald is thanked.
We walked off about a calorie or two as Dirty shares some great stories of Fairhaven’s port and who he is. He continues to accompany us as we continue stopping at the Farmer’s Market area (which also shows outdoor movies on the wall) and meet Dirty’s bronze replica. I youtube him as we are off to the first restaurant, Flat’s Tapas Bar at 1307 11th St.
It was an easy one as only one dessert was offered, a flourless chocolate torte with caramel gelato and all made from scratch (Gee…I would love to invest in “scratch”). After scribbling a cartoon on the tablecloth, it was off to Big Fat Fish Company at 1304 12th St. where we were given a choice of desserts. Although they did have a Chocolate Indulgence cake I wanted to check out the Carrot Cake…mistake.
Dirty Dan Harris Steakhouse at 1211 11th St. was the next stop. Another choice of many including a Chocolate Mudslide, Bread Pudding, and Chocolate Flan. I opted for the Bread Pudding. Too much bread and not enough “pudding”.
Colophon Cafe at 1208 11th St. just seemed to keep on feeding us thin slices of several desserts: Mudslide tiramisu (our favorite); white chocolate mousse; classic New York cheesecake; chocolate cheese cake, peanut butter pie; and chocolate chunk cake.
With a few having dropped out it was Skylark's Hidden Cafe at 1308-B 11th St. that took us by surprise with their Bread pudding with whisky sauce, Macademia Mousse, and Espresso Cheesecake. The problem was that we were all too full to enjoy more than a bite or two.
Photos are some of the food from Fino Wine Bar
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