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Local

Fainting Goat Gelato (Seattle)

I think it’s now safe to say that every single person who knows me, no matter how well, knows that I have an intense love of dairy. Butter, cream, cheese (glorious cheese, the more pungent, the better), and ice cream. I eat a lot of stuff in the realm of ice cream. I’d say I’m a connoisseur; so when I tell you about something, you can be sure it’s amazing.

We first tried Fainting Goat Gelato last year, and we loved it immediately. We went a couple of times but for some reason—I think because we just weren’t driving over to Seattle proper for a while—we didn’t return until about a month ago. In this past month, we’ve been there about ten times. There are several gelato places that we love, but Fainting Goat consistently has more intense and concentrated flavor than anywhere else.

Their lemon grisbi is magical—you may have also realized by now that I’m obsessed with lemon. They’ve packed in a ton of fresh, tart lemon flavor without the cloying sweetness that often overwhelms most lemon ice cream and gelato. There’s a salted peanut… Oh, mon dieu, if you are a peanut butter lover, I highly suggest you get the salted peanut and perhaps pair it with the chocolate fondente. My son has gotten the peanut every single time, and he’ll probably be really bummed out when it’s gone for the season!

As for me, mint chocolate chip has been a favorite since childhood and I’ve been a longtime fan of straciatella… Fainting Goat makes a mint straciatella that is everything I never knew I wanted. Their espresso tastes like a creamy, quad-shot latte. The salted caramel is buttery and rich. I could go on and on. All of their flavors are perfection.

Aside from that, their cafe is cozy and inviting. I’m eager to go early in the day for a little coffee and croissant, just to enjoy the morning vibe in that space; it has a very “European” feel. The owners are from Izmir, Turkey—I’ve seen them around the shop and they are lovely people who are clearly passionate about what they do. My family and I may be ruined forever for other gelato! (No kidding, I ate a lot of gelato in Italy, and nothing I had there compared to the stuff Fainting Goat.)

Plus, their logo is the best (see photos.)

Now if only they’d open a location on the East Side…!! (Then we’d really be in trouble!)


français

Tous ceux qui me connaissent, peu importe à quel point, savent que j’ai un amour passionné pour la laiterie. Le Beurre, la crème, le fromage—le fromage glorieux, plus c’est piquant, mieux c’est — et la crème glacée. Je mange beaucoup choses comme la crème glacée. Je dirais que je suis une connaisseuse et quand je veux vous parle d’une chose, vous savez que c’est étonnant.

Nous avons d’abord essayé Fainting Goat Gelato l’année dernière, et nous l’avons immédiatement adoré. Nous sommes retournés quelques fois, mais pour une raison quelconque—je pense que nous n’allions pas à la ville proprement dite pendant un certain temps — nous n’y sommes pas retournés avant le mois dernier. Au cours du dernier mois, nous y sommes allés dix fois! Il y a plusieurs endroits de gelato que nous adorons. Mais Fainting Goat a constamment la saveur intense et concentrée qu’ailleurs.

La saveur citron grisbi est magique—vous avez dû vous en rendre compte à présent que je suis obsédée par citron. Le “grisbi” est regorgé de saveur citron fraîche et acidulée sans être sucré jusqu’à l’écœurement comme la plupart des glaces au citron. Il y a aussi d’arachide salée… Mon Dieu! Si vous êtes un amateur de beurre d’arachide, je recommande fortement que vous dégustiez l’arachide salée et peut-être le jumeliez avec le chocolat “fondente.” Mon fils a eu l’arachide salée chaque fois, et il sera probablement déçu quand il sera parti pour la saison!

Pour moi, la crème glacée à la menthe et aux grains de chocolat et un favori depuis l’enfance, et je suis une fan de longue date de “straciatella.” Fainting Goat fait straciatella à la menthe qui est tous ce que je ne savais pas que je voulais. Leur espresso goût comme un café au lait crémeux et quadruplé. Le caramel salé est onctueux et riche. Je pourrais certainement continuer… Toutes leurs saveurs sont la perfection.

Et puis, leur café est confortable et invitant. Je suis désireuse d’aller tôt dans la journée pour une petite pause café et un croissant pour apprécier l’ambiance matinée; il a une sensation “européenne.” Les propriétaires (mari et femme) viennent de Turquie—je les ai vu dans le café et ils sont des personnes très gentilles qui sont clairement passionné par ce qu’ils font. Peut-être, ma famille et moi ne pourrons plus jamais manger de gelato ailleurs encore! (Sans blague, j’ai mangé beaucoup beaucoup beaucoup de gelato en Italie et rien ne se compare à Fainting Goat.)

Aussi, leur logo est le meilleur.

Maintenant, si seulement ils ouvraient un café du côté est! (Alors nous aurions vraiment des ennuis!)

nous mangeons

Three day weekends are, in some ways, harder than regular weekends! (Harder to recover from, that is.) I haven’t posted any pictures in awhile or talked about places around Seattle. So here’s a small (très petit) sampling of things we ate this long weekend!

We went to Parfait, bien sûr, which has been our absolute favorite ice cream spot for the last year. (We are big ice cream fans.) They not only make their own ice cream from scratch, with local and organic ingredients, but they make all of their own toppings and flavor bits, too – meaning they don’t add someone else’s chopped up peanut butter cup bits to their pb cup ice cream. They make their own peanut butter, peanut butter cups, chocolate cookie chunks, etc. This (below) is my petit scoop of the mint straciatella and husband’s milk chocolate cookie with their housemade hot fudge.

Another day we finally went to Chophouse Row in Capitol Hill and I dragged everyone (kicking and screaming, yeah? ha) into the French bakeshop Amandine Bakehop. Behold, this amazing thing below – it is a brownie macaron. (Or is it a macaron brownie?) I don’t know, but it was delicious.

 

On Sunday we finally checked out Nue Seattle where Husband tried the (in)famous Hungarian Paprikash Jumbo wings. We ordered the War Chips (Dutch Patat Oorlog) or Dutch War Chips – fries with mayo and peanut satay and red onion and sambal OH MY. I was dying to have these but only after we’d ordered and I’d been salivating rather heavily did our server come back and tell us they just ran out. So we’ll have to go back. BUT, I replaced them with some really delicious brussel sprouts that almost made up for the lack of fries. They were covered in toasted coconut and garlic chutney, served with peanut satay and sweet chili dipping sauce. I also got the Jamaican jerk chicken which was good, but lacking in an acid of some sort – however, the dirty rice that came with it was fantastic. Also, I generally do not post pics of my kid but I cannot get over his teenager-ness these days.

 

And then, because I cannot go more than 2-3 days without pasta or some form of Italian food, last night we went to Osteria La Spiga. We started with bread, olives, and cheese because CHEESE. I eat cheese in every possible moment. Strong cheese, smelly cheese, pungent cheese, hard cheese, soft cheese, Italian cheese, Spanish cheese, French cheese, local cheese, sheep cheese, goat cheese, cow cheese… you name it. I also tried a really refreshing Morini “Morosé” Brut Sparkling Rosé wine that I loved enough to add to my collection at home. I was torn between a pasta that had white truffle butter or the “al ragu” but went with the tagliatelle al ragu because who am I kidding, if there’s a “meat sauce” bolognese thing on offer, I will always choose it. I think I’ve become a bit of a ragu/bolognese connoisseur. It’s my jam.

 

Seattle-ites (buzz buzz)

Occasionally I go through phases where I think I need to give up coffee. Usually when I start thinking that, I wind up drinking MORE. I don’t drink a lot – I mostly stop at one morning cup though a couple times a week (or more) I might have gone to get a latte in the afternoon, also.

I don’t drink a lot but man, I love my damn coffee. I’m not giving it up. Ever. ESPECIALLY since I recently got a swanky new home espresso machine because really, lattes and cortados (Spanish style, not Starbucks style) are my weakness. I don’t go out for lattes anymore, but I still make them at home!

By the way, a tip: The fancy conical burr coffee grinders make a world of difference. We had a separate one for several years but it started to go haywire. The espresso machine has one and oh, Heaven. Having a burr grinder that works properly again reminded me why I go bonkers for all this coffee equipment.

I’ve always been a bit of a coffee snob but it’s gotten far worse since living in Seattle for going on 6 years now. I had at least tolerated Starbucks for awhile but in the past few years, you couldn’t pay me to go there. It’s not good. IT’S JUST NOT. (And what’s up with the smell? A good coffee house should smell like fresh brew and maybe an undertone of baked goods… Starbucks has an odd stale, dairy-farm like smell to it.)

When we travel, I hunt down good coffee shops. Generally speaking, I will only get my coffee in a dedicated coffee place (as opposed to a restaurant, bakery, etc that also happens to sell coffee.) I make exceptions if I know the place well and that they generally make good brew. (No, really. Did I mention the coffee snob bit?)

When we first moved to the Pacific Northwest, we naturally fell into drinking Stumptown. By now, we’ve moved past it. That’s not to say Stumptown isn’t good – it is – it’s just kind of the cliched “good coffee” up here. But I do like them. We tend to drink Stumptown, Caffe Ladro, Espresso Vivace, Victrola, Fiore, and my latest favorite – Elm Coffee Roasters in Pioneer Square.

OH, but then… BUT THEN. I’ve had Caffe Lusso Coffee Roasters on my radar for about a year but just never got around to going there. Today, on a whim (and wanting to find some good espresso beans for MY MACHINE), husband & I went on a mission to track it down. The general location was easy but the actual space was not! It was in an entirely unassuming little corporate center area with a few small batch beer breweries around. We weaved up and down row after row of tiny little warehouse-like facades until BINGO! We spotted it.

I had done my research – Caffe Lusso, the oldest microbatch roaster in Seattle – was not a coffeehouse but a ROASTER with retail space (sort of.) You could go in and see the small operation and buy some beans to go. You could even open up the giant containers of beans and inhale all the incredible coffee bean goodness aroma.

The place is amazing – I love that it’s so ware-house like without the usual hipster, clean line Scandinavian design that’s so popular now. They even have a completely silent, lever-pull espresso machine made of copper (well, the sides) that was hammered by hand by some old Italian guy. The guy that was working there during our visit CLEARLY knows coffee from bean to cup and I think I learned more about coffee bean farming and roasting during our half hour there than I have in a decade.

So we came home with three pounds of beans. *grin* One bag of espresso beans, one single origin Costa Rica, and one single origin Sumatra. Apparently, in the coffee world, this particular Costa Rica is “the most pedigreed and revered seed-to-cup” bean around. The guy can explain all that better than I can ever regurgitate but I’ll just say DAMN, that’s good coffee.

I know. It’s a little ridiculous but what can I say? We live in Seattle!

Copyright © 2019 | Nikki Hegstrom