No Let's Yeah | irrelevantly irreverent

Pine nuts are used in pesto dishes and many Mediterranean dishes. When toasted, they impart a nice flavor to other meat and vegetable dishes. But are they really from pine trees? The appearance of the pine nut doesn’t necessarily hint at any relation to the tall evergreen tree found around the world in northern climates.

Well, the answer is yes. Pine nuts are the seed found inside pine cones.

At the store, pine nuts may have high price tags, due to the high cost of processing. Today at the local supermarket, pine nuts were going for $20/lb. Luckily, most dishes do not require a full pound of pine nuts. Even a small amount can add a nice touch to your dish.

In Basque country, they do crazy things, like put a T right next to an X and then expect you to know how it’s pronounced. The people in Seattle will take it at face value and say “Tixorry”.

I will save you the embarrassment: it’s pronounced “chor-ay”, and they serve delicious wines, cocktails, and tapas in Belltown. The environment is clean, modern, and friendly. My dining partner and I chose to sit at the bar, where we could see the chefs in action, preparing the small, beautiful plates for the Friday night crowd. They were helpful when deciding what drinks to try (recommended: the red wine/Coca-Coca sangria), and one chef even shared his knife-sharpening tip: 14 degrees.

We tore our way through a half-dozen dishes, ranging from chorizo sauteed in white wine, tender pork shoulder topped with peppers, tortilla Espanola, goat cheese and apple sticks, and much more. All the dishes are reasonably priced, from $2 for the smaller dishes, to $10+ for the more substantial plates.

While it’s no place to get a large, hearty meal, it’s a perfect spot for having drinks, trying a variety of tasty plates, and catching up with friends, old or new.