Moshi Moshi Maybe Maybe Opens Opens Monday Monday

Ballard Gossip Girl Exclusive!

The hard working crew at Moshi Moshi is getting ready to open to the public on February 2nd once their finishing touches are complete. They let us in to preview the space and to dish about the exciting new restaurant and bar. It sounds like it will be traditional, A-List and is poised to set the new standard in excellence in food, service and drinks.

Sakura!
First things first. As you can see in the picture at left, the decorating highlight of the space is an enormous steel LED Sakura. It's the only one in the U.S. that owner Kevin Erickson knows about and it's here in Ballard. Covered with 8,000 LED lights, these cherry trees are popular outside of restaurants in Japan. Definitely the focal point of the joint, it's going to be awesome when it's lit up. We eat with our eyes and without tasting one piece of fish, we're sold.

Sushi!
We spoke with sushi chef Kotaro Kumita about the Moshi Moshi menu. He's focusing on wild and even live fish which will be flown in daily direct from the Tokoyo Kitchen Market. Some of you may recognize Kotaro Kumita from Shun and Shiro's in Belltown where he trained with the master. Kumita's menu will focus on traditional Japanese sushi. That means all you cream cheese lovin' SoCal nouveau sushi jackasses will have to learn what fantastic sushi is all about. Foodies will recognize executive chef Dan Miller from Cascadia and Wasabi. Talent abounds.

Drinks!
We were also so very excited to learn that while Moshi Moshi will have the finest sushi around in a nod to Ballard's working class, they'll offer $2 PBR all day long. Hot shot bartender Eric Carlson (from San Francisco's Redwood Room at the Clift Hotel and Umami) will be pouring drinks. What a treat! We can't wait to take advantage of TWO happy hours at the sushi bar.

Parking!
Are you f'ing kidding us? Seriously, there is a lack of parking in Ballard, but Moshi Moshi's building (the oft jived Blandmark) has over 100 parking spaces! Best of all, it's $1 per hour. Holy Calamari, it's like the restaurant trifecta of perfection has finally arrived. Sushi, Drinks and Parking.


Start counting the days, kids. Awesome drinks and sushi are right around the corner.

RapidRide transit service

I got a flier in the mail yesterday about the new RapidRide transit system. I got very excited about the prospects of getting to work via mass transit in 15 minutes or less. You see, I work in Belltown and to take the 15 to my job takes roughly a half an hour. I can drive it in 10. So, the bus isn't really a convenient option for me. But, with the prospect of this new system, I would be totally on board with using it. I just hope the city doesn't screw this up. Hmm, what are the chances they will get it right?!?

For more information check out:

http://www.ballardnewstribune.com/articles/2009/01/23/news/local_news/news01.txt

(Oh and BTW I found a nice new obession, the SPD police scanner....take a listen:
http://www.komonews.com/news/content/scanner/31214074.html?video=pop&t=a )

Over and out.

Neko Wants to Be Your BFF

Or At Least Help Some BFFs!

Listen to what super-cool former Ballard resident and songstress extraordinaire, Neko Case, has to say about her effort to help Best Friends Animal Society.

She's donating $5 for each person who posts a copy of her totally rad new song "People Got a Lotta Nerve." Take a listen to it. We did and we have to say it's true what she says. She IS a maneater! And we love her. We loved her when she washed dishes at Hattie's Hat and sang in the back room before it had that horrid fish tank back there. Here's to the olden days!

When Spell Check Attacks

Unforeseen and humorous result of the new ban on Styrofoam

Spotted at Ann's Teriyaki today, some signage explaining that they need to charge for the new take out containers. Although an attempt to correct the spelling was made in pen, the original wording is unknowingly hilarious. Although it depends on your idea of humor.

Ann - we really like your food and we're sorry for the incontinence, too.

We Love Moustaches! And Beards!

Gentlemen (and some ladies I guess),

We're sorry we didn't post this sooner, but we wanted to make sure you all know about this totally cool event. Especially if you have hair on your face. Or want to grow some more hair on your face.

The Beard and Stache Fest is kicking off soon so they're looking for some hairy folks to compete in a charity beard event. While the rules don't specifically say it's only for men (I suppose women with beards can join or women who are beards... Katie Holmes?), facial hair growing people who want to compete get their image on a collection can to raise money for Treehouse. Photos of the contestants will be taken Sunday, January 18th in the U-District.

What a great idea!

This hairy festival is sponsoring a number of events in February including a kick off event at Blue C Sushi on Feb. 1. Hmmm....Beards and Tuna. Our favorite! Check out their site for contestant registration forms, calendar of events and all that important stuff.

What zipcode should AmazonFresh deliver to next?

Happy New Year to everyone. It's been awhile, but this BGG has finally crawled out from the elements.
Just thought I would post about the Amazon fresh promotion. I would like nothing more than to sit back and wait for groceries to be delivered to my zipcode! 98107!


Oh how I miss the Kozmo.com days...Kozmo was my boyfriend you know?!?

Ha.