French dip review: Redmond's Bar and Grill, Redmond, WA Smoked Onions Prime Rib Swiss, 4.5 of 5

The Redmond's Bar and Grill Menu cover.

The bar with big screens above.  Our friendly bartender Charlie was good and reportedly heading back to Hawaii.  Good luck, Charlie!!!

Behind the stranger's head in the bottom left of the frame you will see "Christmas Lights", which is actually a stage where musical talent can play.  Pretty cool.  I guess the building that this restaurant is in is 108 years old!!!

The French Prime Dip: French roll, smoked  (NICE TOUCH)  onions, seared (NICE  TOUCH) Prime Rib and Swiss served with au jus and fries or salad.  $13.  I went with the salad.

Here's the dip and you can see part of the salad.  Medium rare Prime Rib, and you can see that the greens are nice and dry.

Another view of the sandwich.  Sorry, my other pictures of the plate didn't turn out.

I was a real fan of this pen, BTW.  I honestly thought about either stealing it or asking the owners if I could have it.  Here they are on Amazon for your enjoyment.

The Review of the French dip sandwich and such:

Au jus amount: 5.  Very large.  They gave me a bowl of it.  Great (see Adam's bowl at Gere-a-Deli for comparison's sake. 

Bread color: Whitish

Bread texture: 4.  Absorbent

Overall sandwich size: 4.  Big

Bread toasting: 4. Well-toasted

Salad comments: Nice looking with very cute--extremely thin--sliced carrots

Salad dressing: Bleu cheese that was really garlicky, great and flavorful.

Salad greens: Very great.  Dry greens.  Gourmet greens.  

Other salad toppings:  Cukes and HALF-GRAPES!!

Au jus temp:  2.5.  Additional jus was not steaming.

Bread/bun size:  Wide

Meat done-ness:  5.  Medium rare with visible pink.  I prefer to see some pink on my Prime Rib...

Sandwich characteristics:  Soft, good, not greasy

Bread characteristics:  Really good 

Au jus characteristics:  "Oilyish" but good, authentic jus

Salad description:  4.5.  Sweet good, half-Grapes on salad, nice, dry, fresh, hearty, and CHEWY (which I think is something you want!!!) greens...lots of red (which I think of as nice and fancy/gourmet) greens.

Other sides:  A nice Kosher-style pickle spear that was good.  I think this is a good addition to every French dip meal is a nice pickle.  As if the sandwich and jus weren't salty enough, right?!!  But I think because it is cool and crisp, it is very refreshing...as is the salad and that's why I typically choose it instead of fries, BTW.

Skewer type:  Fancy toothpicks

Other comments:  Smoked onions are a nice addition, had to order hot jus, which they brought out rapidly.  Jus can be TOO hot, BTW...  I burnt my tongue/mouth but it was better hot, so I was grateful.

Cheese comments:  Mild but good Swiss

Overall sandwich comments: 4.5.  GREAT flavor, the smokiness is a real winner.  Overall it's really good with big, soft, absorbent but not too soft bread.  The side-salad also really made this meal with its garlicky, creamy bleu cheese dressing, good greens, and cukes.  There were no "crunchies" (like croutons or sunflower seeds) on the salad but they were not needed with such good lettuce and cukes and thin carrots shreds.  Oh! and there was just a little bit of feta cheese on top of the salad which made it really good.  More salt but hey!  Hotter initial jus may have made this a five.  Additionally it is not exactly a "fancy" French dip like that at The Keg but it's real good and the smoked onions really make it interesting and unique.

Overall:  4.5.  Great experience, pretty crowded in there.  Friendly owner Tim and bartender Charlie.  Patrons seemed happy to be there and there was good ambiance.  It was crowded on a Wednesday night and my date and I had fun.

Editor's note about the score.  After later reflection, this sandwich really is as good as the dip at Canyon's restaurant that got a 5, maybe better.  We are in the process of recalibrating our scoring system.

4 of 5 DeliciScore™ (Great) Awarded to El Gaucho for their French Dip Sandwich in Bellevue, WA on this 8th day of December, 2011 - Fine roast beef dip

Not my car.

The nice menu with The Brazilian Cowboy.

The view from our table.

Another view.

This was a special. Roast Beef Dip.  au jus and fries (I got a salad instead) $15

The menu and ice water.

Beer tastes good.

Tasty cheesy, buttery, garlic bread as a free starter.

The plate: pretty big sized sandwich (I'd guess 8" long), au jus that looked a bit "low" yet was enough, and a side Caesar salad.  Note the overflowing roast beef!!!

Very nicely toasted.  Fancy-looking bread, lots of roast beef.  No other flash and flair makes it what I would call a "Gourmet Classic".

Dark au jus with visible fat in it.

Restaurant - El Gaucho, Bellevue, WA
Restaurant Type - Fancy steakhouse
Meal - Lunch on a Thursday
Background - My buddy Ben D. recommended this dip so I went to get it!
Restaurant smell - Good and smokey, meat smelling like a nice steakhouse
Ambiance - Nice, formal, lunchtime, good music playing (first Jazz, then switched to Sinatra-style crooning)
Water delivery speed - Had some nice tasty ice water pretty much as soon as we sat
Table settings - very nice linens, well kept, fancy
Waiter and service - Very friendly and helpful.  He recommended a beer and listed a lot of beverage choices and ultimately sold me on the beer.  Well done, sir!  Also, my date was wanting tea and he brought out all of the tea options so she could assess and choose.
Beer - Good but could have been slightly colder.  It was a "Christmas Ale" from Jolly Roger.  Was sweet and full bodied but good and drinkable.
Free appetizers - They started us with free and very tasty cheesy garlic bread that was really good.
Meat - 4 of 5.  Really good, very tender roast beef that kind of melted in your mouth.  Flavor wasn't to die for and was served medium.  Very good overall.
Meat quantity - 5 of 5.  lots!!
Bread - 4 of 5.  Very nice looking, homemade-style bread that was well toasted.
Bread texture - Very good.  Crunchy on the toasting yet soft and absorbent.
Sandwich - No flash or flair on this basic dip besides its very nice, tender meat and it's toasted homestyle bread
Sandwich size - This was quite large.  I'd guess like an 8" sandwich overflowing with beef.
Other nice things - The served us three (small but really good, buttery, crispy) chocolate chip walnut cookies for free for dessert.
Salad and things - I ordered a Caesar that was pretty good but nothing to write home about.  Jessica did not love her side salad or her onion-fig-jam flatbread.
Au jus - 4 of 5.  Nice, dark, semi-sweet with visible fat in the au jus.  I feel like people should heat the ramekin so the au jus stays hot for a long time!
Au jus amount - looked like not enough but turned out being just fine: I ate a lot of the first half without it because it was pretty good and then got into it.
Overall - 4 of 5.  This is a very good "Gourmet Classic" dip in the sense that it is a basic dip (no cheese, onions, etc.) yet has fancier-than-average roast beef and nice homemade-looking bread that was really well toasted.

3 of 5 DeliciScore™ (Good) Awarded to The Pumphouse for their French Dip Sandwich in Bellevue, WA on this 7th day of December, 2011 - Always a solid, consistent place.

The menu.

The menu items.

The scene from my table.

The large water.  Probably 25 - 30 oz.

The dip.  A classic.  Salad and fries.

Review

1. Which Meal - Lunch on a weekday with my friend Chris W.
2. Establishment - The Pumphouse, a nice local bar in downtown Bellevue.
3. Establishment Type -  Bar.  TVs, crowded.
4. Restaurant Crowdedness - Crowded
5. Menu Description - "French Dip Sandwich - Our fresh cooked thin sliced roast beef on a french roll with au jus or bbq sauce."
6. Price - $10.99, includes salad and fries.
7. Service speed - Fast
8. Service quality - High
9. Helpfulness of Waitress - Helpful.  I asked a question of whether to get the French dip (roast beef) or burger dip and she said that the French dip was "more popular".  French dip it was!!
10. Water size - Large.  Bonus points!!!
11. Sandwich size - Conservative but good enough.
12. Dip Type -  A Classic
13. Meat - 3 of 5.  Basic but good Roast beef.
14. Au Jus - 4 of 5.  Good au jus.  Hot, dark, salty.  
15. Au Jus amount - Good.  Enough au jus.
16. Skewer Type - Fancy toothpicks.
17. Other nice things - Lemon in water. Salad and fries included with the basic order.
18. Salad Size - Good enough
19. Salad taste - Good.  Good croutons, some little carrots.
20. Dressing - Blue cheese.  Good enough.
21. Restaurant Cleanliness - Good.  
22. Bread - 2 of 5.  A basic (but good enough French roll, store bought).
23. Bread toasting - Slightly toasted.
24. Other Sides (French fries) - Good enough, crunchy fries.  Ketchup delivered in little metal container.
25. Overall - 3 of 5.  It's a pretty good basic / classic dip!
26. Reasons to go back - Good, crowded place with good service and very high quality, consistently very good food!  Good beers.

4 of 5 DeliciScore™ (Great) Awarded to Hector's Restaurant for their Prime Rib Dip Sandwich in Kirkland, WA on this 16th day of November, 2011 - Not too bad, Hector.

SETTING THE SCENE

The scene from our table.

Hector's is a pretty good little bar and place to eat in downtown Kirkland.  I've been there quite a few times and not sure that I had experienced their French dip before.  My buddy Matt had been there within the last few months and had let me know about their dip.  I like the ambiance in there overall: TVs, low light, cool tables and chairs, a nice bar.  I believe they recently lost their cook, however, to Redmond's Bar & Grill, who also has a dip that is on my list.

I was out with my buddy Leigh for a business conversation at dinnertime and decided I needed to go with the dip.  I was a bit distracted in conversation and drinks so didn't take copious notes on this dip but did demonstrate to Leigh and Jessica the review method: prepare, observe and smell, taste alone, taste with au jus, enjoy, review.

Prime Rib dip.  Caramelized onions, pepper jack cheese on a French roll with au jus.  $14.  I didn't get the fries.

THE DIP

Here it is.  I got a salad with Bleu Cheese on the side.  They added bleu cheese but forgot dressing!!??   The dip looked pretty good overall.  The bread looked so-so, kinda plain.  The au jus wasn't all that filled up; I think I'd like it 'teaming'.  You can see the caramelized onions hanging off the side; I think they were red onions.

Salad, 2, not that good, lettuce wasn't all that good.  They forgot the dressing at first.
Bread, 3, basic bread, nothing special at all here.
Au jus, 3, was fine, wasn't overly hot.  Had enough, though for bread that was reasonably absorbent.
Bread absorbency, 2, soaked up more au jus than I wanted.  Sloppy and wet sandwich is good but not exactly the goal.
Skewers, 4, Fancy toothpicks
Meat, 3, good enough Prime Rib but nothing that special, fresh-looking or fancy.
Cheese, 3, didn't really notice that it was Pepperjack or spicy.
Non-meat toppings (caramelized onions), 4, these were good and tasty onions and really added something to the sandwich; they made the sandwich taste good alone.
Value, 3, for $14 this was okay but not great value.  They make it "fancy" with the caramelized onions and pepperjack cheese.
Overall, a generous 4.  This is a good sandwich overall but not the best dip.  Eating it without the au jus was good.  It tastes good alone.  The au jus wasn't overly hot but good enough and added something but not a ton.  The salad's look detracted from the sandwich; they might want to consider plating the salad separately.  The bread was fine but nothing really fancy in any way so kind of detracted.  I recommend that they put more au jus in the cup to show their confidence in their juice.

Here's a closer up pic of the sandwich.  You can see it's simple and tasty.  The cheese wasn't obvious but the onions were quite good.  The bread was wide but very simple.

REASON TO GO BACK
Downtown Kirkland is fun!!!

5 of 5 DeliciScore™ (From Heaven) Awarded to Pine Lake Ale House for their Prime Rib Dip Sandwich in Sammamish, WA on this 11th day of November, 2011 - This one is really good.

INTRODUCTION
I wanted to write this review slightly differently and less anal than my previous ones.  This is my "short form" blog format for a French dip review.  My basic review method is to eat the thing, take pictures, and make short notes onto my phone.  I then clean up the text producing the more verbose and descriptive language below and then rate the sandwich on a variety of dimensions.  I like to end with the overall rating to assess the sandwich and experience overall.

Setting, Ambiance and Other
Good selection of cold beers, crowded with a very good vibe, nice neighborhoody spot, a great and entertaining server named Sarah.

The dip.  See the sesame seeds.  Good job of filling the au jus cup.  The bread is  whitish and the  meat and cheese are bursting out of the sandwich.  It looked and smelled really good!!

Sides, etc.:
Excellent starter bleu cheese salad with very great, juicy tasty red tomatoes, very thin and nice sliced onions, very nice big and soft, "forkable" croutons, and nice chunky bleu that was very well pre-tossed and the greens themselves were fancy and nice.

THE DIP:
First Impressions: The sights, smells, and sizes.  
Au jus smelled good and was dark.  The bun had sesame seeds and the bread was semi-whitish.  The sandwich portion was just right and looked juicy with melted cheese and a hint of the aioli!

The eating of the dip.
Good white chewy crunchy bread.  Good and not greasy melted cheddar cheese.  Tangy, even nutty-tasting juice of a dark color, correct temperature.  Roast beef was crispy and slighty chewy but good.  It didn't seem like "fine" Prime Rib and was very thinly sliced and maybe even looked processed but still good.  Overall, the dip was juicy and not fatty and you could taste the garlic aioli if ever so slightly.  If you tried hard enough, sometimes you could taste the toasted sesame seeds.  The bread was chewy, crunchy, and very light colored.  I thought at one point that it could have been sourdough but I don't think it was.  Overall, the portion was perfect and I only used 3/4 of the good jus, which is nice to have some left behind (and not have to order three (see J. Michael's Pub)).


Place, 4, Nice place, crowded, good ambiance, nice server.
Salad, 5, great.
Sandwich Presentation and Impressions, 5, great, looked good.
Bread, 5, really good, the toasted sesame seeds, chewiness, and crunchiness were very nice touches.
Jus Availability, 5, only used 3/4 of the jus.  Good job!
Meat, 4, okay, crunchy.
Non-Meat Toppings, 5, nice cheese and aioli added something, sesame seeds on bread good.
Au Jus, 4, good solid jus.
Portion, 5, perfectly sized, not too big or small.
Overall, 5, very solid dip and the salad and ambiance were really good.

4 of 5 DeliciScore™ (Great) Awarded to Grim’s Provisions & Spirits for their French Dip Sandwich in Seattle, WA on this 7th day of November, 2011 - Jessica's 30th birthday party!

Setting the scene

Jessica's 30th birthday party!!!  The theme was 1981!

It was my girlfriend Jessica's 30th birthday party and we rented The Butterfly Lounge at Grim's on Capitol Hill in Seattle.  A friend, Lisa, had told me about the Grim's fancy-sounding French dip: "roast beef, havarti, horseradish aioli & au jus on giuseppe $7.95.  Includes green salad dressed with balsamic viniagrette and parmesan cheese." about a month ago and I wanted to try it.  But I don't really like to review Dips when others are present but I had to!   If you find this review incomplete, inaccurate, or misrepresentative, sorry...we were partyin'!!!!

Menu and Ordering

Grim's French dip: roast beef, havarti, horseradish aioli & au jus on giuseppe $7.95.  Includes green salad dressed with balsamic viniagrette and parmesan cheese.

Grim's menu has a lot of hearty, comfort-style foods.  I got to sample some other things that were quite nice.


Plate

Looks pretty good and semi-fancy. Small amount of jus provided but sufficient.

Medium rare roast beef, havarti which I couldn't taste.

The salad.  Kinda looks brown maybe but could have just been the balsamic staining the lettuce.  Tasted fine overall; good, simple dressing.

Overall, the plate was quite simple: a simple salad, a smallish sandwich and a very small portion of au jus.


Skewer method
Not used.


Bread
I think the 'giuseppe' is fancy and from the Macrina Bakery in Seattle ("Our classic, crusty Italian loaf. Leavened with biga (traditional sponge starter) and unbleached flour. Lighter in salt and perfect for dipping in your favorite olive oil.").  Recall that Maggie Bluff's (their French dip review) uses Macrina bread on their dip.  I think the Maggie Bluffs bread is better, more absorbent and better suited for a French dip.



Meat
Not a ton of pretty good, medium rare roast beef.



Non-meat toppings
They claim to have havarti and horseradish aioli on this thing but I didn't taste either; could have been the booze!!



Au jus
Very little (but enough) provided.  I think it tasted like Goat Cheese?  (It had a gamey flavor?!!!)



Portion
Smallish.  Very non-pillowy bread.



Value
$7.95 for this semi-fancy dip is a pretty good deal.



Overall dip
It was fine but not that delicious to me.



Other (fun?) stuff while there
We had a great time celebrating Jessica's birthday and entertaining our guests.  The Butterfly Lounge is a pretty nice area!  ....Oh! and I took pictures with a REAL (non SmartPhone) camera for once!!



Summary

	Score (0-5)	Comments
Bread	3	Nice bread but not much of it.
Meat	3	Medium rare roast beef but not much of it.
Au Jus	3	Interesting.  Small but sufficient amount.  Goat cheese flavor?
Overall	4	Pretty fancy dip.  Kind of smallish.

Reason to go back:  Grim's has a pretty good dance floor and some of their other food, like the truffle pasta with bacon is really good!

French dip review: J. Michael's Pub in Redmond, WA, 3 of 5

Setting the scene

J. Michael's Pub & Eatery in Redmond, WA.

I had had the dip at J. Michael's a couple of times before and knew that I needed to review it for the blog; I was getting down to the nitty gritty of dips left to review on the east side, so it was off to J. Michael's after work on a Monday.

J. Michael's is a sports bar in Redmond that primarily serves to the blue collar working class.  They have a pretty simple menu, lots of TVs, pool, video games, pull tabs and a very relaxed, easy going feel.  

Menu and Ordering
Diners order at the bar from a board with the menu items posted.  The dip is $7.00 and fries are $1.50.  I added a salad and got a Coors Light.

Plate

The French dip.  You can see that it's quite large.  The au jus looks funny in this picture bat  it was fine.

The dip is quite large; lots of bread.  As you can see in the picture the au jus is not enough for the sandwich's extreme amount of absorbent bread.  The salad that it came with was quite plain: just cheese and a few tomatoes.

Skewer method
Fancy toothpicks.


Bread
They provide a LOT of bread.  It was fine, classic sandwich roll French bread.  The bread had a slightly burnt grilled flavor.


Meat
Enough very salty, fine-tasting roast beef.  

Quite a bit of rather salty roast beef on some very thick, bulky bread.

Non-meat toppings
None


Au jus
The au jus was hot and salty and fine.  I had to order three bowls to make it through all of the bread!!!


Portion
Large


Value
Not bad


Overall dip
This was a classic French dip that was pretty large.  It was very salty and "good" but just a lot of it and at some point the sodium quantity kind of bothered me.  Since I'd had so many fancy Prime Rib dips lately, this kind of dip paled in comparison for me, although it was a totally valid, fine Classic.


Other (fun?) stuff while there

They appear to have a penchant for many toilet paper rolls.  Take your pick!!!

Redundancy is the name of the game in this mens room at J. Michael's!!

The bathoom at J. Michael's made me laugh.  It was kind of dirty and had some silly oddities.

Summary

	Score (0-5)	Comments
Bread	3	Lots of very absorbent French bread, which ultimately required 2+ au juses to knock it down!
Meat	2	Quite a bit of very salty roast beef.
Au Jus	3	Fine, salty au jus.
Overall	3	A pretty big and very salty classic French dip.

Reason to go back:  beer, pool, video games, and very basic, standard bar food.  None of that fancy gourmet crap!

5 of 5 DeliciScore™ (From Heaven) Awarded to Kidd Valley for their Burger Dip Sandwich in Bellevue, WA on this 31st day of October, 2011 - What a wonderful and meaty, hot, cheesy burger dip!

Setting the scene

The sign at Kidd Valley, Bellevue Overlake area.

The fall colors were beginning to become more "dead".  Depressing but it means that it'll be ski season soon!

It was a lazy football Saturday in the fall at lunchtime and time for me to have a dip, so I headed down to my local Kidd Valley for their Burger Dip.  I knew going in that it was a very fine sandwich but I hadn't had it for a while.  I don't eat at Kidd Valley much but when I do I've enjoyed the Burger Dip, fried mushrooms on the side.

Menu and Ordering

$5.65 is a pretty fair price but by the time you get your side (I did fried mushrooms) and beverage you're just under $10.

The lady at the counter was friendly and I got a dip, a side of fried mushrooms with ranch, and a lemonade.  The price got to nearly $10 but I was okay with that.  I had the option of getting BBQ sauce instead of Au Jus for my French dip but I went with the au jus.  I ordered it with Swiss cheese since that's how it's offered but you have the option of Cheddar and American cheeses.  The ladies behind the counter regaled me with how they like to order their burger dips.

For some of you purists out there, you may believe that a burger dip isn't a French dip but I say it is.


Plate

Here it is.  Good portion, good looking cheese, nicely toasted bread, and a lot of meat!

The dip arrived, wrapped in paper and served with my mushrooms.  It looked very good, meaty and cheesy.


Skewer method
No skewer, no big deal.




Bread
Good looking French roll.  Probably a standard type of roll but the way they toast it makes it look all crackly and delicious.




Meat

Lots of very good ground beef in here and good-looking swiss cheese!

The meat on this sandwich (I suppose coupled with the au jus, cheese, and good, buttery bread) makes this sandwich really good.  It's a very large (two patty) burger which makes it for a very hearty dip.




Non-meat toppings
I got Swiss cheese on this one which was actually quite good.  It added to the texture and had a good, authentic flavor.




Au jus

There it is.  Styrofoam container but tasty.

You can see the fat floating in here, which makes it delicious.

The au jus on this is really good.  Totally solid.  Nothing wrong.  Drinkable.




Portion
Good, semi-large portion with a lot of meat.




Value
The sandwich alone at $5.65 is a pretty good deal.  The very good fried mushrooms with ranch and the lemonade made it a bit pricey for fast food at just under $10 but still well worth it!!!




Overall dip
This is a great dip.  The thing for me that really sets it a part is the great burger and the GARLIC BUTTER that they add to the bread.  Although they don't tell you that this is something they do on their very simple menu, they do and it is delicious.  It makes for a very butter, big, and juicy dip that's to die for.




Other (fun?) stuff while there
The mushrooms are great.  The fact that they do garlic butter on the bread is wonderful, though rich.

They provide the option of BBQ sauce as an alternative to au jus but it's not better.  I tried it for two bites and although its delicious and there's a (big) place in my heart for BBQ sauce, I prefer (good) au jus to BBQ sauce on a French dip sandwich.




Summary

	Score (0-5)	Comments
Bread	4	Crackly and nice texture, absorbent from a basic French roll.
Meat	4	Lots of really good burger.
Au Jus	5	Very good, fine portion.  Drinkable.
Overall	5	A really hearty, great dip and they add garlic butter to the bun which makes it very rich and buttery.  A hangover cure!?

Reason to go back:  Get what I got: the Burger Dip, fried mushrooms with ranch, and a lemonade!

2 of 5 DeliciScore™ (Not Quite There) Awarded to Turf Restaurant for their French Dip Sandwich in Seattle, WA on this 22nd day of October, 2011 - I meet Misty of @FrenchDipSEA at The Turf, Seattle for a (Ham and Roast Beef) Dip

Setting the scene

The outside of Turf Restaurant and Lounge, Seattle downtown.  There's a lot of rather seedy foot traffic around here.  I believe I witnessed drug deals while waiting. : )

When I started the French Dip Reviews blog, got a Twitter account and soon thereafter was very surprised to learn of @FrenchDipSEA, who is owned by Misty, a great gal who I've since gotten to know.  This was our first time meeting in person and we had a very fun lunch and got to talk about the dip.
Turf's dip was recommended to me by my good friend Charlotte's brother Owen.  Owen is in the food industry and told Charlotte that Turf had a good dip.  I was about to find out!
When I showed up, I pretty much laughed at the place.  It was in a pretty seedy part of Seattle (2nd and Pike) and while I waited for my dining partner for lunch, believe I witnessed drug deals even.  The place looked pretty seedy and the clientele were in some cases homeless.  A far cry from Bellevue and the eastside but good for your soul!!!

Postage Stamps, Air Conditioned (it was probably 45 degrees and raining), and Scratch Tickets.  What more could a person want?

Menu and Ordering

French dip (beef or ham) w/ fries, choice of soup (they had clam chowder that day) or salad....for $7.95...(PRETTY GOOD VALUE!!!)

I knew what I was going to get so this was no big whoop.  I was surprised and happy that they had a Ham Dip.  Misty ordered the regular roast beef French dip and I got the Ham dip, so I'd know.  Each meal came with a salad (only dressing options are Ranch and Thousand Island, believe it or not!!!!!) and crinkle cut French fries.

Plate

The starter salad.  Although the iceberg lettuce tasted fine, it was probably the saddest looking lettuce I'd seen in a while!!!

The Ham dip at Turf, Seattle.  Looks pretty good overall.  Fried ham is yummy in general.  I had to order more au jus but that's okay. 

Skewer method
No skewer


Non-meat toppings
None: this was a VERY classic French (ham) dip.


Portion
Fair portion.  They did have the ham WILDLY LOPSIDED in terms of portion between the two halves.


Other (fun?) stuff while there

Although this picture's not clear, they have a very wide variety on their menu and specials.

The experience of going to this pretty funny, quaint dive and meeting Misty, another (the only other?!) French dip fanatic, was very fun.  Our middle-aged, Latino waitress was also very cute and nice; the service was pretty good overall.


Summary
A great time at a place I wouldn't frequent again.

	Score (0-5)	Comments
Bread	2	Fair, standard French dip roll.  They grilled it on the grill and slightly burned it even.
Meat	1	The ham was okay.  Misty didn't like it, though.  The roast beef was chewy and well.
Au Jus	3	This was pretty good jus overall.  It had good color, wasn't too salty and looked pretty good.
Overall	2	This was a fun experience just because it was so run down and "classic".

Reason to go back:  I think I'd try some of their other stuff.  They had Lumpia and a really wide array of menu items.  If I happened to be in downtown Seattle and wanted a greasy spoon, totally down to earth place to grab a cup of (probably just good enough) coffee and some greasy hashbrowns with ketchup, I'd drop in.