Prime Rib Dip at Issaquah Cafe, Issaquah, WA Awarded 2 of 5 DeliciScore™ (Not great) 6th of May, 2017 - Small size and lackluster cheese spoil a good opportunity

Setting the Stage

It was Saturday and I had been out hiking near North Bend.  I did the Twin Falls trail and it was pretty good.  The morning started foggy and rainy but by lunchtime it was sunny.  I tried going to Dough Zone, a new dumpling place, in Issaquah but the wait was over 15 minutes and I was impatient.  I was going to a meeting and didn't have the time to wait.  I knew I could go next door to Issaquah Cafe and sit at the bar, which I did.  It was the second day in a row I had had a French dip.  The one from the day prior at Lockstep was only okay but passable.  I was hopeful and expecting that Issaquah Cafe would do a good job.  Foursquare even had a review of someone who called their French dip "yum yum" so my hopes were high.  I have been accustomed to thinking of Issaquah Cafe and the related restaurants as good.  I think I even had this French dip in their Bothell location.

Tasting Notes

• I ordered a side salad with Bleu Cheese (as is the norm with me) and it came out right away.  It was a much fresher salad (chilled lettuce and place) than Lockstop the previous day.  It had a little cherry tomato, fresh and cold carrot stick and was otherwise good and enjoyable.  Good job on the salad, Issaquah Cafe.
• The salad dressing was served in cold aluminum cup, which I thought was also a night, even cute, touch.
• I give the salad a 4 of 5 for its fresh taste, coldness, speed of delivery and good croutons.
• I sat by a friendly mother of college-aged kids and we struck up a conversation about dining room tables. Ha.
• When I ordered the prime rib dip, it came by default with cheddar cheese which should perhaps give us immediate pause.  Who would put cheddar cheese on prime rib?  Also, there was no option for selecting the 'doneness' of the prime rib, which is also usually a sign of "meat" but not freshly sliced meat.  
• When the meal was served, it was clearly a small size, so that alone was not impressive or fun.   
• The meat was unimpressive.  One of the pictures above makes it look like there was a lot of meat in this sandwich but there really wasn't.
• I give this sandwich a 2 overall.  It was not tasty as a standalone sandwich and also didn't really blow your mind when dipped.
• There were visible bits of stuff in jus, which I think makes it seem nice and fancy and the jus as a standalone feature gets a 3 or 4.
• The sandwich was served with pickle chips, which I like. 
• They had a nice little feature was that one half of the sandwich had a green-frilled skewer and the other half had a blue-frilled skewer.  Go Seahawks!  But this didn't make the sandwich taste or seem any better.
• The cheddar cheese was melted and "embedded" with the rest of the meat and I did not find it to be additive or complementary. 
• Their burger dip comes with grilled onions.  Maybe this needed those again.  I wasn't a fan.

Conclusions

• Meat 2 - Not that great of prime rib, also not much of it, also no choice of done-ness.
• Bread 3 - Small size, toasted and buttered but just not impressed.
• Non-meat toppings 2 - Cheddar cheese that was not additive.
• Jus 4 - Visible bits but it alone could not save the lackluster sandwich.
• Overall 2 - Sorry to score this so low but I was not happy or impressed.  The cheddar cheese didn't make it much better and the jus, although good, was not good enough to bring the mediocre sandwich to the promise land.

Prime Rib Dip Sandwich at Issaquah, WA Malarky's Sports Grill Awarded a 4 of 5 DeliciScore™ (Nice one!) on this 27th day of March, 2017 - A solid and large prime rib dip

The Setup

I had a nail in my tire and time to spend so I walked to Malarky's in Issaquah during lunchtime.  It's a typical sports bar and it was really quiet in there on a Monday.  But the place is clean and I wound up having a pretty good prime rib dip.  Enjoy!

Tasting Notes

• Sad side salad with kind of old lettuce but nice that the meal comes with both a salad and fries.  Nice feature.
• The salad only gets a 2 of 5. 
• The sandwich was a good size and wide
• The sandwich was fair, a 4 of 5.  It was buttered, toasted and good standalone
• The meat was medium well and got a 3 of 5.  It was fine, there was some visible fat on it and that is fine 
• The jus was good and salty and got a 4 of 5.
• The jus, on neither cup one or cup two, was hot and therefore it loses points.  It still got a 4 of 5, which was good but it needs to be hot.  In general, the jus was herby, with a bit of an oily sheen and had great flavor
• The place where I sat at the bar had bad lighting for photography 
• This dip overall got a 4 of 5, so pretty good.

Summary 

• Bread 4 of 5 for its size and quality
• Meat 3 of 5 no too fancy prime rib but good for this sandwich
• Jus 4 of 5 really good jus that they needed to get hotter.  Even the second serving was not hot.
• Overall 4 of 5 this is a good and generous prime rib dip and they have other versions of dipped sandwiches on their menu as well

"The Dip" French Dip Sandwich at Issaquah, WA's Chicago Pastrami Awarded a 5 of 5 DeliciScore™ (Great) on this 16th day of March, 2017 - A temperature hot delight

Raw Tasting Notes

1. The restaurant location is clean inside and smells good.  It smelled a little bit like Indian food to me but it was a pleasing food smell. 
2. The sandwich was expensive at $12 for the sandwich only and I found the sides to be quite pricy as well.   
3. I was not given a choice of cheese type but I was okay with that.  I later came to find out it was Swiss cheese and it was very good and very complimentary, very well melted and mixed in with the beef.
4. I got the sandwich only with a can of Diet Dr. Pepper, which was good and cold. 
5. The reason I was down there was that my wife didn't want to stay and "watch me eat a sandwich", so she went grocery shopping while I participated in my hobby.  Thanks, Jessica!
6. The location is downtown old town Issaquah and easy to find although I must say I had never previously noticed it and the place had been open for years. 
7. The sandwich alone is a 4-5 score for its size, good beef and really nice, temperature hot flavor. 
8. There was tons of beef on this thing; very impressed with the size and amount of beef. 
9. The darkly caramelized onions were also very good and complimentary. 5 to the non-meat toppings. 
10. The au jus was scalding hot like I had never experienced.  Molten lava hot but also very good.  5 of 5.
11. The sandwich was not greasy at all even with the cheese in there. 
12. The sandwich was indeed quite salty but I don't want to take points away from it for this issue.  The flavor really was nice.
13. The bread was very absorbent bread and since the jus was soooo hot, it kind of was hard to eat but hot food is not a problem unto itself, that is the problem of the eater.  The hotter, the better for most things, I say. 
14. The sandwich had a great, unique and delicious flavor. 

Also while there

I asked a couple of guys who sat near me if the Reuben sandwiches they ordered were any good and the guy said, "this jew approves", which must have been a very good sign.

Summary

Meat 5 of 5 for its crispiness and amount.
Non-Meat Toppings 5 of 5 for adding something really good to the sandwich.
Bread 4 of 5.  All you needed, nothing overly special but good enough and complimentary.
Jus 5 of 5.  Peppery, temperature hot, delicious.
Overall 5 of 5.  A really great sandwich with a really big portion.  Temperature hot, peppery, good cheese, great jus, salty delight.

4 of 5 DeliciScore™ (Great) Awarded to Joker Pub & Grill for their Burger Dip Sandwich in Issaquah, WA on this 20th day of November, 2016 - Wonderful yet tiny Burger Dip.

Here Jessica and I are at the Joker Pub in Issaquah.  It was a Sunday in November and the Seahawks were playing.  Our current residence is without TV so we felt inclined to venture out to a sports bar to root on the 'Hawks as they took on the Philadelphia Eagles.  The outcome was a good one!

The menu.  We were lucky enough to be there when the owner, who we had never met, was there as well.  A table of folks next to us was partying it up and the people who we sat by were a very friendly couple originally from Toronto, Canada.

They have two dipped sandwich offerings on their menu: a French dip (which is actually a Prime Rib Dip) and also the burger dip.  I was feeling more like a burger dip (not sure what it is other than the wholesome, meaty goodness of tasty burger).

There's the burger dip and it comes with grilled onions and Swiss.  Both wound up being good complements and the jus, as they had claimed, was indeed rich.  Good job, Joker!

Here it is served.  It looks really normal but I laughed out loud at the size of the bread, which is quite small.  It is about the size of a hot dog bun, which I found a bit insulting and tricky.  The side salad was fine, the jus looked dark.  This meal followed a reasonable helping of Coors Light so I was ready.

Close-up of the sandwich innards including the grilled onions.  I'll have to get a better camera.

Jessica was somewhat disappointed that the salad dressing was oozing all over the fork.  I captured the disappointing situation.

Here are my detailed tasting notes as we devoured the food meal:

• The bread was very tiny and pathetic hot dog-like if not smaller in size.  LOL!  I had never seen a sandwich that small even though the owner made if very clear that it was A THIRD POUND OF BEEF.  Maybe true, sir, but the clear appearance of this sandwich is kind of silly.  I suggested to him that there be a "regular" and "large" size of it.  Perhaps a "hers" and "his" size.  The bread was probably two inches wide.  Sliders are bigger than this.   That said, of the snakelike looks, it was very tasty and looked very high quality as well.  Does size matter?
• The grilled onion was good and added to my overall satisfaction in the meal. 
• The Swiss cheese was well was generally additive. 
• The bread, albeit small, was white yet fine, receiving a score a 3 of 5.
• The sandwich when eaten alone without jus was uninteresting but also beefy and good, although tiny.  I give it a 3 and a 2 for size.
• The jus was indeed rich and quality as advertised, dark and good, winning a 4 of 5 possible points.
• The size of this sandwich was its biggest issue.  Had it been a little larger it would maybe even have scored a 5 of 5. 
• The meat was well done, good burger with a very pleasing caramelized flavor.  I truly loved the burger taste and texture, whereas Jessica claimed that she didn't love a burger dip.  A burger dip may be my singular favorite food. 

So in total, this was a really good Burger dip but its biggest issue was small bread.  It made me laugh how small it was.  It was like a kid's toy.  Very delicious and fine.

• Bread - 0 of 5 - for the size
• Meat - 4 of 5 - for tasty, caramelized, good-tasting burger
• Non-meat Toppings - 4 of 5 - for a conjoined benefit to the sandwich between the Swiss and grilled onion
• Jus - 4 of 5 - for its richness and serious, delicious flavor
• Sandwich - 3 of 5 - as it was not overly mind-blowing when eaten alone
• Overall 4 of 5 for this really tasty burger dip that could have been a 5 had the size of the bread not been something from Honey I Shrunk the Kids.