Seattle Times at "Unforgettable" Madison Park Conservatory; Gourmet Dog Japon "a Northwest Thing"

It's Providence Cicero's turn to rave about the octopus at Madison Park Conservatory, and she sums the restaurant up with a Thomas Keller quote she read on the bathroom wall. Chef/owner Cormac Mahoney's tenure cooking with Matt Dillon "shows in Mahoney's penchant for simplicity as well as the broad context his cooking inhabits." His "gustatory grandstanding" includes octopus bolognese, smoked clam risotto with uni butter and a semolina cake in mole sauce, all of which are "unforgettable." [Seattle Times]

Meanwhile, Hugo Kugiya hits up Gourmet Dog Japon, giving the think piece treatment to Japanese-style hot dogs, which he claims is "actually a Northwest thing." Created in British Columbia, these dogs are piled with topping like "pickled ginger, dried fish flakes, dried seaweed, katsu sauce, wasabi, Japanese sweet mayonnaise, sautéed cabbage, and sukiyaki-style beef." You can get 'em for just $5 at this small cart at 2nd & Pike. Incidentally, when the Japanese eat hot dogs, "they will either slice the frank like they do fish cake and eat it plain as part of a bento box, or they will eat it American style." [Crosscut]