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Tom Douglas. Both a complete sentence and enough to peak any real foodies interest. Most people know about Tom Douglas, Restaurateur extraordinaire, and for those that don’t know about his ten or so restaurants and James Beard awards (food Grammy’s & Oscar’s all in one) just know he’s pretty bad ass. For this week’s restaurant exploration (because my late behind missed Happy Hour) we took a ride down 4th avenue and tried one of Mr.Douglas’ creations, LOLA. I had to put it in all caps because the rest that follows is very important.

LOLA is apart of Tom Douglas’ Seattle Kitchen and features the classic produce of the Pacific Northwest mixed with Greek cooking styles. Led by Matt Fortner, Lola has won its fair share of accolades. Thus the only real question was not would I try it but more so when I was going to give it a visit.

For my visit my hot date (my friend Tina) and I ordered the Fava skordalia- garlic spread served with grilled pita ($4.75), Dolmades ($8), Lamb Kebabs ($14.75) and the made to order Doughnuts ($10). We opted for spread, meze and kebab to create a sort of tapas situation. We were not hungry but we wanted to try a couple of things at the same time. I’m sure if you went and ordered an entrée it would be more than enough food for you to be nice and full.

The Fava skordalia spread we ordered was a traditional garlic yellow split pea hummus. The hummus was fresh and had enough garlic that I could clearly taste, but didn’t feel like I was gearing up for a war with the Cullens (Twilight reference for Vampire). The pita served with it was soft and delicious enough that I would opt to eat just that if it came down to it (that war I was talking about). 

The Dolmades (stuffed grape leaves) were filled with currants, pine nuts and herbs. While I love anything stuffed, Grape leaves definitely being one of them, I was surprised at how sweet the currants made them. I’ve had my fair share of Dolmades but not once has there been currants inside. Talk about culinary wonders. I was both shocked and awed but of course not too much because I finished them all.

The Lamb Kebabs served with charred onion, lemon and ouzo featured three Kebabs with caramelized garlic~red wine glaze and were as tender as they were amazing. I am not 100% sure if something can be both tender and amazing but work with me here people. It was GOOD!  The meat- cooked perfectly. The glaze- sweet and delicious. The caramelized onions- a nice touch. My only gripe is that I didn’t order two more.

Then we get to the made to order Doughnuts. Yall! I wish I could just end the paragraph there because if you were there to taste them you would completely understand where I’m coming from. But, since you may or may not have tried the Doughnuts with seasonal jam (Blackberry right now) and vanilla mascarpone all I’m going to say is that you have to. The Doughnuts are more doughnut hole than typical doughnut and come out in a paper bag sprinkled in sugar (think Beignets but not powdered sugar). They are warm, soft, fluffy and so gosh darn good it would make you consider slapping someone (I was going to say your mother but that’s rude). I would do 1000 burpees for these things if it meant I could have them everyday without gaining a pound or unwanted cavities. Honestly there is nothing else to say other than try them.

I know I spent half of my self allotted word limit on the Doughnuts but please note everything else we ate at Lola was amazing. If you get your behind out of work earlier than I did make sure you actually hit Happy Hour, they have a number of the same great things on that menu as well. All in all I would say if you have a little extra spending money for Dinner or your typical Happy Hour budget try Lola. As always stay #ForkDeep!