City Grill (Bellingham)

Erin and I decided we wanted to try someplace new for dinner tonight. We went through our usual back and forth about Thai, Taco Down the Street, Cheap Chinese food, etc. We finally decided to try out a restaurant we had seen in downtown Bellingham back when we were doing Christmas shopping.

The place is called City Grill, and its located on Cornwall between Holly and Magnolia. They don't have any showy signs outside so its easy to miss, but make the effort to find it if you're in town. In a word, its a gem!

We got there at about six pm before any of the evening crowd showed up, and were quickly seated by the gracious and very friendly hostess. The atmosphere inside was somewhat austere, and doesn't seem to follow any particular theme, but our food is delicious . Our meal began with an appetizer of fried calamari served with tzaziki sauce. I've had calamari all over the place, and usually its pretty tough and rubbery, but this was tender and spiced just right. The hostess served us some of her almond tea which was delicious as well. I'm not sure how to describe it in any other way except liquid marzipan. Sort of sweet, sort of not. Really worth trying.

We both decided to try out their sandwiches. I got a chicken breast sandwich with avocado and bacon and Erin got a burger with bacon and sauteed mushrooms. The chicken patty was a whole breast, and not that mechanically separated crap, while Erin's burger was a freshly made ground beef patty. The sandwiches came with steak fries and a garden salad with vinaigrette. Nothing fancy, no fru-fru, simple meal, but really really really good simple meal, and pretty inexpensive too.

By the time we left a crowd was starting to build up, which made us both happy to know that these guys were getting some business. City Grill just opened a few months ago, and since downtown is kind of dead, I don't think a lot of people know about it yet. They're really worth a look, and I know I'll be going back for more.

Look at me, writing like I'm some food critic.