During the last couple of months we have definitely increased the frequency of our take out/ordering in, because when you have newborn twins and a toddler (hell, even if you don’t) there are just some nights where the thought of even thinking of what to make is too much. On those nights you pour yourself a glass of wine, grab a beer or shake a martini and pour the kiddos some milk in their sippy cups then go online and figure out your options for dinner.
The world of delivery has definitely expanded in the last couple of years. In our little neighborhood of Ballard, we can get the regular pizza, chinese and thai but also pasta, sushi, indian and bbq.
Here are some of our recent favorites:
Pizza: Pagliacci (costs more than Papa Johns but worth it): http://www.pagliacci.com/menu/delivery/ Their original cheese is amazing! Most kids love pizza (and Karina calls every delivery person the pizza guy).
Chinese: We haven’t found one we’ve loved yet. So kind of trade off between those that we get menus for in the mail. Karina loves the plain rice. I usually order something with peas or some kind of veggie to give her some of mine.
Thai: We tend to order from Mae Ploy in Ballard: http://www.maeployballard.com/. I’m a big fan of their crab wontons and beef pad see-ew. Karina pretty much will only eat the wontons and rice.
Sushi: Mori Sushi (Greenwood) http://www.morijapaneserestaurant.com/ They have terriyaki and other noodle and rice dishes, none of which have really done it for me. My husband likes their chicken terriyaki. I like their sushi + tempura. We usually order edamame for Karina which she eats with rice along with some of the cabbage salad that comes with Tim’s dinner and his chicken. I also sometimes order cucumber sushi which she likes. The delivery guy also bows to you when he delivers the food 🙂
Indian: Kalia Indian Cuisine http://www.kaliacuisine.com/ Their mango lamb is amazing! Even the 1 is spicy though, so not as much for the kids, unless they can take the spice. Again, Karina usually eats the rice + then I make her some veggies.
BBQ: Gabriel’s Fire http://www.gabrielsfire.com/ We ordered from them for the first time tonight. It was pretty good, but I must say, not all it was built up by others to be. We ordered the Delicious Double and an extra side to meet the $25 delivery minimum. It was a good way to sample a variety of their offerings and to give the toddler some options as well. The sides we ordered: baked beans (very good!), white rice (for Karina – sense a pattern?), mac-n-cheese (ok), corn bread (bland), and gumbo (Tim loved it). It is great for a toddler because they can eat the sides + the meat is all just grilled with the bbq sauces separate. I made the mistake of saying that the sauces were spicy, so Karina wouldn’t even try them. The Carolina was my favorite. We also got the Kansas City and Chipolte.
When we do take out (where we pick it up) we almost always do drive-thru so that we don’t have to get in and out of the car with the kids. More things should be drive-thru 🙂 The options in our neighborhood are very limited: McDonald’s, Burger King and Wendy’s (all burgers), Taco Time or Taco Bell, Pizza Hut or KFC. Not the healthiest, although I saw a story on the Today show recently with someone from Zagat’s on there rating fast food places: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/38694233/ns/today-foodwine/ which ranked Wendy’s the healthiest of the burger places, if I remember it correctly.
Any other suggestions? Let me know. We are always open to something new! Especially given that I’m going back to work in a couple of weeks and we’ll need some good deliver go to options.
