Les Amis & Le Pichet

Every Tuesday night, 3 lovely girlfriends and I have “Girls’ Night,” which simply means we get to talk for hours, uninterrupted, about absolutely everything. Or nothing.

(Emily, Jessica, Kellie, and I, 2009)

Sometimes we are in sweats on the couch,

often we cook for ourselves,

(Emily wearing her "onion goggles" while making a soup, 2010)

or take a picnic,

(The view from a picnic at Gasworks this summer, 2009)

but more often than not we venture to a new restaurant or an old favorite to soak up the atmosphere. It’s been 5 years now, so we’ve tried a few places.

Although I love most types of cuisine, this group tends to find itself in warm, European environments; maybe it’s because Europe feels wise, carefree, or comforting to us; maybe it’s because I am obsessed with cheese.

So many of our recent Tuesday finds really are worth mentioning (How to Cook a Wolf, Cicchetti, Boat Street Cafe, Bastille, to name a few). Some are old favorites, some new gems: Due to time restraint tonight, I'm only going to mention one: a golden nugget.

5. Le Pichet:

Le Pichet has the best French Onion soup in the city, in my humble opinion, and they make chicken you dream about. Who make chicken to dream about? Le Pichet does. And butter lettuce salads that make you smile widely and clap your hands.

IT's French-countryside-away-from-France at it's best, with all the cheese and wine and French rustic baguettes to fill you to your hearts content. The simple wood, blue and blackboard decor, petite waitresses - all welcomes you to live the life you dream of here in Seattle. (Her sister restaurant, Cafe Presse, will come up soon, I'm sure)

Tonight is a BIG "Girls' night" - bigger than chicken and butter lettuces and aged gruyere - because one of the ladies just brought home her new baby boy from the hospital. We get to meet Bennett for the first time; and really, who cares about cuisine when there's a precious little bundle of life to savor.