Ironically, I started and ended my Saturday with a brulee—not intentionally. At brunch at Skillet in Ballard, I always order the grapefruit brulee, a dish I first encountered in Victoria and which is, to my mind, genius. Take a sour citrus fruit like grapefruit and blowtorch the hell out of the top layer until its natural sugars turn into that hard sheet of caramelized goodness. It’s a terrific sweet-and-sour duo—not to mention fun to eat. Later, at Mashiko’s in West Seattle, I had a lovely omakase dinner which included a delicious matsutake-mushroom tempura (not sure if it’ll be there this week; depends on the mushroom availability) and lots of pieces of sustainable sushi, including some unusual ones such as rainbow trout. That multicourse chef’s selection ended with jasmine creme brulee. While it might not be everyone’s cup of tea (literally), jasmine is one of my favorite flavors, and it’s particularly strong and heady in this preparation. Chef Sato, after learning about my love of it, even sent me home with a little cup of fragrant jasmine tea buds.

nsprinkle@seattleweekly.com