A lot of the restaurants in our area offer what is fast become a staple to any appetizer menu - the Artichoke cheese dip. There are a lot of variations on this dip, most containing spinach as well but some of the more adventurous have ingredients like crab or lobster. Some use differing cheeses, although most stick with Parmesan or a combination of Parmesan and heavy cream for a thinner dip. One of my all time favorites was a crab artichoke dip we tried out at the Pike Brewery in Seattle.
The restaurants Bostons and Applebees have consistently good artichoke dip, although they are pretty basic and don't buck the mold. Both have spinach and Parmesan cheese and bake a layer of cheese on top of the dip itself. Both are served with standard fried tortilla chips. It's all around satisfying stuff, but nothing too amazing.
A pizza and pasta parlor just a few blocks from our house called Rikki's has the best artichoke dip in the area. They ditch the spinach and go for a different blend of cheese as well. If I had to guess I'd say there was some cheddar and mozzarella in addition to Parmesan, but the menu didn't divulge which cheeses were used. The dip has more of a liquid consistency than is standard, and also has larger chunks of artichoke. Instead of tortilla chips the bowl of dip is placed directly on top of thin pizza style bread that is covered in Italian seasonings. Kudos to Rikki's for thinking outside the box and coming up with an outstanding dip! They have a lot of different items on their menu that aren't seen in many other restaurants around town, so expect a post all about it!
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