Wright Eats

We sometimes get a bit of neighborhood envy (but hey, not too much – we love our neighborhood!) when we read about all the great new restaurants flocking to Ballard, Queen Anne, Capitol Hill, West Seattle, and really, any neighborhood besides Ravenna.  We’d just like a few more places within walking distance.  Is that too much to ask?

Some locations on 65th have been regular revolving doors with restaurants coming and going year after year.  There’s the place at 65th and Ravenna Avenue which had Shamiana (which we still miss), then Shamiana reborn as World Beat Cafe, then the short-lived Bistro Magnolia, and finally Hot Dish before sitting empty for a while.  That place has a bad luck omen, so we hope that The Himalayan Kitchen, which opened there two weeks ago, fares better.

We went last night to THK, and it was decent, although we were really hoping for better.  They serve Indian, Nepali, Bhutan, Tibetan, and Indo Chinese food.  We tried one Bhutan dish, aima datchi, and another more familiar Indian dish, alu matar paneer.  We both preferred the alu matar paneer.  Although we ordered the mid-range spicy level, the food was quite mild, so we’ll order the hottest level next time.  The naan was tasty, although it was a bit thinner and somewhat crisper than I like.

Just across the street, the windows are papered over but the sign is ready for Da Pino’s to open later this month.  Currently located on Rainier Avenue, Pino Rogano is moving into our neighborhood and bringing what looks like a great menu of sandwiches, pastas, artisan cured meats, gelato, and espresso.  It will be nice to welcome a little neighborhood place like that.

Two blocks up from there is Third Place Books, where we hear that the Honey Bear Bakery will be replaced by a second Vios later this year.  We’ve enjoyed Vios Cafe & Marketplace in Capitol Hill, a family-friendly Greek restaurant with great food.  It’s interesting that the Honey Bear Bakery, which is synonymous to us with Third Place Books, is moving out.  Personally, I never found the Ravenna bakery to be as great as the old Tangletown location from years back, though, so this sounds like a good change to me.

Finally, it looks like Felix and Sarah Penn’s second place, which we mentioned a few months back, is getting close to opening on 55th.  It should be good, if it’s anything like their first place, Pair.

The Himalayan Kitchen
2255 65th Street NE, Seattle
(206) 588-0651

Starting this week, Skillet Street Food’s weekly downtown location will be on the corner of Boren and Denny Avenue.  I think it’s safe to say that I’ll be working remotely on an upcoming Wednesday.

And if that doesn’t fit your schedule, you can stop by Skillet at the upcoming Pioneer Square Fire Festival on July 11-12.

We’ve been fans of Sitka and Spruce since it opened, so when we heard last year that chef Matt Dillon was opening his second place, The Corson Building, we could hardly wait.  Whereas Sitka and Spruce is generally first-come-first-served, The Corson Building is reservations-only.  They’re only open for dinners a few nights a week, usually Thursday through Saturday, but it varies – their web site lists the dates.  They host a number of other events (more on that later) and periodic Sunday Suppers, too.  We scored our reservation for their first Sunday Supper, which was last weekend.

The Corson Building sits below the Corson Street off-ramp from I-5, in Georgetown.  You’d think this would make it easy to get to, but instead the ramp deposits you a block or two beyond the building, so we wound up making U-turns and backtracking before finally finding the rustic brick two-story.  The front half of the lower floor is the dining room with the original ornate fireplace taking center stage, and in back, Matt was cooking in the homey kitchen filled with windows.  The dining room was empty this evening because the tables had been moved outside.  Tonight’s dinner was to be the first official dinner on the patio (Matt joked that the meal he served outside to his family the previous week didn’t count).

For the first half hour, we wandered the yard, admiring the edible garden, chicken coop, and doves.  We enjoyed iced tea and oysters on the half shell while Matt’s friendly and mellow dog Che ambled about, greeting guests. The urban soundtrack of planes, trains, and automobiles was completed with the railroad tracks out back and Boeing Field nearby, both active this evening.

Two dozen people squeezed in around the single long table, some in chairs, others on wide wood benches.  When we had arrived, there were place settings on the ends which were missing when we sat down, so we asked if we could wrap someone around the end to get a touch more elbow room.  It only made a difference for one side of the table, unfortunately.  This would be a cozy supper.

Three wines were available for purchase on top of the $50 per person for dinner – a good deal given that the regular dinners are $80, but the pours were small and the dinner long so we would have preferred to purchase a couple bottles instead.  The wines were chilled and just right for the hot day.

Dinner finally commenced when heaping plates of radish and fennel salad with prosciutto arrived at each end of the table.  The salad was a refreshing start, though with just two plates to pass, there was sadly little left by the time each reached the other end of the table.  For the next course, we filled our plates with clams, bacon, and chorizo, plus crostini with rabbit liver pâté.  Both were delicious and a few of us wished for bread at the table to sop up the flavorful clam broth.  Instead we dumped our broth into the shells to make way for the next course after it was clear that there would be no fresh plates for the salad.  The roasted tomatoes were intense and really made the romaine, cucumber, and tomato salad stand out.

Everyone had a break to stretch their legs before the main dishes arrived in quick succession:  King salmon with fava beans, rabbit leg poached in olive oil, lemon, and bay, with green goddess dressing, and Bluebird Grain Farms emmer with morels, carrots, and lovage.  (Dawn and I predicted tonight’s meal would include fava beans and morels – ’tis the season!)  The salmon was amazing, and the tender rabbit’s simple preparation let the delicate flavor come through – definitely one of the best rabbit dishes we’ve had.  The meal finished with muscat wine, a large plate of Pecorino-like cheese, and a huge bowl of fresh strawberries with 25 year old balsamic on the side for dipping.

Dinners are only half of the picture of what The Corson Building is about.  Matt has plans to make it into a community center for the Georgetown neighborhood.  He’s collaborating with the nonprofit Seattle Youth Garden Works, providing the kids with a plot of land just down the street from the restaurant to grow produce that he’ll buy from them.  They will be growing some of the more interesting and unusual items that he can’t easily get elsewhere.  SYGW provides jobs for underserved youth, and you may have seen them selling their fresh produce at the University District farmers market.

Then he plans to host visiting chefs at The Corson Building.  Not only will he provide the chefs a venue for hosting dinners or classes, but if they’re from out of town, he’ll let them stay upstairs in The Corson Building.  The first chef’s dinner is this Sunday with Justin Neidermeyer, who is about to open his new Piemontese-style restaurant Spinasse Trattoria in Capitol Hill, where he’ll serve his amazing handmade pasta.  Matt also plans to have Jerry Traunfeld in a couple times before he opens his much-anticipated restaurant Poppy in September.  They know each other well, since Matt once worked in Jerry’s kitchen while he was at The Herbfarm.  And Matt will also soon be hosting Amaryll and Lori from Boulette’s Larder in San Francisco.

Matt has visions for his own larder next door.  He already has space in the back half of the neighboring building and plans to develop it into a café and retail space, where you can purchase top-notch ingredients for a party or your pantry.  He says it’s the place where you’ll be able to go buy a gallon of chicken stock or maybe some stuffed quail for your dinner party.

He’s open to other ideas for using The Corson Building space, too.  Let him know what you’re thinking about and he’ll try to make it happen.  Matt’s vision of The Corson Building as a vibrant community center for all things food-related is exciting, and we look forward to seeing it develop over the coming months.

The Corson Building
5609 Corson Ave, Seattle
(206) 762-3330

As they say, the third time’s the charm.

The first time we tried going to Elemental was about two years ago with friends.  They had recently gone for dinner, raved about how good it was, and really wanted to take us.  Great!  They said you need to get there early so we showed up at 5:30 with them.  The five tables were already full, and we got the cold shoulder from the owners.  No reservations, no waitlist, “no we won’t call you on your cell – come back in a few hours and try again.”  Our friends weren’t too thrilled about the response, so we left and had a lovely dinner someplace else.

Later that summer on a beautiful sunny Saturday afternoon, Dawn suggested we give Elemental another shot.  Having read that you stand a good chance of getting one of the 14 seats for dinner if you arrive before the 5-6 cocktail hour, we left early.  We took a bus down to the U District, strolled along the Burke-Gilman trail, and arrived at the restaurant at ten-to-5, where another couple was standing reading a small handwritten sign hanging there: “Closed tonight due to a hand injury.  See you next time.”  Hm.  Two strikes, I thought.

Fast-forward two years to a cold and gray June day.  Dawn, knowing that I had all but written off Elemental by now, bravely tossed out the idea of trying to go once more.  Our friend DoRon had just declared Elemental his favorite restaurant in Seattle, so shouldn’t we at least try it?  “Fine,” I said, “but this is it.”  We followed the same plan as before: bus, walk, get in line early.  We arrived and took up spots number nine and ten in the line.  However, that was no guarantee we’d get in, given that people ahead of us might have friends joining them.  Dawn could see I was already scheming a fallback plan for the evening, but as luck would have it, we were seated ten minutes later.  The poor group of four in front of us didn’t fare as well – there are only two “big” tables at Elemental (for 4 or 6 people), and they were the third big group.  Lesson learned, I supposed: get there early for two people, or really early for more.

When we sat down, I actually felt relieved!  After all of the anticipation, we could finally sit and relax for a few hours.  Cocktails and truffled popcorn mellowed things out, and by the time dinner started an hour later, we were ready to eat.  Phred, co-owner and our waiter this evening, asked if we wanted to see menus or if he should just bring us food.  Our preference is to always let the kitchen make whatever they want, so we went with that option and never even saw a menu.

And so began our nine-course meal of shared plates and interesting wine pairings.  An intense cold asparagus soup was followed by a plate of delicate scallops, radishes, and watercress drizzled with olive oil.  The one food that Dawn generally avoids is scallops, but these were so tender and fresh that they had practically no resemblance to the bivalve as we knew it.  Next were two stacked blini with salmon gravlax, roe, and crème fraîche, followed by gnocchi in a cream sauce, a puff pastry with chickpeas, and a perfectly-seasoned white fish with sautéed zucchini and a small egg custard.  You might think we were completely stuffed at this point, but the serving sizes were perfect – we were enjoying everything, and still looking forward to more.  The main meal wrapped up with an ancho chili-glazed squab, and a beef tenderloin with cream sauce and cabbage.  Finally, three desserts arrived altogether – buttermilk ice cream and strawberries with chocolate syrup, a thin slice of chocolate mousse cake, and a Greek dessert of cheese-stuffed crepe drizzled in honey.  I could get used to every meal ending with three desserts!

And let’s not forget about the wine.  For an absurdly underpriced $20 per person, we enjoyed nearly a dozen paired wines – dry sherry, dry white, sweet white, oaked white, reds of all kinds (including an amazing Rioja tempranillo that was the perfect pairing for the ancho chili-glazed squab), and several dessert wines.  (Now you know why we didn’t drive to dinner tonight!) Phred cleared each round of wine glasses as he brought the next, which I really appreciated.  With that much wine, I don’t like to feel pressured to drink everything, but it’s nice to enjoy the different tastes with each course.

As we had read before going, Phred doesn’t like to tell you what you’re eating or drinking at Elemental, at least not until you’ve finished the course.  He obligingly confirmed (or corrected) a few guesses I made about the wines as he cleared glasses.  Not knowing what you’re having is all part of the experience, reminiscent of some of our fine dining adventures abroad.  Rather than lazily allowing your analytical process to tell you what’s in front of you (”the menu says this is a pinot noir”), you find yourself relying instead purely on your senses to interpret the food and drink (”hm, this wine has a slight acidic taste on the tongue initially, then starts tasting like raspberries”).

I’m glad DoRon threw down the gauntlet and declared Elemental his favorite restaurant, otherwise I might have completely missed this amazing experience after having dismissed it years ago.

What are your favorite restaurants in Seattle?  Where have you had a particularly memorable dining experience?

Elemental @ Gasworks
3309 Wallingford Ave N, Seattle
(206) 547-2317

Years ago, if you asked Eric or me what our favorite Seattle restaurant was, we’d instantly say The Harvest Vine.  It was the place we’d head to when we were tired and hungry after work and wanted to kick back, or we’d go to celebrate a special occasion and splurge on one of their excellent bottles of Spanish wine.  There was a time when you’d find us there at least a couple times a month.

Then, something happened.  I can’t even pinpoint what it was exactly, but a few years ago, we started to mention it less frequently when people asked us where to go eat in Seattle.  It was mostly that it became a kind of hit-or-miss place to go for dinner.  When they were on, they were on.  Sitting at the bar and watching them cooking amazing dish after amazing dish, we’d order whatever caught our eye.  But then it seemed like there were too many nights where things weren’t on.  The food was just ok and a little routine, or the service even a little off-putting at times.  And somehow it always happened when we brought friends.  Things were generally great when the right people were there – Juan Carlos, Fernando, and of course the owners Chef Joseba and Carolin – but not necessarily as good when they weren’t.

Not anymore.  They are back on their game and back on our list of top restaurants in Seattle.  We went a couple months ago, wondering how things were going since they’d opened their second restaurant, Txori, last fall in Belltown.  Despite their attention being divided between two restaurants now, the food at The Harvest Vine is better than ever.  Every dish was spot on delicious.  We went again on Saturday, and again, amazing.  The menu was more creative than ever and each dish was perfect from the presentation down to the seasoning.

We started with a dish of simple but impeccable ingredients: house cured salmon, cucumber gelée, crème fraîche, and a tiny dab of caviar.  Delicious – I was happy to hear that they plan to keep that one on the menu for a little while.  We also had braised eel on a generous bed of morels, which was melt-in-your-mouth tender.  Then, piquillo peppers stuffed with hake and potatoes and served with butter lettuce.  This was a dish that highlighted the creative talent of the kitchen.  I adore butter lettuce, but it seemed odd served in the bowl with a hot entree.  That is, until the first bite – something about the crunch and flavor of the lettuce took the dish from very good to great.

We were transported back to Spain when the braised chorizo with smoked pork belly, breadcrumbs, and red grapes arrived.  The smoky aroma reminded us instantly of the fabada we had in Asturias, even without the beans.  Our last dish was beef tongue dredged in flour and egg, then fried and served in its juice with fresh peas.  It was incredibly tender, and we sopped up the flavorful juices with our Columbia City bakery baguette.

We were almost full, but not once have I walked out of The Harvest Vine without dessert.  I’ve mentioned this before, but I think that Carolin is the best pastry chef in the city.  We’ve been known to go late at night simply to get a taste of one of her desserts.  Tonight’s were no exception.  We split two desserts: a moist corn cake in a pool of the most delicious rhubarb sauce with strawberries, along with a frozen almond parfait presented beautifully with spun sugar on top.  They arrived with Eric’s shot of espresso and my café bonbon, which is sweetened condensed milk layered with espresso on top.  You stir it up, and then your neighbor turns to you and asks you what you’re drinking because the aroma is so good.

We told the chefs how everything was spot on, and they mentioned that it’s been a lot easier lately to turn out great food since they recently started changing the menu only every other week.  Now, they say, they have time to get to know the dishes, rather than recreating the menu every day and opening up the kitchen at 5 to a whole new set of items to learn.  Now it all makes sense – it’s not coincidence that the place is really shining right now.

They do take reservations, however only for the downstairs wine cellar area.  It’s nice to eat down there, but we always prefer the atmosphere upstairs, watching the food come off the grill and the chefs arranging the plates.  There’s often a wait for a bar seat, but we consider it well worth it!  Especially on a beautiful sunny summer evening when the wall door is opened and you feel like you just might be eating in Spain.

The Harvest Vine
2701 East Madison, Seattle
(206) 320-9771

After a long week at work, we were ready for a Friday night out.  Our destination was the week-old Italian restaurant Branzino, the newest addition to the Second Ave restaurant row in Belltown.  I called that afternoon for a reservation, and we scored a table with a view of the open kitchen – we always prefer that to a view of the street!

The atmosphere and clientele are as you might expect of a new restaurant in Belltown – a bustling, small space filled with young, hip diners.  The menu is typically Italian – antipasti, primi, secondi, contorni – and our server explained that dishes are meant to be shared, served one or two at a time.  After some difficulty figuring out how much to order (our server kept saying “everything here is served à la carte” but not answering our question of how many dishes would be appropriate for two people), we settled on panzanella (bread salad with tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil), gnocchi with lobster and spring peas, maltagliati (flat pasta) with morels and rabbit, a veal chop with fresh cherries and mushrooms, and a bottle of Barbera d’Asti to go with it all.  When we ordered the veal chop, our waitress mentioned that the price had gone up $5 (to $36) since the menu was printed.  We looked at each other, considering switching to a more reasonably priced fish or octopus secondo, but we stuck with it since the cherries and mushrooms sounded so good.  (Dawn often orders dishes just for the sides!)

The panzanella started off nicely, until I hit a pocket of salt on one of the pieces of mozzarella.  I’m a big fan of salt, but this was far too much, and basically ruined the dish for me.  It must have been an isolated spot because Dawn enjoyed the rest.  Next came the pastas; good, but (ironically) they both could have used more salt, given their somewhat bland flavor.  The veal chop was also a surprise – after several bites we realized there were no mushrooms or cherries.  We asked our waitress if there was a mix-up, and it was then that she realized that we had been given an old menu when we sat down; the veal chop had changed to being simply served with lemon zest and chopped parsley on top.  Since we’d already started, we decided to keep it, but explained that we had ordered the dish for its original description.  Our waitress made up for the error by offering us a complementary grapefruit sorbetto with strawberries for dessert, which turned out to be excellent and was Dawn’s favorite dish of the night.

Would we go back?  If we found ourselves in Belltown looking around for a bite, then perhaps.  The wine selection was quite nice with some reasonably priced bottles, and the staff was very friendly the whole evening, even when things got hectic.  Let’s hope the inconsistencies in the dishes were simply part of being a new restaurant. 

Branzino
2429 2nd Ave, Seattle
(206) 728-5181

Before we headed over to see Good Food on Wednesday, we stopped at Pike Street Fish Fry a few blocks away to grab some dinner.  Good stuff!  Our halibut, sturgeon, and asparagus came out piping hot and lightly battered and fried.  Intermingled with the fish were thin sliced and batter fried lemons – these would make a great side dish on their own and were awesome with the fish.  For our dipping sauces we chose the housemade tartar, curry ketchup, and lemon aioli.  I liked ‘em all, but my favorite was the tartar.  The aioli was particularly tasty with the perfectly cooked asparagus.  This is finger food, but we found that the sauce containers were just a smidgen too small to fit two fingers plus the fish, so if a small piece of fish slipped while dunking, it was impossible to retrieve without a fork.

Of course, you can’t have fish without fries, especially since this was the former home of Frites.  Fries are ordered separately here and we opted for the Spanish version, which came smothered with sour cream and sweet chili sauce.  We were hungry, and polished off everything with a glass of wine and beer.

The place is tiny with only a couple seats along with some standing-room-only tables.  It’s “smooshed in-between” (as their business card says) Neumos and Moe Bar, so the place was thumping with sound checks while we ate.  Opened since late April, Fish Fry is owned by Michael Hebb, former restaurateur from Portland, Oregon, who is also underground with his One Pot suppers in Seattle.

Pike Street Fish Fry
925 E Pike Street, Seattle

Since Anita expanded to the U-District market earlier this year, her crêpes have become part of our Saturday morning routine.  I always wondered why the U-District market had been lacking the yummy prepared foods of other markets around the city.  Anita explained to us that it wasn’t until recently that the U-District market folks finally got permission from all of the nearby eateries to allow prepared food stands.  Now, Anita is there, and you can find other munchies too, like wood-fired pizza, and for the first time this week, Empire Ice Cream.  Starting this month, the prepared foods have all moved up to the grassy area next to the University Heights Center.  Between the grass, seating area, and the playground, it’s the perfect spot to enjoy a bite just a bit away from the market foot traffic.

Sweet or savory crêpes, it’s a difficult choice.  I started out hooked on the nutella and banana crêpe for a while, but it’s been at least a month since I’ve deviated from the spinach, mozzarella, and feta crêpe.  What makes it so addictive is the generous sprinkling of cracked black pepper on top, which goes nicely against the feta.  This week, I paid $1 more to add Wooly Pig ham to my crêpe – yum.  Eric went for the ham paired with Mt. Townsend Creamery cheese, which he said was awesome.

Anita wasn’t there this week when we bought our crêpes.  Apparently, she was off taking advantage of the sunshine and planting flowers at her soon-to-open restaurant in Ballard.  It will be a tiny place with only nine tables, and in addition to crêpes, she’ll be using her CIA and French Laundry training to develop some interesting dinner menus.  Anticipated opening is next month.

But no need to fret as I initially did – fortunately, her crêpes will still be available each week at the markets.

It’s been nearly three months since we talked about going to Ocho, and the stars finally aligned tonight.  We walked in around 6, and were lucky to get a couple of seats at the bar after a few minutes.  It was standing-room only with a line out the door not long afterwards.

Co-owner Zach Harjo was behind the bar, mixing drinks nonstop.  Dawn was eager to try the Ten Dollar Margarita (made with a premium tequila), given how much she liked the margaritas Zach made when he was bartending at La Carta de Oaxaca.  I went for a Sagrada Familia, which was a tasty blend of pear brandy and rosé cava.  Sitting at the bar gave us ample opportunity to see the other cool concoctions being served, and next time I want to try the popular Sangria Rioja, pictured here:

Ocho has a tapas bar atmosphere that reminded us of Spain – a small, loud space crowded with happy people enjoying good food and drink.  The chalkboard listed a number of tapas, including classic dishes like pa amb tomaquet from Catalonia and fabada con chorizo from Asturias.  We tried those and others, and soon were reminiscing about how we were eating fabada in Asturias just a year ago, wondering when we were going to get a chance to visit there again.  How great to have these food tastes transport us back!

While everything we had was excellent, the dishes forego authenticity in favor of tastiness.  Pa amb tomaquet is traditionally crispy grilled bread simply rubbed with garlic and tomato; Ocho serves slightly-crisp French bread heaped with diced tomatoes and a slice of warm manchego cheese.  Would I order it again?  Absolutely – it was a perfect two-bite start to our meal.

If you go, don’t miss the dates filled with blue cheese, wrapped with pancetta, and drizzled with a balsamic reduction – they’re sweet enough to be dessert!

Ocho
2325 NW Market St., Seattle
(206) 784-0699

It had been almost two years since we’d been down to Portland, Oregon.  Portland has become quite a dining destination in recent years, with skilled chefs opening innovative restaurants constantly.  We spent two nights there this weekend, hoping to whittle down the list of restaurants we’ve been compiling.  While it was one of our more memorable foodie weekends in recent memory, we’re left with a list that has only grown longer.

The first reservation we made was for Le Pigeon, since we weren’t able to dine there on our last trip.  Then, a month ago, my coworker foodie friend Kurt came back from Portland with a glowing review of his meal at Sel Gris, a fine dining restaurant that opened there last fall.  We were torn.  We’d be there only Saturday through Monday, and neither restaurant is open on Sundays.  Should we wait yet another trip to try Le Pigeon, or should we miss out on Sel Gris?  In the end, we canceled our reservation at Le Pigeon and made a new reservation for Sel Gris at 5:30 pm.  A little earlier than we desired, but it was the only time still available for the 6-seat chef’s counter (where Kurt said we had to sit).

We arrived in Portland during lunchtime.  Since we didn’t want to eat much before dinner, we opted for lunch at Escape from New York Pizza.  Eric misses the NY pizza from his childhood and is always on a quest to find good NY pizza.  He likes Seattle’s A New York Pizza Place, but the crust and sauce there are a little blander than I like.  Escape from NY Pizza pleased us both, with tasty sauce, plain cheese pizza for Eric (which he says is the way it’s meant to be eaten), and a New York vibe inside the place.

We did some shopping, checked into our hotel, and then caught a cab to Sel Gris.  We were the first to arrive when it opened and sat in the center two seats at the glowing amber counter.  It was really tough to order, because so many items sounded good.  My eyes kept landing on the pasta dish.  I knew it was the token vegetarian dish, and I felt that I should order a meat dish to really see what the chef could do.  But I love pasta when it’s done well, and I just couldn’t pass up the artichokes, peas, ramps, mushrooms, and goat cheese, which may as well be a list of all of my favorite things.  So I ordered it anyway.  Eric chose the lamb.  We heard a number of other lamb orders fired after his, and I don’t think we had been sitting there for more than 15 minutes when we heard the chef tell the wait staff that there was only one lamb dish left for the night – apparently they’d had an early run on lamb.  I guess our early reservation was fortuitous!

We started with the foie gras done two ways.  This was the first dish out of the kitchen that evening, and so our first opportunity to see what beautiful plates Chef Daniel Mondock constructs.  The chef’s counter directly overlooks Chef Mondock’s station, where he effortlessly drew a pattern onto our plate with molasses.  The plate was warm, so the molasses melted and then thickened as it cooled, sealing in the blood orange sauce alongside.  We know this because we were so intrigued by its consistency as we ate it that we had to ask our waitress Mary why it wasn’t fluid as we’d expected.  Both foie preparations, one cold and one seared hot, were flawlessly seasoned and we instantly knew what Kurt, and the subsequent reviews we’d read, had been fussing about.  This was only the first in a series of spot-on dishes, brilliantly presented and incredibly flavored.

Our salads were next.  Mine was fun to eat: a salade composée, where the components of the salad were artfully arranged on a plate.  Rabbit paté with a tiny cornichon and mustard on the left, grilled onions cradling olives, figs, crispy pork, and almonds in the middle, and then diced strawberries with cheese on the right.  Eric enjoyed the Lyonnaise salad with warmed frisee, lardon, bacon vinaigrette, and a poached duck egg.  His only complaint of the night was that while the salad was nicely seasoned, the egg was not, so he had to add some of the sel gris they had provided on the side.  Perhaps this was intentional, in homage to the restaurant moniker?  It did seem out of place in the salad.

I could tell that our main courses were coming when I saw vivid green English pea puree being spread in a rectangle across a dark plate.  The pasta with peas was piled into a cylinder on one side and the vegetables were arranged on the other.  One bite and I was happy.  Creamy and sweet with the goat cheese sauce and perfectly al dente hand-cut noodles, it was exactly what I was hoping for.  But I couldn’t help eyeing Eric’s lamb.  He shared a few bites and I now understood why everyone was ordering it.  Neither of us had eaten such a tender, flavorful lamb loin before.  And then there was the spherical round of spiced lamb balanced on top.  What was this?  Yellow egg yolk burst from the center when Eric cut into it – an egg had been wrapped in lamb!  The pepper crust went perfectly and we agreed this was the best part of the dish, even with that amazing loin.

Over dessert, we chatted a bit with our waitress and one of the waiters.  They wanted to know where we’d recommend they eat when they visit Seattle this summer.  In exchange, they gave us a few tips on places to try in Portland.  We hadn’t even eaten at two restaurants yet and already our list was growing again: Nicholas (Lebanese), Good Taste Restaurant (Chinese), and Restaurant Murata (Japanese).

Mary also told us how she’d lived in Barcelona recently, which piqued our interest, since we love that city.  She told us not to miss Cinq Sentis next time we visit, which is an up-and-coming restaurant that she thinks is outstanding.  She said that it’s only a matter of time before it becomes more widely known.

While we were talking about Portland, she mentioned that Le Pigeon is great, too.  We heard this at least twice more during our visit, but even so we didn’t regret missing it.  Sel Gris far exceeded our expectations, and we’re glad that we had the chance to dine at this creative Portland restaurant.

We headed back to our hotel, but it was still early – daylight, in fact.  Michelle Magidow, from Licorous/Lark, had mentioned that there is an innovative new cocktail bar in the Pearl called Teardrop Lounge.  We weren’t really in the mood for cocktails after that meal, but we wanted to go somewhere and this was another place not open on Sundays so it was our only chance to try it.  So we walked over from our hotel.  These people are passionate about drinks!  My cocktail was interesting, with forbidden black rice horchata and chipotle-chocolate bitters.  They make their bitters in house.  Eric ordered from their extensive sake menu.  It was a “small” sake but I was lucky that it was really quite large, because I stole more than a couple sips – it was amazing.

We stopped at Powell’s and stayed until close, lost in the photography section.  The only reason I mention Powell’s is for one food-related find that we purchased with our books: an Envirosax.  Everyone seems to be catching on to using reusable bags as part of their regular routine at the grocery store, including us, but sometimes we forget to bring our bag.  There’s no excuse with Envirosax, because it’s a lightweight eco-friendly polyester bag that rolls up to a tiny size that fits in your palm.  Stash one in your glove box or your purse and you’ll never be without a bag again.

Onto day two… we are not yet done eating.  We had chatted with John Sundstrom before we left for Portland, and he recommended brunch at Beast, so this is where we headed on a sunny Sunday morning.  We’d enjoyed clarklewis last time we were in town, and Beast is Naomi Pomeroy’s newest venture.

The restaurant is small.  There is one small communal table, seating eight, and another about twice as big.  We were seated facing the open kitchen, which occupies about a third of the room.  We enjoyed Stumptown coffee and fresh squeezed juice while watching them prepare the first of four courses.  The menu called it “brioche and baguette french toast” but it was really a bread pudding (thinking about it, are they really much different?).  Topped with a strip of candied bacon, maple bourbon sauce, and whipped cream, it was like starting brunch with dessert.  Just my kind of brunch!

Between courses, we had fun reading the wall-sized chalkboard covered with cooking tips, quotes, and random info.  There was a small list on the side listing their favorite restaurants.  In case you are looking for more recommendations:

Second course was a poached egg perched on a hash of morels, crispy potatoes, spring peas, ramps, and a medallion of venison.  Hollandaise paired perfectly.  It reminded us of the lovely seasonal dishes we enjoy at our favorite Seattle brunch spot.  This was followed by a selection of Steve’s cheese and a wild gathered salad.  This wasn’t the only time we noticed Steve’s cheeses while we were in Portland.

Finally, there was dessert (or was it second dessert?).  A tiny scoop of buttermilk ice cream with poached rhubarb and a dollop of caramel ended the meal sweetly.

That afternoon, we headed to the Portland Indie Wine Festival.  It was a juried event featuring small independent wineries from the state.  It was fun meeting the winemakers and learning about wines we had never heard of before.  We particularly enjoyed the 2006 Pinot Noir wines from Johan Vineyards and Capitello Wines.  We also tried an interesting cranberry wine from Hawks View Winery.  We’ve tasted cranberry wines before in Door County, Wisconsin, and haven’t been big fans, but this one was nicely refined and not too sweet or tart.  It would be a fun wine to serve at Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.

Dinner on Sunday was at Toro Bravo, another sibling of a restaurant we’d enjoyed on a previous trip, Simpatica Dining Hall.  We sat at the bar, continuing the weekend theme of observing the kitchen while we ate.  The kitchen was surrounded by the bar seats, but unless you’re along the back corner as we were, you can’t really see the cooking.  It was controlled chaos as the kitchen was slammed that night.  Everything was delicious.  We particularly liked the oxtail croquettes, which were hot and creamy inside.

We had noticed that the cook on the far end of the line looked familiar.  During a break near the end of our meal, she came over and wanted to know if we were from Seattle because she recognized us, too.  Turns out, we knew her from Lark where she previously worked.  Rachel has just moved down to Portland and is loving it.

Ok, just Monday left (are you still with us?). For lunch, we were headed to Pok Pok, which I’ve been dying to go to since Matthew Amster-Burton wrote about it in 2006.  He’s mentioned it regularly since and each time I wonder why I haven’t tried it yet.  This was really the entire motivation for our trip.

But wait, I forgot breakfast.  We knew we had to eat light, so we headed over to Stumptown Coffee for cappuccini (orrr, cappuccinos – they went out of their way to point out that they prepare them traditionally, but then go and call them cappuccinos :)  We also grabbed a doughnut (just one) from Voodoo Doughnuts up the street.  Only one because it was the most massive doughnut I’ve ever seen: their Memphis Mafia doughnut.  The two of us could only eat about a third of it.

We hung out until lunchtime and then headed over to Pok Pok.  This place was incredible.  The dishes we tried were definitely distinct from any other Thai restaurant we’ve been to.  Andy Ricker, the owner, is on a constant quest to recreate the best food in Thailand, along with Vietnam and China.  He regularly travels there and brings back new ideas, and is constantly evolving the menu.  We loved the Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings, which were sweetly caramelized, garlicky, and left our mouths tingling.  Our favorite dish was the Khao Man Som Tam, which was shredded green papaya salad served with coconut rice and sweet shredded pork, along with fried shallots and cilantro.  The waitress suggested that we mix everything together to get the best combination of flavors and textures.  What an amazing dish.  The coconut rice alone was enough to make me happy.  We finished with the Pok Pok Affogato – condensed milk ice cream drowned in Vietnamese coffee, served with fried donuts for dunking.  If we had a place like this in Seattle, I would eat there regularly.

Initially, we thought that two days wouldn’t be enough, but with that much food packed into one weekend, we were ready to go home and detox.  However, we’ve vowed to return to Portland again before the end of the year.  Two years was too long.

Escape from New York Pizza
622 NW 23rd Ave, Portland
(503) 227-5423

Sel Gris
1852 SE Hawthorne, Portland
(503) 517-7770

Teardrop Cocktail Lounge
1015 NW Everett St, Portland
(503) 445-8109

Beast
5425 NE 30th St, Portland
(503) 841-6968

Toro Bravo
120 NE Russell St, Portland
(503) 281-4464

Pok Pok
3226 SE Division, Portland
(503) 232-1387

Stumptown Coffee
128 SW 3rd Ave, Portland
(503) 295-6144

Voodoo Doughnuts
22 SW 3rd Ave, Portland
(503) 241-4704

We had been looking forward to the dinner all day.  Traffic was light and we arrived early for the 3rd annual Whole Beast Dinner at Lark last Monday.  We nibbled on marinated olives and Marcona almonds and sipped Cava while we read over the evening’s menu.  There were two different animals featured, one pig and two lambs, but the menu looked a little more manageable than the previous year.  We could hardly believe it then when veterans told us that the menu had been pared down from the first year.  We barely made it through three of the four waves of food!  This year’s menu didn’t look quite as intimidating. 

Several of the more interesting dishes were missing this year, such as the pork snouts, trotters, and lamb brains.  Michelle Magidow said that they had a little more trouble obtaining the “bits and pieces” this time around.  The Whole Beast Dinner is usually more involved than simply cooking the whole animals, since they actually need snouts from 50 pigs to serve a roomful of 50 people Pork snouts alla Milanese.

But they did bring back the pig ears.  These were served thinly shaved in a salad with watercress, green papaya, pickled chiles, and crispy shallots.  The salad was stellar and perfectly dressed with the right blend of heat and sweetness.

There were a number of other standouts.  We enjoyed the lardo that Lark served on toast with sweet mostarda di uva.  This is Lark’s own lardo, which they have been curing for six months so far; they expect to continue curing for another six months, but this dish was a preview of what’s to come.

We also really enjoyed the squid and chorizo skewers, along with the warm salad of lamb tongue with cauliflower and almonds.  Both dishes were prepared by David Hawksworth, who was the chef at West Restaurant in Vancouver until recently.  He’s working on a new venture now, renovating the Hotel Georgia to include a 6,000 sq ft. restaurant that will serve over 100 people.  After those two outstanding dishes, I’m certain we will be visiting after it opens.

Johnathan Sundstrom had invited David as a guest chef for the evening, along with Susan Vanderbeek, a venerable chef in the Pacific Northwest.  She recently sold her popular restaurant, The Oystercatcher on Whidbey Island, and is enjoying retirement by working at events like this dinner.  It was a memorable meal, and we’re already looking forward to the 4th annual dinner.

1st wave
Salumi and Fra Mani coppa and salami
Lark lardo on toast with mostarda di uva
Guanciale wrapped dates with Gorgonzola
Marcona almonds and marinated olives

2nd wave
Warm pork pate en croute with rhubarb, grain mustard and loganberry honey
Squid, chorizo, olive, confit tomato and grilled treviso
Lardo roasted white prawns with rosemary and Meyer lemon
Pig ears as a salad with watercress, green papaya, pickled chiles and crispy shallots

3rd wave
Lamb crepinette with pine nuts, fennel and pear
Warm salad of lamb tongue, duo of cauliflower and toasted almonds
Pork cheeks with spicy coriander broth, ramps and pineapple
Pan fried kidney with curry mustard, asparagus, dill and Basmati rice

Grapefruit Campari Ice

4th wave
Lamb sweetbread ravioli with peas, favas and mint
Pork tongue dolce forte
Grilled lamb kofta with spiced carrots, couscous and Mustapha’s olives

Dessert
Meyer lemon madelienes with custard sauce
Crackling chocolate cookies

Lark
926 12th Ave, Seattle
(206) 323-5275

We decided to try something new for brunch on Sunday, and had read that Veil started serving brunch late last year, so we headed to lower Queen Anne.  During the day, Veil’s interior is diffuse and glowing, giving it a bit of a dreamy feel – perfect for waking up while waiting for your food.

A number of options on the menu looked good, and Dawn was torn between ricotta pancakes with blueberry compote or malted Belgian waffles with bananas and nutella.  She eventually settled on the pancakes with a side of apple chicken sausage, while I got biscuits and gravy with poached eggs.  We each started off with a cappuccino, and they were pretty weak; it was more like drinking steamed milk (at least the foam had good structure).  Grapefruit and orange juices were fresh-squeezed and tasty.  When our food arrived, the plates were very elegantly arranged, as one might expect at a chic place like Veil.  My dish was better than expected (the gravy had a wonderful flavor, and the poached eggs were perfect), but Dawn’s pancakes and sausage were both dry.  She wished she had gone for the waffles instead!

Given that things were hit-or-miss, I doubt that we’ll go back for brunch anytime soon, especially since there are so many good brunch places in Seattle.

Veil
555 Aloha St, Seattle
(206) 216-0600