3/25/2010 Ventana

i found myself at ventana, in belltown after a gig last friday. i was so hungry i chose to order off the menu and decided why not. TBH i don't see this place really lasting the duration. it reminds me of the place that is there because that's the current fad, and the neighborhood needs some place to let people meet, eat, and drink...  but maybe i'll be wrong. we'll see.

pecorino and potato gnocchi
pork trotter, caramelized turnips, foie gras brodo

it sounded really good on the menu. i mean how can you go wrong with those ingredients?  the gnocchi was light enough as to no be a heavy blog of dough which really made me happy. the brodo had a pleasant rich aroma, but sadly was very thin. i would've liked to have had the brodo be thick enough to stick to the gnocchi and this was like water.

but never fear, not 1 morsel went uneaten.

3/21/2010 Lark

last night was a lovely meal at Lark with a couple friends. we followed the directions from the James St exit on i5 and drove through an area of town neither of us had been in. i have to admit i was a little surprised at the environment. there are a few buildings that could very well be derelict within a block of the restaurant, and Lark is housed in a building that from the outside looks a bit rundown, too.

but don't judge a book by it's cover i've been told. and rightly so. inside it's packed with tables along both walls, and a 3rd row down the middle. like many of the small foodie places in seattle it's quite loud, the owners trying to maximize floor space and cram as many tables as possible into the available space. service

Wild nettle soup with basil fed snails, garlic and butter. note the bits of steam against the black bowl.

we've all had escargot. which we agree is a great device to eat garlic and butter. and matt and i have had nettle soup a few times and have always enjoyed it. this preparation the snails must've been minced because there were no 'lumps' in the soup. it was quite tasty.

Carpaccio of Yellowtail (Hamachi) with preserved lemons and green olives. and there was some shaved fenel on top.

Roasted eel with saba and new potato salad.

ok, i tried it, i didn't like it. i had eel soup in china years ago on tour and wasn't impressed then either, although my palette has matured quite a bit since then.

Yellowstone River paddlefish caviar with rosti potatoes and clabber cream

clabber cream = sour cream

and yes, that's only a wee bit o' caviar you see piled on top.

i must say i wouldn't mind these hash browns served to me breakfast in bed anyday of the week!

Halibut Cheek with peas, fava beans and risotto

this was a special and we almost didn't get it. they had already sold out of the oysters, and after letting our server know we wanted this he came back out and said we got the last one. yay! then he comes back after we had eaten a few dishes, apologizing, that apparently we had just missed the last one. he said he'd bring out the linguini on the house for us. well, as it turned out, we got the last one after all. in fact, as he was putting in on the table he said 'someone in the kitchen can't count tonight'. and we all cheered. we really wanted to try this and yes it was fantastic

Linguini with Manila clams, tender herbs and XO sauce.

i wasn't too impressed with this one. it tasted very fishy to me - but i wholly admit i really don't like clams.







at this point in our meal i caught our server's attention and requested a new service for the table. maybe i got spoiled at HTCAW - they'll give us 2 or 3 plate depending on the dishes chosen and the qty of dishes, but it makes sense to have a fresh service 1/2 way through the meal. our server of course agreed to bring us the new dishes. we had already had a slight bit of a pause, which was fine, and i was really hoping we could get our plates before the next course was served. (in case you hadn't thought of it smaller portions means they cool/warm quicker than full-plate servings), and i didn't want our next course getting cold. they almost made it. they came out together. so i'm not sure if a change of service is common there, but if it's not i hope they start to initiate it.

Crispy pork belly with aged balsamic, check peas, black olive and Piquillo pepper.

Yum. nothin' but bacon. ok, not quite bacon. it's from the same part of the pig as bacon, but a different cut. very tasty indeed. just be prepared for a lot of fat.

Mashima Ranch steak tartare with raw quail egg and onion crackers

i was telling matt while uploading the pics for this post that i really enjoyed this. i think i liked holly's a little better - probably the cracker pairing, maybe a bit of the seasoning. but either way, even just a couple years ago i still didn't really care for this dish. matt said a couple years ago i probably wouldn't have even tried this dish. he may be right.

Ricotta gnudi with caramelized parsnip, marjoram, red onion and golden raisin.

gnudi is a type of gnocchi. it was very nice, but not my favorite dish.

Natural veal sweetbreads with Bloomsdale spinach, lemon and morels.

matt says these were early morels and fantastic.  if i hadn't been pacing (we had just eaten for 4+ hours the night before) i would've had a larger portion.

Poached organic egg with chorizo, peas, morels and garlic emulsion.

the sauce was very thick, which totally helped once the yolk of the egg had been compromised. it was quite yummy.

Pineapple tarte tatin with rum caramel and vanilla bean ice cream

we split this but even as full as i was (i don't think i could've eaten another course) i would've gladly eaten every bit of this myself.

i spoke with the sous chef and he said it was quite easy to make. sometimes it catches me off-guard, how the easy things are sometimes the most grand. it was absolutely divine. i want to learn how to make this.

3/20/2010 Crush

we had 7:15pm reservations and we got there just after 7. again getting there we drove through an area of town neither matt nor i had been in. crush really isn't that far away from rovers. in fact we enjoyed a drive through the arboretum on the way home. like tilth, crush is based in an older home. once inside there were 4 (6?) tables to the left, 4 - or 2 depending on config) to the right, along with the bar and open to the kitchen. there appeared to be tables upstairs, too. i saw servers laden with plates going up and down, but i don't know if that was 'general public' or 'private dining room' type of thing. while the food is great, the decor modern, you won't have a romantic table for 2 - your sweetie won't be able to hear those sweet nothing you whisper in her ear. the place is loud, but that's the way it is with these older buildings.


we're perusing the menu and there are a lot of items that look very tasty indeed. there is a 6 course tasting menu - the "Crush 6", and the "Grand Tasting Menu" either have a choice of 2 wine pairings; the 'normal' or the 'Cellar Reserve'. by all means, if you decide to dine here and have either tasting menu, save up another month and take the cellar reserve pairing. it can be pricey but it was well worth it.

i was impressed with our server for 2 reasons. 1- when taking our order - we all chose the Grand Tasting Menu which turned out to be 11 courses, 12 if you count the amuse bouche - she asked  if anyone was allergic to anything- me for coconut, and 2- (actually these happened in reverser order) when she 1st showed up at the table if we had any other plans for the night for the pacing of the meal. and this was before she knew we had planned on being gluttonous piggies.

bread and butter, of course












Amuse Bouche:

"cheesy poofs" - little cheese puffs with chives and cheese. OMG they were fantastic. so light!

our 1st wine showed up just after the bread and butter, but it was soon followed by the amuse bouche. it was Veuve Cliquot Champagne

1st course: Bacon and Eggs

Parsnip Flan, Smoked Salmon Caviar, Bourbon Bliss


very nice. the flan was great, but salmon roe i find too salty so i let matt finish mine off.

2nd course: Japanese Hon Hamachi Crudo

Pickled Hedgehogs, Fennel Preserved Lemon, Olives

no animals were harmed in this dish - those are mushrooms :-)

 









 
it was just before this course that chef came over to our table. i saw him coming and i thought it was a nice thing for him to come over to say 'hi'. as it turns out his sommelier was given the night off or something like that, so he was going to fill in that role for us. he specifically wanted to serve us a particular wine, but when he pulled it out of the cellar a little while back they were so tightly packed he shredded part of the label, and when he pulled it out for us the rest of it got shredded. so he was offering us a choice of having it or going with something else. but he did bring us the cork.










3rd course: Cold Carrot Soup

Spring Nantes Carrot Soup & Geoduck Ceviche, Mint, Ginger, Chile

i'm not a huge carrot fan, and i didn't want the extra carrot pieces that were in the soup, but otherwise this was quite tasty

4th course: Handrolled Potato Gnocchi

Butter Poached Laughing Bird Shrimp with Gruyere Cheese

WOW. absolutely fantastic. when you go, order this dish.


























5th course: Roasted Alaskan Halibut

Salsify, Black Trumpet Mushrooms, Bloomsdale Spinach, Pickled Fiddlehead Fern

and pickled it is. whoa. but quite tasty with the halibut.

6th course: Foie Gras



his - Hudson Valley Foie Gras Torchon, Brioche, Spiced Pears, Meyer Lemon

served cool

hers - Seared Hudson Valley Foie Gras, ALmond Financiers, Cranberry-Verjus Sauce

served hot

we all played nice and shared so everyone could try both. the torchon was nice, i liked it. however - holly look out, this one rivaled yours!

course 7:  Palette Cleanser

Meyer Lemon Sorbet












course 8: Duck



Crispy Skin Muscovy Duck Breast, Sassafrass, Heirloom Farro, Cippolinis, Kumquats

this was my least favorite. i can't speak for the others, but mine was tough and chewy. good flavor though.

course 9: Ribs

Painted Hills Beef Shortribs, Buttered Root Vegetables, Cabernet Sauce

WOW. melt in your mouth tender!

our shredded bottle to the left, a couple views of the cork below

way cool decanter with chef pouring

chef jason wilson in the kitchen

                                      course 10: Artisan Cheeses

top: Blue du Vercors Sassenage, mild blue, French Alps, aged 8 weeks

middle L to R: Tomme Crayeuse, Soft, French & Swiss Blend, cow & sheep's milk; Roux des Carnes Farmstead, Delicate & Firm, Belgian, 3 month aged, raw sheep's milk

bottom: Maritchas Fromagerie Val D'arve, Buttery & nutty, wine rubbed, Swiss, 10 month cave-aged cow's milk

course 11: First Dessert, Coffee

his - Bourbon Pecan Pie, Cranberries, Maple Bacon ice Cream, Bacon Brittle

hers - Meyer Lemon-Ginger Mascarpone Cheesecake, Blood Orange Compote, Ginger Cookie, Douglas Fir Sorbet

again we all shared. yes i grew up in texas but no, i have never liked pecan pie. and while i'm sure it was good if you're a fan, i chose to stay with the cheesecake which was just awesome.

course 12: Mignardise

top left: Pistachio White Chocolate Amaretto, Chocolate Cherry Cordial, Chocolate Mocha Caramel

middle: Coconut White Chocolate Cookie, Chocolate Mint

bottom: Chocolate Peanut Butter

not realizing it was coconut until...too late :-( at least it was only 1/2 of the cookie. but i'm sure if Chef had looked over and seen my face as i tried to get that bite down my throat he might've thought i was being poisoned LOL. the others were all quite nice. in fact i would've really enjoyed them if i hadn't been totally stuffed. 

we had 12 courses, 10 wines from 7:00 - 11:00. so more courses, more different wines*, and less time than dinner at the Herbfarm. Geez. we should've taken a cab there and back. 

*the Herbfarm serves 7 different wines with dinner from start to finish, but they do a 'european pouring' which means you can refill your glass as much as you can keep drinking it and not appear so inebriated. otherwise they will stop pouring. at crush we had a single, standard pour with each wine.

3/14/2010 Fonte

we had almost 3 hours between sound check and our concert call last sunday. (Sammamish Symphony performed a couple pieces then we joined up with 4 choirs numbering 306 voices to perform Mozart's Requiem at Benaroya Hall, home of the Seattle Symphony.)

people scattered everywhere, some had brought a sack lunch with them, but we walked the block down to 1st and Fonte.

matt had breakfast: Bacon and Egg Flatbread on Ciabatta, Applewood Bacon, Farmstead Cheese, Carmalized Onion


it looked quite tasty, but you got a dinner knife, not a steak knife, which is really what one needs to eat this. Tysan = wink wink.

i had what i had last time. Grilled Gruyere, Bacon, Carmalized Onion Sandwich on a Grilled Potato Bread, sliced Apple

i have to say yum again.