A week long vacation in Seattle provides plenty of dining opportunities. Most of the recommendations came from you guys, so I thought I'd provide a full report for the next lucky soul making a journey to the PNW.
After arriving around 2:30AM Sunday morning (thanks United!) we found a hotel, overslept and showed up about an hour late to our Stoneburner brunch reservation. I had called ahead to let them know, so everything was good when we got there. Especially the carrots with horseradish and yogurt, the artichoke soup, the lamb belly carbonara, and cocktails. Did I mention the carrots? Yeah, get those. Afterwards we spent some time at the Ballard farmers market, and peered wistfully through the windows of La Marzocco, Staple and Fancy, and Walrus and Carpenter (all closed).
Later that evening it was Sitka and Spruce for dinner. Grilled Celtuce with cherries, spruce tips, juniper and thinly sliced lard. Good but difficult to eat. The lard didn't want to cut into smaller pieces, which unfortunately detracted from a really cool flavor combination. Salmon, smoked potatoes, and a green garlic and pea broth was delicious and perfectly cooked. Fenugreek ice cream with brandied cherries for dessert. Overall, a very Pacific Northwest vibe.
Day2: I took a mile and half pilgrimage from downtown to a coffee shop I'd heard about.
Long walk, but good coffee. Best I had all week by a significant margin. For the record, 1. Herkimer 2. Monorail 3. Seattle Coffee Works 4. Storyville. I wanted to like Storyville, but their latte was all milk, no espresso. I never made it to Stumptown or some place called Starbucks I'd heard a thing or two about.
Then back down to Pike Place market to visit some friends.
Maybe you recognize those windows, or these:
Let me just report that this place is crazy awesome. When I walked in, fashionably early, Ben, Riley, and Nick were huddled around a table working on barbecue techniques. Lorraine introduced me to the whole team, sans Grant who was out on location filming - Hans, Reva, Jess, Michael, Huy, Emmett, Chris...I apologize because I'm probably missing a few, but basically I felt like a preteen girl at a New Direction show, and it's all a bit of a blur. At one point, I slipped the Beard awards from their place of honor and wore them proudly for a few moments.
Suddenly, there's mixers going and LN2 flowing. Several pallets of Staub cookware shows up at the door, and it's like Christmas with everybody opening boxes. I sit in on a sousvide egg presentation 101 lesson with Nick and Reva. Then into the closet with Lorraine for seven minutes in heaven - yes there were catcalls outside the door, but we were just checking out Grant's knives...really! After that, it's ice cream taste testing for all with three different soft serve recipes. Chris walks over and drops science while I stand there slack jawed. And just like that, it's over. Thanks guys, it meant the world to me and despite everything below, was the highlight of my trip!
We'd been thinking Walrus and Carpenter for dinner, but decided to call a late audible and headed to Whale Wins. Some delicious, delicious food. Sardine Toasts, Squid and Peas, King Salmon Collar. Yum.
Day 3: I won't bore you with all of the touristy pictures, cause that's basically what we did, but I will share just one from the Chihuly garden.
I was quite taken with this installation, and had been thinking about creating a plated dish reminiscent of it. Then just yesterday, I happened across a pic from an old internet blog post I'd favorited long ago.
FU#K!
...
but seriously, that's freaking beautiful food. I'm not worthy.
Dinner was one I was really looking forward to, and it did not disappoint. Spur Gastropub. We did the tasting menu: Beef Heart Tartare with truffled egg yolk and horseradish puffs. Duck Liver Pate with grapes, honey and potato chips. Tagliatelle with oyster mushrooms and duck egg. Snapper with morels, smoked cashew and peas. Pork Cheeks, with asparagus and cauliflower. Coconut Sorbet, chocolate, tamarind caramel. And of course some Salmon Crostini. This was a meal right in my wheelhouse. The first four dishes and the dessert were knockouts. The pork cheeks didn't quite hold up in comparison, but overall it was an amazing meal. They bang it out in a tiny kitchen too. I went with the cocktail pairings which worked nicely with the meal. Here's a couple pics. If you're in the area, do not miss Spur.
Day 3: We headed over to Bainbridge Island, rented bikes, drank some beers at the brewery and sampled the gin and vodka from the distillery. Good stuff all around. Dinner was back in the city at Revel. Shrimp pancake, Short Rib Dumplings, Noodles and Fennel Kimchi. All really delicious. I really liked the tomatoes in the noodle dish. They had been quick pickled and partially dehydrated, but went off like a flavor bomb in your mouth. Good stuff, and I'm already working on replicating these to throw into pastas, salads, pizza, etc. at home.
Day 4: Headed north to a small secluded inn in the San Juan Islands. Checked into our room, walked the beach, ate some wild berries, played some bocce, savored the moment, and anticipated dinner. It did not disappoint.
Just before dinner, we were sitting out on the patio drinking cocktails and my wife must've said something to our server because she invited us back to check out the pantry. Really cool stuff that they'd put up in the pantry. Here's a pic, but if anyone's interested in a more detailed study, let me know. I took lots of pictures. Homemade fish sauce, dried nettles, umeboshi plums, rhubarb wine, venison heart, apple vinegar, dandelion syrup, sardines, hops, cured egg yolks. Damn.
Shortly thereafter dinner began with a series of snacks. Grilled paper thin flat bread with char roe, Kale crisps with black truffle, halibut skin cones filled with a halibut mousse, morels, grilled oysters, and black cod doughnuts that were absolutely out of this world.
At that point we headed into the dining room, for Spot Prawns and Plum 'Taco' with a Nasturtium leaf wrap, Zucchini blossoms, and a standout dish of salmonberries and wild beach rose petals, covered tableside in a rose-scented snow.
Next up were Porcinis in burdock milk, cured Rockfish, and Smoked Mussels with sunflower root puree
Smoked Sockeye - so sweet and smoky.
Followed by a bread course that blew me away with how well you could actually taste the wheat. Then flaky grilled halibut with crispy skin and finally a bonkers lasagna of cabbage and razor clams.
After a palate cleansing tea, we got dessert of grilled strawberries and pine ice cream.
We chose non-alcoholic pairings for dinner, and were the only ones in the whole joint to do so, but I've got to say it was a great choice and would highly recommend going that route if you get a chance. Chef Wetzel was present throughout the evening, serving dishes then ducking back into the kitchen to help plate. Really phenomenal meal. Many of the dishes were simple with just a few components, but well executed and highlighted the exquisite flavor of the ingredients.
Unfortunately, sometime in the night, the smokehouse caught fire and we woke up to see this.
Some of the most delicious smoked salmon I've ever had came from that smokehouse.
Despite that excitement, the next morning, we got a killer breakfast:
And then back to Seattle to head home. One last dinner at Serious Pie before heading to the airport.
It was a hell of a trip.
So, sorry to go on way too long, but thanks to everyone who provided recommendations here on the forums - thumbs up to all. Hopefully it will be of help for the next lucky traveler planning some eats in Seattle.
