Amazing Restaurant #2 In a Week

Who knew that responding to a concept called Groupon would bring me to an amazing restaurant. Groupon is a great concept in that they send out offers daily and you have a set time to respond. You save usually at least 50% and it often has a time limit. In this case they offered $55 worth of food for $25. And let me tell you I have no regrets! And so let's proceed with telling you about an evening that will not be soon forgotten.Michael had finished early with his conference in Bellevue and I was able to sneak out a bit early so we were across the lake and in Seattle just before 5pm. But wait, it got better, can you say Doris Day parking spot. Seriously, right in front. We had to pay for only 65 minutes on the meter and poof, we were walking into this quaint little place that has been around a little over five years. They have made it so you walk by the kitchen on the way in and then a little maze style hall into a series of small dining areas marked off by curtains. It all holds to the entrance of just too cute!There is a definite feel of stepping into a gem, a place that is not a run of the mill restaurant. It is on Stewart just above Pike Place Market and so during the summer a lot of the tourists do not see it and yet in the off season they have a devoted following from what I understand. They are all about fresh, fresh and did I mention fresh? So we got seated and Vincent was a delight as our server. He was attentive and yet so knowledgeable. To kick off the night we enjoyed martini's with a trio of salads. First up was a Fried Avocado Salad with Panko encrusted Avocado ~ tomato ~ Dungeness crab ~chive oil ~ corn relish ~ orange vinaigrette. It was amazing! The came Grilled Peach and Roquefort Salad which said, "Merv’s first of the season super sweet peaches. Sliced and grilled ~ Roquefort ~ port soaked cherries. It was more a dessert than a salad, but oh it was delicious! Finally our final salad was Chioggia Beet Salad with Merv’s sweet pink rainbow swirled beets ~ Roquefort ~ sherry vinaigrette ~ Frisee ~ onion ~ candied walnut. While I felt it was a bit overdressed Michael did not agree and that is fine. There is no wrong when enjoying great food!

After another round of martini's (I go with vodka while Michael opts for traditional gin) we have a bit of a pause before going on to the next round. That included the following three items. Whereas, with the salads that we shared, this phase we opted to each get an order of the Hushpuppies with Crab that were corn meal fritters with Dungeness crab ~ chilies ~ Served with bacon fat aioli. Can you just say YUM! Each order had 4 and that was lovely. At the time this was delivered so was an order of Quattro Mac Pasta ~ Nic’s Quattro cheese blend ~ Heavy cream and so nice and light yet oh so flavorful. I was totally blown by this dish. It is gonna be revisited. Michael needed to step away for a moment and while gone, we got the masterpiece of the evening: Foie which consisted of seared foie gras ~ bacon fat caramel ~ sweet corn polenta ~ gingered apricots. Seriously too good for words. Michael returned to share that the hall to the bathroom is lined with comments.Plus in addition to this great food we had moved to wine. Since it is summer, whites were leading the way and for me, Maison Louis Latour Viognier 2007 out of France and Michael decided on the St. Supréy Sauvignon Blanc 2008 out of California. While he stayed with that for the night I decided to go to Di Stefano Sauvignon Blanc 2007 out of Washington which was a peppery grapefruit that made it just lovely. The one thing we discovered that night was that while I did not taste any metalic flavor in the wine Michael did and that is why he opted to stick with what he had decided with. Again, there is no right or wrong, just go with what you like and enjoy. That is what makes food so much fun.

Our cheese plate arrived next with Idiazabal, Roquefort, Bleuet de Saleve, uTaravu and Weybridge. A lovely moment and yet we had one more course coming. A fresh cobbler of peaches and blackberries that was served with Madagascar vanilla ice cream and we both enjoyed coffee. It was a night that will not soon be forgotten.