Sitka & Spruce: Father's Day Dinner--Review

Yesterday for Father's day, my family and I went to Sitka & Spruce located in Seattle's Capitol Hill.

The little restaurant is located inside Melrose Market , which also has a bunch of other little shops inside as well. It is a farily open space with windows all around letting the light in offering green house feel to the atmosphere which I found really comforting.

They're menu, I believe, changes every day so click HERE to see updated menus for Sitka & Spruce.

We started off with their bread of the day which came from the Columbia City bakery (located in south/central Seattle).  The baguette was nice and crusty on the outside and soft on the inside. The whipped butter with the sea salt flakes paired nicely with it as well.

The brined & baked ham with fermented rhubarb was also a nice pairing to the bread. I've never had rhubarb in a fermented/pickled form and found it quite nice. It had the sour/tartness of a pickled radish and went well with the mild flavor of he ham. The fresh Italian flat leaf parsley also added an earthy element to the dish and when eaten together, it offered a nice, clean, fresh taste. The tartness of the rhubarb really enhanced my appetite.

 

Then came our salad which consisted of young lettuce (romaine I believe) hazelnuts and a cow tomme cheese. Nothing much to say about this salad besides the fact that it was indeed fresh and the vinagrette enhanced the sweetness of the young lettuce. The cheese added a nice salty touch and the nuts added a crunch of texture.

 

Then we had the black morel (mushroom), garlic spear, and egg soup. At first glance, it looked like a typical Chinese egg drop soup, but that is where the similiarities end. the flavor of the broth was more robust than your typical egg flower soup but I can see inspiration taken from the Chinese soup. The morels were excellent and provided a meat like texture to the soup. It was quite unexpected but welcomed. It brough a sense of heartiness to the soup. The chopped up garlic spears/scapes also added a nice mild onion-y flavor and texture to the soup. Then the beaten egg that was added to the soup created a fullness to the soup as a whole. Overall, this was a really excellent soup.

 

I really wanted to try the raw salmon, but was a little put off by this dish since it had zucchini in it. I'm not a huge fan of zucchini but found that it worked really well in this dish. The soft texture of the zucchini paired nicely to the raw salmon (which by the way was not fishy at all and you could taste the pure flavor of the salmon.) Along with the crunchiness of the rye bread, the texturse flowed nicely. I found the dill to be a little too overpowering in flavor, but the sea bean added the right amount of tart and salty flavor to the overall mild flavoring dish.

 

Then came the lamb belly and lentil dish. This dish is the perfect way to consume lentils, in my opinion. The lamb was nice and soft and flavorful without being gamey, like most lamb dishes are usualyl known for. I was nice and moist, most likely from the fat, and paired nicely with the lentil and emmer and borani (a Persian appetizer with yogurt).

Then came the halibut dish which though it was good, didn't impress me as much. The piece of fish was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. The flavor and method of cooking the fish also wasn't too impressive. It was packed with a butter flavor, but I will say it was cooked well and wasn't too fishy in smell. I did enjoy the terragon leaves however as it added an unexpected twist. The potatoes were also good and gave a new appearance to how to present potatoes since it looked like meat. Overall, this dish was okay and something I could pass up.

Lastly, we tried the gateau basque which I would say is like almost a soft thick custard type of pie. It was not to sweet and it was creamy on the inside with a nice flakey crust. The strawberries paired nicely with the this tarte like dessert as it was sweeted and seemd to have had the strawberry flavor enhanced.

It went really well with the coffee we had as well.

As we got our check for the evening, they came with the caramels (which I also believe they hand made). They were nice and soft, but seemed a little greasy since the butter that was used to make the caramel perhaps was too much? It oversaturated the paper wrappers they were held in.

Overall, I would like to try this place again, maybe for their brunch or lunch even! I like the idea and concept behind using fresh ingredients on the daily and providing a new menu almost every day to keep things unexpected.

It is a little pricey, but you are paying for the services (which by the way is excellent) as well as the quality of the food.

Terra Plata: Restaurant Dinner Review

This past Sunday, we celebrated my brother's birthday with a dinner at Terra Plata, located in Seattle's Capital Hill.

I started off with their fennel and grapefruit soda. It was citrus than anything and I found the fennel taste to be almost non-existing. However, it did remind me of a drink I've had in Malaysia which tastes very good so I wasn't totally disappointed.

We also selected this wine to pair with our dishes which was majority seafood.

Our first appetizer dish were these large beef bone marrows. Prepared very simply with just a little salt and a date compote mixture, the juicy (almost fat like) bone marrow melted onto the crusty bread and paired very nicely with the date mixture. It is very rich and not recommended for those that do not like the texture of fatty foods.

We also had this baby turnip dish, cooked with orange and some other garnishes. This was absolutely wonderful. The flavors complemented so well together and the texture of the turnips themselves were nice and tender--a wonderful start.

Then came one of the earth dishes that would probably the mos 'not worth it' dish. This small wild mushrooms gratin was a bit pricey, and didn't come with enough of the toasted bread.  However, the mushroomws, especially the morel mushrooms, were very delicious. The creme fraiche melted nicely with the sauce that gave it a ricotta cheese feel and the sauce was butter heaven. I just wish there were more components to this dish, maybe even pair the sauce with rice, to make it more worth the price.

Next was the risotto. I loved the little baby asparagus in this, which added a nice texture throughout, however this was a very rich dish. I couldn't have too much since it was quite heavy, but the flavors were there.

The Manila clams with their homemade chorizo sausage was probably my favorite dish. It was a total flavor impacted dish with just the right amound of textures and flavors mixe around. The smokiness of the sausage balanced out nicely with the chickpeas and pickled onions which all complimented the flavors of the clams. Not to mention the giant crouton pieces of bread throughout the dish to soak up all the juices!

The next dish to come to us was their so called 'sea bass' dish. Now, this isn't the typical Chilean seabass, that a single steak would weigh more than this small fish, but a part of the bass family. I think they should've made that distinction, but honestly, I don't think they really knew.

This was one of the first times I have seen a whole fish, head and all, steamed in it's entirety at an American restaurant. I see it all the time at Chinese ones but this is a first seeing it at an American one.

The preparation of this fish was simple and did not leave a fish/seafoody smell, which is always difficult to accomplish. I'd only wish the fish was bigger for the price, but overall it was decent and very fresh.

The last dish to come out was this pork belly and lentil dish. Very reminiscent of the way Chinese restaurants prepare it with a hint of five spice, this was a very comforting and delicious dish. Half a piece even satisfied me. The pork belly was very tender and melted right in your mouth. Then it also had a crunchy element of the skin. The lentils paired nicely with it along with the fruit compote along the top to glaze it.

Then for essert we had the creme crulee and the cookies and milk.

A light and creamy dish that wasn't too sweet and had a nice crunch on top with the fired sugar top.

I mostly picked this cookies and milk out because of the horchata (mexican rice drink with cinnamon and sugar). The cookies were so-so (probably not worth 8 dollar at all) but their horchata was very good.

This restaurant was definitely a good experience, but the prices can add up. Our total bill was slightly over $200. We did however have wonderful service. Our server was very gentle and checked up on us frequently and thoroughly explained our dishes. He also changed our dishes to make sure we had clean ones and kept refilling us with their bread.

If you're looking for a cute place to go with the family or a date, this is a good place to try out in Capital Hill.