Palisade

I didn't have a chance to try Palisade during Dine Around Seattle. Fortunately, they offered the same choices for the Seattle Restaurant Week. Palisade is situated on Elliot Bay, with a curved glass window overlooking Seattle, Bainbridge island, and Vashon island, there isn't a single table that doesn't have a spectacular view.

I think I have finally gotten the hang of dining alone. I no longer feel awkward, I can relax, bring something to read, enjoy the delicious food while taking in the view. In fact, I enjoyed my lunch at the Palisade so much, I went back a week later. This could be bad for my waist line though.

The bread bowl contained three types of freshly baked goodies, namely a multigrain bread with sunflower seed, a mini personal sized baguette loaf, and a rosemary buttery bun. They were all good, but I'm not big on hard crusts, and the multigrain's crust was just a midge too hard for me. The rosemary bun, on the other hand, was to die for. (Oh, the aroma, I'm drooling now.) And the black lava sea salt on top of the butter was heavenly. Gotta go get a jar of that stuff!

For the salad starter, I chose the Butter Lettuce with Rogue River Blue Cheese both times. The baby bibb lettuce was studded with crumbled blue cheese, smoked hazelnuts, crispy julienned pear with one guava wood smoked butter poached colossal prawn sitting on top. The refreshing lettuce, creamy yet not heavy dressing, along with the toasty hazelnuts, grape tomatoes, and sweet pear created a perfect harmony. I also noticed a more prominent smoke flavor the second time.

The first time I couldn't quite decide between the seafood sliders and the sirloin steak, in the end the sliders won since my waitress told me it was so popular that it often sold out. The three sliders were Maine lobster "BLT" with crisp pancetta, house smoked salmon with caper cream cheese, and Alaskan King crab salad with avocado, roasted pepper aioli and crisp watercress. All served on fluffy brioche buns. The accompanying butter lettuce and red cabbage salad with diced cantaloupe, honeydew, and pineapple, while refreshing, couldn't quite live up to the salad appetizer. The salmon slider had big chunks of nicely smoked salmon, and some pickled red onions. However, I found the cream cheese a bit too heavy. I couldn't taste the caper flavor in it. Some caper pieces would have been nice to cut through the cream. The crab salad was smooth, with the bitterness of the watercress, and a tint of spiciness from the aioli, it didn't disappoint. My favorite of the three, however, was the lobster BLT. The lobster perfectly tender, pancetta crisp but not dry, with just the right amount of mayonnaise. Though it wasn't a lobster roll, it was pretty close to a perfect lobster sandwich.

I LOVE chocolate. There is no doubt about THAT! So when there is a dessert called "Chocolate Lovers", no way would I let it pass. The Palisade Chocolate "Lovers" Cake is a rich, decadent chocolate mousse cake with shaved white chocolate, plated with fresh raspberries, chocolate hazelnut ice cream, and mini raspberry bittersweet chocolate truffles. This was truly a very substantial (as you can see from the picture) and divine dessert. I loved every part of it. I never quite got on the bandwagon of pairing chocolate with sea salts. So if I had to be nit-picky about this dessert, it would be that there were just a tad too much sea salt on the truffles. (Oh, and one more disappointing thing, even though I had 2 truffles during my first visit, there was only 1 the second time.)

On top of the marvelous food, the service was friendly, attentive without being overbearing. Palisade certainly hit the ball out of the park on these promotions. I had such a gratifying time that I went back a week later to satiate my immense curiosity about the Wagyu Sirloin. The "Snake River Farm" Wagyu sirloin was char grilled in the special over-under broiler, brushed with housemade steak butter, served on roasted fingerling potatoes with grilled green and white asparagus. Of course, like everything else, the potatoes and asparagus were perfect too. But they weren't the star of the dish. The steak took the lead as anticipated, flavorful and juicy, being cooked to the perfect tenderness, sat unassumingly on the potatoes, dominated the plate. I didn't think I could finish that big a piece of meat, but somehow, I couldn't stop myself, one bite after another, everything vanished. The plating, however, was a little lacking. All the food was crammed in one section, left half of the white plate startlingly bare. The server also didn't wipe that empty half clean, left some streaks of sauce residues.

One other thing I had to complain was the absence of a butter knife. The diners were expected to use the same knife for their salads and entrees as buttering their bread. Granted, it's a very small thing, but it's one of those little details that could make a great dining experience into a fantastic one. Still, I left the restaurant in a culinary bliss.

Palisade Waterfront Restaurant
2601 W Marina Pl, Seattle, WA 98199
(206) 285-1000

Il Bistro

D turned 3! Initially, I wanted to go to Maximilien (one of our favorite places) to celebrate, but couldn't get a reservation at the time we wanted. So we thought we'd try out Il Bistro that's also located at Pike Place Market.

We got Bruschetta al Pomodoro and 2 orders of Antipasto Misto from their Restaurant Week selections. The Bruschetta, topping grilled Tuscan bread with vine ripened tomatoes, garlic, basil and olive oil, wasn't as flavorful as I'd like, but it was refreshing. The Antipasto Misto was very small. The selection of Italian meats only included 1 thin piece each of salami and hot capicola, the cheese selection was just as limited with only 1 piece of mozzarella and 1 slice of muenster. That could hardly be called a "selection", if not counting the small pieces of marinated vegetables of olives, asparagus, bell peppers, mushrooms, and garlic.

Hubby had Filetto del Maiale Pan Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Grilled Rustic Potatoes and a Bing Cherry-Port Demi Glace. I often found pork tenderloin to be a bit bland, but the cherry demi glace was nice. The limited few cherries were gobbled down by the kids faster than you can say "cherry". My grilled salmon with lemon herb farro and basil butter was very tender and buttery. Even J who didn't like salmon agreed it was good. (Yes, it's very possible that my kids might grow up as food snobs. When J was 3, he told his daycare that he liked crab cakes and lobster bisque. In his Sunday school, he said his favorite food was sushi. But most of the other kids didn't even know what sushi was. =)

My Torta Cioccolato Flourless Chocolate-Espresso Tort with Raspberry Coulis and Sweetened Mascarpone was definitely definitely decadent! Unfortunately, it was very small, only a sliver. Hubby's pear sorbet was overflowing with the Asian pear fragrance.

Overall, I'd say the meal was OK. But that wasn't good enough to make it a special occasion place.

Il Bistro
93 Pike St (First Avenue), Seattle, WA 98101
(206)682-3049

Wild Ginger (Bellevue)

Hubby and I had a lunch date today at Wild Ginger in Bravern. I remember years ago when Wild Ginger first opened in Seattle, it was so popular, it took me awhile to get the reservation. However, when I tried the place, it wasn't bad or anything, I just didn't understand the hype. Last weekend, hubby, the kids, and I stopped by Wild Ginger for happy hour, I was pleasantly surprised. That raised my expectation of Wild Ginger again.

We started with a Hanoi spring roll and a marinated pork skewer. The spring roll was supposed to be crispy, filled with crab, shrimp and pork, bean thread noodles, wood ear mushroom, carrot and jicama. The outside was crispy, sure, how many deep fried things are not?! But the inside, it was all mushy. I couldn't taste anything distinctively. The Vietnamese dipping sauce was OK, but nothing that could save the spring roll. The Snake River farms Kurobuta pork satay was a little bland and a bit overcooked. It was rather tough to eat. What a shame! It also had no sauce, aren't most satays served with a peanut sauce or something?! The Cambodian cabbage salad along side of the pork skewer was probably the best part of our appetizers with the red and green cabbage, carrots, cilantro, and peanuts in a refreshing dressing.

My Phoenix and Dragon, a prawns and scallops green curry with lime leaves and lemongrass, was just average. Hubby's Beef Rendang, the brisket was supposedly slow cooked in a coconut reduction and the meat was supposed to be able to melt in your mouth. The carrots and potatoes were just fine, but the meat was nowhere near "melt in your mouth". This dish was, again, like an average home cooked meal. The only upside of the two dishes was the green beans, they were cooked perfectly al dente.

We got one order of Chinese Almond Cookies, and one Rolled Truffle Duo. The almond cookies were very plain cookies with one almond in the center. And the two truffles, one bittersweet chocolate rolled in walnuts, one cardamom milk chocolate rolled in shredded coconut, they were good, but small and not as decadent as some others I've had.

I was thoroughly disappointed. It felt like Wild Ginger simply picked a few items from their menu that would add up to $15, so that they could participate in the Seattle Restaurant Week, they weren't trying to impress the diners. Similar to ART, I couldn't taste their sincerity or devotion in the food. If you'd like to go to Wild Ginger, their happy hour offers much better food at much better price.

Wild Ginger
11020 NE 6th St. Ste 90, Bellevue, WA 98004
(425)495-8889

The Pink Door

Once again, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, on impulse, I hopped on the bus and went into Seattle for lunch. I hadn't been to The Pink Door for years, I figured Seattle Restaurant Week was as good a time as any to try the place again.

The Pink Door is located in the Post Alley. There is no visible sign of the name. It could be a little difficult to find especially when the metal pink door was open hence not in the plain view from the street. Just like me, everyone was allured outside today, so there was a sign to tell the customers to follow down the stairs, through the empty restaurant and walk out to the patio. This made things even more confusing for me. But when I finally sat down and bathed in the warm sunshine, it was all worth it. The decor on the patio was very rustic, with the wire garden chairs and tables covered with vinyl tablecloth. The water was served in ice-cold metallic tumblers, unfortunately this left a metallic taste in the water.

For starters, I had the Gnocchi alla Romana, the roman style gnocchi in gorgonzola cream, accompanied by sauteed spinach and toasted American black walnuts. Just like the minimalist style of the patio, the plating was a little lacking. The gnocchi was much bigger than I expected. The sauce was, while very creamy, a little bland. The spinach and walnut didn't complement the dish at all. The spinach lacked seasoning, tasted as if it was blanched. A little more seasoning or a baby spinach salad would probably cut through the cream much better.

I don't normally like lasagna, but I like tuna salad even less. And after all the mussels and clams I had last night at Trellis, I didn't want more shellfish. So I thought maybe the Lasagna Pink Door would change my opinion of lasagna. It was made with fresh spinach pasta, layered with besciamella, pesto and topped with marinara. My personal sized lasagna was baked and served in a little oval dish. The pasta was tender, and so thin that with even six layers, it was still less than an inch tall. Alternated with the creamy sauce, the natural sweetness came out in such as surprising way, I must say I enjoyed this version, so much that I finished the whole dish even though I planned to eat only half.

My meal ended with a Caramelized Red Wine Pear Tart with a scoop of Lavender Gelato. The tart was not overly sweet, nicely stewed pear on top of buttery tart shell. It was superb. The gelato was so fragrant it felt like I was indulging the essence of lavender.

I walked out of the restaurant so pleased of the discovery that lasagna didn't have to made out of doughy thick pasta ladened with heavy and plain meat sauce. What an unexpected attainment!

Pink Door
1919 Post Aly, Seattle, WA 98101
(206)443-3241

Trellis

The weather goddess has been very generous to Seattle this past year. We've had many gorgeous days. Today was one of them. The kids got restless seeing how glorious it was outside. So we decided to take advantage of what nature had to offer, and what the city had to offer being the first day of the Seattle Restaurant Week. After spending the afternoon at the library and the park, we went to Trellis in the Heathman Hotel in Kirkland.

Unlike most restaurants that offer only couple of options for each of the courses, Trellis included almost all of their regular menu in this special deal. We started with the Orange Flatbread with Arugula Salad and Curried Prawns. The flatbread was sprinkled with brown sugar, which complemented the fragrant citrus and bitter arugula. The prawns were steeped in creamed curry with goat cheese & crostini, at least according to the menu. I thought this was a little weak, the curry was very mild, and the goat cheese tasted like sour cream.

We then had the Pan Seared Chicken, and the Pacific Seafood Soup, with a side of Roasted Fingerling Potatoes. The free-range chicken was juicy and tender, which the hubby and the kids devoured quickly. I didn't have much of the chicken, but loved the roasted garlic. The Pacific Seafood Soup was served in a hot cast iron pot with a piece of salmon, a prawn, some mussels and clams. I was confused since the menu said the soup was steamed with zucchini, tomatoes and basil pesto, but I only saw onions, and the server scooped aioli into my bowl instead of pesto. The soup was fine, but that's all it was, just fine. It wasn't anything special.

For desserts, we got the Lemon Sage Flan and Olympic Mountain Strawberry Sorbet. The flan was VERY lemony, topped with candied lemon and sage, drizzled with sugary syrup, with a tullies cookie on the side. It was very refreshing, but the syrup was a tad too sweet, and I'm not a fan of sage. The sorbet was accompanied by a ginger snap cookie. Again it was only OK.

Overall, we had a pleasant meal. It wasn't really special but I probably would give the restaurant another chance.

Trellis Restaurant
220 Kirkland Ave, Kirkland, WA 98033
(425)284-5900

Mashiko

About a year ago, I read somewhere online that there was a Japanese restaurant in West Seattle that offered Kaiseki. I was thrilled, but also depressed since I didn't know anyone who'd enjoy and be willing to pay for a Kaiseki meal with me. Since I met J, I found out that she was just as excited about Kaiseki as I was. So we arranged to have our hubbies taking care of the kids, and took an evening off to try this place out. Yay!

We arrived at Mashiko on time, and were surprised to found all the wait staff to be Caucasians. Don't get me wrong, I am not a racist or anything. However, in the past, I have never been to an authentic Asian restaurant that hired only non-Asian staff. So, while I hoped this prove to be an exception, it did put a question mark in my mind. We decided to try the course meal for two for our first visit, and if that proved to be a good choice, we'd move on to Omakase next time, and Kaiseki the one after. This turned out to be a wise choice, unfortunately not in the way we'd hoped.

The first appetizer was an Ono poke salad with onions and wakame in a garlic soy vinegar dressing, sprinkled with some sesame seeds. The dressing had a very nice flavor. The marinated onion lost all the pungency of a raw onion. This had so much potential to be a great salad if the lead of the salad - the fish - was fresh.

Next was a sushi platter with one asparagus tempura roll topped with sockeye salmon and lemon aioli sauce, and 6 pieces of nigiri, 2 pieces each of tuna, black cod, and rainbow trout. The asparagus tempura was nice and crispy. But again, none of the fish was fresh, especially the cod, it was almost inedible. What a disappointment!

When the server brought the halibut cheek, I didn't know what to expect anymore. But this dish put the smile back on our faces. The fish was wonderfully tender, juicy and savory. It would have been perfect if it was seasoned more evenly. Another intriguing thing was that I grew up as a devoted lover of carrots, and never cared for ginger, but this time everything was flipped, I really liked the pickled ginger, but not the pickled carrots served on the side of the halibut.

Unfortunately that joy was short lived. Our second main dish was clams in uni butter. The broth was a little too salty, the uni taste was undetectable. And the most puzzling thing was that even though all the clams opened up, a lot of them were undercooked! It was gross, for lack of a better word. I couldn't understand why, and kept on trying, but eventually gave up after biting into sand and pieces of shells repeatedly.

The meal ended on a sour note too. The dessert was a Jasmine pearl creme brulee. The creme was infused with a strong Jasmine flavor, but it was undercooked and runny, topped with some super thick and hard sugar.

Maybe my expectation was too high. I always assumed a place that would offer Kaiseki must be capable of consistently delivering quality dishes. This put an end to my search of Kaiseki in the Seattle area. I guess I need to learn to be content with simpler things.

Mashiko Japanese Restaurant
4725 California Ave SW, Seattle, WA 98116
(206)935-4339