One of the highlights of my visit to Seattle this weekend was to celebrate Lauren's 23rd birthday. We let her choose a restaurant of her choice to have dinner and she chose Sitka & Spruce, which is unique in many ways.
It is located on Capitol Hill at the Melrose Market (formerly it was located on Eastlake). I've read about it in Sunset magazine so when Lauren mentioned it, I wasn't totally in the dark about it and was eager to go there myself.
The Melrose Market is a fairly small but upscale mall that houses a cool clothing shop, a hip bar, a cheesemonger, a butcher shop, a gift shop, and a florist.
We loved poking around at all they had to offer here.
Lots of yummy snacks in this mall, not your typical "food court".
But we were saving our appetite for Sitka & Spruce. Chef owner, Matt Dillon, prepares simple, clear, lovely flavors; sauces are sparing, nothing is over-bearing, and all is local and farm-fresh! And you can watch it all being prepared on the large butcher block in front of their large fireplace.
There is also room for customers to snag a spot to eat on a long wooden table.
We all sat at a not-so-large wooden table, too, with a wooden bench on one side. Charming.
Our server suggested we order the chef's choice which is a sampling of all the best items on the menu for all us to share and enjoy. We thought that sounded like a good idea. So, we began with the delicious sourdough bread with salted soft butter and Portuguese-style tuna pate. The bread was so hardy and rustic. One slice was completely satisfying. The spreads were exquisite.
Also, we had an appetizer of salami from Olympic Provisions in Portland, Oregon. Wonderful.
My favorite salad was the soft green lentils with long cooked greens, fried mint and hazelnuts. So delicious!
A close second were the marinated young beets with grilled halloumi (cheese) and pomegranate.
We also got a sampling of turnips, honey, and yogurt with Jordanian za'atar, a Middle Eastern herb combination. Wow!
Next, a simple salad with Yarmuth Farm's tomme (cheese) & walnut oil, although my 'simple' green salads are not like this...
We had one more sampling in the salad category, creamed fava beans on grilled bread with marjoram and an egg yolk. This one was not one of my favorites. The egg was colorful and Nick volunteered to eat it. None of us hesitated to allow him.
We had three choices for the entrees, two fish dishes and one pork dish. The pork dish was so tasty and flavorful! I loved it. The pork dish was charcoal grilled pork with apricots & sour cabbage. It was my favorite.
The first fish dish was "Le Grande Alioli" with halibut, sardines and smoked mussels. The sardine was the whole fish with head and tail just like the way they serve fish in Europe. I love any dish with alioli, even if the fish has it's head intact!
The second fish dish was local albacore, heirloom tomatoes, summer squash and sumac. It was yummy, too.
The entrees were served with rye berries, beet green-yogurt salad with nan-e lavash. I loved the rye berries and nan.
The desserts were a very simple offering of cake, cookies and ice cream. We ordered two to share. The first one was gateau Basque with apricots & almonds.
The vanilla ice cream was served with elderflower, walnuts & raspberries but we ordered the assorted cookies of oatmeal current, chocolate chip, almond, ginger & pistachio biscotti.
There was equal number of coffee choices as dessert choices. This is one thing we learned on this trip to Seattle. The way your coffee is brewed is now an option. I ordered a decaffeinated French press coffee.
The other option was the Pour Over method.
So many options for coffee now! This is why I must keep up with my visits to Seattle so I can stay educated on what is happening in the food world! Our coffee came with buttery caramels that just melted in your mouth.
Then Lauren opened her presents and she loved everyone's fun and thoughtful gifts to celebrate her day of birth.
We all had a very fun and delicious evening celebrating Lauren's birthday.
Cheers to Lauren.
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