teo

Andrew - Like you, I have loved my meals Rover's and think the differences between it and Lampreia might be instructive. At Rover's, the service is much more discreet (and I think, polished) - you always have your full complement of silverware, but I never seem to notice it being replenished. At Lampreia, an army of young men come in with trays and change you out. At Rover's they gauge you and will offer you a beautiful Burgundy, but will also recommend a Morgon, if that is your taste (or pocketbook). At Lampreia I was told 'the chef recommends a white Burgundy', even as we were leaning towards red as a second bottle. All in all, much more personable and accomodating. I have followed Carsburg for years, and have commented that I think his food is the most serious in the city; he is a zealot and his food demands focus. It is a matter of style, but I don't find it to be romantic. It also depends on how much emphasis you place on wine as a part of the meal, as it certainly takes a back seat to the food. It has been a while since we left the kids and tried to have a romantic meal; I would recommend the HerbFarm if the grandparents will let you stay the night over there or a cozy place in the Market - Campagne has always been good to us. I also find the sharing at Lark to be conducive, but that is also a matter of style. I don't want to divert you from Lampreia, because I do think that it is unique within the Seattle dining scene. At the same time, I am appending an excerpt from an email I sent to a colleague (an acquaintance of Carsburg's) after he set us up there for dinner late last December. We took another couple to liven things up. Good luck. December 31 2006 Was a memorable affair, if not entirely successful, and I want to thank you for facilitating. Here is a summary: Perhaps my first error was in requesting 7:30 after they offered 7:00. We were there on the dot - there were three other tables, but were sat at a drafty table by the door. We were the last reservation of the evening. Our second error may have been accepting the offer of a cocktail to start. I had a champagne cocktail, but apparently the maitre d' and the chef were on different schedules, for our first course (no amuse-bouche) arrived on the heels of the drinks. It was a lovely roll of Dungeness crab encased in translucent apple. A highlight of the meal, but one that would have been more appropriate after settling in and starting a glass of wine. The pace was similarly breakneck from this point on, though I tried every trick that I had to slow it down. While they noted K's gluten allergy when we arrived, the second course of chocolate covered foie gras included brioche on her plate also. This dish worked very nicely when all of the components were intergrated into one bite - an orange marmalade was very nice. Ended up tasting a little like a foie gras Reese's peanut butter cup, but well within current trends (see foie gras peanut butter and jelly at Veil or foie gras bon bons at Licorous). Highlights - Poached truffled duck egg Tyrolese sausage (stuffed with foie gras) was absolutely tremendous seared sea bass with (ample) truffles and butter; the truffles from the largest black truffle I have ever seen Missteps - Carrot soup with tapioca had little to redeem it Kobe beef carpaccio with eggplant puree and odd little flavored gelatin bits We started with a recommended bottle of Chablis which was very clean and whose greatest strength may have been that it did not compete with the food. Our second bottle was a Nuits St. George that I found to be superb, but that others found to be short on the finish. I thought a very good food wine. All in all, I felt that they never took us seriously as diners, and I am not sure why. I suppose with Scott it could be anything. He paid us absolutely no attention, except to glare at us from the pass window. ...