Northwest Cuisine -- is Cascadia it?

[Steve Klc]

Shout out to Girl Chow--who still has the press kit from Cascadia's opening--how in line is the current $65 tasting menu and number of courses versus the price(s) of the opening tasting menus two plus years ago?

Also Girl--it might be interesting to do a quick comparison of menu ingredients and terms from then to now--do you have the time or interest to perform a cursory comparison?

Also, this appeared on the soon-to-be-infamous Herbfarm thread, where some antsy vitriolic poster stirred things up, but might be more relevant here: a comment was made as if the requirement that "the whole table must order one of the tasting menus" was somehow strange at the fine dining level. Is it uncommon in the Pac NW at the high end? We've been through this before on other boards and this is, in fact, common--it's the policy at Gramercy Tavern, which as far as restauarnt customer relations and service policies are concerned has been widely lauded and emulated in recent years.

And LaurieA-B, you're a peach for your tireless and prompt service in furthering the eGullet cause. Did you notice any other dessert presentations as servers whisked them by you--anything visually interesting, colorful or up in parfait glasses?

[Blue Heron]

I grew up in Alaska and one summer, I hung out with some Native Americans in Sitka, a town on the Alaskan panhandle.  We garnished food with seal oil, I tried eskimo style salmon jerky, ate tons of little oddities from the sea that they had been eating for generations, fresh salmon berries, chewed muktuk (whale blubber)....tons of things that chefs still don't know about.  i wonder if the average consumer would be open to whale blubber tho...my guess is probably not.

mike

I was just in Sitka last week Mike, I love that place! It was one of the stops on my Alaska Exlporer Cruise out of Seattle. As far as whale blubber... I have mixed feelings on that one. I've read somewhere in the past that the Makahs don't particularly think it is tasty, at least the younger generation.

Laurie, I enjoyed so much reading about your dinner at Cascadia. Especially pleased to see they have an affordable dining option, too.

Now that you've dined there, would you agree their cuisine is "Decidedly Northwest"? I think they have an interesting marketing idea. The rain window you described with falling water sounds intriguing. How done would you say they served their salmon? Was it at all translucent in the center, or rather cooked through and through (just curious).

As for Northwest Cuisine, I'm also in agreement... that for the most part, it's fresh local ingredients in season, tastefully prepared. I also include the Pacific Rim/Pan Asian influence theme as part of the northwest cuisine, as well. I think ingredients only found in the northwest might include our pacific razor clam and geoduck? Does anyone know? Unfortunatley we can't claim exclusivity to the Dungeness crab as it's up and down the coast, but ours are pretty nice. We do have hood canal shrimp which are heavenly, too.

Just curious... does anyone know when/where fish tacos became so popular? Didn't used to see them much a few years ago, and now they are a regular menu item everywhere (was it in the southwest)? Anyway, with our growing Mexican population, I hope we'll get more mexican influence in our northwest cuisine as well.

[thelastsupper]

The dinner that you had does sound interesting, Laurie. I confess that my skittishness about Cascadia came mainly from friends who have worked/trailed in the kitchen as well as reports of terrible meals.

I think that the problem that I have with Cascadia (theory here) is not that their emphasis is on local, seasonal ingredients. That's great. I wish more people paid attention to that idea. But rather that Sear's cuisine . . . the things that are uniquely his (i.e. mushroom soup in a can or "fish and chips") seem to be gimmicky. The people who have developed their own food from these wonderful ingredients we have here in the Northwest-- Naftaly of Le Gourmand, the chefs at The Ark, even Tom Douglas-- have something that is distinctly theirs, not leaning on or borrowed from Food Arts.

That is my main gripe.

But then I really can't talk much as I haven't eaten there. (zip)

[Steve Klc]

tls--would you happen to have links to those restaurants websites handy that haven't been mentioned? I have the Ark cookbook--who doesn't? But current information or article links would be appreciated.

I wonder if part of the negative reaction to Kerry and Cascadia is that he opened a restaurant that could be picked up and dropped into San Francisco, Chicago or New York--with a bit of polish honed from a lifetime of reading Food Arts and a bit of attitude that might come from serving a cosmopolitan clientele which travels and dines in these kind of restaurants? Let's call it the sophistication of a Four Seasons, blended with a star move opening your own restaurant with a little more Northwest personality.

What are some examples of what you mean by the wonderful food those other chefs developed that is uniquely theirs tls--and is there refinement and sophistication in the presentation of that food apart from the taste (To bring this back to Girl Chow--this is the big bug a boo for me with the Cal/Ital Alice Waters school of simple ingredients simply prepared and simply presented). Do these others have the kind of refinement and sophistication which, yes, unashamedly comes from the pages of Food Arts and from paying attention to the best restaurants around the country and in Europe--from dining at Tru or Clio or French Laundry or Daniel et al.

It isn't a crime for chefs to have a trademark, cute, gimmicky dish or concept which attracts media attention. Have you ever had upscale food served in a chinese takeout container? I have by chefs more talented and internationally well-known that Kerry.

Apart from the "cuisine" and seasonal ingredients--is there much precedent there for the kind of stylish, urbane restaurant Kerry opened?

And I'd still love to read local/regional reviews of terrible meals at Cascadia--any old links appreciated.

[tighe]

I wonder if part of the negative reaction to Kerry and Cascadia is that he opened a restaurant that could be picked up and dropped into San Francisco, Chicago or New York--with a bit of polish honed from a lifetime of reading Food Arts and a bit of attitude that might come from serving a cosmopolitan clientele which travels and dines in these kind of restaurants?  Let's call it the sophistication of a Four Seasons, blended with a star move opening your own restaurant with a little more Northwest personality.

Hmmmm...well other than being mildly offended at your thinly veiled implication that Seattleites are simply a bunch of unsophisticated hicks that aren't refined enough to appreciate Kerry's brilliance, you may have something of a point.....

Being one of the few true natives in Seattle, I do think there is a preference for substance over style in this region (thus the predominance of gortex and jeans), which I would say is inherently part of what has been discussed here as "Norwest Cuisine." So to me his attempt to embrace Northwest Cuisine while simultaneously going for a self-conciously cool/hip vibe creates a real conflict. Despite being one of the local hicks that you suppose can't rise to this level of sophistication, I have actually eaten at the type of restaurant in SF, NYC, Europe, etc. that you bring up and I loved them all. They were appropriate to their environment and to the cuisines they were featuring, I'm not sure Cascadia is. It's kind of like when someone builds a pastel colored mansion on the lake here in Seattle. It may be a beautiful house and it might look fantastic in Florida, but here its looks out of place.

I think you will have trouble finding anyone who has has a "terrible" meal at Cascadia and I don't think anyone has implied that here.

[Steve Klc]

I am not veiling anything, thinly or otherwise. I am being direct highlighting possible issues and don't read anything into what I've written that isn't there tighe. That's insecure and defensive and actually hinders movement.

If I've characterized Kerry and Cascadia correctly--was there a comparably styled chef and restaurant there before he opened? That's it. I wondered if there might be some resentment because of a frisson which might exist--call it a cultural restaurant or culinary frisson--which Kerry inadvertently tapped into or actually tried to tap into--to bring something there that wasn't there before. This is not a criticism or personal attack on you, your culture, your attitudes, whatever. You even seem to support my speculation Tighe when you say I'm on to something.

I have asked leading questions to get you locals to respond and to put things in context in ways that I can't--not the least of which is to define what "Decidely Northwest" could mean, who else might be doing it, whether it is a gimmick--on this and other current Pac NW threads which I seem to have sparked a bit of the juices to flow on. Again, all without personalizing the issue with any one poster, without ad hominem comments directed toward any one poster. And if you read through the threads you will find what I said about Kerry and I did not call him brilliant nor did I accuse anyone of not being able to appreciate his brilliance. It is possible--just possible--that if Kerry broke some new ground with Cascadia--concept and package more so than his usage of local ingredients and composition--that that would go a long way to explaining some of the reactions posted here. The position you seem to adopt re: Kerry and Cascadia is that it is unique AND doesn't quite fit in some ways. Seems an eminently reasonable position to me--which is why I asked in the first place.

Girl Chow, who has provided some excellent historical context and really moved her position forward by opening one door--comparing the Ark chefs, Tom Douglas and Kerry Sear, and their use of local and indigenous flora and fauna to the Alice Waters ethos--and I asked the natural followup--if so, did Kerry as chef and Cascadia as restaurant concept and package deliver the goods in a more overtly styled and stylized way than anyone else? Did he, in actuality, affix a high price to what he offered--which as one poster said seemed right out of the pages of Food Arts.

Don't you think it would be an interesting--and valuable inquiry--to see how many locals see this development, this thinly-veiled criticism of Kerry and Cascadia, as valid? LaurieA-B I'd venture to say doesn't. Do you? Is my speculation valid that a possible refinement in presentation, composition and plating by Kerry distinguished him in ways that the Ark and Tom Douglas and other potential chefs in the area could not lay claim to? I don't know Tighe--that's why I'm asking you! After all--there's a difference in style and presentation between Alice Waters and Gray Kunz or Daniel Boulud, is there not?

All three chefs could list the same four ingredients on a menu--the menu could even "read" similarly and then all three composed dishes would be presented differently--with the Kunz and Boulud almost certainly more refined in construction, more complex visually and more sophisticated than the Alice Waters. No judgement implied (though I personally could apply a judgement based on my knowledge and preference--and I'm sure you wouldn't have any problem guessing which I value more highly--but for the purposes of this example, no) and no judgement needed to see there's going to be a difference. One is not better than the other necessarily, just different. Savvy Seattle diners and inexperienced Seattle hicks could see and describe the differences regardless of where they've dined, no?

And can't we discuss this without you assuming I'm putting you down as a hick? Believe me--if I thought you didn't know what you are talking about out there, I wouldn't hedge, I'd tell you directly.

[tighe]

Steve,

Obviously you took my respose WAY too seriously. Guess I'll have to use one of the little smiley faces next time to indicate my tongue-in-cheekedness. The chances of me taking anything you, or anyone else for that matter, says here to heart is nill.

To say that the attitudes expressed on this thread in general or my posts in particular are broadly representative of how Cascadia has been accepted in Seattle would be inaccurate. I was expressing my own opinions while asserting that I believe that there is some segment of Seattle-area residents that feel the same way. You are absolutely right that Cascadia and a few others that opened at about the same time were something new for the city. Whether on net, that worked for or against them, I can't say. Cascadia has, after all, been quite successful as far as I know. While you may not have said that Kerry was brilliant, many others have and I frankly don't have enough experience with his food to come down on one side or the other. As I said in my last post though, I think "Nortwest Cuisine" is partly defined by a lack of pretentiousness. I think Cascadia's ambiance, attitude and presentation is pretentious which makes it dischordant to simultaneously claim the 'Decidedly Northwest' moniker.

Or....I could be completely wrong and my opinions are in fact completely the result of my insecurity. As a fat, dorky, definitively un-hip white guy, I have to admit that I don't feel like I blend with the hipper-than-though beautiful crowd that tends to dominate Cascadia and its ilk.

[girl chow]

Ok, here's a summary of Cascadia then and now.

THE CHECK

Then (1999): Pricing was $65 for a 7-course "The Season" tasting menu. A la carte items were very reasonably in the $20-$30 range for entrees and $8-$15 for starters, with options for every bank account. Other tasting menus ranged from $72 for the "From the Market" menu to $85 for the "Decidedly Northwest" menu and $90 for the "Wild and Gathered."

Now (2002): Pricing is $25 for a 3-course menu; $45 for a 7-course "From the Market" vegetarian menu; 7-course "Decidedly Northwest" menu is $65 and "Wild and Gathered" 7-course tasting is $65. Prices have dropped a bit for the tasting menus (although that could change seasonally too), but the a la carte items are still in the $20-$30 range with a few more moderately priced entrees (including one $18 pasta dish).

THE FOOD

Then (1999): A sampling of menu items from 1999's press kit: appetizers/salads/soups: chilled Oregon white truffle potato soup with wild watercress ($8); Cast iron baked halibut cheeks with morels and wild blueberry vinaigrette ($11); salad of Yakima valley soft fruits with pea vines and mint vinaigrette ($7); beach style Manilla clams, Penn Cove mussels, organic potatoes finished with double cream ($8); free range chicken terrine, spot prawns with hazelnut oil ($11); baby spinach and marinated bean curd salad, pickled garlic ($6.50); fresh raw Cascadia region oysters (interesting geographical description, eh?), Yellowstone river caviar, apples, mustard seedlings ($18); Kerry's designer soup in a can (puree of wild mushroom with Chateau Dumas cream) ($10.50).

A sampling of entrees: wild grass and herb baked partridge with blackberry reduction, potato puree (entree, $30); roasted rack of Oregon rabbit with crisp yearling salmon, herbed pan juices ($23); rosemary roasted lamb lion with grilled apples, garlic straw fries, Pinot Noir glaze ($34); summer eggplant ravioli, glazed vegetables and sweet basil broth ($21); Herb roasted free-range chicken, potato cheese tart, mixed bean salad ($25); wild kind salmon on cedar fronds, brandied cherry sauce ($28).

Now (2002): A sampling of appetizers/salads/soups: Duo of Housemade Paté pickles, grilled potato bread, organic radishes, onion mustard ($8); Baby Arugula Salad, Bosc pears, aged sharp Samish Bay Gouda, hazelnut vinaigrette ($8); Minted English Pea Bisque mint crisp ($7); Snap & Sugar Pea Salad leeks slow poached in olive oil, vegetable powders ($8); Mushroom Stuffed Mushrooms huckleberry reduction ($9); Skillet Seared Scallops dilled cucumbers, crisp potatoes ($9); Sea Salt Cured Herbed Salmon Penn Cove mussels, red onion dressing ($10); Cascadia Salad romaine, bacon, apples, classic Caesar dressing ($8); “Kerry’s Designer Soup in a Can” yellow tomato bisque, white truffle oil ($10); Fresh Raw Oysters flavored farmhouse vinegar ($11).

A sampling of entrees: Wild King Salmonon cedar fronds with creamed broad bean tart, baby carrot sauce ($28); Crisp Alaskan Halibut Yukon Gold potatoes, Dungeness crab salad, crab sauce ($30); Mixed Grill of Lamb, Beef, Chicken & Salmon baby vegetables ($35); Grilled Washington Beef Tenderloin spinach, braised tomatoes, rosemary garlic french fries ($35-$38) Stuffed Loin of Rabbit sautéed peaches and sweet corn ($26); Linguine Pasta summer baby vegetables, cherry tomatoes, basil sauce ($18); Roast Nettle’s Farm Chicken molasses smoked baked beans, baked organic russet potatoes ($24).

It's been about three years since my one and only dinner at Cascadia. I thought the pricing was fair then and think the pricing remains fair. I like something else: the kid's menu: noodles with butter and cheese ($6.50); Free-range honey roasted drumsticks with new potates ($8.50); Washington beef burger with Tillamook cheddar cheese, straw fries ($7.50).

On my visit, I thought the food was incredibly and carefully prepared. I thought the atmosphere was inviting and relaxing (I could fall asleep listening to the water wall) and I really had a nice experience. We had the Wild and Gathered tasting menu and I remember really liking a salmon preparation, although my memory is too hazy to recollect more specific details. I do remember having just a fabulous selection of cheeses at the end of the meal. It was like I had died and gone to James Cook heaven :)

As for the gimmicky cuteness of some presentations, such as Kerry Sear's trademark soup in a can, I think there is a conflict locally with such presentations for those who consider themselves the culinary elite (insert raspberry blow and gigantic eyeroll here). I remember when a certain chef who is a poster here got dinged by a certain reviewer when he served an appetizer atop a funky Buddha thing (I can't remember exactly what it was, but I know it was a kitschy statue) when he worked at a former, upscale Eastside restaurant (longtime posters will know who I'm talking about, but I don't want to embarass him if that incident still bothers him). I remember being really pissed to think that that reviewer was such a prudy ass that they couldn't appreciate his attempt at some humor. Out of place at a seriously upscale restaurant? Yeah, maybe (especially if you're a prudy ass), but I see absolutely nothing wrong with funky or kitschy or just plain experiemental presentations, so long as the food is solid. I respect playful chefs. But that's just the kind of person I am and my restaurant tastes run more toward restaurants with chefs who don't take themselves too seriously.

[LaurieA-B]

 

Now that you've dined there, would you agree their cuisine is "Decidedly Northwest"?  I think they have an interesting marketing idea.  The rain window you described with falling water sounds intriguing.  How done would you say they served their salmon?  Was it at all translucent in the center, or rather cooked through and through (just curious).

Well, that is the question. I'd like to have a full seven-course experience to answer that definitively (yes, such a chore). The funny thing is that my meal was very reminiscent of a lunch I enjoyed at Gramercy Tavern three years ago. Three-course prix fixe: heirloom tomato salad, roast pompano, selection of ice creams for dessert. The tomato salad at GT was better, a more ample serving of several different tomatoes, with a tomato sorbet and without a pile of greens. (This meal was in July 1999.) Otherwise, the Cascadia meal was quite comparable. This comparison detracted from the "Decidedly Northwest" idea, though, as GT isn't northwest of anything (except, perhaps, Brooklyn). It does, however, speak very well of the food at Cascadia.

Salmon, of course, speaks of the NW to me. I understand they serve it in New York, but doubt I would order it there. The other salmon preparation on the menu, besides my grilled salmon, was roasted in cedar fronds. I assume this might be similar to cedar plank-roasted salmon.

The salmon was translucent in the center; I like my salmon more cooked than some people, and this tasted perfect to me.

Speaking from my limited knowledge of Seattle's fine restaurants, I do think Cascadia filled a void in Seattle fine dining. We need restaurants like Cascadia if we are to be a "world-class" city. It's great to have one with local emphasis along with the French, Italian, etc. I have not yet been to Le Gourmand, but I have the impression that it's style is different from Cascadia; it is smaller, more intimate, outside the downtown core. I think it's important to have both of these restaurants in Seattle.

[LaurieA-B]

Did you notice any other dessert presentations as servers whisked them by you--anything visually interesting, colorful or up in parfait glasses?

Ah. Well. I would have loved to see other dessert presentations being whisked by. Unfortunately, there weren't really any other diners to whisk them to.

I didn't want to be out alone too late, so I called and reserved a table for 6:30. I was thinking, "It's August, lots of visitors in town, they're probably busy, but surely they can squeeze in one person." This line of thinking, I learned, was ridiculous. When I arrived, I was the only person in the restaurant. It was completely empty. A couple came in about ten minutes after I was seated. When I left at 8:00, only five or six tables were filled and no one was coming in.

As most of my fine dining experience has been in New York, where I had to re-re-re-dial in order to get a dinner reservation at 5:15 or 10:30, I was quite taken aback by this.

I assume this is the reason Cascadia has relaxed its menu, encouraging a la carte dining. It's clear from the posts here that at least some locals have been turned off by high prices.

Are there any difficult reservations in the Seattle area, besides Herbfarm?

A few desserts are listed on the website; the creme brulee trio sounds pleasant.

One thing I did see at another table was a rack filled with test tubes holding colored liquids. It was quite intriguing, so I asked my waiter, who explained that they were flavored vinegars to anoint the raw oysters. Other than this, which looked like fun, and the soup cans, I didn't think anything on the menu was at all "gimmicky."

Also, as a solo, young-looking (I'm 26) diner who only ordered a glass of wine and the least expensive dining option, I would have been disappointed but not surprised to receive perfunctory service. The service was really lovely, and I appreciated that.

nightscots, I am very interested to read about your mixed reaction to E&O.

girlchow, thanks for posting the detailed comparison. It seems clear that Cascadia is trying to broaden its customer base.

[nightscotsman]

So I just got back from dinner at Cascadia where I had the seven course "decidedly northwest" tasting menu. Unfortunately for me, Laurie seems to have had a much better experience with the three course menu. My reaction to the food could be summed up in three words: Where's. The. Flavor? The only seasoning I could discern (besides the rosemary on the french fries) was salt. And only one of the dishes had an actual sauce.

The space is large and airy with lots of natural light from the front windows. Finishes and fixtures are rich looking, but clean and unfussy. Live piano music combined with the water trickling through the "rain wall" makes for nice background sound. Service was fine, if unexceptional.

As usual, I started with a cocktail. This time it was the "3 C's" from the house cocktail menu. It's a combination of Clear Creek apple brandy, Cointreau and Chartreuse. Unfortunately, the balance seemed to be off as all I could taste was the Chartreuse.

The amuse was a chanterelle and goat cheese tartlet garnished with reduced balsamic vinegar. Not much flavor here and the mushrooms were tough and chewy.

The appetizer was sea salt cured salmon with poached muscles and diced red onion. The presentation is pretty with a muscle shell filled with a bit of sea salt propped on the rolled salmon. The cold muscles were plump and sweet and make a nice contrast with the salty salmon. A clean and simple dish.

Cesar salad with apple-smoked bacon and fuji apple slices. The lettuce is unevenly dressed with completely bland, creamy dressing and the tired croutons add very little interest. The small piece of bacon is good, but the apple slices are just a garnish and really don't add anything. A wimpy, pointless salad.

Now we get to the chef's signature "designer soup in a can" tomato bisque. OK, the presentation is cute, but the soup itself is awful! It's hard to tell tomatoes were even in the kitchen when the soup was made let alone actually used in it's preparation. It just has a kind of vague, sour taste with no seasoning evident. Did any of the cooks taste this stuff? And the crisp it's served with tastes like freeze-dried mashed potatoes.

Next up - halibut served on top of yukon gold mashed potatoes with crab on the side and crab sauce. This was OK, and each ingredient was well prepared, but not really cohesive as a dish. The crab had no sauce or apparent seasoning. One odd thing was I saw other diners served this dish with a layer of sauteed spinach between the fish and potatoes that mine did not have. I didn't mention it to the waiter as I didn't think it would really add anything.

Beef tenderloin with a roast tomato, sauteed spinach and rosemary french fries. The presentation of this one was nice with the fries served in a sterling silver cone/cup. The beef was perfectly cooked, tender and juicy, but no seasoning or sauce. The fries were nice.

Cheese plate next. Six slivers of cheese - three cow, three goat. All of them are very interesting and are strongly flavored (finally some flavor!). Served in the middle of the plate is a mound of shredded apple, which would make a nice refresher between cheeses, except it has started to turn brown.

For dessert I chose the triple chocolate mousse cake and pavlova with rainier cherry cream. The cake part was OK with genoise and a light and dark chocolate mousse, but the solid chocolate layer on top was too thick and made it very hard to eat without squishing the whole thing. Maybe it was served at the wrong temperature? The pavlova was OK too, except the "rainier cherry cream" was actually just dried sour cherries in whipped cream. So much for seasonal ingredients.

Possibly the most disappointing meal I've ever had in a Seattle restaurant. Was it "decidedly northwest"? In a word: no.

[Blue Heron]

nightscotsman, sorry to hear your Cascadia experience wasn't a good one, especially after hosting us at such a nice olive oil tasting party earlier in the day at your place.

Can you weigh in as to how crowded the restaurant was when you went? Were there many empty tables? Did you see the chef, or hear if he was in the kitchen that evening? It sounds like although the presentation is good, and many of the ingredients, but not all, sound northwest, (infact the menu sounds like it *should* be delicious), they need to improve their seasonings, flavorings, saucing, salad dressing, and desserts (as well as cocktails). And that Decidedly Northwest, in being simply prepared local ingredients, in this case simple might be tooo simple and it needs more complexity?

[nightscotsman]

I know I may sound picky and hyper-critical in my reviews sometimes, but when I dine at a restaurant I genuinely arrive open to whatever philosophy the kitchen and staff wants to show me and I intend to enjoy the food and experience. However I just couldn't see what the chef was thinking with these dishes. It was as if they were cooked to retain perfect texture and color, but remove as much flavor as possible. I just didn't get it.

The place was about half full when I arrived at 7:00 (on a Saturday) and by the time I left between 9:30 and 10:00, it was more than 3/4 full. So I guess they were doing well, but not crowded or booked up. The kitchen (which is huge and very nicely appointed) did not appear to be very busy.

I couldn't say for sure whether the chef was in the house, but I did see someone in the kitchen who resembled his photo on the web site. I'm one of those people who weighed in on the "chefs in the house" thread as saying the dining experience should be the same whether the chef is there or not, so I don't usaully ask unless I want to meet the chef for some reason.

[tsquare]

I just used my free birthday dessert at Dahlia Lounge. The pear tarte with pear compote (6 small slices of marinated pear?) and black pepper ice cream was a buttery, sweet-savory treat.

I also ate halibut with a curry vinegrette over soba noodles. The menu said it was in a pea vine broth? I couldn't really tell that, found one snap pea, a couple of baby carrots, and some unidentified vegetable matter - I think some mushrooms? It tasted great, the fish was well handled (and fresh - despite the "don't eat fish on Monday" recommendations), but I think $24 is on the high side? Of course, I ate a good half loaf of bread - house and olive, so was plenty full.

It was Monday night - at 9 p.m. I think all the tables in the main room were full, though the place seemed pretty quiet.

[LaurieA-B]

I just checked out the October tasting menu at Cascadia, and it sounds really good.

"I'll have the all-bacon menu, please."

After nightscotsman's experience, I won't be ordering the seven-course menu, but I'd definitely try the $25 three-course menu again, especially when it sounds tasty.

[tighe]

Oh, how the mighty have fallen....

I heard an ad for Cascadia today on KJR Sports Radio. It was basically promoting the restaurant as a pre-Sonics game destination. More or less verbatim, one of the lines went:

"Cascadia is nice enough to impress any lady, but you can still have a burger and garlic fries, and we guarantee that there will be ten items under $10 on the bar menu every night"

Do you really think that this is the market niche that Kerry Sear was shooting for when he opened the place?...

Edited February 15, 2003 by tighe (log)

[malarkey]

Do you really think that this is the market niche that Kerry Sear was shooting for when he opened the place?...

uh, NO

I ate there waaaay back when they were still aiming for the high-end tasting menu crowd. It was good, but I wasn't blown away, and it didn't trigger any "ohmygodthatsgreat" responses in me. Nor did it trigger any "I gotta come back" feelings either... :-/