Earth And Ocean

[seawakim]

A short review of my lunch yesterday at Earth and Ocean.

Upon entering the restaurant we immediately knew we must be near the "W". The simple, yet nuveau stylish décor, the fast paced music beating in the background, the young and sophisticated, but hip atmosphere laid the foundation for an interesting lunch to follow. We were immediately greeted and seated to be taken care of by a very courteous staff. We ordered "one of everything" on the prix fixe lunch menu.

The continuously attentive bread service was cold bread served individually and from a large tray with tongs and a small tray of butter which I considered to be at just the perfect temperature.

The first course was a nicely presented Corona Bean Soup with Duck Confit and Pumpkin Seed Oil. The soup had been pureed into a creamy and delicious dish and the pumpkin seed oil topped off the deep complexity of flavors in this appetizer. I really enjoyed this soup! I will order it again.

The other first course was a White Salad of Shaved Fennel, Celery Frisee and Pecorino-Romano with Truffle Vinaigrette. The presentation of this dish was poor. The only color on the very white plate was the light green mixture of celery and fennel topped with pecorino-romano cheese. Imagine how boring that looked. How about a tomato or some truffle shavings?  The taste of this salad was pretty bland with the truffle flavor being only slightly detectable.

The second course was a Bucatini Pasta with Smoked Chicken, Wild Mushrooms and Butternut Squash.

This dish was a unique combination of flavors and absolutely delicious. A great marriage of smoked chicken, flavorful wild mushrooms, colorful butternut squash, spinach and crunchy pine nuts. There was also something tangy in the sauce, perhaps mandarin?

I loved how creative these ingredients were and the medley of flavors they represented. The only way to describe this dish is amazing.

The alternate second course was a Bacon Wrapped Pacific Sea Bass with French Lentils and Apple Balsamic.

The Sea Bass was absolutely the best texture in a cooked fish. It was tender, soft and very juicy. It was such a perfectly prepared fish that it actually had a silky texture. The bacon was not overpowering and gave it a perfectly nice crust. This incredible piece of work was served atop very small, young and sweet French Lentils and Apple Balsamic. Also very delicious.

I think both main courses were incredible.

For Dessert we were served "Cherry Crackle Pop" and "Oh Baby! Nutter Butter Peanut Butter Parfait". I had no idea what to expect from either one.

The Cherry Crackle Pop was a serving of 4 small "poptart-like" 1-inch squares. The crust was sweet and flaky and the filling was tart. These delicious little tarts were served with a small scoop of passionfruit sorbet and nicely presented with passionfruit and cherry sauce.

The "Oh Baby!" Nutter Butter Peanut Butter Parfait was a very small glass (just a bit larger than a shotglass) filled with a creamy custard and chopped peanuts. The custard was decorated with a touch of gold powder and tasted great.

I was thoroughly impressed with Earth and Ocean and look forward to trying all of the menu items (esp. the truffle fries which I hear are great!). E & O is also offering an intriguing thanksgiving menu featuring some Tundra dishes like Venison, Elk Steak, Wild Brown Hare, etc. WOW, I really like this place!

Edited November 23, 2002 by seawakim (log)

[SeAAttle]

We have eaten at E&O 6-8 times (dinner) and have always enjoyed it. Other have complained of poor service but ours has always been attentive and pleasant.

[mamster]

Thanks for posting the review, seawakim. Local opinion (both here on eGullet and elsewhere) seems unusually divided on E&O. I think most everyone agrees the fries are good.

[SeAAttle]

A search of this site for Earth & Ocean revealed only two negative comments, both from thelastsupper. One was not informative (I think the quote was "blecchhh"). The other complained about the service. tls did say the sea bass was very good - I concur (had it last night). The place was full last night but I had no sense that they were anxious to push anyone through.

I know that the former PI restaurant critic gave it a bad review but numerous comments about the validity of that individual's opinions leads me to question his/her reviews. To my knowledge, the new critic has not yet weighed in on E&O. Our service has always been excellent, but then again we have our favorite waitperson and he always takes good care of us.

[LaurieA-B]

SeAAttle, here is a link to Matthew's and my description of dinner in the bar at Earth and Ocean. While I know that it is not fair to judge the restaurant based on this, the meal was so dismal that I personally have little interest in dining at E&O when there are so many other choices in Seattle. Bar Report

Here's a link to nightscotsman's review of Earth and Ocean. While he liked some things about the meal, I don't think it sounds very appealing overall. E&O

seawakim's meal does sound delicious, and I'm glad to hear that service is good in the restaurant.

[SeAAttle]

I really do not think that a bad experience at the bar is a good judge of the restaurant, especially since this happened several months ago. Management of the bar and restaurant are separate and both have changed in the last couple of months. I read nightscotsman's review and it seemed to me to be quite positive, except for the portion size. I certainly agree with him on this point regarding the Sauvage menu. The items have been the same for quite some time so I always order something from the main menu.

I think it is unfortunate when a restaurant somehow is labeled as substandard (for no convincing reason) and everyone seems to focus on that. But we all have our own preferences. I cannot understand the excitement over Stumbling Goat. We have tried it three times (our general rule unless the first time is just plain awful) and I find the food boring and overpriced. To each his/her own.

BTW, I have no financial interest in E&O, nor do I personally know anyone who does.

[thelastsupper]

I think it is unfortunate when a restaurant somehow is labeled as substandard (for no convincing reason) and everyone seems to focus on that.  

Yeah, well I think it's unfortunate that service issues at E & O are at such a level that the food suffered.

The night that I went to eat there, it was pouring rain, so my companion and I walked through part of the hotel to get to the restaurant. When we approached the host stand, we were quickly asked if we were there to eat and ushered to a table in the back. I was put off guard a bit, did she want the reservation name? She looked rather startled, but nodded her head and vanished. When we were approached by our server, we were also a bit confused . . . He was buzzing with all this weird nervous energy, very vague, not really speaking to either of us directly (?). He took our drink order. I had a Manhattan and my partner had a Kir. Then he looked straight at my partner and asked, "Up?" We were baffled and just stared at him. Finally, "Do you want that up, or on the rocks?" Again, we didn't really know what to say, umm, a Kir on the rocks? Weird, weird. No ice, thanks. Our drinks came, quite a bit later, extremely sweet.

If all of this sounds rather hurried, good. The entire atmosphere of the restaurant was that of spin, spin, spin. Our server clearly wanted to spend as little time at our table as possible after he took our order and did little to remedy or apologize for his mistakes (forgotten side dish, entrees pushed on us).

We had an order of oysters. Fine.

We both had the Corona Bean Soup with duck confit. This really got me mad. The soup had a heavy skin over it from sitting (absolutely no break between courses, a premature fire on the part of the server?) and we discovered as we ate, a thick, gloppy ring around the bowl. Nasty. The soup itself was bland, if nicely textured. It tasted better with a bite of confit, savory and layered. But after three bites the confit was gone. Alone, all it really had was texture. The pumpkin seed oil drizzled over the top added nothing but color contrast. A large portion, no tiny portions in sight the whole night.

The sea bass was nicely done, especially when we added a side order of kale with (more!) bacon. It came wrapped in bacon, with lentils. It has been described elsewhere. A successful dish. However, again service issue: I finished my soup first and the bowl was almost immediately taken away and my sea bass placed in front of me. My partner was not finished with his soup. His sea bass was being held by another server/food runner a few feet away. An annoying situation and a cooling fish. Also, the side dish of kale came in well after we had begun eating-- I was nearly finished except for a scrap of fish and several forkfuls of lentils.

Dessert was a train wreck. As I said before, horribly sweet. I had an Apple Jack Apple Stack. When I asked my server about it, he said, Well, it has apples . . . and white chocolate . . . like a ganache . . ." . . . ?

It also had a strange green netlike tuille. Why green?

The dessert was like the world's sweetest cinnabon, sweeter as you ate. I didn't finish it.

We skipped on coffee.

[seawakim]

After reading all of these reviews I'm left wondering if my experience at E&O was an anomaly. I have to admit that the service could have been better (to rank among 727 Pine, Canlis, etc.) but my experience was by no means negative. Since my posting I have talked to several people about E&O and I am finding a huge division in experiences and opinions. I wonder if inconsistency is E&O's drawback?

However, as I mentioned in my review, I will definitely return and dine at E&O again in hopes of having another delicious meal.

[SeAAttle]

thelastsupper: With that experience, I can understand your low opinion of E&O. We have never experienced a service problem and have been there at least 6-8 times. They do seem to have a high turnover rate in the "manager" position and I suspect that may have something to do with the variability. As I said, we have a "favorite" waiter and that probably helps our service. I would agree that the service is not up to that at 727, where we had a great Thanksgiving dinner, but E&O is not quite in the same class IMO. 727 is considerably more expensive.

BTW, the E&O bar makes a great Tanq 10 martini.

[tsquare]

I think it is unfortunate when a restaurant somehow is labeled as substandard (for no convincing reason) and everyone seems to focus on that.  But we all have our own preferences.  

BTW, I have no financial interest in E&O, nor do I personally know anyone who does.

SeAAttle,

I'm glad tls's and Seawakim's posts alleviated some of your ire. With the exception of one (or two?) NW posters, we are not professional food/restaurant critics and are just relating our own dining experiences. You are correct in saying we each have our own preferences - and I wouldn't have it any other way. When you write about a good experiece, it encourages others to try again a place they might had written off.

I've mentioned good meals at E&O myself, though I have also had food that was too salty or too small there. I even like the white salad and the desserts! It is one of the places I suggest to people for downtown excursions, especially pre-Benaroya Hall.

I went back to look at the PI review you referred to and thought you might find it interesting, since it doesn't appear you read it prior to posting:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/food/31040_rest13.shtml

His opinions on this place don't seem out of line with these posts. Odd that you would write "numerous comments about the validity of that individual's opinions leads me to question his/her reviews". How is it that you can question someone's opinions? Disagree maybe, but validity?

And with the exception of Papachef, I'm not aware of anyone in the area with a financial interest in the restaurants discussed here (well, maybe Jim and his olive oil sales). I know a number of chefs and have a professional relationship with some restaurants - does that mean I should refrain from stating my opinions here about these restaurants - or even ones that I have no connection with? I'd hate to think anyone would think I would intentionally mislead them about my experiences in order to encourage patronage!

I also find that having a good relationship with a restaurant (such as a favorite waiter that takes good care of you) adds immensely to the enjoyment of the meal. It is very difficult to separate your overall memory of a restaurant experience from how you were treated and the quality of the food, though there are times one or the other will suffice.

[SeAAttle]

tsquare

Thanks for your comments which I generally agree with. And if left the opinion that others comments had raised my ire, I apologize for that. It was just that E&O seemed to get negative comments but when I searched, I had difficulty finding much that was informative.

Thanks for the link to the review by the PI reviewer, which indeed I had not read, but had it described to me by my wife. I think I am correct that that reviewer has now been replaced by a new one. Perhaps "validity" was not the best choice of words. We are certainly voicing our opinions here. A newspaper reviewer, however, has a much larger audience and thus his/her opinion carries much weight. I have lived in Seattle only about 2 years and have the impression that many are pleased to have a new reviewer. That was the basis for my comment.

The disclaimer was intended only to alleviate any concerns that I might have ulterior motives for my positive view of E&O. As you can see from the number of posts I have made here, I am relatively new to the site. Just wanted to be sure that was clear.

With that said, I find this site interesting to read and a great source of information. The restaurant scene in Seattle is exciting and great fun to explore.

[tsquare]

I think I am correct that that reviewer has now been replaced by a new one...A newspaper reviewer, however, has a much larger audience and thus his/her opinion carries much weight.  I have lived in Seattle only about 2 years and have the impression that many are pleased to have a new reviewer.  That was the basis for my comment.

Yes, a new reviewer has joined the PI this year, and she has been given mixed reviews here and by the reading public. That will always be the case.

I don't recall hearing or reading much criticism directed specifically at Michael Hood's reviews prior to or since his departure - the comments about "too nice" reviewers in Seattle could be attributed to most of the writers in town. Personally, I liked Michael's writing style, and generally agreed with his opinions.

I find I am enjoying Nancy Leson's writing more and more - partly because she is somewhat over the top and funny. Afterall, how much can a restaurant reviewer say about eating yet another piece of fish - no matter how good (or bad)? There has to be more to the writing to keep my interest. Like Mamster's openness in discussing what he learns as he goes. (edit: at least I read it that way - his writing doesn't assume that everyone knows what some of the more esoteric items are.) Keeps it fresh.

Edited December 3, 2002 by tsquare (log)

[malarkey]

did anyone else notice that E&O's sexy fries made it on 'best of' on the food network??