Dandelion

[tsquare]

Ballard this time. I heard great things from the paper and in a radio interview on Tom Douglas's radio show. I went for brunch (served Sat and Sun) before heading off to the Ballard Farmers Market. It's a block South of Cafe Besalu. No espresso, so if you want some, get some and bring it in - it's okay with them. They do serve Lighthouse coffee though. Very simple space - lots of yellow.

Beautiful plates of omlettes, waffles, french toast, and fruit. A BELT (bacon, egg, lettuce, and tomato.) Also, eggs with chorizo, avocado, and salsa. I had poached eggs with grilled polenta, roasted tomato sauce, and mozzarella, and a hefty portion of Pino's sausage. Didn't need dinner (though I did have fresh corn from Yakima). It was fresh and delicious. I'd return anytime and look forward to trying dinner. Slight spin on the dinner menu - changes weekly. Wine and beer available. Closed on Mondays.

Dandelion "real good food"

5809 24th Avenue NW

Seattle, WA 98107

206-706-8088

[elswinger]

I ate there last Saturday and had a good time. My party of three had a 30 minute wait but we waited at the tavern next door and the seater came and got us when our table was ready. We shared the cheese plate and antipasto plate, which were both good, and two of us had the rib eyes while the third had the thick porkchop. The wait staff was friendly and the food was good.

[Schielke]

Is is just me or are all the new neighborhood restaurants opening in one neighborhood?

[tsquare]

Is is just me or are all the new neighborhood restaurants opening in one neighborhood?

just you, for starters:

Crow - Queen Anne

Dandelion - Ballard

Pair - Ravenna

[laurel]

Nah, it's all the same neighborhood.. Notcapitol Hill

[tsquare]

Finally had dinner here. Not fancy, but so good. Easy to split portion sizes. That said, I didn't finish my pork chop with greens, cornbread/sausage dressing, and apple-onion relish...but only so I could have a couple of freshly made cookies and some espresso ice cream. Menu changes weekly. Lots of good options for dinner (and brunch.)

[little ms foodie]

4 of us had dinner at Dandelion last night. They were packed! we had made reservations but they only had a 7:45 available so we started the evening off at Sambar with cocktails. How can an evening possibly be bad if you start it that way?

Waited about 5 mins for our table. The restaurant is warm, inviting, loud, jovial, and cute! It immediately reminded me of the set up at Le Pichet only here the open area against the wall is the kitchen instead of the bar.

We decided to try the figs wrapped in procuitto appetizer, YUM! they were excellent, served on a bed of arugula drizzled with balsamic and evoo.

2 had the pork chop, one had the scallops on polenta and I had the rib eye with carmelized onions. All was excellent and very large in portion size. 2 bottles of Belle Pont Pinot Noir was very well priced at $34. My girlfriend and I shared the cheese plate for dessert- excellent cheeses and they even subbed out the blue for me and gave us extra tallegio. Glass of maderia. The boys had the molten chocolate cake which was good- not the best ever but excellent none the less, hubby had a glass of tawny port.

We really liked the restaurant, food, service. In fact they had a little mini celebration after most had left, celebrating their 6 month anniversary. From the crowd and some obvious regulars I'd say another 6 months will come easily.

My only *gripe* is that our table was between two others both with young children. This really isn't a kid place as it is so small. Don't get me wrong- I'm not against the kids, in fact our friends had theres at home with the sitter. The one child was really fussy (8:30pm) and they had his stroller pulled up between the tables which meant he was right next to me. They were trying everything to quiet him but he wasn't happy. I gave him the wine cork which pleased him for a bit but really this isn't my job. Not the restaurants fault....I just wish people would be a little more realistic when it comes to their small children in restaurants.

[jbonne]

i've almost nothing but praise for Dandelion. they're doing beautiful, simple food that isn't trying to be more than what it is. portions are impressive, especially given the very modest prices. my halibut served on a bed of white beans was the perfect balance of simple and complex -- the right number of tastes, with a focus on the flavor of the fish. the other dishes were similarly focused, bringing forward a few tastes and letting excellent ingredients speak for themselves.

the only lackluster-seeming option was a penne entree that, no surprise, wasn't getting much play the evening we were in.

my one frustration was a rather lackluster plate of organic greens that was just fine for a salad, but could have used dolling up with some nuts or fruit. the optional blue cheese wasn't really what i wanted to spruce up what otherwise is a $6 plate of unadorned greens.

i adore the layout of the open kitchen, which is no big thing itself, but the intimate (read: small) layout allows you to see the precise preparation steps and chat with Carol (i assume it was Carol) as she cooks. she even happily overheard me mention her Global knife sitting nearby.

they also were able to seat four of us, as a walk-in, at the bar with no wait on a Sunday night. (my only complaint about this is that my bar seat near the door exposed me to a heck of a draft on a chilly October night, which further weakened my resistance to the head cold that was quickly settling upon me. since they opened in the spring, i figure they haven't had a full winter in that space, so this is something they may need to address with a heater/fan/whatever. but it's a minor issue.)

and we were very happy with their wine list, which like the whole place is compact but focused. a well-known local wine merchant was in there for dinner at the same time, which i took as a good sign they would have a well-picked selection -- and that's just what they've got. our bottle of Graves was a perfect match for a good chunk of the menu items, and they've done well to balance NW and international options.

definitely a winner.

[jrt]

Based on some of the reviews in this thread, I tried to go to Dandelion with two friends last night. We couldn't get in...

I called in the late afternoon to arrange reservations, but was greeted by an answering machine that told me 1) they don't allow reservations for groups with fewer than four people and 2) they leave half of the room unreserved for walk-in customers. Since there were three of us, we decided to just walk in.

We dropped by the restaurant around 8:00 and were told by the staff that the restaurant could seat us in "about half an hour" and that we could just go "down the block" to a bar. We didn't see anything in the direction they gave us, so we ended up walking to Market and having a drink at a bar there.

They called one of our cell phones about half an hour later to tell us the wait would be an additional 25 minutes, so we ordered another round of drinks. By the time the next call came in, we still had to settle with the bartender and walk the five or so blocks back to Dandelion and told them as much.

Their response? The kitchen is closing any minute. Basically, a "screw you, thanks for waiting." I usually give a place a second chance, but these cats can forget it.

What's strange is that in the last few years in this city of eating out literally four or five times a week, I haven't even heard of that kind of nonsense.

Oh, and they stopped serving breakfast. What's up with that? <- added

Edited October 20, 2004 by jrt (log)

[jbonne]

all of that is bizarre. if they're acting that way, sounds like they need to straighten out their hosting situation, and quick.

[insert my standard rant about no-reservations policies.]

[ScorchedPalate]

Hmm, maybe they've taken a page from the Lark customer-service manual.

[MsRamsey]

That's awful. I really like Dandelion, but I would have been LIVID. The bar they mentioned is probably the tavern that's right next door. I love a dive bar, but it may be too dank for some.

[little ms foodie]

I would call and speak to Carol. If I owned a restaurant I'd want to know that this had happened. It's quite unlike the service I got but I will say that I called twice for reservations, once the girl was slightly cool. the second time the man I spoke to was really nice and helpful.

Anyway by letting the owner know you are opening the door for them to make it up to you or prove you are right.