[SEA] September restaurant promotion

[LaurieA-B]

Picked up a postcard in the Seattle Weekly for the Dinner at 8 promotion. 8 refers to eight neighborhoods; the meal is a three-course prix fixe, $20, Sunday-Thursday. The website includes menus for all the restaurants (though these may change, I'm sure). I'd never heard of the Cellar Bistro on Capitol Hill, and until a couple of months ago I lived on 10th Ave E. Anyone been there? The restaurant list looks to be a nice combination of newer places, old favorites, and a few less-than-favorites. Definitely neighborhood restaurants, for the most part, compared to the destination restaurants of the 25/25 promotion. Looking over the list, the places I'm most interested in are Supreme (never been) and Cafe Lago (haven't been there in too long).

[ScorchedPalate]

Yay! Lots of good neighborhood places. :)

[tsquare]

Union Bay Cafe would also be a good option. The Wellington, too.

[laurel]

Interesting promotion of free coffee if you use a Mastercard. Good thing I have 4 Visa cards...

The Cellar looks like it's approximately where Cassis was, maybe it's new?

The places tsquare and Laurie mentioned sound great to me, and I haven't been to any of them.. maybe an egullet expedition?

[LEdlund]

This sounds great. I like that there are actually some in my neighborhood.

I want to try 35th Street Bistro, but my co-worker had a really awful experience with the service there a couple of weeks ago., so that kind of scared me away.

I have a friend who really likes Saltoro. Their menu sounds really good (monkfish )

We really should get an eGullet event planned.

[Really Nice!]

Let's see, in the 25 for $25 deal last March, Ethan Stowell of Union decided to join that party. Someone needs to go in and tell him about this promotion and then convince him that he's just a neighborhood restaurant.

Mmm... monkfish!

[LaurieA-B]

Union already has the three-course $20 lunch, as described here; I'm not sure if is is summer only or will continue (not to say that dinner wouldn't be great too, especially as I am back at work during the day in two weeks).

[Bruce Burger]

From its address it appears that the Cellar Bistro is a couple of doors south of the former Cassis.

[ScorchedPalate]

So, where'd everyone go last night?

[lalala]

Just got back from France and have coopted my airport shuttle service and dog sitter to enjoy a nice dinner at Union Bay Cafe.

Will report back...

lalala

[braincell]

So, where'd everyone go last night?

←

I actually did go to Supreme on Sept. 1. It was a great meal. We had the garden frites and the manila clams. I can't say either were my favorite, but they were all right. My friend had the pork, and I had the butternut squash ravioli. I'm not a huge pork fan, but it was good. The ravioli though, that was delicious.

I can't remember what we had for desserts--but they offered us anything on the dessert menu.

The place was surprisingly busy for a Wednesday night. We also went down the Cupcake Royale for some cupcakes afterwards (to be eaten later, of course!).

Tonight, we're going to Maguire's.

--braincell

[lalala]

deleted as this is a dupe.

Edited September 16, 2004 by lalala (log)

[lalala]

Union Bay Cafe:

Called at 3:50 snagged a 5:30 reservation. Good thing as they were full that night, turning people away starting at 6:30 pm. Thankfully, Sand Point grill to accomodate.

Had the salad, the fish (ling cod) and the figs, my friend had the butternut squash/kale/chanterelle soup, the fish and the apple/raspberry/sambuca crisp.

Everything was good. The figs were miniscule, they could have splurged and given one more per person. My friend wishes he had ordered the chocolate mousse dessert. The crisp was a bit pedestrian and I think blackberries would have paired better with the apples.

The portions are small, but with bread and a mojito, we were stuffed.

Our total bill, prix fixe, one drink each and coffee was 63 bucks.

lalala

[lalala]

Supreme -- Sept 21, 2004

Three top --

two campari sodas (nice twists)

one red wine by the glass (can't remember)

two manila clams -- okay, could have done without the roasted garlic

one frites -- yum

two salmon entrees - v. good

pork loin chop -- the orderer didn't care that much for it, I thought it was tasty

desserts -- one boule of espresso ice cream, two boules of lemon semi-freddo -- outstanding , could have used a tiny little sugar cookie :)

one chocolate torte with caffe vita creme anglais and whipped cream -- I have never seen coffee creme anglaise. It was great.

One pluot/something cobbler -- the orderer thought it was excellent, I thought it was very much like a crisp, but it was tasty.

Coffee was good as was the inniskillin dessert wine one of us ordered.

Total bill with gratuity : 128 bucks

one lb of coffee received.

Nice.

Would I return: probably, but earlier or later. By 7:30, they were slammed and service diminished. I don't live in Madrona, but what an amazing amount of great dining options. Sure beats Johnny Rockets and Piatti.

lalala

[creepygirl]

Boyfriend and I went to Bis On Main in Bellevue last night.

It was packed, and very noisy. The acoustics are bad, so I had a hard time hearing my boyfriend or the waiter at times.

We were intrigued by one of the appetizers on the regular menu, salmon gravalx over a potato cake with dijon creme fraiche. We ordered it as a starter. It was terrific. The salmon was just ever so slightly heated to draw out its flavor and oils, and the potato and creme fraiche flavors were a good match.

On to the $20 menu: I had the tomato and zucchini gratin, boyfriend had linguine with a pea vine pesto. Gratin was rich and well-balanced. You really couldn't taste the pea vine in the linguine; perhaps it was too delicate a flavor to be showcased in pesto. That said, it was very good pesto pasta.

For entrees, I had the steak and boyfriend had the Cornish game hen. The balsamic glaze on the steak was terrific, and my steak was gorgeously rare throughout. The game hen had a wonderful flavor to the meat--I'd forgotten that chicken can have such a strong flavor.

I opted for the creme brulee for dessert and boyfriend selected the cheese plate. Creme brulee was kind of a default dessert selection for me as I wasn't interested in the ice cream or sorbet flavors of the day, and didn't want the cheese plate. It was very, very good. Boyfriend's cheese plate was good, even if I don't quite consider it dessert.

The menu had a suggestion that patrons support other downtown businesses, such as Amore chocolates. While I'm thrilled that someone besides me is getting the word out about Amore, I couldn't help but think that the dessert menu would be enhanced by an assortment of Amore truffles, or the wonderful Amore chocolate chip cookie. I think I'll make another trip to Amore this weekend . . .

But I digress. Overall, a very nice experience at Bis, for under $60 for the dinners, an appetizer, and a beer. Glad to have a more upscale option close to home.