Recent Rover's Experience?

[Foodie-Girl]

We have reservations next week at Rover's to celebrate my birthday.

My inclination for special dinners is to go to places that I KNOW I'll like...so it would have been easy to pick Cascadia or Lampreia but we haven't been to a really good French restaurant here so my husband wants to give it a go.

Just wondering if anyone has dined there recently and has any menu suggestions....Must or Mustn't Haves...

Thanks so much !!!

[SeAAttle]

We went to Rover's in late July, for the first time. It was fantastic! Unfortunately, I am not good at remembering specifically what I had, but I chose the 5 (or was it 7?) course presentation.

They seemed quite willing to let us pick and choose from the fixed course. Also, I liked the fact that they have an extensive selection of half bottle wines - good for two people. The service was excellent - pleasant, attentive, not overbearing. Will be interested to hear about your experience.

[Foodie-Girl]

We went to Rover's in late July, for the first time.  It was fantastic!  Unfortunately, I am not good at remembering specifically what I had, but I chose the 5 (or was it 7?) course presentation. 

They seemed quite willing to let us pick and choose from the fixed course.  Also, I liked the fact that they have an extensive selection of half bottle wines - good for two people.  The service was excellent - pleasant, attentive, not overbearing.  Will be interested to hear about your experience.

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Thanks SeAAtle...I appreciate your encouraging reply.

We're going on Wed. and I'll write up our experience. Unfortunately I'm terrible at remembering the details of those multi-course dinners...which is why I try to swipe a menu if possible...LOL

[malarkey]

I think for dinner they are still only offering the 5 or 8 (7?) course tasting menus. You can have them match wines with each course if you like, or do half bottles. They are very flexible about that.

And, they'll give you a menu if you ask, no need to swipe!

[Foodie-Girl]

I think for dinner they are still only offering the 5 or 8 (7?) course tasting menus. You can have them match wines with each course if you like, or do half bottles. They are very flexible about that.

And, they'll give you a menu if you ask, no need to swipe!

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Thanks malarkey ! OH I'm so glad I can take a menu...makes it a lot easier to write about all that we devour!

Hope to see you again at an eG event...!

[aaustin]

Alright, since I've looked and haven't seen anything posted lately...how is Rover's? Has anyone been in in the last 2 months or so? I'd really appreciate a really recent impression, since I know it's supposed to be great and all....but I just want to hear about someone's dinner in the past few months! I'm considering a dinner while I'm in Seattle for a few days, but I'm not sure so....

[Really Nice!]

We went to Rover’s last Friday for a birthday dinner. It’s been three years since we were last there and they’re still one of the best in the city. The service is outstanding and perhaps the most professional in town. They’ve done a bit of remodeling; the entrance is now on the east side of the building and they’ve expanded the kitchen; it used to be the same size as a typical home kitchen.

We had the eight-course grand menu degustation ($125). Our wine choice was Bouchard Père & Fils Le Corton 1997 (red burgundy).

Amuse Bouche – from left to right, oxtail and foie gras terrine with sauternes gelée, gougères, and cracker with mackerel and caper berry. This was rich and acidic. Lots of flavors.

Scrambled egg with lime crème fraîche and white sturgeon caviar – The Rover’s standard. The egg is slowly scrambled and mimics small curd cottage cheese in texture and ‘scramble’ size. It’s very smooth and creamy, and starts out cold on top with the caviar and moves to warm in the middle and hot on the bottom. Very good.

Oregon quail with sun dried tomato, romano beans, and potato salad – Dotted with orange and yellow pepper coulis. Good earthy tones really matched the earthy tones of the wine. The creamy texture of the potato salad was a nice contrast to the quail.

Soft-shell crab bisque with dungeness crab and glazed baby fennel – Sweet and creamy, finely textured with a hint of sweet licorice from the fennel.

Maine lobster, baby beets and english peas with an organic red currant sauce – The lobster just melts in your mouth. I’ve got to practice my sous vide cooking as this was an inviting dish and there simply wasn’t enough of it.

Hudson valley foie gras with caramelized shallots and big cherry gastrique – This was perhaps the best seared foie gras I’ve ever had. I’ve been to The French Laundry four times and have had foie gras there each time but this one was spectacular. The crust was crunchy and sweet, I’m guessing it was dredged in a bit of confectioner’s sugar and flour. The bing cherry gastrique hit the wine right on the mark.

Copper river salmon tournedos with carrot, spinach, and a red wine bacon jus – The salmon was medium rare; the spinach buttery creamy, and the bacon jus carried a smokiness with each bite. The vegetables had a good snap to them. The bacon jus married well with the earthy tones in the wine. I have to admit, this is about the best wine I’ve ever picked to match so many dishes. Each dish brought out different notes from it. This is one of the things that makes the pinot noir grape so food friendly.

Celery sorbet – Our intermezzo; celery sorbet with fennel. There’s something about the licorice in the fennel that elevates the celery flavor. It’s creamy and almost reminiscent of chocolate. The wine stops the sweetness of it, but the celery lingers. Celery and fennel appears to be an interesting flavor profile that might be were pursuing in the lab. 

Venison with chanterelles, onion confit, foie gras, and a peppercorn mustard sauce – The mustard sauce adds some punctuation and acidity. The onion and fennel is sweet, the bordelaise sauce, egg, and foie all add different dimensions of richness. The ground venison was very lean and perhaps could have used some fat for more moisture and a little softer texture.

Symphony of desserts – Chocolate cake, strawberry shortcake and mango soup. A delicious ending hitting all areas of the dessert repertoire: heavy, light, savory, sweet, chocolate, fruit, soft, crunchy…

Mignardises – jellies and chocolate with a creamy hazelnut filling.

edit to fix the wording in the first paragraph.

Edited August 1, 2005 by Really Nice! (log)

[little ms foodie]

That is awesome, it's been about 3 years since I've been to Rovers also but we talk about it often. I hope we can go back soon! I love that damn scrambled egg.

[LEdlund]

The only time I've eaten at Rover's was the lunch we did a while back. Now I know I really need to go for dinner. That looks fabulous.

Happy Birthday Mike!

[Really Nice!]

Thanks! And yes you really need to go for dinner.

[Abra]

Oooh, it's my birthday next week. You might have just picked our dinner celebration. That's gorgeous.

[legourmet]

All dishes mouthwatering, but three times foie gras and three times fennel in the menu and two red fruit sauces, a tiny little bit unbalanced.

[Aileen]

Hudson valley foie gras with caramelized shallots and big cherry gastrique – This was perhaps the best seared foie gras I’ve ever had. I’ve been to The French Laundry four times and have had foie gras there each time but this one was spectacular. The crust was crunchy and sweet, I’m guessing it was dredged in a bit of confectioner’s sugar and flour. The bing cherry gastrique hit the wine right on the mark.

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I just got back from a weekend in Seattle visiting a friend, and I must say I'm jealous of those of you with access to such wonderful food all the time! I told my friend that I would go broke buying food if I lived there. Anyway, we had dinner at Rover's on Saturday (mixed and matched courses), and our foie gras course that was similar to this one (ours had carmelized pear along-side) was the best I've ever had as well. I took one bite and completely zoned out everything but the taste in my mouth. My friend had the same experience. I went to The French Laundry in April, and while it still holds the title for best all-around meal I've ever had, this foie gras is one-up on TFL's.

edited for spelling.

Edited August 29, 2005 by Aileen (log)

[little ms foodie]

So we decided to do a bit of celebrating at Rovers last night! Damn I love that restaurant.

We made our reservations on Open Table and as soon as we arrived they offered congratulations as they knew we were celebrating. We had an awesome table and service was exceptional.

I forgot to ask for the menu and didn't take pictures so I'll try my best to remember all the incredible dishes. We had the 8 course chef's menu.

We started with glasses of Pommery Champagne and an amuse plate. One was squab liver mouse on a tiny cracker, it was light and sooooo wonderful tasting, also a mimolette gougres and an espresso cup of morel soup with a drizzle of tomato oil, FANTASTIC!

Next up the house soft scrambled egg with cream fraich and caviar, what can you say? It's beautiful.

We had a bottle of burgandy blanc, sorry I don't know which one.

Guinia hen confit with fois gras terrine served with elderberries. very understated and not gamey as I would expect this darker meat bird.

Crab cake in a lobster sauce and white peaches....I'm forgetting what else was in this but it was good and rich, there was not a crumb of filling in this crab cake!

Lobster with baby beets and lobster mushrooms in lobster broth. WOW! I don't care too much for beets but these were not even the size of a pinky finger and the flavor helped to cut through the richness.

seared Hudson Valley fois gras, with huckelberry sauce and onion confit. This is certainly an amazing depth of flavors. the huckleberries are from the sous chef's yard! Perfect dish, Dayne's absolute favorite.

At this point we moved on to a 1999 Chehalem Pinot Noir, Rion reserve

Salmon tornado just seared on each side, bacon jus, red chard. The smokey flavor played great with this dish. Dayne thought the chard was actually a bit overcooked- I don't eat many cooked greens so I couldn't say. the salmon just melted in your mouth.

Cucumber sorbet- holy hell, this was amazing and it was just a simple sorbet!!

Squab with chanterrels and beautiful green and red sauces. Again I'm not remembering all the flavors here but the squab was done perfectly! It was so tender and juicy. I declared that america should eat more game! haha!

Symphony of desserts- mini chocolate souffle, WA peaches on an almond flavored cake (I can't recall the name for that cake!) with something like a sabyon over it (decadent!) and a melon soup with strawberry puree.......I'm out of adjectives!!

Sauternes in the glass...

Mignardes of chocolates and fruit pates.

This is only the 2nd time I've been to Rovers but I have to say that the room and service is so comfortable to me. I really enjoy my time here!

[Foodie-Girl]

So we decided to do a bit of celebrating at Rovers last night! Damn I love that restaurant.

We made our reservations on Open Table and as soon as we arrived they offered congratulations as they knew we were celebrating. We had an awesome table and service was exceptional.

I forgot to ask for the menu and didn't take pictures so I'll try my best to remember all the incredible dishes. We had the 8 course chef's menu.

We started with glasses of Pommery Champagne and an amuse plate. One was squab liver mouse on a tiny cracker, it was light and sooooo wonderful tasting, also a mimolette gougres and an espresso cup of morel soup with a drizzle of tomato oil, FANTASTIC!

Next up the house soft scrambled egg with cream fraich and caviar, what can you say? It's beautiful.

We had a bottle of burgandy blanc, sorry I don't know which one.

Guinia hen confit with fois gras terrine served with elderberries. very understated and not gamey as I would expect this darker meat bird.

Crab cake in a lobster sauce and white peaches....I'm forgetting what else was in this but it was good and rich, there was not a crumb of filling in this crab cake!

Lobster with baby beets and lobster mushrooms in lobster broth. WOW! I don't care too much for beets but these were not even the size of a pinky finger and the flavor helped to cut through the richness.

seared Hudson Valley fois gras, with huckelberry sauce and onion confit. This is certainly an amazing depth of flavors. the huckleberries are from the sous chef's yard! Perfect dish, Dayne's absolute favorite.

At this point we moved on to a 1999 Chehalem Pinot Noir, Rion reserve

Salmon tornado just seared on each side, bacon jus, red chard. The smokey flavor played great with this dish. Dayne thought the chard was actually a bit overcooked- I don't eat many cooked greens so I couldn't say. the salmon just melted in your mouth.

Cucumber sorbet- holy hell, this was amazing and it was just a simple sorbet!!

Squab with chanterrels and beautiful green and red sauces. Again I'm not remembering all the flavors here but the squab was done perfectly! It was so tender and juicy. I declared that america should eat more game! haha!

Symphony of desserts- mini chocolate souffle, WA peaches on an almond flavored cake (I can't recall the name for that cake!) with something like a sabyon over it (decadent!) and a melon soup with strawberry puree.......I'm out of adjectives!!

Sauternes in the glass...

Mignardes of chocolates and fruit pates.

This is only the 2nd time I've been to Rovers but I have to say that the room and service is so comfortable to me. I really enjoy my time here!

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[Foodie-Girl]

Wendy...sounds fabulous!!! Congratulations on whatever you were celebrating. We went to Rover's for my birthday last year and LOVED IT!

Char/foodie-girl