35th St Bistro

[malarkey]

Had lunch at 35th St Bistro on Tuesday with a friend.

We order moules et frites and the Smoked Trout Salad.

The moules came in an aromatic broth flavored with fresh thyme, with a tiny brunoise of garlic & carrot, accompanied by great crunchy frites! This was so tasty and it warmed me on a cool fall day (yes I know, its August and I said the F word).

The trout comes with arugula and triangles of toasted brioche with a creme fraiche/horseradish drizzle on the side. I'm wondering if they smoke their own trout..? It was a lovely salad, very good flavors.

Brouwer's could take a page from these folks on how to make Moules et Frites. Dangerous to know this place is within a short distance of where I live.. And the dinner menu sounds really inviting!!

[dandelion]

I had dinner there about 2 weeks ago... it was pretty good, although it didn't take my head off. I tried the Asparagus Risotto Stuffed Artichoke, which was plated really nicely, and tasted just fine. It could have used a little more of something, maybe just salt, to be awesome. My friend had the Roasted Half Chicken, and said it was great. Nothing out of the ordinary, but very good.

We started with the Bistro Salad, which was so pretty on the plate that I had to take a photo:

<img src="http://www.216colors.com/images/food/IMG_0856.jpg" alt="salad photo" width="320" height="240" border="4">

I must admit that I can't help being nostalgic for the Still Life Cafe when I'm in there, though....

[malarkey]

35th St Bistro is having a wine dinner this coming Wednesday, the 24th. I've had 3 meals here now, and I think this place is shining !

________________________________

Subject: J.Christopher Wine Dinner

Just a reminder... One of Oregon's best winemakers will be with us next Wednesday:

Wednesday, August 24 Jay Somers, J. Christopher Winery

Jay Somers got his start making wine at Oregon’s boutique winery, Cameron. Jay is now making his own wines, heralded as among the most interesting wines to come out of Oregon. We’ll be enjoying his Chardonnays, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noirs, paired with Jay, his wife Rhonda, and six delicious courses of summer's luscious ingredients, including. Please Join us for this very special evening.

The cost is $75/person, excluding tax and gratuity, and reservations are required. This dinner is selling quickly - book a table between 6 and 9:30 by calling the 35th Street Bistro at 206.547.9850, or by email at jchrist@35bistro.com.

The Menu:

Heirloom Tomato Salad, baby greens, balsamic syrup '03 Chehalem Vineyard Chardonnay

Rabbit Stuffed Crêpes, melted leeks, summer vegetable succotash '03 Cuvee Lunatique Chardonnay

Seared Sea Scallop, fresh angel hair pasta, fines herbs '04 Croft Sauvignon Blanc

Roasted Black Cod, organic baby vegetables, parsley coulis '03 Willamette Pinot Noir

Lamb Two Ways: Grilled rib chop over braised lamb sweetbreads '02 Cuvee Saskia Pinot Noir

Apple Tarte, aged Grafton Farms Cheddar '04 Willamette Riesling

Edited August 21, 2005 by malarkey (log)

[malarkey]

Speck and I will make an appearance at this dinner (and we'll sit and EAT too!) so if anyone else is planning on coming, let me know!

[malarkey]

This dinner was lovely. While the service was a bit spotty- they were running their regular dinner menu along with the wine dinner tasting menu- The food was very good with 2 outstanding dishes: the rabbit stuffed crepes and the Lamb Two Ways.

The rabbit dish had a deliciously rich-but-not-overly-so reduction sauce, I thought this dish had beautiful flavors that were, for me, groan inducing ;-)

The lamb dish had a perfectly rare chop, with braised sweetbreads and a very tasty celery root "chip," thinly sliced then fried, capping the whole thing. Wowie, once again, there was a lovely reduction sauce and this dish matched the wine served with it to a T. More groans.

But really, all the dishes in this menu were very nice and there were some surprising pairings: beets with fish, who would have thought these would go together? They did, amazingly. The beets were very small and tender & buttery, the cod meltingly tender & moist, cooked perfectly. The foie gras hollendaise on the scallop was a thing of beauty, as if Rocky and I haven't had enough hollendaise lately, imagine it with a bit of foie in the mix, just enough to add an subtle note of something extra to the sauce, and the dessert bears mention also, just because it was a very interesting combination of flavors: Aged Grafton Village Cheddar, set beside an apple tartlet, which was not a small apple pie, but a compote of apples set inside a delicate crust that had been baked separately. On the side, a generous drizzle of aged balsamic. The tartlet crust was the sweetest thing on the plate, next being the apples, cut into very small dice. The cheddar was fabulous, the entire thing being an interesting contrast of flavors. Served with a riesling, it was on the whole a savory dessert course with tiny sweet notes.

Great stuff! ... just who is the chef here? anyone know? They are doing a champagne dinner on Sept 14th...

[malarkey]

ok, I just found this: Local foodie Bob Day hired Boat Street genius Renee Erickson to help him recreate his favorite bistros in Paris.

[vengroff]

Great stuff! ... just who is the chef here? anyone know?

←

Steve Smrstik, until recently the Chef de Cuisine at Flying Fish in Belltown.

[chefturnedbum]

Question:

What is the garnish on that bistro salad. They almost look like fried beets from the picture.

[dandelion]

Fried onions.... very, very caramelized and crunchy. Beets would be good though... mmmmm.....

Edited August 26, 2005 by dandelion (log)

[little ms foodie]

write up today about the announcement of their new chef Steve Smrstik

[chefturnedbum]

Ahhh yes. Crispy onions. Thanks Dandelion. Now I can use crispy beets for my new place (lol).

[SeAAttle]

We have had a couple of dinners at 35th St. Bistro, both times with winemakers following a tasting at Fremont Wine Bar (sadly, now closed). Based on the Eggs Benedict thread, we went today for brunch and had..........eggs benedict! We agreed with the review - excellent. The service was subpar but otherwise, a nice relaxing Sunday brunch.

[little ms foodie]

We finally got to 35th St Bistro for dinner this weekend. I hadn't been yet!!

It was great, I love the space- it is so pretty and all our food was excellent. Cocktails were well made and a bit unusual which we like too.

Dayne sent back a hi to Chef Steve Smrstik and he came out and talked Chili with us

We'll definately be back- and I still have to try the brunch.

Oh BTW, they are having a really nice Italian wine dinner this wednesday only $65 per person and they said there is still space available.

[kiliki]

I hadn't been, either, but we had a great time there last night. Despite the fact that it got a bang-up review in yesterday's paper, they found a spot for us. Service was great throughout. The trout was terrific and my king salmon, potato cake and spring vegetables were lovely. And it seemed like a really good value-our entrees were $16 and $20, respectively, and the portions were fairly good sized. Lots of inexpensive wines by the glass, too. With appetizer, 2 entrees, one shared dessert and two glasses of wine, our total was $75 before tip.