Eva

[thelastsupper]

Okay, so tsquare brought this up in another post as a maybe interesting place to bring visitors. What is the deal with this place? I went once and had a wretched time, I mean, bad. Everyone else I have talked to said that it was a great restaurant, they had a great meal, all in all a great newcomer to the seattle scene (though I suppose they aren't so new anymore). Did I just get them on an off time? I'd love to hear what kind of experience others have had.

And yes I had the cabrales flan. And yes it was fairly interesting . . . at least the first half of it.

[mamster]

I have some friends who live right nearby so I always walk past, notice something on the menu that looks good, and vow to try it soon. Let's hear about your bad meal, tls.

[girl chow]

I've eaten at Eva, the last time was in the Fall and I thought it was really quite good, although it didn't blow off my socks exactly (but still pretty good). The service was near perfect, save for the end of the meal when the restaurant picked up more biz ---- and the food was really good. So good, I'd go back if I lived closer. I liked the pricing. It was reasonable ($15-$17 range for entrees). And I think the atmosphere is really nice and relaxed and more casual (sort of like Zoe, but the tables are a little closer together).

Prepare to roll your eyes, but I really liked the cabrales flan with the pear relish -- which I thought was a unique and cheeky take on the standard pear and cheese combo.

We also had the mussels with cilantro, garlic and ginger. No complaints there. We loved the rabbit with chorizo bread pudding a lot. The chorizo pudding was really rich and had a wonderful texture. The ahi was nothing special but pretty good, but the salmon with corn pudding was fantastic (especially the corn pudding). Dessert was ok (chocolate tart w/a fruit sauce?), but not stunning, but nothing that wouldn't make me go back.

Overall, I thought the food was a good value, especially because the bill is easily under $50 (w/out drinks or tip) for two -- and the food was good enough to charge a bit more, I think. And the service was really polished (aside from taking forever for the check).

I'm curious to hear what went wrong with your meal!

[thelastsupper]

Okay, some of this may be a little off, but I will indicate where I am unsure about stuff. It was last December.

So, the room is nice. I like the exposed kitchen, casual and all with the cooks in regular clothes. Though halfway through the meal I was extremely annoyed when the kitchen radio started playing Neil Young (shudder) and it was all that I could concentrate on . . .

So we came in stood in the doorway for several minutes. Usually I don't care about that sort of thing but they were not busy at all. Our waitress saw us and walked into the bar, came out after awhile. It was sort of funny, like she didn't expect us to still be there, but yes, we were there and yes, we had reservations. So we were seated.

We decided to do a three course thing because as girlchow mentioned it was fairly inexpensive: salad, apps, etc. I chose borscht (it was COLD out), the famed cabrales flan and venison. My companion chose a salad, a smoked trout roulade and veal shank.

As I write this now I'm kicking myself over what happened with wine. We were all set to choose a nice Rioja- the wine list certainly is interesting, a lot of unusual choices and we were pleased to see some nice Spanish bottles- but then I turned to the section labeled: "This is what we enjoy drinking this month" (or something like that). I had heard that Amy McCray's husband (James?) was the wine director and knew his business. So we went with this Washington Syrah instead. What a mistake! When the bottle was opened and I had a taste, I sort of had to double check because I thought the wine was off. No, it wasn't off, it was just bad. Stupid me should have complained about its nastiness, but I didn't. I guess it was my fault for not sending it back, but I ended up feeling rather betrayed by the whole issue. If I go to a restaurant that I admire and the folks say try this, you will like it, I try it without hesitation. In any case, Strike One. (I should add that the wine was opened as we were finishing our first course by a very bored server. I don't think she once approached our table after she took our order unless she need to clear plates or give menus. Neither did she attempt to talk to us at ALL except to take our order. She refilled water once.)

Whew! Onto the food. My borscht was excellent. It was perfectly seasoned with lots of beets, cabbage etc. I was surprised to find shreds of veal throughout the soup. Yum. My partner's salad was tasty, nicely flavored greens with the odd shavings of manchego (extraneous) and (I believe) candied walnuts . . . or maybe it was spiced pecans? It was dressed correctly with a pleasant sherry vinaigrette (More on that later).

Second course: The cabrales flan was interesting at first, savory and a bit sweet. But as it cooled it lost quite a bit of the subtle taste of cabrales and just tasted heavily of egg. The pear relish was not very interesting as I recall, little more than overcooked pear and a bit of spice (a little too sweet for me). The walnut wafer/cracker was badly textured and seemed close to stale. It did not hold up to being spread or dipped. I left it on the plate in favor of bread. Partner's roulade was BAD. Smoked trout DOUSED in mayo-like goo. This was rolled up in potato bread with a suspicious lack of flavor. He said it tasted like bad tuna sandwiches of his kid-hood. I wouldn't give it that much credit. The worst part of this dish seemed fairly innocent: on the opposite end of the rectangular plate rested a small bunch of frisee tossed in . . . sherry vinaigrette. The same vinaigrette from the green salad. Annoying (Still more to come on that).

Entrees: Partner's "Rioja-braised" Veal shank was not braised in Rioja. It was the color of boiled veal, not braised in red wine. It tasted totally unseasoned, like meat cooked for a long time in simmering water, with maybe half an onion thrown in. The doneness was right on, just without any flavor. My venison was nice and rare. Its huckleberry sauce had a few huckleberries strewn about, flavorless except for the heavy, heavy taste of veal demi-glace. It came with plain (unbuttered, unsalted) steamed veggies (?) including broccoli (??). I like broccoli and all, but it was very odd with the venison. And then, again, the frisee centered over the slices of venison dressed in (you guessed it) the same sherry vinagrette. I could go on about how mad that made me, this is rather long already. I will just say- aside from leaving the restaurant with my mouth filled with the flavor of raw shallot- that sherry vinegar and red wine (I was still taking sips from the first glass, hoping it would somehow improve, that something would give me a bit of comfort [no one asked why the bottle sat there untouched]) are an exceedingly unpleasant combination. Yeah, and I am still pissed off.

Oh! One of the dishes came with very good squash spaetzle. I forgot if it was the veal or venison, but they were the best part of the whole experience. Delicious.

Dessert: By then we both were very unhappy (still unnoticed) and got dessert to complete the grim experience. Taleggio Cheescake was much less interesting than it sounds and my chestnut ice cream was fine, but I have had better at both Le Pichet and Le Gourmand. It is a sad, sad thing when normal drip coffee is one of the brightest spots in a meal.

And yes, the chef was in the kitchen. I have no idea, maybe it was the evil Harvest Moon?

[girl chow]

Oh egads. Not sure I'd go back after an experience like that. Inefficient service pisses me off even more than crappy food. Did you call the restaurant and tell them you were pissed? I find that works sometimes.. but not in a "hey, can I get a free meal" kind of way.. more or less just telling the chef why the meal sucked. I know chefs who find that kind of feedback invaluable. But I also know chefs who might hang up on you if you called to bitch. Still, I'm in favor of letting the restaurant know why you won't be coming back. As for the wine, crap, that's such a horrible situation that could turn into an entirely embarassing situation. I never know how to handle that, other than almost never ordering wine in restaurants anymore (for various reasons). We should get a thread going (if one doesn't already exist somewhere) on sending wine back. What's the etiquette and how do you get out of an embarassing position?

[col klink]

Hmm, I know there was a decently sized thread on the very subject of sending back wine. Some people had no problem and suggested ways of doing it so nobody is offended. But then some people HAD tried that and were charged for new bottles as well as old "bad" bottles.

Unfortunately, I'm having trouble finding the thread.

[MsRamsey]

Did you call the restaurant and tell them you were pissed? I find that works sometimes.. but not in a "hey, can I get a free meal" kind of way.. more or less just telling the chef why the meal sucked. I know chefs who find that kind of feedback invaluable. But I also know chefs who might hang up on you if you called to bitch.

I've often thought of sending a letter (of course, I haven't ever done it, but I might some day ). You can't hang up on a letter!

Kathy

[LainerX]

I wrote a letter once to the Palace Kitchen after an exceptionally sucky experience and got a very nice letter back from the general manager. You're right, MsRamsey, they can't hang up on a letter. Besides, I think it appears to them that if you took the time to write the dang thing, you're serious about your complaint.

[mamster]

For that matter, write a letter if you have an especially good experience. Once (before I was a critic, of course) I wrote to the Deluxe to compliment them on an unusually enjoyable meal and got a free dinner for two in response.

[Blue Heron]

Great idea mamster! I wonder if that would also work if one has not actually been to the restaurant yet? (note: I would never be that devious).

[girl chow]

Hey there LainerX, welcome! We love new faces.

I've written letters before and gotten mixed responses -- from free food like Mamster to no response at all. I think a letter probably would be more effective because it's hard evidence of dissatisfaction that's very hard to ignore. Maybe we should all start writing letters when we've been culinarily wronged and then report our results back here :)

And I forgot to mention in my last post that there is a great restaurant across the street from Eva that I know all you posters know about, but I wanted the lurkers to know about too... it's Luau's Polynesian Lounge and they've got the best cocktails and atmo. The food is good (stay away from the vegetarian stuff, it ain't good), but I really like the energy of that place. It feels like a really loopy spring break in there all the time.

[MsRamsey]

For that matter, write a letter if you have an especially good experience.

Absolutely. Wonderful idea. I believe it was eGullet member lizziee who noted recently that she does this quite frequently.

[MsRamsey]

Hey there LainerX, welcome! We love new faces.

And I forgot to mention in my last post that there is a great restaurant across the street from Eva that I know all you posters know about ... it's Luau's Polynesian Lounge and they've got the best cocktails and atmo.

Eh, I see her face almost every day.

Luau is one of my favorite places. It's a required spot for me because I am big into collecting vintage tikis and 50s/60s cocktail culture stuff in general. Thanks for mentioning it! The food is very good, the cocktails mixed skillfully, and the service very cordial. They've recently opened an addition; it's called something like the Zanzibar Room. That may not be their name for it, but that's immediately what popped into my mind when I saw it.

Kathy

[papachef]

I heave heard nice things about Eva. It is hard to replace Brie and Bordeaux which was great in its day.

As for Luau, it is my favorite place.

[tsquare]

Finally tried Eva. They'll be two in November.

It was pretty quiet early on a beautiful Saturday night. All tables reserved but one, plenty of seating in the bar. The whole menu looked good - bar snacks too ($6-12). Long, interesting wine list, plenty of half bottles. I chose a glass of Washington rose ($6). Jazz playing softly, candles lighting tables and behind the liquor bottles. Among the seasonal specialties were a trio of salads ($8) - beet, chantrelle, and carrot. Sounded good, but the garden is overly abundant right now. Instead, I had the prawns with salad roll ($8). The slight char on the prawns and firmness of the meat was perfect. The roll was refreshing with a good cashew dipping sauce. Special entree was rabbit/chantrelle lasagna ($12?). Can you tell chantrelles are just coming into season? I stayed with the pan seared halibut with radish salad ($16). The apricot ginger sauce was way too sweet without any discernable flavor, though it looked pretty on the plate. The piece of fish was good, the salad it sat on, light and tasty. The idea was to save room for dessert. Lots of seasonal items here - peach ice cream, fruit tart, nectarine cake...but the easy choice was a trio of tastes ($8). The hazelnut praline panne cotta was smooth as silk, though slightly more dense. The frozen lemon-blueberry souffle was brightly flavored, but I don't really get the concept - is it an egg mixture or an ice? The chocolate cookie with coconut cream filling is now my new favorite version of a Mounds Bar. Oh my! The plate was nicely adorned with small jewel toned bits of assorted fresh fruit.

My only real complaint of the evening was that they never asked if I wanted another beverage, other than coffee with dessert. Perhaps I was sipping slowly enough that it seemed unlikely. Would I rush back? Not likely, though if someone suggested going there, I'd say okay.