Externship in Seattle, WA

[Colleen]

Hello everyone, I am currently a Culinary student and was wondering which restaurants in Seattle, WA are well-known and have coveted positions? I will be externing in the city for about 5 months and don't want to make a mistake. I've heard some things about :

Flying Fish

Palisades

Any suggestions? From a professional standpoint as well, Thanks!

[tsquare]

Those are two very different, but fishy experiences.

Flying Fish is a relatively small place, owner/chef driven, working as much as possible with raw local and organic products. A busy place. Pricey. Hip neighborhood.

Palisades is a high priced corporate owned place. Not sure what the rep is since John Howie left to open his own places a few years back. It's location is not hip, but has great views.

What type of place do you want? What type of food? Corporate? Independent?

Tamara Murphy at Brasa is pretty well know for bringing up chefs - a number have opened their own places or taken the lead elsewhere.

Earth and Ocean at The W Hotel has some interesting stuff going on.

Herbfarm is probably one of the most conveted places.

Newer places to think about would be Union (this would be awesome), Lark (small plates, fresh, probably a good experience), Harvest Vine (tapas, probably a bit limited), Fork (really new, sounding most progressive), Veil (too new to know much).

Good luck.

[dandelion]

I had brunch at Palisade yesterday, and was extremely disappointed with the quality of the food. It was really different from the last time I was there (a couple of years ago), and now I guess I know why. The service and the views are still excellent, but I'd probably stay away from there for your externship.

[cupcakequeen]

if you want to get a little formal French training, I would go to Rover's. Crush is a great place to extern...work with lots of different products that you don't see anywhere else. I second Harvest Vine and Lark for small kitchens. maybe Union?

[DrKoob]

According to this month's Seattle Magazine, the father figure of most chefs in Seattle is Tom Douglas. And he has four restaurants and a bakery to choose from.

[Colleen]

Wow! Thank you very much for all the great responses. Very informative and I will have to do more research. Now that I have a great head-start, I can narrow down something for myself. I'm very interested in an independently owned restaurant which does serve great food, but unique as well. Not too interested in the corporate route.

Lampreia is somewhere I have been hearing a lot. Thank you for all your wonderful comments!

[tighe]

Lampreia is somewhere I have been hearing a lot.  Thank you for all your wonderful comments!

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Lampreia is a great restaurant, but be aware that the chef has a reputation for being very difficult to work for.

[hhlodesign]

I'm very interested in an independently owned restaurant which does serve great food, but unique as well.  Not too interested in the corporate route. 

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You have to look at Mistral then. They are doing the best food in the city right now. Herbfarm and any of the Tom Douglas places all have a corporate feel to them. Rover's and Lark would also be good choices. As would Veil. If it were my choice (based on where you would learn the most):

1. Mistral

2. Veil

3. Lark

4. Rover's

5. Union

[dandelion]

Honestly, I'd skip Veil. Although their chef is very experienced, I think the restaurant itself is too new and untested to be a good place for an externship.

[Colleen]

Things about Lampreia have been floating around. I hear that the Chef is a little unreasonable though. Any thoughts?

[Colleen]

Could you also expand on your thoughts about Mistral? I just recently went to their website. Things there look interesting. Herbfarm, I noticed, is very unique but is said to be somewhat corporate.

[Marc Olson]

The Herbfarm is a single restaurant with a large team in the kitchen. It may be 'corporate' only in the sense that there's an established rythm to the menu and a set of constraints (Northwest Ingredients, in season) that the kitchen works within.

The two owners and the executive Chef, Jerry Traunfeld run the show. There's a team of investors backing the restaurant, but they don't play a role in day to day operations (full disclosure, I am one of them).

There's a regular rotation of 'externs' through the kitchen ranks, might be worth exploring just to convince yourself that it's not the experience you're looking for.

[hhlodesign]

Could you also expand on your thoughts about Mistral? I just recently went to their website.  Things there look interesting.  Herbfarm, I noticed, is very unique but is said to be somewhat corporate.

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Mistral is a very small restaurant in Belltown (trendy part of downtown area). The owner/chef is William Belickis who originally is from NY and worked for David Bouley. The Chef De Cuisine is Charles Walpole (who I think is one of the most talented chefs in the city.) He is classically trained from the CIA in Hyde Park. I like to refer to their food as minimalist. In that, they find the very best ingredients and do just enough to them to bring out every aspect that makes that ingredient special.

I recently dined there and had a simple brown butter and parsnip soup with one perfectly seared diver scallop in the middle of the bowl. The soup had a wonderfull consistency and very refined flavors that nicely complemented the sweetnes of the scallop. Another dish I remeber was two oysters (I forgot the kind) with lime foam. I'm one who likes my raw oysers adorned with nothing. But the lime foam was very subtle and added just enough flavor to bring even more out of the oysters.

The kitchen is very small and they usually only have 2-3 people back there cooking. So I know you would work very closely with the chefs. I met the extern they had last summer and he seemed to really enjoy his experience there.

My feelings about the Herbfarm are as follows: Jerry is a remarkable chef and is doing brilliant things. But everytime I go there, I can't help but feel like I am at a wedding reception. The place is rather large and they have (I believe) 2 set seatings a night. Everyone gets exactly the same courses, so it has an assembly-line quality to it. Again, not to discount the quality of the food or the talents of the chef. But the scale of the place and assembly line aspect is what I mean when I say it has a corporate feel. Sorry Marc.

Just my 2 cents.

Edited February 2, 2006 by hhlodesign (log)

[Colleen]

Thanks everyone for all the great input!

[Marc Olson]

My feelings about the Herbfarm are as follows: Jerry is a remarkable chef and is doing brilliant things. But everytime I go there, I can't help but feel like I am at a wedding reception. The place is rather large and they have (I believe) 2 set seatings a night. Everyone gets exactly the same courses, so it has an assembly-line quality to it. Again, not to discount the quality of the food or the talents of the chef. But the scale of the place and assembly line aspect is what I mean when I say it has a corporate feel. Sorry Marc.

Just my 2 cents.

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By that definition I would agree that it's more corporate than some of the other restaurants mentioned on the thread.

The Herbfarm program (one seating per night, rotating set menu, Northwest wines only) creates a unique experience, but one that is flawed on several axes. It's certainly not like an evening at Mistral or Lampreia. Despite our ties, we only go once or twice a year.