Hungrygrrl

Recently Seattle has seen the opening of all these cool places with prix-fixe menus–Corson Building, Art of the Table, Chiso Kappo, Spinasse, Poppy. While I love the idea of set menus, the economy has me a bit jittery about spending that much money on one evening. $60-80 for dinner? Maybe once a month.

Art of the Table has the right idea. Find a night of the week and offer small plates for cheaper. It’s sort of the testing grounds for their set menus, like a dress rehearsal.

I am all about the dress rehearsal.

So this past Monday Kyung and Lynn and I held our garden club meeting at Art of the Table. We like to mix gardening with wine, it seems to help.

They had only 7 things on the menu on Monday, all less than 10$. We had 6 of them. And of course, a few glasses of wine. I liked the pinot nero (alto adige), slender like a pinot noir with a long finish. Much more sophisticated than you usually get for 8$.

We started with olives– a nice mix. The bread alongside wasn’t a show stopper, but it was fresh.

Parsnip pear soup came in an espresso cup with a topping of pumpkin seeds and a side of crisped bread with bacon and leeks. The soup was beautifully smooth and rich with roasted parsnips, and set off well by the crunchy pumpkin seeds.

The entress were less impressive. Arctic char smelled incredibly fishy, likley because it was topped with a crisped skin. It tasted fine and the skin was perfectly crunchy, but it was hard to get over that smell. For my taste the interior was a tad overdone as well.

Hangar steak was perfectly cooked with a touch of caramelized crust and was again beautifully presented this time with a swirl of green, but the sauces alongside didn’t add much. I liked the watercress accent.

Roasted vegetables were a perfect medium dice, but didn’t have much flavor.

I bit into the next dish expecting a quiche, but instead found spaghetti squash. It was an odd sensation, but very fresh and clean. A bit of goat cheese added creaminess.

We ended the night with coffee and an apple shortcake, which was sadly a bit overly spiced in the star anise direction (perhaps 5-spice?). The shortcake was stale as well. At least the coffee was wonderful.

All in all our food was a bit disappointing, but the skill is obviously there. They made that perfect soup, and can get a crust on the fish and the meat like few in Seattle. Lynn gave it a B. I said a B-.

Perhaps one shouldn’t judge a play by the dress rehearsal. I need to go back on the weekend and pony up that $60.

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Art of the Table
http://www.artofthetable.net/
1054 North 39th Street
Seattle, WA 98103
(206) 282-0942