Hungrygrrl

Sorry it’s been so long. I’ve been busy. Did I tell you we’re getting married next week?

Not only have we been planning a wedding for 150, we somehow decided to have our whole family come to the house for a barbecue the night before (!). All of a sudden we’ve started noticing things…the half done fence in the front yard, the hallway we never finished painting, the tangle of blackberries that seem to grow every day.

So this past Sunday Cobe and I started tackling house projects. He spent the day working on the fence, I cut back the blackberries and painted the hallway. We worked till we lost the light and then we were starving. In his weakened state, I convinced Cobe to go to Spring Hill, this new restaurant at the junction. They serve till midnight. I might have left out the part about the chef coming from Dahlia Lounge.

So first a warning, Spring Hill is VERY new (as in, like 2 weeks) and like most places, they still have a few kinks to work out. They’re positioned conveniently next to the Seattle Fish Market, and the menu leans toward seafood, with the source of the fish listed on the side. Halibut from Alaska, trout from Idaho. They also have oysters, clams, mussels and what sounds like an amazing roasted pork rack (they were out the night we went).

It doesn’t look big from the outside, but inside it’s airy and calm. Lots of pine, good lighting, and modern lines. My pictures don’t do it justice (damn those iphones in low light).

But the food? As I said, there are some kinks. It was all very fresh, locally sourced. But it felt a bit like someone had made up the menu and not bothered to taste it afterwards. It sounded interesting, but the flavors didn’t blend well.

Roasted beets were contrasted with a vivid green basil olive oil and bosc pear, but they were undercooked and strangely raggedly cut, like a child had cut them.

Raw oysters were icy cold and served with a mild hops and shallot mignonette sauce. A bit on the small side though.

Cobe’s cedar plank salmon was cooked well, crispy on the outside with a perfectly moist interior, but it had little sauce and the accompanying vegetables (caramelized broccoli and gnocchi) didn’t add much. He also bemoaned the size to price ratio, something that will resonate with west seattlites.

And my trout? Well I do love trout, and this was very fresh, but trout can be a little bland on it’s own. It did come with a brown butter sauce, but I found it grainy and lacking much flavor. The dish also failed on the visual. With trout, artichokes, and spaetzle it was a play on white and beige.

We were still hungry after all that so we ordered dessert, a poached pear with olive oil cake and whipped cream that was truly wonderful, not too sweet, nicely balanced. The cheese plate along side didn’t wow us, but to be fair Cobe wouldn’t let me order the cheese the waiter described as “like Taleggio, a little funky” which of course sounded amazing. I was also bummed to find they were out of pinot noir, my favorite accompaniment to cheese.

“It was a crazy weekend,” the waiter said, “we’re out of tempranillo and pinot noir. All we have left are syrah and cabernet.”

As I’ve said, a few kinks. The price point is on the high end (the salmon was 29$, the trout 22$), but they don’t seem positioned to compete with Beato (have I told you about Beato?). The truth is they would be well served to have a bar menu to pull in both crowds. Or maybe a dinner menu and a late night menu.

Cobe’s main concern was the inclusion of Ranier Light on their beer list.

“Ranier light? Why do they think I am?”

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Spring Hill
http://www.springhillnorthwest.com/
4437 California Ave SW
(between Genesee St & Oregon St)
Seattle, WA 98116 (206) 935-1075