UPDATE!

Many times when one visits a restaurant for lunch, which a person has patronized for dinner, you find that the menu is a mirror of the dinner offerings. Oh sure, there will be the addition of a burger or chicken sandwich; perhaps even a lunch salad. But mostly the comparisons between the afternoon and evening meals will be pretty even. One exception to this rule was Sitka & Spruce. While it may not be totally fair to categorize the offers from this tiny Eastlake restaurant with other establishments, since their menu is constantly changing, a lot of my opinion was based too upon the atmosphere versus their dinner service.

Once through the door a person is still greeted with muted chartreuse walls, simple, modernist decor and milky, filtered light from the West facing windows. What is different is the ambiance. It’s a much more relaxed environment, even once the lunch rush begins in earnest. While the menu is still handwritten on the blackboard by the door, orders are placed, and paid for, at the standing counter; dishes are self-bussed. The crowd on my particular visit was made up of moms and individuals waiting for lunch companions; people engrossed in quiet conversations, newspapers or tending their children. This is in comparison to a livelier, more boisterous and curious dinner crowd. I’d learned from my first visit to Sitka & Spruce that the best time to arrive is early, as soon as they open, to get a good seat and, in the case of my lunch, so as to take advantage of all menu offerings before they sell out.

I ordered three items off the menu; the first being Creamy Root Vegetable Soup ($6.00). The bowl arrived filled halfway with an olive oil drizzled, bisque colored soup; crostini served on the side in place of crackers. With a consistency of slightly whipped heavy cream the soup was thick, almost a porridge. The taste was that of celery, potato and perhaps rutabaga, very light and slightly sweet. My thinking is that the sweetness came from nutmeg as it had that twinge of spicy, exotic flavor. This was a great medium for dipping chunks of torn crostini, the soup coating each bite-sized morsel with rich, slightly starchy, goodness.

As I made my way through the soup out came a plate of Tartine of Anchoas, Celery Confit & Meyer Lemon ($7.00). This was a totally different turn from the soup. Briny, oily and lemony all at once I could have eaten plate after plate of this one menu item. Devoid of the fishiness found in most anchovies these fish filets were moist, tender and tasted of clean salt water. The contrast was the slightly crunchy, just cooked through julienne of celery; a welcome textural crunch. This celery had been combined with minced Meyer lemon, to add brightness, and olive oil for a rich, floral note. All of this was served atop slices of fresh baguette. In contrast to the bread served with my soup this bread had been toasted bringing out nutty flavor of the wheat along with added flavor from the grill.

My final selection of the afternoon was to be a sandwich that Sitka & Spruce only had four orders of total, Organic Tri Tip Sandwich, Olives & Piquil Rouille ($8.50). Once again served on the same tasty baguette the sandwich arrived with bits of char grilled beef protruding from the sides of the bread. Served rare the tri tip was flavorful with a bit of chewiness to it. Just warmed trough the pink center was moist in contrast to the crunchy bits of charred exterior that flecked the sliced pieces. Dressed with flat leaf parsley and an herbal sauce made primarily of olive oil gave the sandwich richness along with the added benefit of the oil softening the chewy baguette. It’s a somewhat messy sandwich, with olive oil dripping from either end, but one which could easily fill someone all by itself.

While I thought that dinner when I last visited Sitka & Spruce was good, lunch far surpassed my expectations. Unfortunately it’s only served four days a week, Tuesday through Friday, and from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM. If they could open for lunch on the weekend I could easily see my way to making the short trip to Eastlake at least once per week. The best part is that I can count on a changing menu and something new to try on nearly every visit. A menu that will offer variety regardless of whether I’ve dined with them in the past day or the past month.

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June 15th, 2006

So far in my time in Seattle I have eaten at some fairly diminutive restaurants. I know, for those of you who’ve spent time reading my reviews it seems like every other week I’m in some new, small restaurant space. But imagine if you will someone opening their dining room up to a group of twenty strangers for dinner. If you can picture that, and picture this person’s dining room was in a strip mall, you’d get an idea of what seating is like at Sitka & Spruce.

Open for only a couple of months, I underestimated the drawing power of this little eatery tucked back off the road on Eastlake Avenue. While my arrival at 5:40 PM was early for dinner it was too late to grab an individual table to myself. As I walked through the door I saw that roughly two thirds of the seats were taken and if I wanted to eat, I was going to have to share space at the large, central communal table. Before I go any further let me just say that if you are adverse to sharing a table with strangers, arrive early or plan to visit after they’ve been open a while. With what I saw of this restaurant’s popularity your chances of having to sit side-by-side with a stranger are quite high.

There were no menus at Sitka & Spruce to peruse. Instead there was a centrally placed chalkboard with a list of about ten to twelve items on it. Fairly straight forward I ordered the Roasted Sockeye with Beets ($22.00) and Rainbow Chard ($7.00). I was informed that each selection comes in two sizes, a small and a large, depending on whether or not you wanted a meal to yourself or to share your selection with the group as pseudo tapas. Since I was by myself I chose to get the large portion of salmon and the small portion of chard to constitute my meal. As it turns out the kitchen prepares their dishes to the chef’s whimsy. So whatever happens to finish cooking first is what is brought out to your table. For me it was the small order of Rainbow Chard. Petite chopped and lightly sautéed the leaves of the chard were tender and buttery but hid a unique flavor. For a second it escaped me and then I hit upon what it was, vinegar. Almost as though the chard had been given the wilted spinach salad treatment, it came dressed with a slightly bitter, sour white vinegar pucker. Not too far over the line but just enough to give contrast to the rich, buttery taste if its quick sauté.

The Sockeye came resting upon a pedestal of more chard and bright, fuchsia beets. The beets were sweet and fork tender having been cooked with shallots and olives. An interesting preparation technique that I noted as one I never would have thought of. The natural sugars of fresh beets intermingling with soft, fatty olive created an interesting flavor that reminded me of, well, of pepperoni. Don’t ask, it just did. But the simple preparation was not limited to beets, the salmon itself was nicely sautéed on the outside but still a moist, translucent orange on the inside. With only a bit of dill draped across the top the natural, mild flavor of this filet was readily apparent. While the menu described the dish as coming with golden fennel I have to admit I was at a loss to find it. That is unless what I thought was radish was actually the fennel. But if it were fennel it would be the spiciest fennel I’ve yet to taste. Nevertheless, my dinner was very good in its use of simple, “pantry available” ingredients. And I guess that’s the overall vibe I got from Sitka & Spruce, homemade. The timing, ingredients and atmosphere; they all contributed to a feeling of not being at a restaurant.

To end my evening I chose the Cheese Plate ($6.50). A room temperature slice of blue cheese, a balsamic macerated strawberry and sweet crackers arrived on a small plate. The crackers were an interesting combination of savory shortbread, sugary coating, chopped nuts and anise flavoring. Topped with a bit of the salty, musky blue cheese the crackers provided a great counterpoint to the cheese’s creamy richness with its sweet, lingering licorice flavor. Balance that with a fresh, cool strawberry sitting in slightly tart and syrupy balsamic vinegar. A nice ending to a well prepared meal.

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Where have I been? What am I up to? What’s happened to me? Where are the restaurant reviews? Those are probably some of the questions that inquiring minds have been asking about my disappearance. Well, the long answer short is “changes”. The holidays last year brought about a hiatus from restaurant reviews but my planned return in January was interrupted by a condo purchase. Yes, I am the proud owner of my own domicile on Capitol Hill. But that wasn’t to be the only change. Shortly after closing on my new home, I was laid-off from my job. That was a little bit less of a surprise but still a wrench in my ointment; mixaphorically speaking. Less than a week after being told to hit the street by my ex-employer I was able to secure gainful employment with a firm that was within walking distance of my new home. With all that crises and stress cleansed from system I felt emptiness. An emptiness that could only be filled with food; what better way to fill that space then by including it in a review. So as I strolled around my new neighborhood today I remembered a new restaurant opening I’d heard about back around New Year’s Day - Volunteer Park Cafe & Marketplace.

While a bit more of a walk than I expected from my home near Denny and Olive, it was enough to get the blood flowing and really stoke the appetite. Once at the cafe I was reminded of the Fremont location of Essential Baking Company. Open and airy with cramped crew quarters behind the counter. The counter itself made up of a cash register and the pastry case; behind which was the Panini grill and chef’s work station. A line had formed before I arrived but was quickly dispersed by the quick order taking of the staff. Once I had my order placed I sought out somewhere to sit. While seating was plentiful the choice spots on the banquettes near the windows were at a premium. I instead had to opt for a more public spot in the middle of the dining area. While my order was quick to be taken, it took a while for my food to come up once it was done. If you are looking for a quick meal stick with a salad or something from the pastry case. But soon my name was called and grabbed my two plates. I told you I had a void to fill.

My first plate was a Roast Beef and Caramelized Onion Panini ($7.95). The large slices of peasant bread were pressed thin and crunchy with golden brown grill marks. Inside, the sandwich was packed with extremely thin slices of tender roast beef. My first bite was filled with beefy juiciness and gooey Gorgonzola cheese. Salty and meaty the sandwich had an undertone of brininess from an olive tapenade that spiked the filling of my Panini. In addition to meat, cheese and olives the sandwich as made more complex with the addition of caramelized onions sweetened by slow cooking in sherry. For a simple Panini sandwich there was a lot going on between these two slices of bread.

The second part of my lunch was a Phyllo Mushroom Tart ($6.95) and like its sandwich compatriot it was complex in its make-up. At first I was a little concerned with the pile of greens that obscured most of the tart. I ordered a savory pastry of mushrooms and here I have something in front of me that resembles a bowl of salad. Though I would later come to appreciate the fresh, wild complement of these well dressed greens, I rather would have preferred having half as much served to me. The mushrooms themselves, once I’d excavated them, were somewhat unremarkable. Shitake and, perhaps, cremini mushrooms they’d been cooked with various herbs and were quite substantial and meaty but not cooked near long enough to break them down into the intensely flavor morsels they could be. No, most of the flavor came from the combination of the warm, fresh chevre, caramelized onions and buttery, yet like and crispy phyllo. This foundation proved to be very rich and almost too much but, as I mentioned above, there was the lovely green arugula salad. With their fresh-picked, wild countenance lightening the overall experience of the tart I welcomed each forkful, dotted with onion, cheese and mushroom.

Is the Volunteer Park Cafe & Marketplace a destination restaurant? In my opinion, no. I say this because I feel that you can get similar quality and menu items at many cafes around the Seattle area. I will, however, recommend that if you are out for a sunny (or even cloudy) stroll in Volunteer Park that you take a short side trip to the cafe to imbibe in a soda, coffee, tea or even a beer or wine along with a little something to nosh from their menu.

Looking back on my past few reviews I seem to have taken an easier road in reviewing sandwiches and quick lunchtime fare. While lunch is an important meal my hope is to bring you all more reviews; especially dinner reviews. So with so much behind me I look forward to spending more quality time eating out and at the keyboard of my computer.

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