Anyone been there yet?
No but glad that William is back in action. Nice guy and supremely talented chef.
I am always leery about going to a restaurant in the first few weeks after opening, but some friends made reservations for a group of us tomorrow evening. I look forward to eating Belickis’s cooking again.
New restaurant or not the guy knows how to cook. The service/pace at Mistral was always stupidly glacial, as William could never turn out the plates to keep up with the service. That said, just drink more wine while you wait, and it all works out. That man puts a better sear/crisp onto a piece of fish that anyone else I have ever seen. Let us know how it is!
It was very good. Not Mistral, but I did not get the impression that it was trying to be, other than putting really top notch food out of the kitchen. The prices are not Mistral level either.
We had the soft polenta with poached egg and parmesan foam, braised pork belly, branzino boulegoule, arctic char, roasted chicken, and fois gras. Everything was delicious.
The wine list was somewhat disappointing, although I was there with a group of non-wine fiends, so I did not look at it in depth. We had a couple bottles of the 05 Chateau la Nerthe CdP. It was a nice wine, and went well with much of the meal. That said, I’ll be asking about the corkage policy before I go again.
Have you eaten at How to Cook a Wolf? Is he trying to do something more casual like that versus the pure fine-dining, many course experience?
Thanks for scouting this out. I remember the wine list at Mistral was rather pricey. Same affliction in this case? (I assume that’s at least part of the reason you’ll be looking into corkage?)
Yeah, seemed pretty pricey to me. The 05 Nerthe was $80 (for a $35 wine, I am guessing). I figure that no matter the corkage, I can bring a hell of a lot better wine, and come out ahead. And the food, at least what I had tonight, deserves better wines.
Thanks for the report Jeff, I am excited to try this place. My understanding is that there are several menus and options for different sections of the restaurant from a bar menu to main menu to prixe fixe menu for a small area Mistal like area in the back, any evidence of this?
That is my understanding as well.
Also, they have an Italian pizza oven, but they are still seasoning it, so no pizza yet.
Oh, and the portions are really small. As in Lark can no longer can its servings small plates kind of small.
I made it there the other night. What a great addition to the Seattle dining scene. I followed your recommendation Jeff and brought a bottle, they didn’t waive corkage in spite of a share but were very accommodating. They were also good to us with the baby and have a high chairs so that is a major plus for me.
The food was excellent. The coq au vin was amongst the best I’ve ever had, branzino delicious as was the poached pear dessert. I plan to go back for the chef’s table soon. The space is very cool and what is great is that this can be a cocktail and snack place or feast place depending on one’s inclination.
Brian, what was the corkage fee?
$25 I think.