Seattle Foodies

Tom Douglas interviews The Chef In The Hat, safely in 2-D.

After these dreary past few months, I’m feeling like our summer might need a jumpstart. Something amazing. A bit of pampering. Certainly some perfection. But unlike our weather forecasters, an unassailable track record is essential. And, certainly, we could use a little luck.

So Seattle Foodies has turned to Rover’s to for help. And for July’s First Friday Lunch Club, we’re going to get it all. Thierry Rautureau (a.k.a. The Chef In The Hat) has been dishing up exquisite French tasting menus in his comfortable “house” in Madison Park for over two decades. And if you’ve dined there, you’ve experienced his obsessive-compulsive attention to detail and service. All that doesn’t come cheap, of course, unless you’re dining with us July 2nd.

Here’s a sample menu for our three-course deal (ultimately to be decided by chef de cuisine Adam based on what’s fresh):

FIRST

Golden Beet and Pear Brandy Puree with Caramelized Onion and Apple-Almond Salad

- or -

Poached Egg, Frisée, Smoked Bacon Salad with Lemon Olive Oil and Red Wine Gastrique

SECOND

Troll King Salmon with Ramp, Lentils du Puy, Salt Pork and Red Wine Gastrique

- or -

Slow Roasted Leg of Lamb with Farro, Asparagus and Rosemary Sauce

THIRD

Rhubarb Clafoutis Tartlet with Whipped Vanilla Crème Fraîche

All for 35 bucks (plus tax and tip). And you’ll want to join me with the $25 wine pairing to perfect the experience. (Vegetarian or restricted options available on advance request.)

So that should do it. Amazing food and pampering perfection from one of Seattle’s top, long-established gastronomes. But what about the luck? Without making specific promises, it was at Rover’s where I was slurping delicious oysters with foodie Chuck when he found a natural pearl inside one. Chuck never disclosed the exact value of the little gem, but he did suddenly take a year sabbatical soon after. So who knows?

11:30am, Friday, July 2nd at 2808 E. Madison. If you haven’t already, please RSVP by Tuesday night (June 29th) if you can make it!

UPDATE (6/28): Looks like another record lunch! Only six spots left . . .

Cantinetta waits for unsuspecting foodies.

Some people are saying Cantinetta’s Chef Brian Cartenuto has lost his mind. But it might be more accurate to say that he merely went nuts. I leave it to you to decide. (Caution: the following is a true story.)

For our June First Friday Lunch Club, Cantinetta generously agreed to open their dinner-only restaurant for a special lunch event. They sent a mouth-watering sample three-course menu, promised they could do it for only 25 bucks, and then cautioned (in hindsight, this was the first sign of trouble) that Brian wouldn’t settle on the menu until the day, so he could take advantage of what would be in and fresh that very morning.

The first wave builds in the kitchen.

Spurred by the double-whammy of Cantinetta’s tweets to their dedicated following and Lorna Yee’s blurb in Seattle Magazine, a record-shattering number of foodies came. The restaurant filled. New friends met. Eating stories were shared. Spirits were high. And none of us saw it coming.

Soon we were seated and the food started coming. And coming. But it wasn’t three courses. Heck, the first course alone had more than three courses. It was more like three waves. Except the second wave had three waves. And all of it impossibly delicious. It went like this:

ANTIPASTI

Shaved fennel salad, oil-cured olives, tangerines, fennel pollen

Green beans, anchovy vinaigrette, hard-boiled eggs

Grilled asparagus risotto

Insalata mista

PASTA

Veal francobolli (veal brains stuffed pasta envelopes)

Ricotta ravioli, tomato fondutta

Golden beet pansotti, arugula, pine nuts

CONTORNI

Braised greens, pancetta

Roasted cauliflower, 15-year balsamic, grana

SECONDI

Grilled Painted Hills teres major (beef shoulder tender), 15-year balsamic, sea salt

DOLCE

Lemon panna cotta, blackberry sauce

Chocolate ricotta tart

A thrilling food tsunami, so we ate and ate. Then ate some more. I could try to describe the deep flavors of the fennel and olives and tangerines in that fruity olive oil, the crisp beans and eggs richened with anchovy vinaigrette, tender just-made pastas, and on and on, but I would quickly run out of superlatives. Yet it seems insufficient to say it was completely unexpected and enormously satisfying. The pictures speak volumes, so click on any one to jump into the slideshow (huge thanks to foodie Bruce for taking most of them).

Eventually, after the waves receded, the electron cloud in the kitchen slowly resolved into Brian and his staff. Taking a short pause before spinning back up for dinner service, he deflected our praise and gratitude by explaining that he had simply wanted to give us a sense of what a true Tuscan lunch was like.

So my only question is: Has anyone seen my passport?