1400 1st Ave?¢‚Ǩ¬®Seattle, WA 98101 ?¢‚Ǩ¬®Phone: (206) 838-8000

Last Friday, we went with our friends Sean and Stef to Union. Stef, who volunteers forFareStart, had been working Chef Ethan Stowell’s Thursday night, and had been wanting to go try it out. Ethan was working the floor on Friday… a nice touch as he got to come chat for a bit.
The food is contemporary northwest; the overall menu not too big and focused on what is in season. We all ended up going for the Prix Fixe, which was 7 “small” courses for $65. The waitress claimed the portions were small, but said that “only one person ever asked for more food” afterwards. With 7 courses, none of us were worried about going away hungry… and that was definitely not a problem. In fact, I was very glad I had skipped lunch because I was pretty full by the 3rd course.

We started with amuse-boucheof chilled carrot and ginger soup in a demitasse. Fresh and slightly spicy… I enjoyed it enough that later in the week I had to order a bowl of carrot/ginger soup. The amuse was not part of the 7.

The first course was a crab cake with frisse and a pesto dressing. The pesto was again light and fresh, not overpowering. Cam calls frisse “that lettuce that stabs you” and isn’t a fan, primarily because it is typically bitter… but even he didn’t hate it (which isn’t quite the same as liking it). The crab cakes, were amazing… the perfect balance of crisp and moist without being at all greasy. This was probably my favorite course, but then the later courses were at a disadvantage since I was full.

The second course was a single perfectly seared scallop in a chilled spring pea soup. The soup had a nice green sweetness, and worked well with the delicate flavor of the scallop.

Seared Ahi was the third course. Sean was a big fan, but I was so-so on it. I’m quite picky about ahi, and this just wasn’t particularly memorable. (In fact, while writing this, I had to get Cam to remind me of the 3rd course).
Oh look, more food coming. The 4th course was a veal with a porcini demi-glasse over gnocchi. The veal practically melted in your mouth, and was extremely rich. The gnocchi balanced it’s richness well. Given how full I was becoming, this course could have been a quarter the size.

Next came the duck, which was nicely seared and served on a braised fig. Although the duck was a little fatty (not a problem with the preparation, just the nature of duck), it was my favorite of the mains. Tender, with a good combination of sweet and salty.

The 6th course was a light palette cleanser (thankfully)… a lime ice with orange dust that was nicely tart. We asked how they made orange dust and the waitress went and found out for us! Turns out they peel the oranges, and then let them dry until they are very crumbly… they pop them into a coffee grinder.

Then, Ethan sent over an “extra” cheese course which had an amazing Camembert, sliced apple and a Muscat Jelly. We really didn’t need this course… desert was still coming… but we (except for Cam who doesn’t like stinky cheese) all really enjoyed it.
Finally, over 3 hours later, we had our final dessert course… a panna cotta which was wonderfully creamy and subtle. Despite the fact that I was stuffed, I managed to finish mine off.

Throughout the meal, we had a couple of nice bottles of wine, which I unfortunately wasn’t paying enough attention to to remember. We started with a nice Rose (it’s the new white), followed by a Burgundy, and ended with a couple glasses of Muscatto.

Service was excellent, the atmosphere a nice blend of warm and modern… but it was really all about the food.

CitySearch’s Review is here

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