…considered by many to be the finest restaurant in the Pacific Northwest I’d originally planned to dine at Canlis with my family on 12/27/2011, a plan derailed (and detailed https://endoedibles.com/?p=1714) by the worst flight experience of my life and leaving me to make amends just over a year later when I added an extra day to the Seattle leg of my Soundgarden pilgrimage specifically to visit Peter Canlis’ midcentury dining room helmed by Eleven Madison Park alum Jason Franey.
Having heard wonderful things about the room, the service, and most of all the food I entered the hill-top restaurant just after eight o’clock and with free valet for my rental I entered the expansive dining room to find a duo of hostesses waiting, leading me through the room to what I would later learn was Peter Canlis’ personal table – a full view of the room, a wide angle vantage of the windows overlooking Lake Union, stories of visits by Clint Eastwood and former US Presidents, and even a house phone with direct line to the kitchen; a VIP table in a room full of VIPs, though I’d made no special efforts to receive such a thing.
Greeted by my server and discussing the tasting menu versus a la carte options and eventually settling on the later (the restaurant has since migrated to a prix fixe format) it would not be long before the night began with house-filtered water and a cocktail I’ll not soon forget; the $20 “French Foam” with Plymouth Gin, Briottet Crème de Cassis, and Drappier Champagne crowned with Lemon Sherbet a grown-up milkshake like no other and a surprisingly lovely pairing with a sizable amuse bouche of Parsnip Pear Veloute with olive oil gelee alongside a Candy Cap Mushroom sable with pear and candied orange.
Served a round (or three) of warm rolls, a duo of Milk and Honey and Black Olive Sea Salt, along with creamy local butter as I waited for my appetizer I watched the lights outside in the city below and within minutes smoked torchon of Foie Gras arrived along with beets in various preparations, chamomile foam and a side of chocolate-cinnamon swirl brioche. Creamy, rich, and satin smooth with flavors pickled, sweet, and smoky all accenting the plate this was a truly exquisite torchon preparation though the bread, a bit dense for my liking, could have done with less cinnamon.
Greeted briefly by Chef Jason when he presented my main course tableside we spoke briefly about Eleven Madison Park and he confirmed my assumption that what I was about to enjoy was indeed a tribute to something he had learned during his time there; the While Muscovy Duck (for two) returning to the kitchen to be carved and arriving shortly thereafter with the 14-day dry-aged breast rosy and moist beneath crackling skin and a thin ribbon of fat while the accoutrements left nothing to be desired; orange marmalade and poached prunes servicing the sweet tooth while parsnip purée and pearl onions provided balance, particularly in regard to the dense and meaty confit fritters rendered from the duck’s legs that, when considered with the rest, made Franey’s preparation perhaps better than that in New York.
At this point nicely sated from a long day of dining I notably showed some restraint in ordering one dessert as opposed to two, but unfortunately allowed my server to talk me into the “Mille-Feuille” in place of the signature Canlis soufflé – a mistake not in that the dessert was particularly unenjoyable, but in that it was not at all like the mille feuille I’d expected; the textures more like that of a milk chocolate, banana, caramel, and peanut butter ‘kit-kat’ alongside macaron shells, candies, and ice creams in similar flavors.
Declining coffee in favor of the check and watching the crowd slowly thin my last service of the evening featured an apple pie macaron and a pecan maple ‘bon bon,’ both nicely executed but the candy particularly memorable; a veritable one-bite chocolate pecan pie whose flavor I savored all the way to the parking lot where I found my car warmed, ready, and waiting as a steady drizzle came down – the only thing missing from the evening being a driver to take me back to the hotel…and perhaps that soufflé.
2 Responses to Canlis, Seattle WA