Dinner or the mortgage payment?
Thursday, February 16, 2006
I've had my fanciest meals ever at Rover's. It's probably the best restaurant in Seattle, but I can't really say since I haven't been to them all (yet). The menus, quality of the food, presentation, and service are all top-notch. But you will pay dearly. (Hence, the four stars and not five.) Don't feel bad if you are there for special occasions only. I think everyone in the restaurant is there for one special occasion or another. They even ask if you are celebrating something on the phone so that they can plan accordingly when it comes time to write something on your dessert plates.
To set your expectations, the cuisine is Pacific Northwest with a strong French influence. The chef is Frenchman Thierry Rautureau, who makes the rounds during meals to check in with everyone. Their specialty is in the fixed price tasting menu. So, the plates are small, but the flavors are big. (If you have a big appetite, you'll still feel full after you've had all eight courses.) The prices are high, but it makes sense when you think about the ingredients they use. The eight-course menu is $125 per person. The five-course menu is $90 per person. The vegetarian five-course menu is $80 per person. These prices do not include wine. They have a huge wine list of lots of French wines you probably won't see at other restaurants. The servers are very knowledgeable and impeccable with their service. Be prepared to dress well; this is one of the few restaurants in Seattle where I feel obliged to wear a dress or slacks. Jackets are not required. If you're under thirty, you'll be the youngest diners (by at least ten to fifteen years) unless there are kids their with their parents. Also, they don't play music, which I only realized the last time we were there. The restaurant is in a former house and it still feels very much like you're eating in someone's livingroom. It's kind of an odd setting.
Anyhow, the first time I went to Rover's was back in August. My husband and I were celebrating our third anniversary and I really wanted to try out this restaurant I had heard so much about. For our first meal, we went with the eight-course Grand Menu Degustation. Though you have a choice between making an a la carte meal, choosing the vegetarian menu, the regular Menu Degustation, or the Grand Menu, I recommend going with the granddaddy tasting menu if it's your first time (and you're a meat-eater). I figure they put some thought into what to serve in the fixed menu and they know better than I do what would taste best together.
In all the dishes, the sauces really stood out. I think that's what the French really excel at: sauces. If it wasn't for the ever-replenished bread basket, we probably wouldn't have hurt ourselves eating so much. For a sample menu, you can go to their website--http://www.rovers-seattle.com.
If you have lots of time, you can read my UBER-LENGTHY descriptions of some meals below.
For the amuse-bouche, we had what I believe was foie gras on the thyme-brioche toasts and maybe some garlic puree. It's been awhile and the menu we took home isn't specific about this course. The amuse-bouche was good, but I was so looking forward to the scrambled egg with lime creme fraiche and white sturgeon caviar that I obviously didn't pay it enough attention. The scrambled egg and caviar is a French standard, I guess, but it was new to me. The egg was melty, but fluffy, and perfectly complemented by the subtle lime flavor and the caviar. I could have had five more. Then, however, they brought out the diver's sea scallop with sun-dried tomato, haricot verts, and a fresh potato salad. Every dish was done on a small scale, but I was impressed with how tiny the potatoes had been cubed for the potato salad. The scallop's delicate flavor had been seared in and was nicely complemented by the tartness of the sun-dried tomato. Next, we had soft-shell crab bisque with dungeness crab and glazed baby fennel. And so began my obsession with fennel. The crab bisque was silky smooth and rich as all get-out, but I loved having the glazed fennel, smoky-sweet and aromatic, to help cleanse the palate between bites. The next two dishes were probably my favorite for their memorable balance of flavors. Maine lobster (poached, I think), with baby beets, English peas, all in an organic red currant sauce. The lobster was so rich that it melted in my mouth. Something about the butteriness combined with the tart-sweetness of the dish made me think of buttered toast with jam, but oh-so-much better. The next dish was very similar in the balance of flavors. It was kind of odd, I thought, for them to have one dish follow the other, but maybe they expect people to crave more of that texture and flavor combination. The foie gras was decidedly more earthy, but also tender in a cut-it-with-your-for kind of way. The caramelized shallots rounded out the foie gras flavor and gave it more oomph when paired with the bing cherry gastrique. The next dish was my least favorite. The Copper River salmon tournedos with carrot, spinach, and a red wine bacon jus was just too much flavor. The salmon and bacon combination was fishy and salty after all the delicate flavors that had come before it. Before the main dish, we were served an orange lemon sorbet. The main dish, venison with chanterelle mushrooms, onion confit, foie gras, and a peppercorn-mustard sauce was nice, but my husband had to push aside the foie gras. We were both already feeling piqued by the time we finished the lobster. The foie gras topping was excessive in his opinion. I love the stuff, so I didn't mind at all. The symphony of desserts was good, but not as exciting as the rest of the meal. Because the menu doesn't describe them, I don't remember them well, but there was something chocolatey, something with puff pastry, and something fruity. The mignardises were little jelly candies. If I were more of a gourmand, I would be able to tell you what wines we had with the meal, but I don't remember now.
We went back in January to celebrate my husband's birthday and happened to hit them up during their promotion period for the Rover's cookbook. The five course tasting menu was available for half-price. This time, we had a similarly dazzling, but less onerous meal. (Peter calls Rover's Home of the Bataan Death Dinner TM. I'll happily settle in for a meal of such proportions.) The first course I remember is the dungeness crab salad with roasted garlic, shallots, and pomegranate vinaigrette. I liked this so much that I duplicated it at home (thanks to the cookbook). Then, we had a butter-poached scallop on celeriac puree with Meyer lemon nage and lemon confit. I really loved this one. The floral taste of Meyer lemon is a favorite of mine. Then, we had a red beet sorbet. I love beets, but a vegetable-based sorbet was a little unusual. The main course was roasted pheasant with brussels sprouts and roasted garlic. The serving was larger than I expected. My pheasant was perfectly done, with a slightly crispy skin and juicy meat, but my husband said his was a little dry. In addition to the brussels sprouts, the dish also had some crisp slices of Yukon gold potatoes and an olive tapenade as an accent. Dessert, pear and apple frangipane tartlets with pear sorbet were a standout. The sorbet was on top and got a little watery, but the tartlets arrived with their crusts still crisp, so I didn't mind.