Top Shelf – Butcher’s Table

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They say Butcher’s Table is the swankiest new steakhouse in town, with tasting flights of different grades or different cuts of beef. It’s trendy and it’s a bit of a extravagance, but if you’re going to have steak, you might was well go all out. We were celebrating a birthday afterall, so no expense was spared.  And that’s how I like it.

Butcher's Table - uni

uni – lardo, seeded bread, jalapeño. Considering that Butcher’s Table specializes in beef, this uni had a delicate sweetness and creaminess that paired well with the bread and the spice of the jalapeños. It’s always fun to see how uni is used outside of sushi and they did quite well with this fun bite of appetizer.

 

Butcher's Table - 4-cut tasting flight

If you wanted to know what the difference in cuts tastes like, this is how you do it. If you can’t taste the difference between the cuts, then your best bet is to get the cheapest cut and stick to it. This happens to be the 5-star tasting – filet, new York, cap of ribeye and eye of ribeye. All the pieces had a lovely beef flavor, the filet was the most tender (as expected), though none of them had any issues with gristle and chewiness. This is about as good as it gets.

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Searing – Girin Steakhouse and Ssam Bar

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J. Lo requests that we try something out of the ordinary when he comes to town and there are quite a few eccentric restaurants in Seattle. This time, I chose the Korean steakhouse Girin.  What exactly is a Korean steakhouse?  It’s Korean BBQ (think calibi beef) in the lettuce wraps using top shelf steak. That’s right – no chewy over-charred meats should be found at a steakhouse!  We ordered quite the spread for just four people.

Girin - oysters

oysters – with a variety of Korean inspired mignonettes, including kimchi

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Sailing – Bateau

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I haven’t quite kept up with the food scene in Seattle recently, perhaps too many days of eating out in Bend has dampened my quest for seeking out new restaurants – too much of a good thing I guess.  So I was quite happy when Neptune chose a relatively newcomer to the scene, from celebrated chef Rene Erickson, that focuses on meat. Now, I do adore Rene Erickson’s Whale Wins and I have designs to visit her donut shop, General Porpoise, but her latest openings of Bateau and Bar Melusine were not on my radar.

We each did a tasting menu with a shared wine pairing between us, and the waitress helpfully suggested that we insert a steak before dessert. We took her advice as the cuts of meat listed on the chalkboard above our heads spoke the specialty of the restaurant, and we wanted to make sure we didn’t miss out on the meat.

bateau - steak tartare

steak tartare – with stone ground mustard, citrus zest, and horseradish cream quenelle; had a great beef flavor and had all the dressings of a prime rib with a twist of citrus zest to brighten and balance the dish

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From the Forge Came Heaven – Miller’s Guild

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A birthday celebration calls for something special, exceptional, and wholly memorable. I took t0e out for his birthday to Miller’s Guild without really knowing what we were getting into – only that they had a gigantic flaming grilled call the Infierno and that they specialized in meats. And what followed next, was jaw dropping, camera clicking, OMG inducing for a variety of reasons (how’s that for a sensationalist hook line?).

The chef, Jason Wilson, is probably better known for his fine dining establishment Crush, which is a solid place in my mind, but not on my recommendation list. Miller’s Guild is a restaurant built around a 9 foot flaming grill, and while it specializes in meat, the chef is top notch in all the other items beyond just meat.

miller's guild - 31oz prime rib

31 oz. prime rib – we came for meat, and they did not disappoint in that arena. 31 oz with the bone in of meat that came on a tree trunk sectional, brown sauce are drippings from all the meats on the grill (heavenly) and green sauce was horseradish-y with truffle oil; 31 oz. is impressive – it was also the smallest rib eye steak on their dry aged menu; and because it is such a large and thick cut of meat, parts of it were more well done than medium rare, especially near the tip of the bone, the meat has a sweetness to it, but it’s not the most tender or most flavorful steak you’ll ever have, but it is by far the most impressive chunk of meat you’ll ever be served. Still, a good steak.

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Holy Cow – Red Cow

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I think Salumni and I were meant to meet each other.  We had scheduled our dinner and both showed-up under the weather, so we were could share each other’s germs since we both already sick. I know, it’s a weird way of thinking about it, but it’s somehow fortunate that we were sick at the same time. This time, we kept it simple with Red Cow, an unassuming french bistro in Madrona that took the place of June and Crement before it.  Red Cow, however, is an Ethan Stowell restaurant, which means we had high hopes for it.

red cow - bone marrow

bone marrow – full of fatty marrow, but needed some acid or sweetness to balance it out. Also, slightly burned toasts. Prefer Quinn’s bone marrow.

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An Enchanted Evening – El Gaucho’s Seattle

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Once upon a time, a Black Knight, was tasked with finding a suitible restaurant for celebrating a birthday for a Princess. After much deliberation, he settled on El Gaucho’s, Seattle’s premiere steakhouse.  From the moment they entered, the evening was enchanted.  Live music floated through the night, the generous and attentive wait staff wished the Princess many more successful years.  To try the vaulted specialities of the restaurant, they both ordered the tasting menu.

The Princess loves truffles, so naturally, the Insane Truffle Soup was love at first taste.

soup - truffle soup

insane truffle soup – the gourmet version of mushroom soup, delicate and flavorful without overwhelming

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