Sitka & Spruce in Seattle

This wonderful restaurant will be moving to a larger location (1531 Melrose Ave. between Pike & Pine) sometime next spring.  Sitka and Spruce will have an open house on their last day Dec 30th for $15 plus drink(s). Sounds like the deal of the century if you're near by.  This kitchen is putting out local, sustainable, organic food from a group of people that really loves fresh ingredients.  Not to mention the wines that Matty (manager/owner) is selecting.
The decor is nothing to write home about and the menu and wine list are written on a chalk board but one choice is better than the next.  The food is served on small plates and is easily shared, or not.  The presentation is not the most elegant I've ever seen but nothing compares to the freshness and lovely combination of ingredients.  The kitchen knows how to make scrumptious food.  We had eight dishes plus a dessert between 4 of us and 3 bottles of wine. I remembered to take photos of everything so I'm going to show you my favorites starting with the wine. A 2005 Saint Joseph that I adored with the food. Since coming home from this trip I've had two other wines from the Saint Joseph area that I've really enjoyed.
As many of you know I've never been a huge fan of red wine. I've often described my palate for red wine like that of a child, it hasn't fully developed yet. So, this is a very exciting time of wonderful discoveries. I want to thank all my friends for their generosity in sharing their delicious favorites with me.
 

Chantenay carrots with zaatar (a middle eastern oregano like herb combination) & dill.  The dish was delicate and showcased the lovely sweet flavor of these locally sourced beauties.

Veigadarte with watercress served warm with local rustic bread.  Veigadarte is a tangy goat cheese from Spain and if you ask Matty at Sitka and Spruce he'll tell you where you can buy some in Seattle.  If you love goat cheese like I do then this is a treat.  It's creamy and tangy and when warm you can dip the bread right in.  The flavor of the watercress was perfection with this cheese. It wasn't easy to find information about this cheese so I was thrilled to find a fellow blogger who knew about it and she was kind enough to let me link to her blog.

     Delicata squash with chanterelles, treviso and hazelnuts. All of these ingredients prepared in the right way can be sweet on their own.. The locals forrage for chanterelles and the hazelnuts grow in Washington State too so you'll never get them any fresher than this. The tenderness of the squash & chanterelles against the braised treviso and the crunch of the hazelnuts was a treat for the senses and probably my favorite of all this dishes. Trust me they were all great tasting.  All of the ingredients in each dish tasted so fresh and well balanced it's really hard to say one was better than the other, they were just different.  But for the closet vegetarian that lurks inside me for me it was the delicata.

Lamb shoulder braised in whey with turnips and kale. If a closet vegetarian lurks inside me it because I just don't need to eat a lot of meat and it's more the texture that I don't care for especially if it's chewy in any way.  I like my meat tender and soft, my ground beef just less than raw, a three inch piece of a ribeye perfectly rare, and lamb shoulder braised to perfection.  As you can see from the photo it was just the way I like it.  If we'd all been thinking clearly we would have started with the lamb and ended with the veigedarte
                                                                                                                         
Sitka and Spruce

2238 Eastlake Ave. E.
Seattle, WA. 98102
(206) 324-0662

Tuesday through Saturday
5:30pm - 10:30pm