A group of friends and I celebrated my husband’s birthday at Sitka and Spruce. It is the second time David and I had been to this wonderful restaurant hidden in strip mall on Eastlake Avenue.
We started with “hot olives” – a dish of warmed olives with herbs and spices. I was amazed at how the heat changed the texture and intensified the flavor of the olives. This item has become a fav at my house.
Other dishes we enjoyed: king salmon lox, octopus salad, perfectly cooked scallops, monk fish with garbanzo beans, and lamb served with delicatta squash and kale. The dishes combined unusual flavors and textures with near perfect cooking technique.
Two dishes were particularly remarkable.
First, the romanesco. I balked at ordering it. The appearance of this vegetable makes my skin crawl. Its lime green color and turreted texture looks inedible. But, I bucked up and saw an opportunity to have my biases disproved. They were not. The vegetable retained its odd look, and while it was cooked appropriately, the garlic was almost burnt and dominating.
Then there was the cow’s tongue. Oh my. Before this, I’d only had tongue in a taco. This dish was wonderful. Thinly sliced, the tongue was tender and with a very rich, earthy flavor, almost reminiscent of liver but less intense, in a good way. As he passed by, I asked the chef how it had been prepared; he described a lengthy process of boiling and braising. The effort paid off. Combined with persimmons, the dish was wonderful and unique. (I just purchased 1/4 of a cow — tongue included (all of it, not just 1/4!); I definitely have some research to do before preparing it!)
I really enjoy this restaurant and its interesting and expertly cooked food, but beware, only large groups get a reservation. When just the two of us ate here before, we were joined at our 6-top by two other groups of two. We had a delightful evening sharing stories with strangers. Remarkably, each person had something in common with the others.