Here's A Restaurant That You'll Truly Love
XXX 1/2 The Hunt Club, Sorrento Hotel, 900 Madison St. Breakfast ($4 to $12) 7 to 11 a.m. daily. Lunch ($6 to $11) 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Brunch ($4 to $10) 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Saturday, Sunday. Dinner ($19 to $25) 5:30 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday; until 11 p.m. Saturday, Sunday. Lounge, full bar. Major credit cards. Nonsmoking area. Reservations: 622-6400. --------------------------------------------------------------- There's a small hotel.
With a wishing well.
A couple of weeks ago, I asked a bunch of people what their nominations would be for Seattle's most romantic restaurant. One guy put it bluntly:
"Take her to the Hunt Club," he said. "That place reeks sex."
One might question his choice of the olfactory verb, but the judgment is otherwise apt. The Hunt Club is almost unquestionably Seattle's most inviting special-occasion dinner house, and it has been for a long time, which should surprise few.
What is surprising, however, is the consistent quality of the kitchen and the ongoing imagination of its chef and resident culinary artist - Barbara Figueroa. A protege of Wolfgang Puck's at Spago in Los Angeles, Figueroa came to Seattle in 1987 with a flair for presentation and an adaptation to regional ingredients that was almost dazzling. And sometimes startling.
"The food was wonderful," one friend said at the time, "but it seems as if there are fruits and berries with almost everything."
Not quite, but the influence of Puck's California cuisine is strong.
"I didn't ever have to forsake my classical basics," Figueroa said. "But he (Puck) opened my eyes. I worked with him - I mostly worked `the line' - for 2 1/2 years until the management at the Sorrento hired me away."
She laughed: "They made me an offer I couldn't refuse."
Figueroa began to prepare offerings that Seattle couldn't refuse. "I had to make some changes - people here are somewhat more conservative (in a food sense) than down there, although that appears to be changing - but in a way that was probably for the best."
Her menu changes with the seasons. A new one has just been completed for spring. She led the way through the relatively cramped hotel kitchen. "I do most of my menu preparations at home," she said. "I create better with Bach and Rachmaninov in the background than with banging pots and pans."
Some recent "creations":
An appealing appetizer of Oyster Mushroom Timbales with Smoked Duck and Hazelnuts ($7.50).
A savory and picture-perfect presentation of Salmon Mousseline Wanton Package with Smoked Salmon Roses and a Soy-Mustard sauce garnished with Sea Vegetables and Pickled Ginger ($8).
"What's a sea vegetable?" inquired a friend who was nibbling on one.
"Kelp," I said. "Seaweed."
Four of us shared the two starters, and then started in on two more: the house assorted pates and terrines served with a terrific bell pepper-onion bread, with an array of homemade pickled vegetables ($6.50) and an outstanding Sorrento Mee Krob with Seared Sea Scallops, Julienne of Vegetables and Salmon Jerky with Tamarind-Prawn Sauce ($7.75).
No, it isn't exactly shrimp cocktail with cellophaned crackers. It is challenging stuff, the kind of food-as-art compositions that really force you to bite, chew, reflect. And, as well, it isn't everybody's cup of Mee Krob.
The salad was a melange of mixed seasonal greens with a bright and innovative lavender-gooseberry vinaigrette and deep-fried Quillisascut cheese ($5.75).
The menu lists but seven entrees, with a couple of nightly specials added, but these, too, are provocative foods for thought (and vice versa). A four-rib Roast Rack of Ellensburg Lamb ($24.50) was superbly sauced with an Apple Cider-Chestnut gravy and served alongside a decorative puree of Garlic-mashed Yams (the garlic could have been a touch sweeter; the overtones of slightly scorched garlic are persistent). Regardless, it was as good as any lamb I have tasted since the last outing at Gerard's in Bothell.
Pheasant is a test for any busy kitchen; it is easily overcooked and dried. But Figueroa's Roast Pheasant Breast with Walnut-Basil Sauce and Parsnip Chips (yes, parsnip chips) was flavorful and flawless. It was served with a warm wild-rice salad with Chukkar Cherries ($19). The parsnip chips - fried dark brown - did not engender squeals from the taste-testers.
Perhaps a bit too Californianized was the fruit-infused concept behind Sauteed Venison Medallions with Pecan-Blueberry Stuffing served with Venison Sausage and a Blueberry-Tarragon Pinot Noir Demi-Glace ($22).
After all of that, dessert seems either an afterthought, a formal obligation or wretched excess. Whatever, a vertically arranged tiramisu - looking a little like an overstuffed ice-cream sundae - was merely excellent.
The warm wood walls, the alert service, the sense of being well cared for all contribute to a sense of a regained lost era, of a restored romantic past.
Meat and potatoes it is not. Everyday nutrition, no. But for the right company on the right night, at the Hunt Club it's hard to go wrong.
Copyright 1992 by John Hinterberger