Dripping with elegance
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Falling Waters Seafood Restaurant
2020 Second Avenue, Seattle
Reservations: 206-374-3707
Hours: Dinner: Sunday-Thursday 5-11 p.m.; Friday-Saturday 5-midnight
Prices: Appetizers $4.95-$14.95; entrees $10.94-$42.95
Parking: Valet Friday & Saturday only
Full bar / Major credit cards / No obstacles to access / Smoking in lounge only
Seafood
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$$$
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Two couples are getting out of a car parked in front of Falling Waters Seafood Restaurant, clearly elated at having snagged a street slot in Belltown on a Friday night. Only the driver looks grumpy. "Oh come on," says one of the women, "Surely you can manage to walk two blocks to the Dahlia Lounge."
Therein lies the challenge for this newest dining addition to the burgeoning banquet table that is Belltown: Falling Waters must make a considerable splash to be noticed. In the convergence zone where Belltown meets Pike Place Market and the Denny Regrade, diners can strike out in any direction and within a few blocks find not only the new Dahlia Lounge but Etta's Seafood, Shiro's Sushi, Flying Fish, Brasa, Lampreia and Cascadia - just to name a few of the more critically acclaimed.
If Falling Waters were located in say, Boise, it might have no trouble being noticed. In fact, Falling Waters is owned by John McDaniel, whose Spokane-based company, Northwest Hospitality, owns among other restaurants Milford's Fish House in Boise. Milford's spawned chef Sean Thueson, who heads the kitchen at Falling Waters.
Thueson's menu is tempting but he falters some in the execution. Most entrees include a vegetable and starch, but all too frequently they undermine a perfectly fine piece of seafood. Nearly raw green beans sidle up to saffron-scented "risotto" (made with long-grain rice, not Arborio) on a plate of parmesan-dusted halibut basking in rock shrimp-studded basil butter. The same lame rice and beans accompany excellent twin lobster tails ($42.95) steamed in a lemony bath of Hefeweizen. Hawaiian monchong ($22.95), a firm white fish in a delicate macadamia crust, is set over clunky sweet-potato cakes. Carefully broiled swordfish and sea scallops ($24.95) labor under a murky, overly sweet glaze of shitake mushrooms and soy sauce.
Forays out of the sea also encounter mixed results. Tea-smoked duck ($19.95) offers little in the way of flavor, smoky or otherwise; the breast meat is stringy and dry, and a thick, white layer of fat is visible beneath its mahogany skin. Filet mignon ($26.95) arrives sliced and arranged hash-like with sauteed mushrooms, shallots and new potatoes.
The smokehouse sampler - moist smoked salmon, two smoked oysters, a bit of brie and slices of tart apple ($11.95) - makes a classy starter. Others don't rise above average. Fried calamari ($7.95) is not the ubiquitous rings but rather thick, panko-breaded strips of squid "steak" - some tender, some rubbery - with a too-sharp ginger and plum sauce for dipping. More balanced and intriguing is the chili oil and cilantro-spiked sauce that accompanies thick lobster-stuffed egg rolls ($8.95).
But an appetizer is really superfluous when your entree includes the choice of a bounteous house salad - mixed lettuces, candied pecans and gorgonzola crumbles in a lilting apple vinaigrette - or a bowlful of creamy chowder packing plenty of heat along with clams, corn, carrots and cubed potato.
Dessert, on the other hand, is a must.
Pastry chef Elizabeth Buford's delicacies range from a homespun blueberry buckle ($4.95) with ginger ice cream to the sophisticated Cleopatra ($9). This miniature pyramid of smooth ganache conceals tiers of milk, white and dark chocolate mousse layered with almond cake. On the plate, white and dark chocolate paint a feathery eyelash in a saucy wink.
If only the West Coast-oriented wine list showed the same imagination. All the whites served by the glass are chardonnay, save one. Chardonnay and cabernet outnumber other varietals 2-to-1 among the bottles. Only a few whites (and just one red) are priced below $30.
The sweetly earnest servers give the impression they're still in dress-rehearsal mode, but what Falling Waters scores highest on is ambiance. Acoustics are conversation-friendly and roomy booths create luxurious islands of privacy suitable for seduction - whether corporate or corporeal. (Certainly the redhead in spaghetti straps crooning a love song into her date's ear had a merger in mind.) Gleaming dark wood, oriental runners, abstract art and hothouse flowers impart a quiet elegance to both bar and dining room, making this one of the handsomest restaurants in town. But in this neighborhood, especially at these prices, Falling Waters may find it hard to survive on atmosphere alone.