While I simply cannot, in good conscience, claim that any $9 drink is worth $9, even the onion in this Gibson was delicious: crunchy and well-brined. I turned my pointed choppers instead to the four-course, fixed-price Menu Sauvage ($45, $67 with wine pairing). Executive chef Jonathan Sundstrom, whom I spotted hovering, focused, and aglow in the half-open kitchen, apparently designed this menu to corrupt Marxists like myself (although things did not begin so well).
The first course, creamy sea urchin flan with sevruga caviar, represents everything I hate about extreme foodiness. A gigantic square white plate, with a smaller plate and a tiny egg cup on top, displayed an eggshell tufted with miniature wild greens. Inside sat cold, eggy (duh) flan under chilled sea urchin sprinkled with caviar, which I loathe. Thankfully, Master Sommelier (that means something in France) Larry Stone graced this old-school appetizer with a truly interesting wine, so I paid attention to that and waited patiently for my wild boar rillettes with dark rye toast and Old Chatham Mutton Button cheese.
My first brush with the kingly wild boar was in the jungles of Papua New Guinea (I kid you not!), where I spent my 15th summer building a hospital in a Sepik River village. I couldn't tell at the time if it was just in the light of having sampled grub worms and sago paste or if wild boar truly is just short of a miracle in your mouth, but Mr. Sundstrom reassured me of this fact with his magnificent handling of the snouted one: slow-cooked with fresh herbs, cooled, then chopped up. The cohabitation of this delight with the nutty, creamy, sheep's milk Mutton Button did not last long.
I glanced up from my second course to check on my man, who had boldly ordered the vegetarian fixed-price Grower's menu ($29). Incorporating organic produce from local farms, as well as foraged, indigenous foods, this four-course vegetarian menu was a poetic feat. The formal constraints of seasonal, vegetarian ingredients pressure a chef to either decorate with sauces or let the foods speak for themselves--a terrifying proposition for anyone but a master. And Sundstrom, who ran the kitchen at Carmelita, is just that. I could not keep my spoon out of the sugar pumpkin soup, littered with black truffles from Oregon.
I felt a little sorry for Mr. Vegetarian and his second course of winter greens with vanilla poached pears. To my taste, the vanilla bean rendered the whole salad too perfumey, but my man delighted in the hazelnuts and shards of aged gouda. The main-course ragout of root vegetables, lavender beans, and wild mushrooms dug deep, acquiring a rich, almost meaty flavor from the mushrooms, although the beans, reminiscent of the delicate flageolet, were a touch undercooked. In spite of the slight crunch, I was thoroughly impressed with Sundstrom's wisdom and panache, assembling the season's and region's best plant matter with such harmonious results.
But what really brought me to my knees was this mastery of vegetarian cuisine juxtaposed with true ability in the meat department. My wild-fennel-dusted axis venison with celery root gratin and trumpet mushrooms was a triumph of winter. Sundstrom coaxes a vitality, a sense of cyclical time and transition, into his meals. Despite my politics, the high prices, and the weird singles scene in the lounge, our meal had soul. W's new chef transcends the hotel restaurant genre and is stamping out new territory in Seattle's cuisine scene: pricey menus (entrées alone will run you $15-$25) that may actually be worth it.
Earth & Ocean at W Seattle Hotel
1112 Fourth Ave, 264-6060. Breakfast Mon-Fri 6:30 am-10:30 am, Sat-Sun 7:30 am-11:30 am; lunch Mon-Fri 11:30 am-2 pm; dinner Sun-Thurs 5 pm-10:30 pm, Fri-Sat 5 pm-11:30. $$
Price Scale (per entrée)
$ = $10 and under; $$ = $10-$20; $$$ = $20 and up
