We were equally moved by a poetically perfect meal at Matt's in the Market. From appetizers to wines, from salads to entrées to desserts, every morsel of food that met our lips was conceived with exuberance and prepared with sparkle. Surely some force far greater than the Pike Place Market played a role in such good fortune, since even quality ingredients and inspired food preparation can't guarantee that all will go well. Perhaps our evening was blessed by unusual formations of heavenly bodies, or by cheap luck.
Logically enough, we began with two appetizers. The Calamari Steak ($8.50) was cut into half-inch diamonds, sitting confidently amid a slaw of cabbage, arugula, pine nuts, and a dash of sherry. This triumphant sea-dweller was firm, without the common chewiness of a lesser squid. The Salmon-Encrusted Goat Cheese Flan ($7.50) looked like a floppy summer hat with its molded round slab of cheese and fish lying atop a wavy bed of greens. The salmon's smokiness smartly balanced the subdued rankness of the goat cheese, and its smooth texture was admirably accompanied by tender and fresh slices of potato bread, zestified by hidden chunks of potato skin.
I was seated directly facing a large open window, overlooking the market and the adjacent clock. When needing to take a break from my occasionally yammering companions, I could simply rotate my neck approximately 40 degrees and observe activities below: Across the street in an apartment, a woman talked on the phone and petted her black-and-white cat. Below, a guy with rubber boots hosed off the tiles by the pig. The market breeze roared into my yielding nostrils, bringing with it the usual range of market smells, ranging from salty air to urine. This was an ideal perch from which to appreciate the often self-parodying but always interesting-smelling market.
Our ensuing salads kept us jabbering about the food like undisciplined chimps. The Smoked Catfish Salad ($9) brought with it an almost religious centering and balance. With saltiness from the smoked fish, the tang of smoked chile vinaigrette, sweetness from dainty peach slices, and crunchy richness from bold pecans, Matt's had designed an almost exhaustively complete experience. The Roasted Beet and Pear Salad ($6.50), a fruit-walnut-vegetable combo, included a long and roughened tip of the beet, still carrying the comforting flavor of its dirty birthplace. The humble beet tip underscored food's often forgotten ability to re-connect diners with the earth below.
If the salads and appetizers were noisy in their flair, the entrées were more conservative and solid. The Salmon special ($18) was done simply and honestly over potatoes and a chive-oil and balsamic undercoating. Matt's original version of a Vegetarian Risotto ($14) turned the usual "rice plus guests" focus on its ear. Here, it was backward, with vegetables starring. The veg-heavy dish was also boosted by the not-too-creamy texture of the rice, avoiding any bloated-kernel situations. (Attention lesser risotto makers: Imbue the kernel with moisture and flavor, but for Christ's sake, don't torture it.) The Fennel-Encrusted Sturgeon ($18), served over a vegetable galette (a round, flat French cake), delivered a more simple and subdued flavor, distancing itself from the flashy or the garish. The entrées acted like graceful elders, smiling approvingly at all the youthful ruckus and hoopla of the preceding salads and appetizers.
Our smoky and salty fish dishes were supported stoutly by a remarkable wine, a 1996 Mourvedre. From the d'Arenberg winery (also labeled "The 28 Road") in McLaren Vale, Australia, this rich and robust red evoked natural images for everyone around our table -- images of wallowing in huge shrubbery, of drinking entire fruit trees, of smelling large bags of bricks and oak. We continued to exclaim all evening at its dark and fruity flavor and complete lack of sourness, even using it to wash back our desserts -- which, by the way, were subtly delicious. The Blueberry Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce ($7) was an enormous stack of daringly crunchy asymmetry, featuring the kitchen's wise sweetening restraint. The Ginger Ice Cream ($5) kept the ginger factor on the mild side, allowing the burnt caramel topping to work its lightish magic.
Matt's in the Market, 94 Pike St, 467-7909. Mon 11:30 am-2:30 pm, Tues-Sat 11:30 am-2:30 pm & 5:30 pm-10 pm, closed Sunday.
Poetically Perfect Fare from The Good Earth
