RtS: The Herbfarm

[BunnyTravolta]

Rank the Swank - Restaurants and Bars


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The Herbfarm
14590 NE 145th Street
Woodinville, WA
6/09/2006
www.herbfarm.com (www.herbfarm.com)


The Lowdown
A meal to remember

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__________________________________________________

The Gig
Dinner

The Grub
set menu - "June's Silver Spoon"

The Scene
Test

[Prudence]

Okay, that was actually me. On a whim, I tried it using Ryan's account and of course it worked fine. I have no idea why I am insufficiently swanky to rank.

[Prudence]

Here's my real review:

Amazing. Totally amazing.

The Herbfarm is a 5-star restaurant in sleepy little Woodinville, WA. It's across the street from the Chateau St. Michelle winery and next door to the Redhook brewery. (And down the street from the old Hollywood schoolhouse, but that's only relevant if you lived here ages ago.)

The decor looks slightly like someone's grandmother's couch exploded, but for the most part it works. French country patterns everywhere, and if the tables were any closer together it would be crowded. Still, the chairs were comfy and each table had oil lamps (candle-sized) and fresh flowers. The tables were big enough for everything, although it was a little intimidating when we sat down to 5 wine glasses and a silver water goblet all waiting for their moment of glory.

However, despite the couch explosion interior, the decor gets a 5 due to the bathrooms! Amazing! And you get to walk through the wine cellar on the way. The bathrooms have, of course, the real towels. Nice big bathrooms with these great faucets! The water sort of bubbles up and then down a spout like an old water pump. Great lavendar soap.

Other ambience items - there was live guitar music. Amazing guitar music. 10 years at a Spanish conservatory amazing. It was the perfect volume and style to fill in the background without being obtrusive.

And on our table was a small sliver heart frame with happy anniversary wishes to us. Which was a really nice touch.

Service was EXCELLENT. They ask you the party name when you come in and when you tell them, they say "yes, of course" and lead you to your table, which has your name on a little place card held by a little bronze animal of some sort. They must memorize the floor plan every night. (Did I mention that you MUST reserve in advance? No just dropping by for this establishment.)

After the first course the owner introduced the chef and the sommelier, who went over the menu course by course and wine by wine. Then all the staff were brought out for introduction. There was a little humor, the cookbooks for sale were mentioned, but not pushed, etc. (The chef is much younger than I expected, and if you buy a cookbook that night (we didn't, but will next time) he will autograph it for you. It's worth it, as he is a culinary GOD! But more on that later.)

With the exception of the last wine (understandable), glasses were refilled throughout the evening. With delivery of each course, the staff would give a little description of the items, which was helpful.

And now - the FOOD!

Most amazing meal ever. Seriously. I won't be able to do it justice. Fortunately, you get to take the menus home with you, so I can at least remember the details. All the food is local-ish (very Northern CA to Alaska) and in season.

The theme for this weekend was "June's Silver Spoon."

First course: "From the Water's Edge". Paddlefish caviar on crisp salmon skin, smoked oyster with rhubarb and bacon, and cured salmon and sorrel benedict.

The caviar was amazing. According to the chef, paddlefish is similar to sturgeon, and this specific caviar was from a river in Montana. It was served on a little dollop of creme fraiche on a square of crispy salmon skin.

I don't even like oysters and I loved this oyster. It was covered with a little diced rhubarb and bacon. It was smoked, so it wasn't totally raw (which probably helped the texture.)

The "benedict" was this cute little thing with a quail egg and a sorrel sauce.

The wine pairing was 1997 Argyle Oregon brut. Very good. Even Ryan liked it, and he doesn't really like champagne that much.

Second course: Lemon Thyme Consomme with Dungeness crab, razor clams, and spot prawn. The consomme had a light flavor and the crab was very tasty. The prawn was served with the tempuraed head. I can't say that I would want to eat prawn head again, as the texture is a little squishy in a way I don't like. But I was brave and ate it.

The wine pairing was 2004 King Estate Oregon pinot gris. Another excellent match.

Third Course: Slow-roasted Copper River sockeye salmon with sea beans, snap peas, radishes, and shiso-chive vinaigrette. Oh. My. This was totally amazing. I have never had salmon like this before. It was so mild - none of that aggressive HI I'M SALMON taste you get at most restaurants. It was so mild and melty and wonderful. I don't know if it was the type, the freshness (caught the day before), or the preparation, but it was just amazing. Sea beans are apparently the tips of some plant that grows in saltwater marshes. They said it tastes like salty asparagus, but I disagree. I don't know what they do taste like, but they were good. The radishes weren't sharp at all.

The pairing was 2005 Soter North Valley pinot noir rose. I'm not a big wine person, but Ryan tells me it was the only good rose he's ever had, with neither the white nor the red predominating.

Fourth course: Carrot ravioli and king bolete (porcini) mushrooms with sage butter and sage blossoms. Again, I don't like mushrooms, but apparently I like these. The ravioli, though - oh! They say carrots are a sweet vegetable, but I'd never really tasted it until last night. So sweet and wonderful.

Wine: 2005 Chateau St. Michelle Indian Wells riesling. We both love riesling, and this is a great one. I'll have to look for this one.

Fifth course: Anderson Ranch lamb - herb-crusted loin with fiddleheads, poached tenderloin on lambs quarters, and braised shank on onion pudding. Mind-blowing lamb. The shank with the onion pudding - I could eat that every day. So tender and wonderful. The tenderloin was also wonderful. I keep saying wonderful. I don't know what else to say. Just amazing lamb.

Wine: 2003 Boudreaux Cellars cabernet sauvignon. It was pretty good for a red - which isn't my favorite. But I drank more of it than I usually did. It went well with the lamb. Ryan loved it and had no trouble with his second glass - and then finished off mine.

Sixth course: Quillisascutt goat cheese tart with cress salad and port-poached cherries. This was two pie-piece shaped slivers of tart with the greens and cherries. Eaten alone, the tart was a little more pungent than I would have liked. However, eaten together with the cress and cherries it was great! What a great combo of tangy and green and sweet and wonderful.

Seventh course: Rose petal ice on muscat-lavender gelee. This was served with a candied rose petal. The ice didn't have that strong rose water taste you might imagine. It was very refreshing and shifted the mood from savory to sweet.

Eighth course: Strawberry fields - strawberry shortcake with lemon verbena cream, strawberres with chamomile white chocolate sauce, and strawberry-rose geranium ice cream cone. The cone was a praline cone, and the ice cream really a sorbet. But what an amazing sorbet it was! Intense and strawberry. The strawberries in the other two items were local berries, which are way tastier than the giant Californian monstrosities (sorry). The shortcake was so WOW! We have lemon verbena on our patio, and now I want to make some shortcake and try to flavor the cream with the lemon verbena. The combo of strawberry and lemon was so bright and tart and sweet all at the same time.

Brewed coffees, teas, and infusions. You get to pick from another little menu. Ryan had the Seattle Dinner Blend ("deep, rich blend of Sumatra Mandhelding, Colombian, and Costa Rican in a French roast") and I had Herbfarm Cupid's Tea ("roses, lavender, and mints"). Both served in French presses. He loved the coffee and I loved the tea - no sugar needed!

Ninth course: A selection of small treats. A little nougat, a white chocolate something, a raspberry jelly, a chocolate with FRESH mint flavor, and a little cake-y pyramind with a flavor I couldn't identify. A great treat to end the evening - especially the raspberry jelly.

Wine: Vintage 1916 Barbeito Malvazia madeira. Just a little taste, but a very tasty taste. (Plus, at this point any more alcohol and I wouldn't even have been able to make it across the driveway to our room for the night.)

Amazing. Dinner started at 7pm and we didn't leave until about 5 to midnight - comfortably full and buzzed and saving our pennies to go again.

So, if you are in the area, this is a total Must Do. (Oh, and call us and we'll come with you!)

[Ghoulish Delight]

1) What an awesome review. I'm jealous. And now very, very hungry

2) Crap, why just your account? I've got some n'vestigatin' to do!

[Not Afraid]

I've wanted to go to this restaurant since about 1989 or so. I'm very jealous and , one day, I WILL make a visit.

[Prudence]

If I get up the nerve, I'll review Willows Lodge, which is the hotel that is part of the same complex. Trust me, after that meal you do NOT want to drive home! You merely want to drag your blissful carcass across the driveway, find your room, turn on your gas fireplace, fill the tub, turn on the stereo, and sigh contentedly.

[Snowflake]

I vote to save pennies for a road trip, totally awesome review and I'm starving now....... I love porcini mushrooms.....

[Drince88]

I heard great things about this place more than 10 years ago - good to hear it's still wonderful! And your review made me hungry even though I just finished eating!