On my list for some time: Mkt.
One of a long lineup of Ethan Stowell restaurants in Seattle this one is in the Tangletown area and hence its name….Meridian…the older name for the area….Keystone Building…the name of the building and Tangletown…the newer name for this area of town. I had always thought it was short for market but what do I know.
If you want table seating make reservations well ahead since there is seating for only 28 people. If you can’t get a regular table and your party is small….say 2 people…go for the chef’s table which is perfect for that number and the view of the kitchen can’t be beat. And who knows the chef, Alvin Go, might just strike up a conversation.
This is place for sharing food and the menu runs the gamut from veg to seafood to beef. The recommendation is 2 to 3 items per person which seemed about right but if you don’t want dessert and have a big appetite go for one more dish.
We shared all the dishes, save one…..tweety bird….more about that later. The dishes come out as they are prepared and not necessarily as ordered. Started with the nicoise salad which was fairly typical but in my mind, deconstructed….not that the French variety isn’t. The tuna was excellent as was the dish. We then moved on to the oyster fritters which arrived perfectly fried with a side of pickled jalapeno and a lime aioli…the best dish overall in my estimation. Next up was the stinging nettle ravioli which was prepared with a green garlic bordo topped with hazelnuts. At this point arrived a little add from the kitchen….small lightly grilled toast points topped with an incredible orange and pickled red onion marmalade…excellent! Now back to the next dish….had to try the scallops and had to have an extra one to make it an even four. They came with that perfect searing done only with a very hot skillet and were like butter on the knife. Believe it or not…and knowing me you know, we aren’t yet done. The final dish of the night was…..you guessed it…tweety bird. This was an interesting dish of fried quail with nuoc cham sauce but the really interesting part was the side of Robuchon style mashed potatoes….served up from a whipped cream dispenser……like white whipped potato cream on the palate.
And not to finish without dessert we ended with the malted chocolate budino which was good but if you arrive hungry I’d go for another round of the fried oysters instead.
Wines were a nice Cotes du Rhône GSM and a classic Italian Vin Santo to finish the night.
The wine list selections were primarily from France and Italy with a few from the PNW and California.
Service was excellent.
