Seattle - Terra Plata

During our most recent stay in Seattle; having dinner at Sitka & Spruce would seem to be the obvious choice. But after our last meal there, we decided that maybe a change was in order. We'd arrived for an overnight stay on our way to our final destination.

On our previous visit, we passed what seemed to be a very popular place named Terra Plata; literally "Land to Plate". Reading a bit more, it seems that the focus was on local growers and artisans, which seemed like the perfect meal for us.

We arrived at the Renaissance without incident. I used to stay here all the time, but for some reason hadn't during our last few visits. They seemed to have done some nice upgrading of the rooms and the corner room we had was very comfortable.

It was a pleasant walk to the restaurant, heck, it's basically next to S&S, and we've been to Seattle so many times. The dining room is nice and warm, though seating is pretty cramped; fitting as many bodies in as little space seems the trend these days. The place was half full when we arrived at 6pm and quickly filled up. The menu, as is also the norm these days was a simple single sheet, fairly vegetable heavy and meant for sharing which suits our preferences,

We started with a couple of cocktails; the Missus a "Seattle Raindrop" ($12) and I a "Will I Tell" ($13)....both were a bit too sweets for our tastes.

After looking over the menu; we decided to forgo the meat options. We've been finding that vegetable and starters are more interesting items these days. It seems that in the case of mains; the kitchen has to keep it kind of close to the vest while the other courses seem more fascinating.

We did need a bit of "protein" so we started with the Charcuterie Plate ($20) which was on the pricy side, but we loved the presentation.

The real winner on this plate was the chicken liver terrine, which had the perfect amount of liver flavor combined with a pleasant texture, and just a hint of winey-sweetness. The pate champagne was also quite good; not too salty, great texture. The Missus loved the mustards and pickles; especially the pickled capers and cornichons. The lomo iberico was too salty, cut too thick, making it hard, and the Duck Rillette was really bland and hardly had any of the nice assertive flavor we enjoy.

I should have skipped on the Risotto ($20). I've mentioned the issues I have with typical restaurant par cooked prep for risotto. This just didn't do it, the core of the risotto was hard and crunchy. This version also had too much marscapone for my taste and not enough salty components.

Loved the chanterelles, so earthy, and the addition of brown butter was nice, though it clashed with the marscapone in my mind.

The Missus, who loves lentils and broccoli, really enjoyed the having both of them in the Broccoli with Moroccan Spiced Lentils ($14).

This basically looked like a stir fry; the flavor was nice and savory, though I think it could have used a bit more balsamic. I think they are also using Worcestershire or something similar to give this a flavor close to soy sauce. A nice dish.

We both really enjoyed the Beets with Walnut Romesco and Feta ($14).

The various greens added a nice combination of bitter-herbaceous flavor to the "just crisp enough" and sweet beets. The Romesco Sauce had the perfect amount of garlic and slightly smoky-sweet flavors which went nicely with the milky-salty feta. This was just a wonderful dish.

So nice, that I decided to finish things off with an Old Fashioned ($11).

The service was friendly and warm, the room got really loud, and like I mentioned before; the tables are really close together....the server kept bumping into me and the person seated in back of me when passing. The price; well, the Missus actually was kind of shocked....over $100 for mostly vegetables...but of course we had the three cocktails and such.

So, Sitka & Spruce or Terra Plata......I think the Missus enjoyed the execution at Terra Plata more....perhaps the next time we're in Seattle we'll do one after the other. Or who knows, maybe there will be another great option?

Terra Plata
1501 Melrose Ave
Seattle, WA 98122

Comments

[kat]

nice meal!

[Kirk]

It was Kat!