Shucker's

Our favorite restaurant on the trip was Shucker's. We had our first and last meals here. As Human # 3 said on the first night, it was about the most perfect meal we had ever had. On the first night we were cranky, had just been on a plane for a day, and had a bit too much family togetherness. We were seriously concerned about the fact that it was in a hotel. Yet all three of us put our blackberries away, enjoyed the meal, loved the service, and remembered that we actually liked being around each other. All four of us returned for the last night, and it was just as good. So good, indeed, that everyone submitted to my picture taking and food blogging, even holding up their plates for the best view.



Of course we started with oysters. Everyone finally decided that I was right, and there was no such thing as too many oysters. We had four types of local oysters. We then ordered another dozen of our favorites. They were amazing. Creamy, sweet, and luscious.



We also had a shrimp cocktail. Tasty.



I had fried oysters, served on potato wedges, with some cole slaw. Best fried oysters ever. And I've had a lot of fried oysters, trust me.



My husband had a Dungeness crab cake. He erroneously believes they are better than Maryland crab cakes. They were good though. Nice grilled asparagus and buttery mashed potatoes.



Human # 3 had the steak. A fourteen ounce piece of sirloin, creamy, buttery mashed potatoes, and sweet giant carrots.



Husband and Human # 3's brother (and therefore my brother-in-law) had the fish and chips. The fish was fried halibut from the Queen Charlotte Islands. Human # 3 and Brother argued about whether these were the greatest fish and chips, or whether the fish and chips at the public market Vancouver were the greatest. Outside the Pacific Northwest, a small restaurant in Astoria, Queens and a stand in Reykjavík are suggested. I think we need to have a world-wide fish and chips tour.



For dessert my husband and I had a chocolate cake with a glass of Côtes du Rhône each.



The other two split a peanut butter ice cream pie. Which I nearly stole.

It was a great meal, and a great culinary end to the trip. This is my highest recommended restaurant we visited, no question about it.

Ray's Boathouse

We met a good friend of mine from college, JW, and his girlfriend, JT, for dinner. And by met, I mean that they picked us up and picked an awesome restaurant. Damn, I love my friends. And his girlfriend is lovely, smart, very pretty, and has a wicked sense of humor. To be fair, I usually like my friend's significant others (though there have been some, ahem, exceptions). I almost think as a post-college young professional there are few other ways to make new friends - though my friends have dated or married in some pretty cool people.

Back to the food. Didn't bring a camera, but here's a link. The restaurant itself was gorgeous. We had a table right on the water. Actually, I nearly got seasick looking down. A couple police boats sirened around that night.

We shared the shishole sampler, which consisted of Dungeness crab, manila clams, scallops, prawns, and alaskan king crab.

JW, my husband, and I all had the sampler for a main course. The sampler had a piece of grilled Columbia River chinook salmon, with local mashed potatoes, green beans, and a nectarine sauce. Next, it had a piece of Chatham Strait sable fish cooked with sake, with choy sum, jasmine rice, radish sprouts, honey soy, and scallion oil. Finally, the sampler had a piece of grilled Alaskan halibut with some kale. The salmon and halibut were amazing. I didn't really care for the sable fish, but I think I just didn't like sable fish. JT had Alaskan King crab legs. They were huge. Gorgeous. Pre-cracked with some cool tools. Served with green beans.

Almost everything on the menu was very local, and the location of most of the food was noted on the menu. The location was beyond beautiful.

Etta's

We met the younger siblings at Etta's, near Pike Place Market, for dinner. I managed to get us lost on the way there. My poor husband. Wait, I have a broken foot! Poor me!

One funny thing - as usual I asked for a local wine recommendation. We had a bottle that, on the front label, purported to be from Washington. On the back label, the wine purported to use grapes from California, be made in California, and bottle in California.



The siblings claimed to be oystered out. As a good Maryland girl, I know that there's no such thing as too many oysters. So I started out with some.



Also we shared a shrimp cocktail. I think there was another starter, but we can't remember. Human # 1 tried to order the salmon belly tartare, but they were out. We have a strange white blurry picture. Human # 3 and I think it was some sort of halibut crudo, but the picture sucks and as we are sure it was very tasty, I'm not going to post it.



As a main course, I had the Etta’s Rub with Love wild king salmon, shiitake relish, cornbread pudding. Excellent!



For dessert Human # 3 and I both ordered the blueberry crisp. It was just way too sweet for me, I couldn't eat it. Human # 3 liked it, though, but due to its sweetness only managed about a third.




Human # 1 had a root beer creme brulee with a mini rootbeer float. He loves root beer. He also really liked this dessert.

Anyway, Etta's was pretty darn good, but I still preferred Matt's in the Market and Shucker's to Etta's. The price point at Etta's was pretty high, and they did deliver, but I guess I'm spoiled and I preferred the seafood at Shucker's and the local market produce at Matt's. Had we done Etta's first, then Matt's and Shucker's, I think it would have rated much higher.

C Restaurant

Human # 1 and I had a rather romantic dinner at C Restaurant. We were seated on the patio, watching the sunset over False Creek. The food was amazing and the service impeccable. Actually, there was no bathroom (or washroom as they say here) on the lower floor. One of the bussers insisted I use the staff bathroom and avoid walking up the stairs with my broken foot. I heard a waiter scream "a customer can't use that, it isn't clean!" It was actually way cleaner than any staff bathroom remembered from my own food service days. Anyway, back to the food.

C is organized around multiple tastes and presentations of seafood ingredients. They are all about sustainable seafood, and have a lot of local food, though it's not focused on local food. C won my heart by serving butter at, gasp, spreading temperature. The butter was creamy, not salty, but the dish had a few grains of sea salt on top. A bread server went around regularly. I liked the sourdough, but my husband loved the seaweed focaccia.

To begin, my husband and I shared a half dozen Black Pearl oysters. Okay, he had one, I had five. He isn't a fan of West Coast oysters, preferring bigger East Coast varieties. The oysters were served with an apple mignonette, which was terribly clever (apple vinegar and minced apple replacing shallots and vinegar in the traditional recipe) and a perfect compliment to the sweet, creamy oysters. A red pepper horseradish jelly was also offered, but I can't do bell pepper. Of course, the oysters were indeed best plain. I had a glass of sparkling BC wine with my oysters, a very dry sparkler with a bit of gold color.



Next, I had a gorgeous albacore tartare, served with a poached quail egg and some potato chips. I nearly licked the plate.



My husband had a Dungeness crab salad, with the most awesome zebra tomatoes.



For the main course, I had a lovely local salmon, cooked medium rare, paired with a BC pinot noir. The salmon rested on some lovely potatoes and beets, and was topped with salmon roe. It was also served with, and on, a parsley sauce. I've got to say, I don't think the sauce added anything, and sort of had a watery feeling. I think I would have preferred a cleaner presentation, but it was awesome nonetheless.



My gorgeous husband had an ultrarare seared Albacore loin for his main course, served with a truffle cesar salad. I can't even describe it - it was amazing.

We did have some dessert - mine was Valrhona chocolate in three textures, my better half had a chocolate mint pudding with berries. No pictures though, we were too busy eating.