FFDN: Harvest Vine

Harvest Vine is a cute restaurant in Madison Valley featuring Basque cuisine served tapas style. The restaurant's decor is very welcoming. Right when you walk in you find an open kitchen with bar style seating around it and some bistro tables.  Past the bar are some stairs that lead to the dining room.

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We were seated downstairs which also doubled as their wine cellar. They also have a private room that people can reserve for parties. As we sat down we couldn't wait to order our dishes. When dining at tapas restaurants it's always a good idea to ask the server how many dishes they would recommend for the size of your party. Our server came back and gave us a tasting size portion of a cold roasted tomato soup with lemon and olive oil. It was incredibly flavorful. The soup was very creamy and the olive oil was a good compliment to the acidity of the tomato and lemon.

The menu was extensive and not too overwhelming. We decided to order 4 items to start and order more if we were still hungry. The two daily specials, sardines & estofado, were very enticing so we decided to order both of those and 2 more from their regular menu.

Jamon de Pato

cured duck breast, blood orange curd, rioja balsamic reduction

When this dish came out Brian and I thought it was the octopus dish on the menu based on its coloring. This was Brian's choice and when I heard so many other people ordering it, I knew it was probably a good selection. The blood orange curd and balsamic reduction helped cut the salty flavor of the duck breast. It was a good pairing that still allowed the cured duck breast to shine but not over power one's palette. 

Alcachofa

artichokes, roasted tomatoes, garlic confit

You can't tell from this picture but this dish also had a delicious sauce that it was served on. The sauce was so good we made sure to sop it all up with bread. The roasted artichoke was so meaty and served as a good vehicle for the sauce as well as it soaked up the sauce in its layers.

Sardines

grilled sardines, lemon, olive oil

The sardines were from Portugal and were seasoned with salt and pepper, grilled then drizzled with lemon juice and olive oil. It was served on a bed of mixed greens. I love the simple flavor combination of a salted fish with lemon juice for acidity. 

Estofado

lamb belly, pork belly, beans, sofrito

The estofado, a hearty stew, was served in a ramekin. This dish definitely falls under the comfort food category. I could imagine eating a big bowl of it on a rainy and cold winter night. I liked this dish because there were different textures that came into play with each bite. My only complaint is that we didn't have more of it!

I would definitely recommend Harvest Vine to anyone looking to nosh on some delicious Basque food. The service was also great - very helpful and knowledgeable. Good customer service definitely is a big part of a dining experience.

FFDN: Joule

This FFDN was actually in January but I'm doing my best to get caught up on my blog posts. I had heard of Joule when I first moved to Seattle and was looking at the restaurants in my surrounding neighborhoods. They do Sunday BBQ's in the summer with a twist. I had always meant to go but it always somehow would get forgotten when it was time to think of a place to go for dinner. 

Brian was the one that suggested Joule for FFDN. He had read in the Seattle Times that the executive chef/owners of the restaurant were actually going to be contestants on the Food Network's show Iron Chef America.  We had gone to the viewing party the Sunday before and had a sneak peak to what their cooking was like. In case you missed that episode, chefs/husband and wife team Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi lost to the newest Iron Chef, Jose Garces, by 1 point. They were robbed!! 

The menu is a fusion of French and Korean cuisine.  Joule's plates are mainly shared plates, which really is one of my favorite ways to dine. I don't like to be confined to just one dish. And most of the time there are so many different dishes on a menu that I want to try. Shared plates allow you to do this without having to order multiple entrees.

Left: duck breast, maple vinegar apple, daikon soubise

Right: fried whole mackerel, white kimchi, scallion salsa verde

Left: korean mochi, oxtail ragout, lacinato kale, soy cured egg

Right: kimchi chicken liver fried rice, sesame leaf, chili

I was extremely happy with the dishes we had ordered. I know some people that shy away from whole fish since the bones and head are still in tact. I personally don't have an issue with it and love a good fried whole fish. The most interesting dish was the korean mochi w/ oxtail ragout, and soy cured egg. When we were eating the dish we couldn't quite place one of the ingredients and seeing how we no longer had the menu we were at a loss. It was the mochi! For some reason I completely glazed over that part on the menu and only focused on the oxtail. To me, mochi is a delightful ice cream treat like we had a Nishino. But I guess mochi is really just a sticky rice cake which in the dessert form is just the outer shell encasing the ice cream. In the case of this dish it was just sliced and added to the dish for texture.

Have you ever been pleasantly surprised by an ingredient in your dish that you weren't quite expecting?