Yeah, the Foodies ate in Kirkland...again. I haven't even driven through that town in ages...yet I've managed to eat there two times in the last month. Go figure! Hopefully, I'll find something a little closer next time.
But we were meeting our friends Tim and Margaret, and since they are Eastsiders, and I've been wanting to go to Brix...we ended up in Kirkland again. Juanita Village, to be exact. It's a little mixed-use neighborhood with retail at street level, and probably very expensive condos above. The "village" felt a little modern and sterile, but it was pleasant enough.
Brix itself was nicely appointed. It felt friendly and warm, and even though it was maybe a third occupied when we got there on a Saturday night at 6, there was a happy hum of customers in the air.
Bill & Margaret ordered wine and the apple and blue cheese mixed greens salad, I ordered a glass of Champagne along with the crab mac & cheese appetizer, and Tim ordered... a caramel appletini. Wow, I didn't see that one coming! It looked AMAZING though, when it came to the table: a lime green concoction with a caramel-encrusted apple lollipop soaking in the martini glass. Cool. He loved it--and asked if I would be sharing dishes since I was going to be writing about dinner. What he really was asking was, if I expected him to share his food. I answered that yes, I was the sharing type. Tim said he was not. And he told us how, as a teenager, he was out eating fast food with a bunch of guys, and one of them grabbed a handful of his french fries and started to eat them. "I don't know what happened, but something snapped," Tim said. "I reached over and grabbed those fries right out of his mouth." And he's not shared his food since.
I can live with that. But I did not fail to notice that he sampled freely from Margaret's plate. Hmm.
But--there was a big breakthrough--he did share something from his entree (which I will in turn share with you later), so I have to give him big props for that.
So anyhoo, back to the appetizers. Both Bill & Margaret said their salads were just ok, agreeing that the greens were lacking some zip, and the razor-thin matchstick slices of apple were just not enough to bring out the flavors in the rest of the dish.
I was SO EXCITED to dig into the crab macaroni & cheese--two of my favorite things in the whole world, in one bowl! Woo hoo! Unfortunately, there was no woo to be hooed. Bland, boring and not even the slightest hint of cheese flavor. How can you mess up mac & cheese??!! I thought I might be able to salvage it with some salt, but there was none on our table. My eyes darted from table to table in desperation...and no one had salt. Or pepper! To me, this is either amazing arrogance or a huge oversight. Last week on Top Chef, Tom Colicchio told one of the "cheftestants" (Bravo's horrible made-up title, NOT MINE) that one of the worst sins a chef could commit was to under-season his or her food. I say amen to that, my brother. The scant tablespoon of fresh crab piled in the center of this orange mass of nothingness was somehow very nicely seasoned. But it was so tiny....
Thankfully, the food really did not have to be the star of this evening, as we were having the best time with Tim & Margaret. You could not find two people who are smarter and so much fun to be with! So all was not lost. And when our entrees arrived, things started looking up in the food department.
Margaret and I both ordered the fall risotto with pumpkin puree, butternut squash and scallops. It tasted exactly as I had dreamed it would, when I was pouring over the on-line menu earlier in the day. Sweet, savory, creamy, and bursting with flavor. The scallops (only two, boo!) were perfectly seared and were a brilliant addition to the risotto.
Tim ordered the grilled rib eye steak, which was served with a twice baked potato and sauteed chard with blue balsamic butter. Tim saw me eyeing his potato, asked if I wanted a bite, cut off a very generous piece, and brought it over to my side of the table. Thanks for sharing!! It was great. And I hope it felt good to share. :) He said his meal was good, but I thought the rib eye looked mighty thin for $27.
Bill had the grilled skirt steak which came atop a nicely crunchy potato gratin, with sauteed chard and demi glace. The steak was tender and tasted fantastic, but once again, there were a few scant pieces placed over the potato cake. Bill said that really, the gratin was the star of his dinner, and he'd sacrifice eating just a few teensy pieces of meat to get those potatoes again.
At dessert time, I had no plans on ordering more than a cup of decaf (which came in a huge French press, and was some of the best coffee I've had in a long time). But our very nice waitress informed us that the evening's pot de creme was chocolate with a ribbon of mint on top, and both Margaret and I thought that sounded worth having. Bill ordered the warm chocolate brownie with coffee ice cream, and Tim requested the banana nut bread French toast, which really appeared to be the clear winner of the table.
The pot de creme tasted ok...it was the consistency that turned my stomach. It was runny, and, frankly, reminded me of something I'd seen in a diaper back in the day. I couldn't finish it. Bill's brownie was in fact warm and chocolatey, but the coffee ice cream lacked a lot of coffee flavor.
The whole dinner came to about $226 (before tip) for drinks & the three courses, which I felt was fairly reasonable. And although the food was certainly nothing to call home about, a very, very good time was had by all.
Brix Wine Café
9749 NE 119th Way
Kirkland, WA 98034
425.242.0280
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
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