spur saves the day.

this post is a little late...probably because i really wanted to sit and think of the words that would do spur the proper justice.
now, maybe it was because avila's service had just stomped on my heart so any good treatment was about to look monumental by comparison...but methinks spur may have been the most enjoyable dining experience to date. the great company of my companion, the fabulous gb wasn't so bad either!
nestled in belltown between 1st and 2nd, spur is home to imaginative, well-thought-out dishes, and even more intriguing cocktails. gb and i both started our meals off with delicious creations. both the cocktail and the entree menus rotate monthly, and your friendly server will kindly recommend you the best cocktail for your tastes. for gb and i, it was the addition of elderflower liqueur that urged us to try the persephone and the empress.
the trip to spur was my round two for restaurant week, and i was delighted to partake in another 3-course tasting menu for only $25. i was absolutely floored by my appetizer--a smoked cauliflower soup with aged parmesan. poured from a tiny ceramic pitcher into a large art piece of a bowl--the soup was smokey, deeply-flavorful, and resonant of a taste of grandma's cooking. how could i pass that up?
my entree was a short-rib over a parmesan potato mash. gb snuck a taste of the potatoes on my recommendation and proclaimed "this mash is giving plain mashed potatoes the culinary middle finger right now!" i couldn't have agreed more. the portioning was delicate and perfect.
finally for dessert [of course] i had a rhubarb tart with vanilla bean ice cream. now, we've discussed my adoration of rhubarb before, haven't we? and this dessert was no different. i'm pretty sure that rhubarb makes everything better, and spur topped off my perfect dinner with a delightful dessert.
to finish it all off, i can't even begin to commend the service. the staff was friendly, accessible, professional, and really fun to dine around. i would highly recommend dinner and drinks at spur. the menu rotates, so my perfect meal probably won't always be available. however, i can't even imagine spur making something sub-par. so eat, drink, be merry, and have a great time at spur!

the first.

to start what i hope is a very long and enticing adventure with seattle food, i ventured mere blocks from my house to Hudson. having only stopped in for their amazing local beer selection, i'd decided it was time to try what the gastropub had to offer. [if you're not familiar with a gastropub...read here...it may just be my favorite type of food!]

my partner in crime for the evening, the lovely J, and I approached on foot with empty tummies and we were not disappointed!

i grappled with enjoying a more traditional pub meal [house-made beet and kale veggie burger with salad] but landed on the ricotta gnocchi. with red wine mushroom ragout, toasted pine nuts, and a shaved brussel sprout salad to top, i really couldn't turn it down. it arrived much smaller than i had anticipated, but when i bit into the first gnocchi, i saw it was brilliant portioning. much more would have been too filling. although, i found my dish to be void of pinenuts (!) the shaved sprouts were a great compliment to heavy gnocchi, and my favorite mushrooms (enoki-the kind with the little heads and long stems) were in full force with some shiitakes in the sauce. all in all, there were definitely no leftovers to take home.

J's dish was the pasta pancetta, with wide noodles, salumi pancetta, foraged mushrooms, spinach, walnuts, and a ridiculously rich cream sauce. all this was spiked with some parmesiano-reggiano. there was a clean plate on her end as well.

the star of the night, as is usual with me, was the dessert. banana beignets with a freaking ridiculous dulce de leche sauce on top. in J's words, it was with great restraint that we didn't pick up the plate and lick it.