On the road again: Seattle, day 2

As most of you know, I can't talk about my meetings on PT trips, so the only part of my twenty-hour day that I can discuss is the dinner. 

Fortunately, it was a good one at a lovely Seattle restaurant, Canlis.  Canlis was a Beard nominee for Best Restaurant, and its chef, Jason Franey, was a nominee for Best Chef, Northwest.  With that level of recognition, I had to give it a try. 

When you enter, you can't help but notice the water (Union Lake, I believe) that is visible through the mostly glass wall that runs along the rear of the restaurant.  The lovely setting upped its beauty a few notches as the fading sun changed the light washing the water from yellow to blue and then gradually to the darkness of night. 

All the dishes I tried were quite good.  A poached hen's egg in mushroom foam with Australian black truffles floating on it and bits of veggies hidden below was delightful, warm and rich and happy.  The cold foie preparation was a well-executed standard.  The small Wagyu steak was the weakest part of the meal, a good piece of beef but nothing to compare to the top-grade Wagyu at, say, Craftsteak in Las Vegas.

All in all, I liked Canlis and can recommend it, but to my taste its food is still not up to such giants of the region as Portland's Le Pigeon, Castagna, and Beast--two of which I'll be eating at later this week.