Editor's note: CL food critic Jon Palmer Claridge is in Seattle doing "research." This is part of an ongoing series sharing his culinary adventures.
I knew we were in for an unmatched evening when an elegant, stick-thin gentleman with a shock of white hair reached out to greet me. "Hi, I'm Chris Canlis. I'm so glad you're dining with us tonight."
And so begins a polished night at the grande dame of Seattle restaurants. Its idyllic setting is equal parts Frank Lloyd Wright and Pacific Northwest chic, understated and full of glass. The view looking out to Lake Union is stunning. In fact, the whole evening is a piece of seamless choreography.
This isn't a meal — it's an event. In our case, a four-hour-and-15-minute affair that starts with flutes of Pol Roger Champagne and a delicious amuse bouche: a buckwheat crisp "cigarette" stuffed with red bean mash that rests on a dot of nutty crème fraîche under a dusting of green matcha.
What follows is an inventive seven-course tasting menu with matching sommelier pairings. Yes, it's expensive. But so is Andrea Bocelli or Beyoncé, not to mention Hamilton. While this is a kind of magical experience that's disorienting, it demands attention from your senses.
You don't want to miss a single note of the grand piano tinkling behind you. Each course, oyster to foie gras to halibut, brings a melange of unforgettable tastes and aromas. You take it all in with concentrated gusto. The feel of the perfect warm mini baguette crackling under your touch. The smoothness of delicate, impossibly thin crystal stemware that changes with each wine so every nuance of the complicated, layered aromas won't be missed.
Foremost are your senses of taste and sight. Everything is beautiful, from the linens (which the staff presses at adjacent tables as earlier guests depart) to drop-dead water views outside the walls of glass that wrap around the entire space. Dishes are composed for both the eyes and tongue, and the sommelier reaches deep into Canlis's cellar to find the perfect wine for each course, making food and drink better for the combo. Canlis is one of 88 restaurants worldwide boasting a Wine Spectator Grand Award, which it's held since 1997.
For context, Bern's Steak House is one of four in Florida — and two of those eateries were just added last year. It's a huge deal.
What you don't hear is the impeccable service. While the staff is impossibly friendly, they are also silently in continual motion as glasses and plates arrive from nowhere and everything is perfectly realigned while your gaze wanders to a floatplane that's glimpsed across the sky. By the time a jewel box filled with macarons arrives to accompany a meal-ending cappuccino topped with a perfect foam heart, you've been totally seduced and satiated.
Even as you depart, the enchantment continues. You realize there was never a valet ticket, you've said nothing, and yet your car has appeared like a magic carriage. The valet is waiting with your door open as you exit this gastronomic sanctum. Perfection is behind you; only a restful sleep and a plane ride home awaits.
This article appears in Aug 4-11, 2016.
