God we have been in such a rut. It is so tough when it is spring and G is busy with plant sales and working in the nursery. Plus there is so much to do ourselves in the yard. It has been ages since we have been out to dinner or even ventured together to downtown Seattle. But the plant sales are done so I suggested that we go to dinner.

E-Gullet has been highlighting a thread on their board about a new restaurant called Union. It is at the south end of the Pike Market near the Seattle Art Museum. It sounded very interesting. I was torn between going to Rays for some good Copper River or trying something new. It is somewhat hard with G because he doesn’t eat meat, only fish, when we go out. So it is important to have a good selection of fish or vegetarian on the menu. He hates it when we go out and there is one fish dish and it has some type of meat in it.

After reviewing the thread, I was definitely intrigued and G seemed to be game for trying something new. So I made a reservation on OpenTable and we planned a nice night out. We gave ourselves an hour to drive into downtown Seattle since it was the Friday of Memorial day. It wasn’t bad until we got off on Stewart. It took me almost as long to get from the Freeway to 1st and Union as it did to drive down to Seattle. We parked next to the Wild Ginger and we there a bit early for our 5:30 reservation.

We were one of the first for the evening. It used to bug us to be alone in a restaurant but no longer. It is actually kinda nice. The server explained the restaurant concept. Instead of the typical appetizer, salad, entree, there were three courses groupings on the menu. The plates are small so you are able to taste several different items. A person with a good appetite can easily eat three courses. Or there is the tasting menu which has 7 courses and is an exceptional deal for $45.00. But as usual, it included meat so it wasn’t an option for us.

We decided to have all three courses and ordered a bottle of french Sancerre. The server brought by an amuse bouche of a bite of poached Cooper River Salmon. It was just cooked to lightly and was very tasty. G started with the Mixed salad with goat cheese and hazelnuts. It arrived in a tower of greens on top of the goat cheese and hazelnuts. Very good. I had an outstanding crab and avocado salad. It was crab and avocado mixed together into a circle topped with miners lettuce and accented with an herb oil. For our second course. G had the softshelled crab. It was lightly floured and fried. It was accented with sauted porcini and saba. I couldn’t remember what Saba was until we asked, basically a basalmic like vinegar made from grape juice mosto. Excellent! I had the morel ravioli with favas. The favas were great and the ravioli very good but I didn’t get a strong taste of morels.

For third course, I had the beef loin with shallot sauce and grilled young red onions. Perfect. G had the Copper River with morels and peas. It was just as he liked it.

I was not full so I wanted dessert. I toyed with the idea of having the cheese course but wanted something sweet. Most of the dessert menu was chocolate. There was a rhurbarb crisp but I’m not into rhurbarb so I decided on the Chocolate Espresso pot of creme. Very good. I also had a glass of dessert wine from France. G decided on a grappa.

After dinner, we decided to walk up to see the new Seattle Library. What a wonderful building. It is so Dutch in being functional and designed. The entry from 5th Avenue is stunning. It was closed and we can’t wait to go back to go inside.

It was so much fun walking around and seeing the buildings. Looking at the design on the Cobb building and the lines and views. I miss not going downtown as much since G no longer works in the market. We must do this more often.