To celebrate the Feast Day of Saint Joan of Arc I dined and drank the tasting menu at Canlis in Seattle. A place where old things are made new.

There is a pianist in the lounge who plays lovely and contemporary standards like Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” and Sia’s “Chandelier”.

I started with a pre-dinner cocktail called Lusca – Plantation 3 Star rum, Yellow Chartreuse, lemon, orange, maple syrup. It’s like a Spanish Monk on ‘roids.

An amuse trio featuring potato, parsnip, foie, radish, and pea shoots in no particular order. The pairing was a 10-degree tin-brewed sake.

Tartare on some kind of crisp, the flavors of melon and wild flowers.

Canlis uses trucker seating, a party of two is seated side-by-side instead of across from one another. It is the best seating, and I gladly contorted myself to snap a pic of my date’s iced tea service. 

This is the infamous Canlis salad, which is romaine and mint and tomatoes covered by a Parmesan crisp.

You crack the crisp and mix it all up in the salad. It’s super fun for a salad.

The salads were paired with a Provence rosé. I meant to keep track of all these vintages but my notes are mostly filled with thoughts on the meaning of “varnish” and what songs the pianist was playing. I think this is the 2013 German Riesling they paired with the Sockeye, we may never know.

Sockeye salmon with yogurt and sea beans.

A monster serving of foie.

And this strange nugget is the Canlis Shrimp, heated with dry vermouth and garlic.

Squab with puffed rice, charred cornichons, and squashes. The squash was pureed with umeboshi which gave the dish a wonderful fermented flavor.

I sadly fell behind on my wine but the squab was paired with a HUGE Australian Cabernet, my favorite pairing of the night. Below is the wagyu entree, with parsnips, basil and asparagus. 

The sweet silence of an emptying establishment.

Pineapple sorbet, white chocolate handkerchief, sugared corn, Douglas Fir foam, malted macadamia crunch. This was my dessert appetizer, paired with an exclusive Austrian bernalseace blend which tasted beautifully of dried stone fruits. My notes include an odd mention of “Lily Pulitzer??” I think I was trying to make a joke about exclusivity and corn.

The aforementioned Austrian wonder. 

Coffee.

Messages written in chocolate, a deconstructed crème brûlée.

A house-made negroni macaroon and a lime macaroon which I rediscovered at the bottom of my purse the next morning.