| HeraldNet - Snohomish County's online news source |
 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2010 4:48 am |
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Entertainment 
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Former Herbfarm chef up to tasty old tricks SEATTLE — It used to be that the only way to experience award-winning chef Jerry Traunfeld’s cooking was to take out a second mortgage and spend more than $200 a person for dinner at The Herbfarm.Now you can celebrate Traunfeld’s great love of food and enjoy his delicate preparations infused with exotic herbs and spices for a fraction of the cost. About a year ago, Traunfeld opened Poppy, his own restaurant. Dinner for two including drinks, wine, appetizers and ice cream rang up to about $135. You could easily spend less (or more!). We think Poppy is a great destination for special occasions, including New Year’s Eve. They’re already taking reservations for Dec. 31 and there’s still room for the $75 per person, two-hour special dinner, but book soon. Smartly located at the north end of funky Broadway Avenue on Seattle’s Capitol Hill, Poppy is anchoring what has quickly become perhaps the best part of town for culinary talent. Floor-to-ceiling glass windows front the restaurant, decorated in bright orange and accented with polished pine. A bar lines one wall and a window offers a view of busy chefs working in the kitchen. You can start the experience with a cocktail infused with bay leaves, jalapeno or lemon verbena. I had an Artifizz, a bitter-and-sweet drink featuring cynar, a liquor derived from artichokes blended with blackberry brandy and lime ($10). Appetizers at Poppy are great. We had lightly fried mussels, each served with a dollop of aioli scented with lovage, a celery-like herb ($8), and Dungeness crab-and-herb rolls, which were delightfully fresh and wrapped Vietnamese style in rice paper ($9). Even if you’re not an eggplant fan, be sure to try the eggplant fries with salt and honey ($6). Yum. Still, the main attraction at Poppy is the thali, a kind of multi-course meal served all at once on a round platter. Traunfeld discovered the idea while traveling in India. The night we went, there was a choice of a thali featuring pumpkin, black cod and an Indian oven roasted chicken ($32) or a veggie version with ricotta dumplings and a mushroom and sunchoke risotto ($30). The main thalis each feature 10 dishes. My friend and I each decided instead to order from a selection of “smallies,” which came with one main and (only!) six sides. I ordered a lamb osso bucco served with pickled daikon radish, red pepper on dumplings made with faro, an ancient type of grain. The meat melted off the bone. It came with a pumpkin and green chile soup; a salad of pear, celery and hazlenuts; warm leeks cooked with olives; a gratin of chard and oregano; pickled burdock root; and naan, Indian flatbread. We also ordered a black cod smallie that came with cabbage and mushrooms in a delicate sauce and a creamy potato coriander soup. Each dish comes in an attractive small saucer and is enough for four or five bites. Our friendly waitress offered to mix and match sides if we wanted to — I left the blend of flavors to the chef. After starters and a smallie, I was full, but forced some extra room for coffee and a dessert. The wildberry sundae was a martini glass full of homemade berry sorbet with a caraway streusel and hazelnuts ($5). Coffee came in a French press. If I go for New Year’s, I’ll save enough room to order a dessert thali ($15), which offered up a selection of scrumptious-looking sweets. I also may make frequent trips to sit at the bar and order a few appetizers or split a thali. Any time I get to sample Traunfeld’s cooking feels like a celebration. Reporter Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437, jholtz@heraldnet.com. Poppy 622 Broadway East, Seattle; 206-324-1108; www.poppyseattle.com Reservations recommended Speciality: Indian inspired Pacific Northwest Hours: 5:30 to 11 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 5:30 p.m. to midnight, Friday and Saturday; 5:30 to 10 p.m. Sunday. Price range: Moderate to expensive Credit cards: accepted |
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- State already raising fees and rates that restrict business growth
- Some legislators again targeting people’s initiative petition rights
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