Preservation Kitchen offers comfort

BOTHELL — Folks who live in this corner of south Snoho­mish County now have a home for eating and drinking well.

And what a home it is. For their new restaurant, the owners of Preservation Kitchen chose a beautiful residence built in 1916. The home was the site of a well-regarded French restaurant that closed in the mid-1990s. The building had fallen on some hard times when Preservation Kitchen owners Gary and Susan Southwick took it over. But the dining rooms retain the beauty and charm of a prewar ­Craftsman-style home, and it’s also a space that works for contemporary dining.

It’s like having dinner at one of those well-kept, thoughtfully updated older homes you’ve always admired in Seattle’s better neighborhoods. Outside the restaurant, pleasing Northwest-woodsy landscaping screens the view of a Subway sandwich shop and payday loan business across busy Bothell Way NE.

Since opening in September, Preservation Kitchen is still finding its footing. During a recent visit, a few dishes disappointed. But the hits outnumbered the misses, the surroundings were pleasing, and the proprietors’ noble intentions — to serve creative food and drink that’s locally sourced as much as possible, makes Preservation Kitchen well worth repeat visits.

A fireplace and prominent wood trim — the kind not seen in most homes since before World War II — grace the comfortable main dining room. Our party of four, alas, was seated at a table on the periphery of the room, near a table where glasses, water pitchers and flatware are kept, and next to the passage to the kitchen. Northwest politeness inhibited us from asking for another table, which I’m sure the server would have accommodated without a second’s hesitation. As it was, our position probably kept us in his view, because service was attentively professional in every way. The timing between appetizers, salads, main course and dessert was ideal.

After an unremarkable appetizer of semolina-crusted fried oysters ($6 for three oysters), things rebounded with a deliciously smoky grilled romaine salad with anchovy vinaigrette and shaved parmesan reggiano ($7). We also enjoyed a soothing butternut squash soup.

Other starters include polenta tots, a grown-up take on “tater tots” ($5); a frisee and blue cheese salad with crispy pork belly ($8) and pulled pork sliders ($6).

For our main course, we chose seared duck with duck confit croquette and braised mustard greens ($21), wild boar ragu on pappardelle noodles ($13), wild mushroom risotto ($14) and a rack of wild boar ($29).

The duck was perfectly pink, but the duck confit croquette was the star. It’s a small mound of potatoes mashed with duck confit, lightly breaded and fried. Thanks to its deliciousness, I overlooked the chewy, bland greens.

The delicious mushroom risotto also begged to be devoured — but be careful. It’s very rich, and like all of Preservation Kitchen’s entrees, the portion is ample. Take some home for tomorrow’s lunch.

The rack of wild boar is a departure from the restaurant’s local focus. The tusked creatures don’t live around here, so the meat’s an import from Texas. The French-cut meat was dusted with espresso and served with savory hash-browned potatoes swimming in a demi-glaze. The taste was gamier than standard pork but not intensely so, and the grain resembled pot roast, except the meat didn’t fall apart.

Chunks of boar also appeared in the ragu, which was an inexpensive Italian comfort food.

Other entree choices include a generous rib eye steak from Painted Hills in Oregon ($29), seared chicken in a garlic chicken jus ($16) and garnet yam gnocchi in brown butter ($16).

Preservation Kitchen’s wine list consists almost exclusively of bottles from Washington, and the markups are modest. A 2005 cabernet sauvignon from Ross Andrews Winery went for $47, a good deal. The list includes plenty of bottles from ‘05, an especially good year for Washington wine.

Cocktails also are available, and the place’s bar looks like a fine place to enjoy a drink while sneaking a peak at the game on the TV — sound muted, as it should be.

Executive chef Matthew Mina’s desserts closed the evening in high style. We enjoyed goat cheese fritters with lavender ice cream in a honey-walnut “soup” ($9), a chocolate trio that included a mousse “pop” that literally came on a stick ($9), and butternut squash bread pudding ($8). Steaming cups of coffee, organic beans roasted in Bellingham, fortified us for the drive home through the Bothell gloaming, planning a return visit to sample the inviting, pork belly-rich brunch menu.

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