It’s no wonder so many folks enjoy visiting La Conner. It’s scaled to the needs of humans instead of automobiles, and it’s surrounded by farmland instead of sprawl.
You know, “quaint.” Or, dare we say, “European.”
To feed all those visitors, tiny La Conner, population 891, is home to a
baker’s dozen restaurants. One of the most popular and prominent is Seeds Bistro & Bar, located at one of the town’s most historic sites: the Tillinghast Seed Co. A massive beech tree just outside the restaurant, thoughtfully preserved when the building was remodeled about eight years ago, is said to have been planted when Alvinza Gardner Tillinghast set up shop in 1890.
In remodeling the Tillinghast building for use as a restaurant, Seeds proprietor Linda Freed, who also owns the popular Calico Cupboard bakeries and cafes in Skagit County, honored La Conner’s character. Parking is wisely located behind the building, so there’s a good connection with passersby on Morris Street. Seeds looks warm and inviting through the large windows, especially after sundown.
On a recent Saturday evening, the place was buzzing. The Tulip Festival has just gotten under way, so we wisely reserved a table the day before. During our visit, a party that apparently had not made a reservation had to wait a good 40 minutes to be seated.
Our server was friendly and upbeat, but vague when asked about the menu. She also addressed my wife and me, both some 30 years her senior, as “guys,” a server gaffe that always makes me wince.
We decided on a starter to share, two entrees and a dessert to share. First on the table was the appetizer: smoked king salmon bruschetta ($10), which, with its pile of horseradish-cream cheese and salmon, topped by ginger-pickled onions, bore little resemblance to the traditional Italian appetizer. It was too clumsy to eat by hand, so we used a knife and fork to enjoy the well-paired flavor combination of the gingery onions and lightly smoked white king salmon. We did wish for more horseradish pop and less of the cream cheese.
In what would be a recurring theme at Seeds, the serving was large for two people, and would have left a single diner with no room for an entree.
For the main course, we chose two dishes off the nightly special sheet: sauteed ling cod with lemon beurre blanc and marinated artichoke hearts, with roasted potatoes and broccoli on the side ($24), and linguine with a roasted portabella mushroom cap, goat cheese, baby spinach, braised organic greens, roasted tomatoes and roasted root vegetables ($19).
Both of our entrees emerged from the kitchen underseasoned. A sprinkling of salt coaxed more flavor from my ling cod and broccoli.
The generous portion of ling cod was properly cooked through and tasted sweet and fresh from the fishmonger. That said, 24 bucks seemed a steep price to pay for what was on the plate and the dead-simple way in which it was prepared. Something around $20 would have seemed about right, and to save on costs the kitchen could have scaled back the fish serving a bit and omit the (jarred, I presume, based on their taste) marinated artichoke hearts.
The pasta dish consisted of a lot of good flavors that somehow didn’t come together on the plate. One of those flavors was curry aioli — totally out of place, in our judgment.
The price also struck us as about $3 or $4 more than it should have been, although again, the portion was big enough for a hungry Skagit Valley farmer. I ate the leftovers for lunch the next day. That’s when I noticed the big hunk of mushroom could have used extra time in the oven.
Our entrees came with a seed bread baked at Calico Cupboard. The bread tasted fine but would seem more at home with breakfast.
At the menu’s suggestion, we chose a glass of dry French rose ($8) to accompany our entrees. The wine selection proved to be spot-on.
Also on the seasonal specials list during our visit were a New York steak ($29), beef stroganoff (at $21, I trust they use a tender cut of beef), broiled pork tenderloin in honey shallot marinade ($23) and cioppino ($28). The menu states that the cooks use local ingredients when available.
Seeds’ standing menu emphasizes comfort food like macaroni and cheese made with Cougar Gold cheddar and meatloaf with shiitake gravy. There’s also a section of starter and main-course salads. The place does breakfast service from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Breakfast would be a good bet before spending the afternoon gazing upon the tulips.
Calico Cupboard’s known for its baked goods, so for dessert, we chose the cream pie of the day, a very nice sour lemon ($7). You probably can’t go wrong with dessert at Seeds.
If you’re partial to a libation, consider sampling one of the specialty cocktails crafted by Seeds’ bartenders. We chose a vibrant elderflower sour made by Mike Rothmeyer ($8). It was the star of the dinner.
If the cocktail menu’s creativity were applied to the food menu, Seeds could be a winner. As it is, it’s a handsome, convivial place offering straightforward, if somewhat stodgy, fare that will please a lot of folks. But we think the kitchen should take those pricey main courses to a higher level.
Seeds Bistro & Bar
623 Morris St., La Conner; 360-466-3280; www.seedsbistro.com.
Specialty: American bistro fare, local ingredients.
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Price range: Moderate to expensive.
Vegetarian options: Several meatless pasta dishes and salads.
Note: Reservations highly advisable in April during the Tulip Festival.
Mark Carlson: 425-339-3457 or carlson@heraldnet.com
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