Woodinville Herbfarm restaurant

After living in the Northwest for 28 years, we decided it was time to try this unique dining experience that is just around the corner. The current theme of The Herbfarm is The Chambers of the Sea:

Prior to dinner, we were allowed a tour of their wine cellar. There are 26,000 bottles that were tracked by Excel spreadsheet. On one of the walls was a framed shirt that was worn by Julia Child in one of her TV shows, together with her TIME magazine cover.

It was slightly raining, and in deference to the non-Northwesterners, Carrie the owner did not lead us on a tour of their herb garden - which would have been delightful. Instead she did a show-and-tell with cut herbs, allowing them to be passed around, sniffed, rubbed and savored.

We were seated at a European style communal table for eight. We were impressed that our name was displayed in a small silver frame. There was a guitarist providing dinner music for almost the whole four hours.

The kitchen was open - so we could see the chefs doing the plating. I did not see any steam or deep frying, or other heavy duty kitchen activities; that was probably done at the back out of sight.

The first course was Shorely (if you can read the menu). Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture until afterwards - so here are the detritus - rectangular dish contained scallop, the round dish the grilled oyster, and the martini glass the clams.

The non-alcoholic drink menu was designed to match the food courses. I'll have to admit - it wasn't as good as the wine choices. The one I liked best was the Leaves of Grass.

The next course was the Tuna Caper - the tuna tartare was exceptional. The pickled unripe strawberries went well to cut the richness of the tuna.

At this point, we went outside to visit with Borage and Basil, the two truffle pigs-in-training. At least I hope they will become truffle hunters, and are not fated to be the prosciutto I saw hanging in the wine cellar. I believe they are pot bellied pigs. We were issued a small bucket with leftover greens, and (Purina?) pig chow. Basil was shy and Borage was, well, a pig, and ate all the food. He wagged his (non)-curly tail like a dog when he saw food coming!

Then we came back and they served us Twice Halibut. This was the least memorable dish. The halibut bones were cooked into a broth, served over beans, pea flowers and lovage, with a fried turnip. The halibut collar meat was mixed with potato and lovage and deep fried into a croquette. The broth was not at all fishy, but did not taste like halibut. Nor did the croquette. Maybe halibut is too mild a fish for this treatment.

Next was Spotted Prawn served with a side pot of prawn butter for the pumpernickel bread. It was really rich, even I could not handle too much of the butter!

The next course was Duet of Salmon - with both Copper River Sockeye and Copper River King, being Copper River salmon season. We asked them how they managed to get the King, as we could only get the Sockeye at the grocery stores. We were told they have an agreement with some fishermen who would bring them their special catch. Both salmon were excellent, with the mushrooms. The sauce was a touch too sweet for my taste - fortunately they were dribbled around the edge.

Next was Caviar Bar - Salmon roe, Paddlefish eggs and Uni on a miniscule waffle. Being used to the uni on the sushi, there was not enough, plus the soppressata that was under the uni overpowered it. Just a so-so dish.

The next dish was Quince and Ewe - all elements worked perfectly. The quince "caviar" was better than the previous real caviar dish, and the cattail jelly was unusual and though mild tasting, went well with the dish. I don't remember what he said the shell was made of - it might have been a very thin cheese deep fried while laid over a clam shell to give it the structure and shape - but it was very good.

Next was Rhubarb Poke - I have rarely had rhubarb so I couldn't assess what really good rhubarb should taste like. The ice cream was good, and the meringue had nori powder which was unusual but not unpleasant.

At this point we got to choose our tea or coffee to go with dessert. I selected the non-caffeine Herbfarm Smart Tea, consisting of lavender, rosemary and peppermint, infused in a coffee press. Hubby chose Sakuma Oolong. My tea choice came with a note - WARNING: COMES WITH AN IQ QUIZ!  See below.

I worked at it and the meal must have re-directed my blood flow away from my brain. I did not solve it; I should at least have gotten the one with the matches! When the wait staff brought my tea, she also brought the solution. Solution at the end...

The dessert was excellent!!! Particularly the Wild Ginger White Chocolate - one of the woman at my table was able to convince the waitress to bring her a doggie bag of extra white chocolate - she and her husband were staying at the Willows Lodge Herbfarm suite - I think that factored into her favoritism treatment (!)

All in all, a very enjoyable experience, and quite unlike any other restaurants we had been to. After all where else can you go feed the pigs in the middle of the meal?

In closing one of the other themes that I am interested in (and have to wait till the wallet recovers) is the Mycologist's Dream - slated for later this year. Will keep you all posted.

Smart tea solution: