Had an amazing dinner at a Phinney Ridge gem the other night with friends - Stumbling Goat Bistro. Always on the lookout for new finds, we jumped at our friends' suggestion of hitting this place, after a delightful wine tasting downtown. Our friends have embarked on a month-long Eat Local experiment so we let them choose the dinner locale. What a treat...
My husband and I have gotten more savvy - as have many Americans - about where our food comes from. We are blessed on the West Coast, and in the Pacific NW in particular, to have such an abundance of local and fresh treasures. We try to eat organic when we can and, while we're not quite ready to go vegan like some of our friends (we love a juicy well-grilled steak way too much), we have become more aware and concerned with both how the animals are treated, the living conditions in which they are exposed and just what is injected into their bodies. I saw a documentary that talked about how the chicken you buy today might look like Grandma's chicken but it really is anything but, what with all the growth hormones and mass-processing chemicals. Yucko. While you expect some food to be bad for you when you eat it (Big Macs, Cheetos) I never realized what crap lies in my freshly grilled rosemary chicken, just by virtue of its provenance.
So with that in mind, we tucked into the Stumbling Goat. It's a dark (in a cozy way), funky little bistro with cool art adorning the walls and a friendly staff. So many things jumped out at me, I had a hard time deciding between one succulent menu selection to the next. The menu lists every supplier and farm from which they source their food and includes the website. Nice touch. This is also listed on their Purveyors page off their own website.
A bunch of us started with the butter lettuce salad with shaved radish and onion, toasted hazlenuts and sherry vinaigrette. What a perfect balance of nutty goodness with a mellow yet herbalicious dressing. It tasted "just picked." Others chose the heirloom tomato salad with fromage blanc and fresh basil. This was a refreshing summertime treat.
My husband had the appetizer duck liver terrine with cherry wine gelee as his main course, and the rest of us ran the gamut from morel and asparagus risotto (a creamy slice of heaven) to grilled hangar steak to duck breat to heirloom bean cassoulet. Every bite tasted more divine that the next and a few of us traded nibbles to get a full sampling of all the bistro had to offer.
For dessert, we shared cherry chocolate creme pies (which was like an ice cream sandwich) and a homemade ice cream. I enjoyed the creme pies, but they were way too frozen for my taste - they could have done with some thawing out first. Throw in some fun cocktails - I tried a frefreshing pomegranate basil which was vodka, bruised basil, lemon and pomegranate juice - and two bottles of champagne, and the bill still came out to only about $120 per couple. Pretty sweet indeed for such good quality and so many courses.
I can see how, if you have the money and the access, eating local for a month may not be such a bad thing!
My husband and I have gotten more savvy - as have many Americans - about where our food comes from. We are blessed on the West Coast, and in the Pacific NW in particular, to have such an abundance of local and fresh treasures. We try to eat organic when we can and, while we're not quite ready to go vegan like some of our friends (we love a juicy well-grilled steak way too much), we have become more aware and concerned with both how the animals are treated, the living conditions in which they are exposed and just what is injected into their bodies. I saw a documentary that talked about how the chicken you buy today might look like Grandma's chicken but it really is anything but, what with all the growth hormones and mass-processing chemicals. Yucko. While you expect some food to be bad for you when you eat it (Big Macs, Cheetos) I never realized what crap lies in my freshly grilled rosemary chicken, just by virtue of its provenance.
So with that in mind, we tucked into the Stumbling Goat. It's a dark (in a cozy way), funky little bistro with cool art adorning the walls and a friendly staff. So many things jumped out at me, I had a hard time deciding between one succulent menu selection to the next. The menu lists every supplier and farm from which they source their food and includes the website. Nice touch. This is also listed on their Purveyors page off their own website.
A bunch of us started with the butter lettuce salad with shaved radish and onion, toasted hazlenuts and sherry vinaigrette. What a perfect balance of nutty goodness with a mellow yet herbalicious dressing. It tasted "just picked." Others chose the heirloom tomato salad with fromage blanc and fresh basil. This was a refreshing summertime treat.
My husband had the appetizer duck liver terrine with cherry wine gelee as his main course, and the rest of us ran the gamut from morel and asparagus risotto (a creamy slice of heaven) to grilled hangar steak to duck breat to heirloom bean cassoulet. Every bite tasted more divine that the next and a few of us traded nibbles to get a full sampling of all the bistro had to offer.
For dessert, we shared cherry chocolate creme pies (which was like an ice cream sandwich) and a homemade ice cream. I enjoyed the creme pies, but they were way too frozen for my taste - they could have done with some thawing out first. Throw in some fun cocktails - I tried a frefreshing pomegranate basil which was vodka, bruised basil, lemon and pomegranate juice - and two bottles of champagne, and the bill still came out to only about $120 per couple. Pretty sweet indeed for such good quality and so many courses.
I can see how, if you have the money and the access, eating local for a month may not be such a bad thing!
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