Our list of restaurants we “really need to visit” is very, very long. It is only marginally longer than our list of restaurants we “really need to visit again.” This is the best and worst part of eating in Seattle. There are too many amazing new places to try, but loyalties to places we’ve already been draw us back to the familiar.
Our first visit to Andaluca lasted all of fifteen minutes. There wasn’t anything wrong. It was just the first stop on the Savor Seattle tour back in February. They were definitely somewhere we knew we wanted to return to soon… it just took us seven months. In the end, we didn’t plan our visit. We just happened to be walking by and decided to go in.
It was a little too early for dinner, as it usually is for us, so we pretty much had the whole restaurant to ourselves. It’s small, but comfortable and also very lush. It’s another place that will be quite comfortable during winter when we want nothing more than to escape the damp gray.
We really enjoyed our server. She was excited about the food, and that’s not something you get everywhere… especially in Seattle. Our server at Andaluca was all about the food and that was awesome. We chose 5 small plates… Spicy Calamari (bruschetta, tomato, saffron aioli), Broken Egg Papas Frites (fried yukon gold potatoes, chorizo, roasted mushrooms), Chicken Skewer (marcon almonds & saffron aioli), Potato Croquette (yukon gold potato, sour cream, idiazabal cheese, panko) and the Beef Tenderloin Skewer (spanish blue cheese, marsala demi glace). I enjoyed them all. Nothing was disappointing. I think the chicken skewer and maybe the papas frites were my favorite, though.
I think we’ve established that Broken Egg Papas Frites are a normal favorite for us. These were no exception.
The dessert was really the highlight, though. The had a special cucumber sorbet on the menu based on Chef Wayne Johnson’s Cool as a Cucumber menu on Iron Chef America. I don’t remember the details, but there was definitely cucumber sorbet, lemon curd, raspberry coulis and mint. It was ah-mazing. So, so good. B had the Liquid Chocolate Cake (Hazelnut gelato, espresso syrup) since he’s not really a cucumber guy. It was also delicious. The photo was not so great.
I think I might enjoy Andaluca a bit more at a later hour. It seems like the kind of place that would have a really great energy with a full house. Did I mention the sangria? I do love my sangria and theirs is exceptional. Really, truly, drink it by the pitcher exceptional. Next time.
Thursday Night Bites 