Cake and Commerce

The "California" Burrito at Humberto's in San Diego

And there it is. Carne asada and french fries. In all its food porn glory:

Dinner at Sitka & Spruce, Seattle

I waiting in line at a strip mall for 15 minutes before they opened the doors to Sitka & Spruce, an improbably tiny restaurant in an inconsequential strip mall in Eastlake, near Capitol Hill. When the doors finally opened (they were running late) I was relieved that the restaurant did indeed have adequate seating for the assembled - dispelling the online rumor that there were only 12 seats in the entire place. More like 22 or 24 - still tiny, but I would be able to eat during the first turn.

Since I was in town for business, I was dining alone - I usually don't get in touch with anyone during my trips because my schedule is usually pretty hectic. They seated me at the communal table - with settings for 8:

The dining area appear to be much smaller than the "back of the house" (in quotes because it is largely open to the dining room). Here's a view from the bar to the pass to the back - it has the appearance of the most amazing home kitchen ever:

Every day there is a new market menu - written out on the chalkboard. Most dishes can be ordered as appetizers or entrees;

Suffering from terrible penmanship myself, I was able to decipher the menu with ease. The couple sitting next to me had more trouble ready the chalkboard. At least that's what I heard them telling the server.

I became rather obsessed with the super-fancy corn nuts they served us. At first I was extremely polite, eating one corn nut at a time. And then I dug in, with gusto, to the combo salted corn nut/lima bean nut/chick pea nut cocktail mix.

I ordered four small dishes - smelt, halibut crudo, a shellfish salad, and porcini and polenta. The smelt was amazing - so fresh, with wonderful flourishes of lemon and mild red pepper:

I didn't love the crudo, instead offering it to the couple on my right - thus opening up conversation which moved the dinner along in a much more engaging manner. Turns out she was an aspiring food tv star, and had just tried out - with many other Seattleans or whatever it is they call themselves - for the Food Network's Next Food Network Star. Here's the crudo:

The shellfish salad was lovely, though drenched in a tad too much olive oil:

I liked the large grains of the polenta, but the whole dish was too buttery, too rich for just one to eat. But I love them porcinis....

What I enjoyed most about the communal table was meeting the couple next to me who turned out not to be a couple but old friends. Nahide (the Food Network potential) shared some squab with me. She even posed for a picture for my joke blog.

Here she is tackling the squab:

As we finished up, the next group of diners waited for us to pay our check.