After snapping the obligatory landscape shots, we were ready to move on to the EMP (Experience Music Project) Museum across the way.
EMP came recommended from a friend who also doesn't love museums, because this isn't your average museum. It has a entire interactive section for people to try out all kinds of instruments, have jam sessions, or even record their own track. I took a little tutorial on the drums, I think it will help my Rock Band game. The other exhibits were geared towards the Seattle music scene, naturally, so we checked out the Nirvana and Jimi Hendrix rooms. Pretty cool, I must say. Very interesting how certain music was defined by the Pacific Northwest, but the Pacific Northwest was defined by the burgeoning music scene at the same time. Luckily, we were also able to catch Michael Jackson's Thriller video (full length) on the big screen before we left.
I had to take care of something for work in the afternoon, so we set off to find something quick to eat before that. Jeremy and I have a running joke about how I can't pronounce anything correctly that is not in English, so when we saw a Thai place called Phuket, we thought "fuck it," let's give it a try. Really nothing to report here, just food to hold us over until our much anticipated dinner at Canlis that night.
So let's just skip to Canlis, it's the highlight of the trip anyway. For those of you that don't know, Canlis is an award winning restaurant that has been operated by the Canlis family for over 50 years. It tops every list in the Northwest region, and many for the entire country. It boasts five star service and even better food. It was also featured on this season of Top Chef: Seattle. Needless to say, we were very excited. They even take reservations on OpenTable up to 3 months in advance, so that is extra points in my book.
So we got all dressed up (Jer even wore a sports jacket, but just because he had to) and had a top 2 ever meal (joining Blue Hill at Stone Barns). No detail was overlooked here. Every table in the dining room allows for spectacular views of the Puget Sound, each waiter was well versed in every ingredient in our food (and its origins), and each course was timed to a tee. To start, we each ordered a cocktail that was mixed using the finest ingredients and perfectly balanced (later followed by a couple more rounds). We received a lovely amuse-bouche of a sweet potato soup shooter and rolls baked with olives and sea salt. After receiving a thorough explanation and recommendation for our meal, we decided on: the famous Canlis Salad, Wagyu steak tartar, Dungeness Crab Cake, NY Strip Steak, and King Salmon. I will get to dessert later.
The Canlis Salad was simple, which is why it is a perfect opening course. Romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, bacon, mint, shredded Romano cheese, and a homemade dressing was pre-split between the two of us before serving (I always appreciate that because eating with Jeremy is always a "if ya snooze ya lose" situation). The Wagyu Steak Tartare was made with the probably the finest cut of meat I have ever had, plated in a shareable fashion. We ate it on top of the accompanying caper toast. The Crab Cake arrived surrounded by a lobster broth and had the crispiest outer shell. After digging in, you discover the insane amount of Dungeness crab densely packed in there. Now for the main course- Jeremy went with the salmon because when in Seattle, you eat a shit ton of salmon. He would like to note that at no other occasion would he order salmon at such an establishment. I, on the other hand, dove straight into about 10oz of the finest NY Strip I have ever had. It was deliciously marinated and cooked to perfection (seriously, the most perfect medium rare I have encountered). Let's not make fun of Jeremy too much, he helped me with the steak since his dainty salmon did not quite do the job. Not that it wasn't delicious as well. The salmon dish came plated atop a bed of sautéed shiitake mushrooms and a cream sauce. Cooked to perfection, the salmon lived up to the idea that the country's best and freshest salmon can only be found in the Pacific Northwest. It was delicious to say the least. Ordering the salmon anywhere else can not and will not be duplicated by Jeremy again.
So now it's time for dessert and we make the big decision to wait the noted 30 minutes for the Canlis Soufflé. About 15 minutes go by and our waiter approaches us with tragic news: in an extremely rare occurrence, our soufflé has exploded! To make up for this error, they send us the "starter" dessert from the tasting menu to hold us over while we wait for a new one to get going. I would just like to point out that since we were expecting to wait 30 minutes, we probably would have never noticed anything even happened. We were tipsy and happily in a food coma. However, we still gladly accepted their gracious offer of Rhubarb Sorbet, chunks of bergamot and grapefruit, and pieces of meringue atop some creamy amazing sauce. Then, our soufflé came out shortly after looking golden brown and gorgeous, with a "C" for Canlis outlined in powdered sugar. The waiter went to dig into the middle to pour the anglaise, but was so cool to ask if I wanted to snap a picture of this beauty first. Of course I did! Now I can show it to you all here:
Damn, this was some soufflé. Fluffy, light, sweet but not too sweet. I would say the perfect cap to a perfect meal, but you know it's not over yet. The dessert amuse-bouche were 2 apple caramel French macaroons plus 2 dark chocolate truffles filled with pistachio cream. I am still thinking about those macaroons. Honestly they were better than anything from Laduree, mmm.
I would wrap up here, but there is just one more thing to point out that really put a cherry on top of our perfect evening. They did not charge us for any dessert which I thought was unnecessary (though awesome) and just shows their commitment to excellence. If anyone is in the Seattle area any time soon, it is really a no brainer to splurge on a meal here, worth every penny.
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