Dinner at The Herbfarm
Flickr photoset of dinner (unfortunately it's phonecam quality)
We celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary with dinner at The Herbfarm in Woodinville on Sunday. On arrival we were welcomed with an iced herbal beverage in the cozy front room. The Herbfarm serves 9 courses of homegrown herbs and local produce featuring the flavors of the Pacific Northwest accompanied by included wine pairings often also of nearby origin. Our evening of fine dining, themed "A Menu from the Garden of Eden" actually began in the late afternoon after a wedding party had cleared out of the patio of Willows Lodge which adjourns the restaurant's herb garden and pig shed. Co-proprietor Carrie Van Dyck led us on an educational garden tour, punctuated by the flinging and passing of various flowers, leaves, and herbs which we were to chew, sniff, or examine for some characteristic. She started off with no coddling for the wary, directing us first to snap the petal off of a day lily and pop it into our mouths like a potato chip. That woke anyone up who may have thought they were in for a standard parsley, rosemary and mint routine. We also learned how to determine the gender of a zucchini flower. To cap off our tour she introduced us to Basil and Borage, the ever-widening pot-bellied replacements for Hamlet the previous "recycling" pig.
Back inside the restaurant we were seated, with our prior knowledge, at the communal table, having made our reservations mere days previous as a result of uncertainty about visiting relatives. Our table of 9 was comprised of two young couples celebrating birthdays, two couples splurging on their anniversaries, and one woman seated in her usual chair for her monthly visit. Not surprisingly, this woman was the source of many tidbits of Herbfarm lore as she had, according to a former staff member, eaten there more times than anyone else. She confessed also to a few doubled visits, returning to resample salmon and mushroom menus. When she took a break to treat Basil and Borage to bananas and raisins we tagged along. She had brought gloves along knowing that one of them is a biter. Back at the table we quizzed her on past communal table experiences and she told us that Christmas Eve had been a trial for her as seated on her left had been a woman who spoke no English who in turn had been seated next to a man who did not stop talking the entire evening (dinner at The Herbfarm runs 4-5 hours). On her right had been a man who spent the dinner engaged in combative one-upmanship discourse with the man across from her. We felt relieved that our dining companions were perfectly fine folks to spend 5 hours with.
A sparkly brut from Oregon was poured and the first course, a trio, arrived quickly. We sipped tomato water through a lovage straw and crunched delightful lovage tempura. We dipped herb-smoked mussels from the San Juan Islands into mint aoli. And we picked up tiny little spoons and forks to lap up a teeny goat cheese flan decorated with roasted tomatoes.
Owner Ron Zimmerman stood up front for a welcoming speech. Chef Jerry Traunfeld and Sommelier Mark Du Mez tagteamed descriptions of the courses and wine pairings and turned it back to Zimmerman who introduced the entire staff, guitarist Patricio Contreras, and his wife Van Dyck who was careful to plug the cookbooks available for sale.
A super sweet corn soup decorated with shiso was next, accompanied by cucumber kimchi matchsticks to balance the sweet liquid. A baby corn halved lengthwise gave us the image and crunch of the soup's origins. A Riesling from winery neighbor Chateau Saint Michelle was just sweet enough to stand up to the corn.
I had read about Lummi Island and its reef-netted salmon recently in Sunset and was pleasantly surprised that I was going to taste it so soon. The salmon was tucked into a zucchini flower (female I think) and roasted until they melded into one entity but not before the salmon lost its rareness. Tiny lemon basil leaves scattered about added a nice pop to the flavor and worked especially well with the accompanying Domaine Serene Chardonnay.
Next were three raviolis filled with carrot, flavored with tarragon and coated with a lovely buttery sauce. I like to sprinkle dried tarragon over veggies sometimes at home out of boredom and the fresh flavor and deep smell of the ravioli reminded me of the huge gap between dried and fresh herbs.
Another fish dish came next, and it was unfortunately the low point of the meal for both of us. As our menu stated "the annual migration of the Pacific Albacore tuna passes the Washington coast each summer in late July and early August." As they noted in the dinner introduction, the majority of this tuna is canned. We discussed afterwards that this wasn't such a bad thing. While we didn't hate the briefly cooked and coriander encrusted albacore, the oiliness of the flavor led me to state that I would never order albacore, because if I didn't love it at The Herbfarm it couldn't possibly be handled better anywhere else. The green beans and chanterelles that came along with the fish were amazingly flavorful and the pinot noir sauce was good. I consider the albacore a learning experience. I'm glad I was able to try it, but I wish they instead had used a beef, poultry, or pork dish, not another fish entree.
There were two strong-flavored selections in the cheese course. Unfortunately I did not get their names. One was a mild blue cheese; you could imagine it as a smooth English Farmhouse cheddar. The provided nigella seed cracker was too small for both cheeses, but had a nice flavor. A purslane-radish salad sat on the right side of the cheese plate. Radish is always too strong for my taste, but I could appreciate how it set off strong cheese flavors. Purslane is packed with nutrition.
Heading into dessert territory, a tall stemmed glass arrived with Riesling-Poached Peaches and a dollop of Anise Hyssop Ice. I'm surely committing some sort of high cuisine foodie faux pas now by saying that the peaches tasted like canned peaches, and I mean that in a positive way. Canned peaches are of course syrupy sweet and these peaches were also syrupy sweet, in fact they were in a sweet syrup. They also had the same smooth texture. Believe me, they were delicious but I suppose they reminded me of what I like about canned peaches, which give you all of the sweetness of the peach without the sour or mealy texture you sometimes get from fresh. The anise hyssop ice packed a real punch of licorice flavor that worked well with the freezing temperature.
The true dessert plate arrived with three items. I started with the wild blackberry-rose geranium ice cream cone since I didn't want it to melt. The blackberry flavor was nicely pronounced and the cone presentation was fun. They even had an Herbfarm paper wrapper for the cone. Next I had the plum, lavendar and walnut tart. The plums had a delectable sourness to them and the whipped cream was dotted with tiny crunchy bits of something (more walnut?). Last I picked up the ice cream sandwich styled pine nut meringues encasing a slice of lemon geranium sherbet. The meringues were too sweet for me and they also got very gummy next to the sherbet. I ended up eating much of the sherbet with a fork and finishing up the meringues separately. The pine nuts dotting the meringues added a unique flavor.
We were presented with a tisane, tea, and coffee menu. I was intrigued by the Dragon Phoenix Pearl Jasmine tea which was indeed flavorful, but I should have stuck to ordering my yearly after dinner coffee laced with a touch of raw sugar and real cream.
A tiny taste of 1916 Barbeito Malvazia Madeira was poured and we were presented with the final offering of the evening, five small, sweet treats: Chocolate Cherry Brownie, Raspberry Gel, Salted Toffee, Chamomile White Chocolate Truffle, Chocolate Mint Dark Chocolate Truffle. All were fresh tasting and very sweet.
During the meal, two small breads were served on the side: basil herb bread (a sliced bread with basil and oil rolled into it), rolls that were seeded, football shaped and very tasty -- my favorite of the two. Little round butter pats with herbs in them (of course) were on small trays placed in the table center.
We departed feeling happy with the journey of fresh flavors and not overly full.
