This year Seattle had more James Beard nominees than any other city it's size,
RockCreek is one of them. Located in Ballard near
The Whale Wins and others this restaurant has a contemporary look and feel with a lot of glass and wood with both outdoor and indoor seating
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| Oysters |
One of the reason I started going to great restaurants like RockCreek was for customer entertainment, a great restaurant trumps an old school expensive chain steak restaurant not only in price but for quality and experience. Great restaurants have one thing in common great chefs
Eric Donnelly has gained a lot of notoriety over the last several years with his James Beard nomination, and several write-ups in regional papers as one of the best chefs in Seattle. He is a seafood expert and has been a guest on the
Deadliest Catch. Rock Creek was also very accommodating because we added a few new members to our party and they easily worked with us. Keep this in mind that this menu changes daily due to the types of fish and ingredients they find the freshest.
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| Octopus |
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| BLT Salad |
Lets get to the food one of our colleagues ordered several starters including an assortment of Oysters including
38 North from Maryland and several from Washington including
Wild Cat Cove,
Barron Point and
Calm Cove. It is amazing how each area the oyster comes from provides not only a different look but a different taste. Above all they melt in your mouth buttery and briny. Next up was Char Broiled Alaskan Octopus with Cannellini Beans, Capers, Olives with a Chili Vinaigrette. First of all the Octopus was very tender but the color and the flavors were perfect. The Chili gave a bit of a punch combined with the bitter taste of the caper and the olive. We all decided to share a couple of salads so we chose the Fried Green Tomato BLT Salad. there was a
large slab of Bacon from Neuske's Farm, Arugula and Tomato Shallot Relish topped off with a little Green Goddess.
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| Black Cod |
This was a meal in itself the combo of the fried Green Tomato and the Bacon provided a great fat profile along that was accented by the peppery taste of the Arugula. The other Salad was Chioggia and Golden Beet with Pickled Onion, Oregon Hazelnuts, Ricotta Salata and Arugula. Nothing like the Earthiness of Beets combined with the bite of Arugula topped off with Ricotta crumble and bits of caramelized onion to give you that additional spicy bite.
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| Fish Stew |
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| Sea Bass with Poached Egg |
This is a Seafood restaurant so you go with what they are known for and tonight was our lucky night because they were serving
Black Cod from
Neah Bay. Several of us ordered it and it was perfect Black Cod aka Sablefish is a white fish with a good amount of oil in it so when cooked perfectly it falls apart in your mouth. It was cooked in Sherry and was topped with deep fried shallots and fennel. Other dishes served were the California White Sea bass with grilled Goose Tongue topped with a Poached Egg on a bed of Beluga Lentils, Normand Fish Stew with Rock Fish, Manila Clams, in a base of Pernod and Sofrito Tomato's. As you will see from the pictures the food is colorful and I was told all the dishes were spectacular.
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| Chocolate and Caramel Yummy |
There were a few desserts ordered and the best by far was this chocolate, caramel, vanilla concoction that was as good as it looks. This is a popular restaurant because of the quality of food and service so make sure you have a reservation.
