Gastropod

I caught wind that Gastropod in SoDo (Southern downtown in Seattle) was closing in two weeks! I had only been once before for a work event but I had been dying to take Jeff back. Gastropod is a teeny tiny kitchen in an unassuming dining area. There are two servers tops at any one time. They have beers from Epic Ales Brewery and some really creative and divine food. 

As it is the closing in weeks, the dining and bar area were packed with no seats but our server was happy to serve us wine and been in the waiting area. 

Most of the seating is around the chef's cooking area. Jeff and I always love the chef's table as we get to see all of the cooking action (and let's be real, after 9 years together it isn't like we have to gaze into each other's eyes - so the entertainment of watching chef's creating amazing food is our preference). Seriously, the kitchen was tiny - he had an oven and two burners. We were impressed with the kind of food that he could easily make without having a giant industrial kitchen. 

We started out with a beet, potato and grape salad. I have never thought of those three foods together but it was really a wonderful combination. The dressing was a huckleberry nutella mixture - Jeff was loving that.

Next, we had roasted shishito peppers with kim chee tofu sauce. The sauce was so creamy did not have any dairy in it (yay for me!). Shishito peppers are just the right amount of spicy and they are killer when roasted. For all you Denver people, Linger has a dish with roasted shishito peppers and fried cheese curds - highly recommended. 

Then we were brave and tried Geoduck (pronouced gooey duck) which is a large clam species. I asked Jeff what Geoduck was and he reminded me that is was the sea creature that looks like a penis! When in Rome! It was actually really tasty. The taste was like a light white fish and the texture was very much like a mushroom.

I also ordered a steak which melted in my mouth. I was terribly sad to let Jeff eat all of the gnocchi and taleggio cheese due to my food issues but he did enjoy both very much.

Our last course (or Jeff's last course as this is all dairy) was a panna cotta with huckleberries and espresso cookies. We thought the dish was a great serving size for a nice sweet treat at the end of dinner.

We are sad to see such a great restaurant near our house close but the brewer and chef due who opened Gastropod are moving to a new endeavor called Mollusk - which will be right near my work!

-Jenna