Tag Archives: Jason Wilson

Food, Restaurant

New “Taste” Menu at Crush Showcases Ingredients

Crush Beets salmon
Crush Maize iberico pork loin
Crush Ginger geoduck
Crush Black Garlic hamachi
Crush Pickle sturgeon
Crush Oolong Tea duck breast
Crush harissa dessert

Bacon & Eggs: parsnip flan, ikura, bacon foam, noble syrup. A "breakfasty" start with welcomed sweetness from the bourbon barrel matured maple syrup.

Truffle: egg, parsley, shallot, Wagyu beef steak tartare, vodka, Parmesan. Great smell and flavor of truffle, with more truffle mixed with egg and foie gras on the side.

Beets: bone broth, bacon, wild Sitka Alaska King salmon, horseradish, asparagus. The beet-infused fishy broth was the highlight.

Maize: popcorn, cornbread, Iberico pork loin, foie gras, peach, basil. Fun Southern-style dish, with foie in the corn emulsion.

Ginger: cucumber, big big bubbles, verjus, scallions, geoduck clam ceviche, sea beans. Ginger flavor was subtle, but great geoduck texture and delicious earthiness and saltiness of the sea beans.

Black Garlic: English pea, hamachi, melon, spring onion, celeriac, lemon. I wanted the black garlic flavor to be more prominent, but enjoyed Crush's hamachi, as always.

Pickle: celery, apple, rhubarb, beet stems, soubise, wild Columbia River sturgeon. Pretty plate and nice pickling.

Oolong Tea: morel mushrooms, leeks, apricot mostarda, roasted Muscovy duck breast. Interesting spin on the Chinese tea-smoked duck dish.

Harissa: Harissa ice cream in a meringue bowl with apricot puree, yogurt, and silky mint gel. I loved the way all the flavors played off against each other. Memorable dessert!

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$17 per taste. That’s the price you can plan to pay for enjoying the new concept at Crush, where each plate is based on a primary ingredient or flavor profile. (A current foie gras dish comes with a $4 upcharge, and pairings—typically wine, but can be beer, sake, or even a cocktail—are available at $10 each.) It’s a bit of a bold move by James Beard Award-winning chef Jason Wilson, who opened the restaurant nearly ten years ago.

The menu is compelling, making for difficult decision-making. There are about 15 plates, each getting its own line on the menu. A single word or phrase denotes the theme, followed by a list of the primary ingredients that comprise each dish. The diner’s dilemma: Inquire about the preparation, or sit back for a surprise?

I like a little mystery, so my dining companion and I selected four dishes each in a lighter to heavier sequence so that we could sample eight in all. (The menu suggests 4-7 plates per person to make a meal.) My coursing went from a desire for Bacon & Eggs to a love of earthy Truffle to my current intrigue with Beets to a curiosity about corn—here titled Maize.

That $17 per plate price seems high initially (and feels that way for a couple of the dishes, like the ones that feature small portions of geoduck and hamachi), but at Crush you get high-quality ingredients and expert execution in preparation. The food is extremely flavorful and ultimately filling if you can forego the current feeding trough mentality. And it’s certainly in line with the pricing you find with today’s tasting menu trend. The experience is more precious than the one at meaty Miller’s Guild, which is Wilson’s new restaurant, with both places worthy of a splurge.

Check out the slideshow above for the eight dishes I tried, plus a very surprising dessert.

Drinks, Eats, Food, Restaurant

Celebrity Chef Tour Offers Reasons to Be Thankful

Every year or two, the Celebrity Chef Tour rolls through Seattle. The event typically pairs a well-known chef from outside the area with a local one; for example, in 2010, Trellis‘ Brian Scheehser worked with Top Chef contestant Richard Blais. The Celebrity Chef Tour benefits the James Beard Foundation, with the local event typically held at the top of the Columbia Tower Club, where host chef James Hassell also contributes to the dinner.

This year’s guest chefs, though, were three celebrities from the Seattle restaurant scene: Jason Franey of Canlis, Thierry Rautureau of Rover’s and Luc, and Jason Wilson of Crush. An experience at any of their restaurants can be amazing. This multi-course meal with all three of them contributing was simply magical.

Franey prepared small bites for the reception, including foie gras pumpkin pie, sweet potato tapioca pudding with prawn, and a gorgeous rabbit loin with pine ash, apple, and yuzu. (Unfortunately, I was unable to capture any photos of these passed plates.)

Following Hassell’s salad course and Rautureau’s foie gras pairing (one as part of a smoked duck gizzard salad that I especially enjoyed), Wilson served a refreshing plate with geoduck, sea vegetables, sorrel, and Meyer lemon:

Next up was the duck course, in which Rautureau plated cured duck breast with flageolet puree, chanterelle mushrooms, foie gras nage, and harissa jam (and, yes, he has a bit of a foie gras fetish, which is fine by me):

Wilson followed this up with pork and fish, serving Pacific turbot and pig skins (chicharrones) with cured foie gras sauce (the fetish was contagious), red wine onion lentils, pork belly, and fennel:

The evening ended with Hassell’s dessert of caramel-poached Seckel pears (delicious!) with crispy shortbread and creme fraiche ice cream. After Chateau Ste. Michelle wine pairings throughout the meal, this course came with a full glass of Leffe beer.

As much fun as it was to sample all the wonderful food, I also enjoyed watching the chefs at work in the kitchen. While earnest in their endeavors, Franey, Rautureau, and Wilson worked as a team in a fun and playful manner in getting each of the courses out to the dining room. Observing them made me appreciative of all the culinary talent we have in our area, and thankful for any opportunity I have to sample the spectacular food all these chefs create day to day.