Seattle and Whidbey dining

We've just returned and have some tips. We only had two nights in Seattle and one was Monday. We did eat at Tango again for tapas. We thought it was ok this time but think we're going to try Harvest Vines next. The highlight dining expereince was Matt's at the Market for our lunch on Tuesday. We loved this place! Good food, a great atmosphere and a place we're definitely going to hit again perhaps for dinner.
We did stay at the Inn at Langley and opted for the CHef's dinner. Unbeknownst to us, the chefs had changed two weeks before our arrival. While we wanted to really like the meal(we found the chef earnest -Matt Castello of Dahlia Lounge and the Alexis and the price per person somewhat daunting)..I'd suggest skipping this experience for awhile. The food again was somewhat tasteless and while interesting in description just seemed to lack body! Maybe he just needs to get to know the island and its ingredients or have mure certain footing in that kind of cooking experience. The whole thing felt a bit like the Emperor's New CLothes to us..lots of hype and very little else.

I may sound like an incredible food snob..but really I don't think I am..perhaps quite spoiled having lived in the SF Bay Area for decades..but,I do think I know good food when I taste it. I'd send the menu if I could but suffice it to say..overdone scallops(and I prefer my fish well done), tasteless(imagine) lamb sirloin with way overdone shell beans and an artichoke heart that must have cooked for hours.. with a reduction of merlot that was rumored to have gone on for hours but with no flavor..a roasted chanterelle salad with a goat manchego..again..very few chanterelles (and I myself just bought a lb of them at Pike Market for $12/lb.) A cheesplate that was the smallest wedge of Humboldt Fog I have ever seen and some figs..and a very mediocre apple tart(with sublime fennel ice cream I might add). The portions were ridiculously small and I am a veteran of places like the French Laundry and Chez Panisse(champions of the small plate). The wine list was ridiculously inflated and one could neither bring wine in or purchase by the glass. The whole dinner ran us $300 for 2..it's the most we have ever spent on a meal again in places like TFL,Chez Panisse, NYC,, New Orleans, Paris and Italy. SKIP IT!!

Holy Crap! $300 for dinner at the Inn at Langley?? That's definitely in the price range that needs to rock my world.

I concur. Tiny portions are okay with me, but need particular care in their seasoning. Small details are much more glaringly offensive when off.

Intersting, your comments about dinner at the IaL echo much of what I heard about Mr Costello's work at The Library Bistro in the Alexis. Hopefully he won't run IaL into the ground as well.

It's extremely unfair to place the blame on M. C. for, as you so hamfistedly put it, running the Library Bistro into the ground. Or any chef ruining a restaurant for that matter. The restaurant industry is being hit hard and people do what they can to stay afloat. It's easy to take cheap shots at something that isn't +your+ livellhood. Considering that it was hearsay inthe first place, it's a rather destructive comment.

Yet you can't deny that the retooling of Painted Table was a huge misstep, can you? And M.C. had a large hand in that. He's the one who created the menu. They (not just the chef, of course) decided to serve American comfort food a good 5 years after the trend had faded, and then executed even that somewhat poorly.

Well excuse the bleep out me. Yes, holding him personnally responsible for the place closing isn't fair, but as the chef, didn't he play a relatively significant role in the operation? The reason I never went there was because of the uniformly poor comments I heard about it, I don't think I'm obligated to try places that I believe are likely to be bad. It remains that Painted Table was a consistently excellent restaurant for several years and I have a REALLY hard time believing that they couldn't have figured out a way to continue that with people who had worked with Tim.

For that matter, I've seen you take your fair share of shots at many places, hamfisted and otherwise. And since when is any business immune from criticism from people outside of it?? I work for a university an am constantly confronted in the press and in person with criticism, both ignorant and informed, of the failings of higher education and how it should be fixed. Most of these people have absolutely no idea what is involved in teaching or running a university, buy frankly I don't waste my time knashing my teeth and wrending my garments over it....

Yup, I do criticize places. But when I do I try to be specific about why it is I didn't like the place, what was wrong in terms of service or food, or on the other hand, what made the meal work and what would make me want to return. That's just not possible if you've never been there.

Details, details. Build from there.

I'm not saying you should go out and try the restaurants that you think you won't like, it just seems like bad form in a public arena where people are likely to misinterpret what's been said. Saying that you'd rather not go to a place because your friends told you it was bad is MUCH different than saying (rather authoritatively) a chef has run a place out of business.

And I withdraw the hamfisted thing; rather, uh, hamfisted of me . . . (wink)

So, talking about details, let's hear about the IaL meal. What about it was disappointing? What was enjoyed?

[The Chowhound Team]

Sorry to interrupt, but this discussion is spiralling away from our main focus of Pacific Northwest chow and is beginning to get personal. We'd like to remind everyone of our matra of "criticize the chow, not the chowhound." Please, let's get back to the food. Many thanks in advance!

What's a matra? Sounds like a type of fish or something. ;)

I think it's a vegetarian burrito prepared in East Indian style (think Calcutta).

After some deep breaths and my caffeine buzz wearing off, I would like to apologize for my hissy fit.

The initial comment about running the place into the ground was intended to be ironic and may not have been the best choice of phrasing. Let me be clear that I don't wish misfortune on any chef or restauranteur.

I don't know whose decision it was to "reinvent" the restaurant at the Alexis but, having eaten at The Library Bistro, I can tell you it wasn't a good one. The food was uninspired and the dining room was.....well, tacky. I'm not surprised it closed.

After haven eaten M.C.'s food at LB, I have to say I am not that excited to rush to Whidbey to eat at The Inn at Langley!

Is LB really dead? They're still answering their phones...

You're correct -- Library Bistro is still open. However, they have quit serving dinner.