I still love Seattle Restaurant Week. The price has gone up slightly — it’s now $35 for 3 courses as opposed to the $33 it was when I first experienced it, but that’s still a great deal for many of the restaurants on the list. We had three Restaurant Week dinner this time around.

Bar Dojo

We’ve been to Bar Dojo almost every Restaurant Week! It would have been every single one, but last Restaurant Week (Spring 2019) we had reservations to take friends there, only to receive a call letting us know that they had to cancel our reservation due to a fire! Thankfully the fire was in the alley behind the restaurant and nobody was hurt and I don’t believe any of the businesses in the center were seriously damaged, they just had to close for the night for safety and smoke damage.

So of course we had to try again this Restaurant Week. No fire this time, just delicious food! Our table was evenly split between fig and pear salad and congee for appetizers, both of which turned out to be delicious. I had the airline chicken for my entree, one friend had salmon, and our spouses both had the chorizo ramen. All were declared excellent. And for dessert, three of the four of us had to get the squash wontons, which were amazing, though the dissenting party member enjoyed his banana nougat as well.

Our friends are now eager to return and explore more of the menu with us. Bar Dojo remains a favorite for us, and a place at the top of our list to take out-of-town guests.

Poquitos Bothell

Did you know that Main Street Bothell does a huge trick-or-treat event on Halloween? I didn’t know that, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have made reservations on Halloween. Parking and navigating was a little tricky, but the people-watching was awesome so I can’t really complain.

Poquitos Bothell is part of our regular restaurant rotation as well, but their SRW menu was all-new items not normally available, so that combined with how convenient it is to get to on a work night (as opposed to going all the way down in Seattle proper) made it an appealing choice.

I started my meal with the shrimp and corn fritters. This was a really generously portioned appetizer, and quite tasty as well. There were 6 fritters I believe, all about the size of a golf ball, and it was served in a spicy sauce that had a kick without being overwhelming. Chris had an ahi tostada and was also pleased with it.

I don’t normally go for the vegetarian option during SRW but I was intrigued by the delicata squash and had to order it. While I was definitely expecting a more… tamale-like free-form tamale and not the weird masa/grits hybrid, the squash itself was flavorful and beautiful. Chris has a beer-braised beef served over squash puree that was really a quintessential Autumn entree.

For dessert we both had the almond joy churros, which I have to admit, were one of my main reasons for wanting to go. I love churros! These did not disappoint and much like my app, it was a very generous serving.

Marine Hardware

Finally, someplace new! We knew we wanted to go to an Ethan Stowell restaurant this SRW because we were so impressed by our Bramling Cross experience last year (and subsequent non-SRW visits). Out of the many excellent options, Marine Hardware won out (I’m not sure what the deciding factor was, as I left this decision up to Chris, but they chose well).

Marine Hardware is a small space and I think this helped contribute to excellent service, as our server and the bartender could both see everyone from the bar and so there was never a sense of being “out of sight, out of mind.” I also appreciated that despite it being a busy restaurant week evening, our meal was not rushed. We had a little time to digest and talk between each course.

The best thing about going to an Ethan Stowell restaurant for SRW is getting the whole selection of appetizers “for the table.” The selection for this meal included bresaola (a cured beef, served thinly sliced), a Caesar salad, broccoli with calabrian peppers, polenta fritters, and shooters of butternut squash soup. The fritters were incredible and the salad was incredibly bitter, with the rest of the assortment and the focaccia bread we added to our meal all being tasty.

For entrees, I chose the hangar steak and Chris had the halibut. Chris’s fish had a delectably crispy skin. My steak was tender and flavorful, accented with a finishing salt and served with rosemary potatoes. I mean honestly, you can’t ever go wrong with steak and potatoes.

For dessert, Chris had the pumpkin spice panna cotta, which was delicious. I had the brownie with strawberry preserves and cream. I found it slightly disappointing, because I was expecting a good fudgy brownie and instead I had a slightly dry item that was much more like a cake. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it still tasted good and I ate the entire thing. The preserves had a nice tang to them and the flavors were all well-balanced. I was just expecting a more rich brownie experience — though to be fair, Chris makes the best dark chocolate brownies ever (using Bravetart’s recipe), so I am pretty spoiled on the brownie front.

Salad and dessert aside, we liked this experience enough that we’d definitely return here for a date night to explore the regular menu.

Your turn!

Did you participate in Seattle Restaurant Week this year? If so, what was your favorite meal?