This is one in a series of posts about our recent trip to Walla Walla over a long weekend. It covers dinner on Sunday evening at Kinglet, where we celebrated Ann's 60th birthday with the tasting menu and wine pairings at the chef's counter.
As we set off on foot for the 10-minute walk to the restaurant, located in an old wood milling factory (a planing facility), we noticed the crispness in the air, the beautiful yellow and burgundy leaves on the many ash trees lining the streets, and a sight that we don't see in Bend, piles of fallen leaves on the sidewalk. We miss most of these fall cues back home for the simple reason that aside from a few landscape trees, all our trees are conifers, either Ponderosa Pines or Western Junipers.
We arrived to find the restaurant extremely quiet on a Sunday night. The concept of a prix fixe tasting menu suits us to a T, but it's not a big draw on a Sunday evening. The slow night gave us the opportunity to walk about and admire the vast beams in the ceiling without bothering other guests. It also made for seamless service, which I know from personal experience is hard to do on slow nights. If you've never served tables, then you would not appreciate that servers are adrenaline junkies who depend on bustling service to keep them on their toes. On slow nights, contrary to what you might expect, it is so easy to zone out and make service mistakes. Bravo to our service team!
As we sat at the cement counter facing the open kitchen with hot line to the left and gas pizza oven to the right, we ordered cocktails before dinner. After cocktails, the service team was smoothly adept at timing our meal and the pacing was wonderful. Despite the slow night, we never felt that our pace was being pushed so that the staff could cut out early.
As for the food, on balance it was excellent. The fourth course of smoked honeynut squash was easily the best dish I have eaten in 2023 and the dish I would be most likely to rip off were I still behind the stove. I am already reimagining the squash as a ravioli filling. I found the falafel doughnut in course two more chewy and less falafel-like than I wanted, but as I chef, I appreciate the technique behind the dish. We'd certainly go back for the food. Chef de cuisine Kevin Chrisman may not be an effusive or even talkative guy, but he has chops.
The wine pairings, so often neglected by restaurants, were spot on, extraordinarily so. The wine pairing prices were expensive, but not unfair, especially considering the quality of all the wines poured. I am often put off by restaurants that pour pedestrian and sometimes ill-matched wines with their tastings. In this case, every pairing was excellent. For me, the Form and Function Syrah was a revelation and the Castello dei Rampolla Chianti Classico is an all-time favorite, a wine that used to grace my wine list.
 |
Hasselback Potato, Labneh, Caviar
Wine: a Delightfully Complex Cava |
 |
Falafel Doughnut, Tzatziki
Wine: our Summertime Favorite, Txakoli |
 |
Chorizo-Crusted Scallop, Jimmy Nardello Peppers
Wine: Local Rosé of Cabernet Sauvignon |
 |
Star of the Tasting: Smoked Honeynut Squash, Peanuts, Lardo,
Charcoal-Infused Buttermilk
|
 |
| Wine: Tissot Arbois Rouge (Trousseau/Poulsard/Pinot Noir) |
 |
| Wagyu, Carrot Purée, Matsutake, Sauce Robert |
 |
Wine: My Favorite Chianti Classico Ever
Castello dei Rampolla |
 |
| Pressed Duck Leg, Foie Caramel, Beets, Oranges |
 |
| Wine: Stunning Devison Form and Function Syrah |
 |
| Brilliant Finale: Bruléed Camembert, Molasses Mousse, Plums, Cardamon Lattice |
 |
| Wine: Tokaji Aszu 5 Puttonyos |
 |
| Pair of Digestifs |
Wow! Just wow! The food was really great and the wine pairings were off the hook. Highlights: the smoked honeynut squash (of Dan Barber at Blue Hill fame) just pushed all my buttons. The carrot purée garnishing the wagyu was perfect. And the phenomenal dessert course was a page out of my own playbook, a dessert that I could have served at my restaurant. We had a marvelous time thanks to the staff at Kinglet.
Reluctantly, after digestifs, we headed back to the Wesley, stopping along the way to take a few nighttime photos.
Monday, we had scheduled to be a down day, a rest day after our big celebratory tasting on Sunday night. I used the off-day to wander through Walla Walla looking at it through the lens of my camera. More on that in the next post.
No comments:
Post a Comment