I am so jealous of people staying at the Madison Valley, they have too many nice restaurants in the neighborhood! I still haven’t made my mind up as to which one I like better, Harvest Vine or Crush, we have been to both places many times, in fact we normally think of going to Harvest Vine, but if the place is too crowded, end up at Crush. That would make you think that Harvest Vine is our first choice, but the only reason it ends up that way is because we couldn’t go there the last time, the vicious circle! Anyway, Crush is totally awesome, and we never had to wait for more than 5 minutes to get a table on walk-ins. The restaurant is not that big though, so may be we just got lucky! It will be nice to have reservation, since the bar is tiny, only around 7 seats so you may not be able to grab a seat at the bar if you end up waiting for the table.

I first heard about Crush on Food Network actually, on Rachael Ray’s Tasty Travels, chef Jason Wilson showed her how to make the most yummalicious slow braised short ribs, and it went into our must try restaurant list immediately!  After that we had been there a number of times, but I finally got to take my camera on our dinner last week with our friends Su and Su. The cuisine is new American, with Northwest flavors and using an extensive selection of local seasonal ingredients.  I was shocked when I couldn’t find my favorite seared foie gras steak with buttermilk waffle on the menu. They had replaced it with another foie gras dish with spiced brioche french toast, OMG, that single handedly is the best foie gras dish I’ve ever tasted. The bread was completely soaked in the huckleberry sauce, that soft sweet bread alone would have done it for me, but the combination with the seared foie gras, wow, what a dish! I won’t be missing my foie gras steak, which was a little too big anyway, the new dish is the perfect size.

Seared Hudson Valley Foie Gras & Huckleberries with Spiced Brioche French Toast and Miners Greens ($18)

I think I just got ahead of myself. Let me start with the decor. This two story converted home is completely dressed in white. White walls, white furniture and the white plates create the perfect canvas to showcase their sexy creations. Each serving plate was a different asymmetrical shape, no two alike, which was pretty cool! Downstairs has a dining room and a bar area, and the bar counter overlook the large kitchen, so you could sit and watch the chefs in action. You know what I love about the bar at Crush; they have these small hooks under the counter where a girl can hang her purse, isn’t that a nifty little invention? I’ve never been to the upstairs area, but I am assuming that’s where the private dining area is.

The staff is always nice and courteous, and pretty good looking too if I may add. There were a lot of old folks dining this time, but normally I’ve seen a nice hip crowd there. Just like most Seattle area restaurants, you can go as dressed up or dressed down as you want to be. I’ve seen both ends of the spectrum at Crush.

We picked up Su and Su from Vessel where they had been for the past two hours. You know how potent the Vessel drinks are, so Siv and I had a lot of catching up to do. I went for my favorite white cocktail , it had a clever name, which I can’t remember now, but has white cranberry juice and vodka in it. The cocktails are $9 each and are pretty nice with enough alcohol. The wine list is quite extensive, the three of them decided to share a nice $65 bottle of cabernet and went for individual glasses afterwards.

There was a prix fix deal going on at $60 per person for a five course meal. The menu looked really good, but since we all like to share dishes, we decided to order from the regular menu instead. The menu is divided into two pages, first page with the appetizers, where the price is around $10-$15 per dish, except for the foie gras at $18. The second page has the entrees for around $23-$28 per dish.  For vegetarians, there are some soups and salads in the appetizer section, no listed entrees, but the chef will make you something special if you ask for a vegetarian entree. I had been here before with my vegetarian friend M, if I remember correctly she got an amazing pasta dish which they just whipped up for her.

They brought us all some free green soup (I think rhubarb) to start with, since they had made extra for the prix fix menu. I’m glad we didn’t have to pay for it, since it was seriously lacking flavors. We ordered about 5 dishes to start with including two orders of the crab cakes, since there is only one cake per plate. The crab cakes were amazing, it was so full of fresh dungeness crab meat, and the pairing with the grapefruit was perfect!

Sauteed Dungeness Crab Cake with Crushed Avocado Tarragon and Spicy Citrus Aioli ($15)

Then we got these amazing short ribs, which we never fail to order, ever since we saw how it is made. The meat is so tender and flavorful, and the potato puree and baby carrots, this is easily my favorite after the foie gras! If I had to just order one dish, this will be it.

Slow braised Short Ribs & Yukon Potato Puree with buttered baby carrots and Horseradish Parsley ($23)

Next was this amazing pan sauteed halibut, which was cooked to perfection. I’ve never had a bad halibut anywhere!

Sauteed Wild Alaskan Halibut & Lemon Herb Butter with Radishes and Stinging Nettle - King Crab Gratin ($26)

 We were still hungry after these, so went for two more orders. The grilled lamb chops with a bean salad and beet relish was not anything special. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t bad, but nothing innovative, we could have skipped this one easily.

Herb Grilled Oregon Lamb Chops & Syrah Sauce Cotrone Bean Salad Red Beet Mint Relish ($28)

  

Next was this black cod strangely paired with pork belly, but the combination worked. Actually I wasn’t impressed with the cod itself, but the pork tasted really great with the spinach confit.

Porcini Dusted Alaskan Black Cod & Pinot Sauce Lacquered Pork Belly, Spinach & Fennel Confit ($23)

The only disappointment of the evening were the so-so desserts. They were very pretty to look at, but didn’t really match the food. The chocolate cake with the chocolate ice cream wasn’t all that bad, but the layered rhubarb mousse was seriously disappointing. It was too sour for a dessert, we ordered it just because it looked pretty, but we couldn’t have more than a spoonful. I don’t know why it is a dessert!

The food is truly unique and delicious, a must try restaurant. My advice will be to enjoy the amazing food, splurge, but skip the desserts. It is a little too expensive for an everyday meal, the whole evening costed us about $350 including tax and tips for the four of us, but out of which more than $120 was on booze. If you order smart, it won’t be that expensive, this restaurant is worth the price tag in my opinion. 

www.crushonmadison.com

Crush on Urbanspoon

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Comments

3 Responses to “Crush - Another Sexy Restaurant in Madison”

  1. Shantanu on May 6th, 2007 3:09 am

    Mouth-watering! Have to put this on my must-do list if I visit the Seattle area. Great pics and great description!

  2. Co on June 20th, 2007 3:49 am

    I’m pretty sure what you had to drink was a “White Cosmopolitan”…Martha Stewart likes them, apparently.

  3. Sig on June 20th, 2007 4:06 am

    Hey co… lol I wouldn’t call white cosmo a clever name…
    This is one of their signature drinks and it is called something like “up all night” or “get me high” or something like that..

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