Restaurant Zoe – Third Time’s the Charm!

I don’t believe in second chances; especially when it comes to restaurants. Once I’ve had a bad experience at a restaurant, it is very rare that I’d go back to that place again. With so many choices around, why should I? But there are exceptions to any rule, we finally had a great night at Zoe on our third try, glad I broke the rule on this one.

My first visit to Zoe was with a group of friends on a girls’ night out two years ago. About 10 of us showed up for our 8:00 PM reservation, and were seated at 9:00! Service was pretty rude too, I don’t think any food would’ve tasted good after that wait! Blaming the bad food on the service, Siv and I went back there a few months ago and tried their $25 prix-fix menu on the 25 for $25 promotion, and the food was a total disaster. We had sworn off Zoe, but everyone else seemed to go on and on about how good Zoe is, so finally last night we decided to give it a final try, and guess they got the word , the food finally lived up to its name.

Zoe is another upscale Belltown bistro, serving French influenced American cuisine. The decor is casual, crowd varies from casual to super dressy, a common Seattle scene.  The restaurant is kind of big, but the tables seemed to be cramped together to accommodate the crowd. We got an OpenTable reservation for 9:15 PM, showed up at 9:00 , and waited at the bar while our table was getting ready. Restaurant was really crowded, but luckily the bar was empty except for another couple waiting for their table. The signature cocktails didn’t interest us much, they had an expansive and expensive wine selection, we went for a relatively cheaper bottle, a blended wine from Antonin Rodet for $38. Before we were half way through the first glass, our table was ready.

Since we got really bad service last time, our expectations were pretty low. But this time the service was simply top notch! Our waiter Joe was very pleasant and completely knowledgeable. The way he described the specials and some of the dishes, it felt like he could make even a glass of water sound like a delicacy. Also it was very clear that he actually loved food, wasn’t just repeating some lines, he actually knew how everything was cooked and what went into each dish, he was even drooling a little bit while describing the Hog special! 

The menu at Zoe is divided into small plates and entrees. Appetizers ranging from $7.00 to $17.00, most dishes in the neighborhood of $10-$12. Entrees go from $18.00 to $36, but most are around $25. Then there are two more sections for salads and sides. We wanted to start with two small plates, but since we couldn’t agree on two, we went for three instead and decided to wait and see how many entrees we should order.

To start with we were served this amuse bouche complements of the chef. It was made of some kind of Italian grain, I forgot the name, the dish was sweet and had sour cherry pieces inside. It wasn’t anything great and failed to amuse our bouches. We got a little worried, thinking the third visit is going to be a disaster again!

Then came our first course, grilled spicy octopus with red onions, red radish picholine olives with blood orange vinaigrette ($10.50) .This was a little too sour and little too spicy for a restaurant like this. But our Indian palettes could relish the tangy spicy taste, which we are so used to, so we loved this dish. I don’t think this dish is for everyone though, the sauce might be too overpowering for regular fine food connoisseurs, for us it reminded of some sweet and sour Indian seafood dish. 

I always carry my small camera in my purse after I started blogging. Because of this, there is a lot of wear and tear on it, and sometimes the lens gets dirty, since the cover accidentally opens up. It was acting a little strange (or was it me?) last night. The Octopus and the hog (coming up later on) were slightly out-of focus, so had to reduce down to a smaller size to make these pics look good enough.

Next course was this crispy kurobuta pork belly confit with caramelized endive puree, apricots and pistachios ($10.50). Zoe is worth a visit just for this one dish. Kurobuta pork is the Japanese black hog, it is darker and richer and well marbled.  The apricot and nuts in the endive puree is the best complement to the sweet and juicy and tender pork belly pieces with the wonderfully crispy fat pieces . Our favorite dish of the night!

Then came the foie gras tourchon with rhubarb compote, toasted brioche and pistachio orange brittle ($17.00). Tourchon is the method of cooking foie gras by placing it in a towel and poaching it. (Torchon in French means towel. ) The Foie gras patty went nicely with the pistachio orange brittle and the little too sour rhubarb compote and the bread. Not my favorite foie gras preparation, but this indeed was a great dish.

We were kind of full with the three small plates, but from the time Joe described the Hog preparation for the night ($21.25) (the Hog preparation changes nightly), we were drooling over it, so decided that one more dish won’t hurt if we can skip dessert.   What a great decision, since this was just extra-ordinary! The meat came from different parts of the pork , I remember Joe talking about the cheek and the belly and probably the back side too. The belly meat didn’t have the fat like in the crispy pork belly preparation, but the meat was wrapped around in bacon fat and slow braised. The vegetables were cooked along in the gravy formed from the fat and dripped from the meat. This was served on top of the best semolina gnocchi I’ve ever had, soft and flavorful in the gravy. Just writing about this making me drool, no wonder Joe was drooling while describing the dish, now I’m not sure if I liked this best or the crisp pork belly.

Overall, a great Friday night dinner, Zoe is going into my list of favorite Seattle restaurants. Definitely going back again, just won’t try the prix-fix, that’s all.  

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Category: American, Belltown, French, Northwest