cafe juanita

we had an incredible meal with our boys and their wive’s at juanita’s. thefoodwas enticingly eye catching and the taste was delicious! they were extremely accommodating when it came to preparing gluten-free. highly recommend!!

the new juanita is much prettier and shinier, but it will still remind you of the old one you used to love. 

we kept it simple.  i had the risotto with octopus and then the rabbit.   the risotto was well done, black, with small nibbles of octopus that weren't chewy.   the smaller portion was entree sized, and quite a deal.   the rabbit...i love the sauce but i was missing some tooth to the dish.   my friends had the scallops, which were wonderful.   really outstanding and i had a bit offoodenvy.

i finished with a simple panna cotta, which i adored and was one of the hits of the night. 

staff was super professional and very friendly.   great experience again.

good, but not great. my husband and i had a very nice meal at cafe juanita this evening. the only reason that "very nice" isn't as good as it sounds is (a) it is an expensive place and (b) given all the rave reviews and getting into national top 100 lists i expected some "wow" which wasn't there.

the service was attentive and prompt and people were very friendly. the location isn't all that great looking from the outside - it looks like a converted 1950s home - but inside it's very sleek and modern.

i had the duck confit appetizer which was good - the duck is wrapped in a cabbage leaf and has a "parmigiano reggiano brodo reduction". my husband's beet salad was a little disappointing - the beets were firm but not all that flavorful or sweet, although i liked the gorgonzola bombolino that came with it a lot (more than he did, i should note).

i ordered the lamb which came with a wonderful kale and turnip mixture with some parmesan. my husband ordered the rabbit which he liked a lot - i thought it was nice, but not great. we split an order of a wonderful spicy cauliflower - that was a home run.

we didn't stay for dessert (too full!).

i think given the overall experience, we might try again in a while, but this really should have been better - i wanted to be really wowed by thefoodand wasn't.

f**king delicious!. "pardon my french" i said to our waitress as i used the title of this review to explain my feelings about the caponet of goose confit with cabbage and sherried goose brodo that began what can only be described as one of the culinary highlights of my life!

in my opinion far too manyfoodwriters dissect what they've eaten when, oftentimes, an emotional response would be far better ... and our server seemed to appreciate the earthy language as being appropriate for this fine dining rendition of rustic northern italian fare.

the prologue to our meal had been a negroni with marcona almonds for my wife and a gin with blackberry & huckleberry jam stirred into it, and a fried rabbit's liver for me! would i think of putting gin and jam together , let alone accompanying it with fried rabbit offal? heck no ... but holly smith and her team must have a palate just like mine and i thank them all the more for that!

alongside my caponet of goose confit my wife had the spot prawns with lardo bruschetta. she loved it but was kind enough to share the paper thin lardo with me ... a deliciously sweet 'condiment' when melted atop the caponet.

the appetizers were followed by a salad that we shared, and which was thoughtfully served on two plates. the roasted beets on marcona almond butter with gorgonzola bombolino were sumptuous, every element working perfectly together. two plates were returned to the kitchen scraped clean of every last trace offood... i think we both considered licking our plates but thought better of it as the entrees were still to come.

we had asked the wine steward ( so much less snobby a title than 'sommelier') to recommend an italian wine that would not taste too "pinot-y" to us,having drunk a lot of oregon's finest recently. after a taste of one wine established our benchmark for the flavors we were looking for, she suggested a wonderful 2004 brunello di montalcino that just improved as the evening wore on and was nicely within the budget we gave her.

then came the entrees. my wife had the goats cheese gnocchi, beautiful pillows of potato with sweet heirloom cherry tomatoes ... she liked it but had a hard time keeping her bread out of the jus that accompanied my braised rabbit!

ah, the braised rabbit ... chef smith's signature dish and oh what a graceful but strong signature it is! as one blogger review put it "i've eaten a fair few rabbit dishes ... we brits do that" ... yes indeed, but never have i eaten such deliciously good rabbit.

the loin the belly and the thighs each received their own treatment, the latter being stuffed with porcini and wrapped in proscuitto. what made the dish was the perfect jus that accompanied it ... thick enough to cling to thefoodand flavorful without being overpowering. our server's description of the kitchen staff dipping bread into the leftover jus at each night's end was all too believable ... and who could blame them!

desserts were a panna cotta with cardoon honey and vanilla sea salt and a chocolate truffle tortino with mint gelato and sour cherry balsamic reduction. both were beautifully prepared, with the panna cotta edging the tortino in the voting for "best dessert".

a complimentary glass of moscato d'asti was another thoughtful gesture in an evening made even more enjoyable by the friendly attention of really good staff.

it had been three years since our last visit to cafe juanita ... i don't think we'll wait anything like as long before our next!

elegant. cafe juanita is a little bungalow house in kirkland that has beautiful service. itsfoodis top-quality, interesting, and seasonal. fine candlelit dining, perfect for a special occasion or any day extravagance.

nasty. i've wanted to dine at cafe juanita for many years and finally had the opportunity to do so. i was sorely diappointed in the menu (limited) and what i ordered (beet salad/fingerling potatoes). the beets were perfectly roasted but the blob of melted cheese inside of a hushpuppy on top was cold and greasy. the peanut sauce upon which the beets rested was like watery jif peanut butter. the potatoes were underdone and flavorless. the ricotta gelato was unplatable and left a nasty taste in my mouth. i've eaten a lot of northern italian cuisine and thisfooddid not resemble anything i have ever eaten before. i wish i had spent the money on groceries instead. worst birthday dinner i have ever had in my life.
the wait staff was professional but not attentive. the water girl kept filling my water glass even after i asked her not to three times.
i will not go back there ever and will not recommend this restaurant unless it is to someone i do not like.

there's lots of greatfoodaround these days, but how often do you eat a meal that truly blows your skirt up? last night i ate one of the most memorable meals in the last 10 years.

it's complicated. this is definitely a very nice high end restaurant. parking is a problem as we had to park a block over and walk which is not what you expect from a fancy place like this although personally it did not bother me much. the ambiance is nice, somewhat dark with candles. the place appears to be an old house that was converted to a restaurant but it works fine. thefoodwas all very good although nothing stuck out in my mind as spectacular. so why am, i not more enthusiastic about this place? i think it is because thefoodis too complicated. they just try too hard. that is not to say they don't do a good job but the flavor combinations seem false. it's like they just have to add one more ingredient and because there is so much going on it does not work as well. you may really like it but i prefer more simply executed dishes. i may go back and give it another try sometime and will let you know if i do get wowed. it just seemed expensive, a little pretentious, and overly complicated.

2+ sneezes

not too salty. notwithstanding holly smith's resume, i had reservations about dining here because it seemed a bit too pretentious and potentially too stuffy for my liking. plus, what great dining establishment these days exists outside the 206? café juanita is not even in downtown kirkland!

nevertheless, it's a restaurant i've been wanting to go to for a long time, so my wife and i ventured across the bridge on a recent saturday evening to see whether the long-standing hype was real. short answer - the press is well-deserved.

the dining room is shockingly intimate, and the open kitchen where the one-time iron chef candidate was cooking furiously can be viewed from pretty much every seat, save for the downstairs area which i'm told is usually reserved for larger parties. and thefoodis outstanding, and extremely inventive. a truly unique bite not to be missed is the king crab w/ green apple sorbetto along with crab butter powder. the savory and sweet and chilled flavors combined to make what was unquestionably one of the greatest dishes i've had in recent memory. the incredibly simple pear salad was also very elegant - thinly sliced pairs paired w/ pin nuts, freshly shaved parmigiano reggiano, and an incredibly fragrant white truffle vinaigrette. and of course the freshly made homemade pastas and entrees were also outstanding. we opted for the maltagliati with lamb and ricotta and the braised rabbit. the former was such a delicate dish despite its normally heavy ingredients, and the latter was coupled w/ a chickpea crepe that came w/ thinly cut strips of pancetta and porcinis that really blew me away.

add housemade bread and crackers, an incredibly attentive wait-staff, and an extensive wine list (about 95% italian), and i guess there's no surprise that this restaurant racks up the awards on an annual basis. if there's ever an excuse to go over the eastside, this is it.

anniversary dinner! ooooppppss!. the plan was simple enough have a nice, romantic anniversary dinner at a restaurant with a good reputation for turning out some of the bestfoodon the eastside.
when we arrived the place was packed (naturally i was thinking, ahhhh we made the right chose!) so packed there was no parking. i actually had to call the restaurant to ask where we should park as there were "you will be towed" signs everywhere! after finding a place to park, we walked up to the front doors and there was barely enough room to squeeze the two of in, and i am thinking even though we have reservations there is no way we will be seated for at least 20 minutes. much to my surprise, after notifying the maitre d of our arrival we were seated right away!
so far so good, i'm loving the candle light room and the coziness of the restaurant. so we order our appetizers, i ordered the foie gras and my husband ordered the veal and chanterelle stuffed cipollini onions. the apps arrived they are both delicious and with the accompaniment of the wine and the lovely sampler of bread that was on the table, i am thinking that we are in for a big treat.
now to the main course, my husband ordered the braised rabbit, which has been the house specialty for the last 10 years according to our waiter, and i ordered the ordered the tagliatelle bolognese. i ordered a seemingly ordinary dish thinking that in an upscale allegedly italian restaurant that it would be spectacular, boy was i wrong! i appreciated the homemade pasta even though it was over cooked but the bolongese was over salted and tasted like hamburger helper. if you are trying to "highlight" the flavor of the meat in the dish then you add components to accentuate the tastes, not just fry it up and through it on top of some pasta and call it a sauce! this dish really killed it for me!
and the rabbit was really good at first but then as you worked your way up the leg it got dryer and dryer.
skip the espresso, it was unpalatable. this is a great place for wine and appetizers, but i would not recommend it for dinner, unless you don't care aboutfoodand are only going there try and catch a glimpse of chef holly!

overrated and overpriced. i ate at cafe juanita recently and was underwhelmed after reading all the reviews. thefoodis definitely good, but i'd put it on the "fussy" side--and italian is anything but about "fussy". the flavors were not fully developed in some dishes and others were not well composed (fussy: ricotta with honey and mint on a dish with lamb ragu--the ragu is going to overpower the delicate honey and mint flavors every time). but it's really the outrageous prices that got me. service was excellent, but still.

risotto!. finally went here for a friend's birthday dinner a while ago...and really enjoyed it.

we had a great time, and thefoodwas sublime. there was a 'double-broth' soup that was incredible. as a cook myself, it's wonderful to get ideas and tips from the experts. here, the chef makes her chicken stock from scratch (of course) but then she simmers it again with parmigiano reggiano rinds! these add an indescribable depth of flavor that doesn't overpower the stock.

as a group, we shared the risotto...and wow. this dish was literally lick-your-plate-clean good. in fact, we created quite a stir when our bread-wiped-clean plate arrived back in the kitchen. the chef personally perked up to find out which table had liked it so much!

all in all - this is a lovely spot - a little out of the way but worth it!

fantastic. i will be the first to admit that i think that most of the restaurants in seattle aren't very good. over-priced and not very good. cafe juanita is not one of these places. thefoodis excellent. the wine is excellent. the service is excellent. the only bad thing is the desserts, but all the otherfoodis so good, i'll give them a pass. besides. i'm so full by the time i get to dessert, i have shouldn't order it anyway. it's always a pleasure to eat here. i come away from the experience relaxed and inspired to cook more gourmet meals. also, to recreate some of the dishs that i just had. that's what a good meal should do to you. inspire.
to sum it up, when people ask me of a place to go, one of the few places that i can full heartedly recommend is cafe juanita.

don't let the look fool you. this isn't place for your typical dining. holly has the experience to use the fresh seasonal ingredients and compose various dishes. sometimes it may not agree to your expectations. but thefoodis always excellent. as to the cost of dining? if you need to ask, just go to denny's as you won't appreciate the skill that goes into each plate served.

cafe juanita is a tour de force in haute cuisine. simply amazingfoodand service. the extraordinarily personable staff is nearly without rival. the only service that compares is my experience at ristorante bitone in bologna, italy, wherein the chef / own