goldfinch tavern

it’s funny because doc and i often avoid eating at restaurants in hotels and yet ourseattlefriends seek them out! so when they took us to goldfinch in the four seasons we did not know what we’d be getting ourselves into. we were pleasantly surprised. often times you find that hotel restaurants are overpriced for sub par food. but not the goldfinch! now i’m not going to lie, this is a spendy place so you need to be prepared for that but you can also be prepared to be wowed! the burger was so thick i couldn’t get my big mouth around it. that says a lot! i love a good burger and i’d been craving one and i believe this to be in the top 3 best burgers i’ve ever had. you must try it. they also have great martinis and the beet and dungeness crab salad was out of this world!

i confess to being an unabashed fan of joe ritchie’s
cooking.  i first encountered chef richie’s
talent when he was running the kitchen at mkt., ethan stowell’s small 28-seat
restaurant in tangletown.  mkt. quickly
became one of my favorite places to eat in seattle, along with the likes of altura
and spinasse.  ritchie’s creations are noteworthy
for their carefully focused flavors that don’t overwhelm the main ingredient,
but embellish it with subtle, balanced and elegant grace notes.  his dishes often surprise me with lovely
details that are like opening unexpected gifts. 
it’s the kind of cooking that produces “ooohs” and “aaahs” and much eye
rolling.  word of ritchie’s wonderful cooking
spread quickly and mkt. became one of the hot tickets in theseattlerestaurant
scene, making it hard to get a reservation at the small restaurant.  when i learned that ethan stowell was moving
ritchie to a new restaurant in the four seasons hotel downtown, i was
disappointed and apprehensive.  not only
did it mean that i would have to endure the longer drive to downtown with its congestion,
traffic, and expensive parking, but i worried that the corporate hotel
influence of four seasons might drown out the unique personality and
innovativeness of ritchie’s creations, which had wisely been given full flower
at mkt.

last thursday, my wife and i were downtown in the afternoon
and decided to check out chef ritchie’s new venue at the goldfinch tavern in
the four seasons hotel.  we started with
some excellent and interesting cocktails and learned that goldfinch had the
great good fortune to hire hideki anpo, the former bar manager
extraordinaire at poppy.  since my wife
and i arrived during happy hour, we decided to take advantage of
the goldfinch burger on the happy hour menu. 
we both like our burgers cooked “black and blue” with a nice char on the
outside, but rare on the inside (which requires the use of very high quality
beef).  it is almost impossible to find a
restaurant that will nsistently cook a burger like this, the sand point grill
(another of my favoriteseattlerestaurants) being a notable exception and our
previous gold standard for a burger in seattle. 
the goldfinch burger was not only cooked perfectly to our specification,
but was absolutely delicious, thanks in part to the coarse-ground wagyu beef from
mishima ranch.  it was the best burger my
wife and i have had in seattle.  we also
had the hamachi crudo graced with small touches of taggiasco olives,
horseradish, red onion and chervil. 
beautifully balanced and swooningly good.  on my next visit, i won’t be able to resist
ordering the hamachi again, but am excited to try other things like the beef
tartare and the beet & dungeness crab salad.  i’m hoping that, in time, the menu at
goldfinch will expand to include more of the innovative small plates (like the
hamachi crudo) that were what made mkt. such a special experience.  my wife and i sat at a table by a window
overlooking elliott bay, and we liked the look, feel, and acoustics of the new
space at goldfinch.  service was
excellent – informed, attentive, and friendly. 
our very positive experience was especially impressive considering that
goldfinch was just finishing its first month of operation.