Yesterday we picked up the Airstream and headed up to Woodinville, Washington for a quick overnighter. We gave our daughter and her husband dinner at Herbfarm for a Christmas present…we often do a fancy restaurant dinner as gifts for each other because we all really enjoy that kind of thing (and don't really need more stuff). The theme of last night's dinner was "Truffle Treasure" and it was fabulous. More about that in a minute.
We stayed at Lake Pleasant and got to have another quick visit with our friends Tiffani and Deke. Bonus!
The spots at Lake Pleasant are mostly right on the lake and the spots are separated by hedges…it's a really nice park and only about 10 minutes from Woodinville.
We got parked, spent an hour visiting and then got dressed and headed over to Herbfarm for our 9 courses of truffle awesomeness.
Cute shot of Larra and Ari:
We'll be getting all foodie here for the rest of the post. You've been warned. 🙂
I missed getting a photo of a couple of courses, but I'll post what we had in order and add a photo if I have it.
No. 1: Seafood Bar. Celery root and white truffle tart and apple & shiso with smoked arctic char roe, glazed Shoal Bay mussels and Puget Sound Dungeness crab (served with 2009 Argyle Oregon Brut). Those are thin shaves of Oregon white truffles there on top:
No. 2: Rainbow of the Sea. Quinault River winter steelhead and Oregon black truffle presse, poached leeks, wild watercress, croutons, lemon thyme vinaigrette (served with Poet's Leap Riesling from Columbia Valley WA):
No. 3: Oh, Raviolo: Raviolo of Roy's Calais Flint corn polenta and enrobed hen's yolk, pork belly turnip patch, dill sauce, and shaved white truffle, served with 2011 L'Ecole No. 41 Semillon from Columbia Valley, WA:
Okay so I think this was my favorite dish, and I don't have a photo of it. A couple times for a couple different courses I took a bite before taking a photo, but luckily (usually) there was a plate someone hadn't touched yet or the bite didn't ruin the photo. This raviolo dish was so incredible that we just kept going and no one remembered to take a photo at all. Oh well. It was great. Trust us.
No. 4: Milk-Fed Chicken. Poached breast of young milk-fed chicken, cipollini onions, salsify-black truffle ragout, chicken skin crumble, sauce Perigourdine, served with a 2011 Brick House gamay noir, estate, from Ribbon Ridge, OR:
No. 5: Blackness: Snake River Farms New York Wagyu strip steak, black truffle mashed potatoes, black trumpet mushrooms, sweetbreads & braised black kale in Feuilles de Brik, Red Beets (served with a 2010 Darby Winery "Chaos" from Columbia Valley, WA):
No. 6: Truffled Trifle. Melting Ancient Heritage Adelle Sheep Milk Cheese (OMG this CHEESE!), sage-sourdough waffle, truffled Herbfarm honey, and fried sage leaves:
No.7: Whiteness. Goat yogurt mousse, gin gelee, Douglas fir snow, Juniper meringues:
No. 8: Return of the Truffle: Roasted pear jam and hazelnut cruble, black truffle ice cream, pickled pear and a red wine caramel:
No. 9 was a little plate of tiny sweets served with a 2010 Forgeron Cellars late harvest riesling from Dionysus Vineyard. Again, no photo.
After dinner, Larra wanted to go out and feed the pigs in the herb garden (an option they told us about at the beginning of the night) so she asked and was given a little bucket with some food and instructions…which basically said not to feed the pigs with your hands/fingers.
The pigs are Basil and Borage. They are brothers, and they've got their own "About" page on the Herbfarm website.
Even though it was 11pm or so, they happily came out of their little house as they heard us approach and seemed quite grateful for the late night snack.
It was a fabulous evening. Herbfarm is certainly a splurge, but definitely worth it if you're into this sort of thing. Fun to be back in the Airstream (even if just for one night this time). We headed back to Portland this morning and today we are starting two weeks of no sugar, carbs, or alcohol (well, maybe the occasional sip of bourbon…we'll see). Fun while it lasted! 🙂
(Posted by Laura)
Ohhhh did you bring back some of the melting sheep cheese?!
I swear I ate every course with my eyes. SIGH!
How was the rare Flint Corn Polenta?! Can you really taste the difference?
Wow thanks for sharing, I nearly cried lol
These cheese is from Oregon (!!!) and we found out that there’s a spot about a mile from us where we can get it. That may happen tomorrow! 🙂
I don’t know polenta well enough to know if it was different…it was all amazing. Every single thing. -L