February 11, 2007
We had dinner at the Shoalwater Restaurant in the Shelburne Inn (actually in the town of Seaview).
Our cottage provided a guidebook with ads, flyers, etc. from area businesses. We saw a menu for the Shoalwater, and The Boyfriend spotted a vegetarian French onion soup listed on it. (Traditional French onion soup is prepared with beef stock, lots of onions, and croutons or sliced bread smothered in cheese.) We noticed several other vegetarian, though not vegan, choices.
The hotel and restaurant looked nice and a bit fancy from the outside. Once we stepped in and were “greeted”* and shown to our table, I expected a bad—and moderately expensive—experience. The “hostess”* (you’ll see the reason for the quotation marks at the end of this entry) asked for our name. I told her that we didn’t have a reservation. Pencil poised over reservation book, she appeared confused. (The restaurant was nearly empty; I saw two other couples there.) I gave her The Boyfriend’s name. The “hostess’s” pencil hovered closer to the reservation list, then retreated.
As she escorted us to a table, TB inquired whether the vegetarian French onion soup was still on the menu. She shrugged and replied, “I dunno.”And that was all she said. Not, “I’m new …” (even if it was a lie) or “Sorry, I’m not familiar with the menu, but your server will be able to answer any questions.” And she didn’t offer to check for us.
Our waiter came to our table to take our drink order. He was pleasant and competent. TB ordered a Spire pear hard cider. I ordered a half-pint of Deschutes Black Butte porter. The cider was delicious, it tasted like a slightly dry white wine. The porter wasn’t very good (not the restaurant’s fault, of course). Though dark in color, it had a very light taste. TB called it “unfinished,” an apt description.
When the “hostess” delivered a small basket of sliced bread, TB asked what kind of bread it was. Once again, a shrug. The bread tasted OK (it might have been a potato bread), but the texture was gluey. It was probably cut while too warm. (A baker in my Ballard neighborhood once explained to me that cutting a loaf of bread that hasn’t cooled enough ruins the texture.)
For our meal, TB and I both ordered the vegetarian French onion soup and an entree salad. I didn’t ask the waiter if the soup was vegan, but I did ask if it was prepared with butter. He said it wasn’t, so I ordered it sans cheese.
When the waiter brought the soup to our table, he mentioned that he had my croutons (actually small slices of bread) brushed with olive oil rather than the usual butter. The soup was rich and flavorful.
The salads were excellent. TB had the dried cranberry, feta cheese, and walnut salad tossed with cranberry vinaigrette. I had the organic greens with toasted hazelnuts and sprouts and salalberry vinaigrette. Portion sizes were perfect.
For dessert, TB had a coconut bread pudding with dulce leche (caramel) sauce and declared it “spectacular.” I had the cranberry-raspberry sorbet, a wonderful blend of tart and sweet. The waiter placed the accompanying butter cookie on the plate the dessert cup sat on, rather than placing it in the sorbet as in the typical presentation. (TB took the cookie with us for future snacking.)
TB and I felt the meal was a good value for the price. We rated it four (“good”) out of a possible five on the comment card that came with the bill. We rated the service a five (“excellent”) and the “reception”* a one (“poor”).
We both enjoyed the food and the service was stellar. I especially appreciated the waiter’s attention to my “dairy issues.” Everything on the menu is fresh and made to order. While the “reception” was bad, we do recommend the Shoalwater.
If you go there, check out the “escargot debacle” letters, framed in the entry way. You can see one of them here, on The Boyfriend’s blog (be sure to click “view full picture”).
* The “hostess” seemed barely awake. She was definitely uninformed about and uninterested in the menu. At one point, I was going to ask her where the restroom was, but she probably didn’t know that, either. I give her an overall rating of apathetic bordering on surly, which comes out to minus one.