Restaurant Reviews

For those of you who don't know, I'm currently getting my Masters of Gastronomy from Le Cordon Bleu. Its been very challenging at times (which is why I don't post as often, sorry!) but well worth it! I've started year two and this semester we're studying Gastronomic Communication. Our latest assignment was to write 3 restaurant reviews, so I thought I'd share one with you. Seth took me to the Oyster Catcher as an early birthday suprise and we had a wonderful time.

The Oyster Catcher Takes Off!

Last week I was scolded by one of my favorite wine and cheese shop owners. “You’ve NEVER been to the Oyster Catcher?” After hearing her shock, I suggested to my husband that we visit, and soon! Whidbey Island is mostly rural, so the fine dining options are far and few between. When most people want a special occasion dinner, they usually drive down to Seattle, which is a shame because we have a jewel of a restaurant right on the Island. Coupeville is a sleepy little fishing town mid-island where shops open and close as they please. The Oyster Catcher is no different. They are only open for dinner Thursday thru Sunday evenings and can seat 30 people at the most. As far as ambiance goes, the intimate dining room has gorgeous views of the town and Penn Cove, and the tables feature vases of local daffodils and tulips. The menu consisted of six appetizers (each $12), six entrees (ranging $23-31) and five desserts ($7-9) with several vegetarian options.

The chefs, Jamie and Joe, both have experience at several restaurants in France and Spain, and their food displays their knowledge. They combine their European style and technique with local specialty ingredients in a simplistic way that truly captures the essence of this small seaside town. I also enjoyed that they designed the restaurant around a semi-open kitchen, only providing a glimpse of the chef’s upper torso. Although we couldn’t see the chefs actually preparing our food, we could watch their facial expressions and movements while avoiding the actual heat of the kitchen.

Our waitress promptly greeted us with water and delicious focaccia bread drizzled with Spanish olive oil and sea salt. She described the Catch of the Day and other specials in a way that made you want to order one of everything on the menu. Instead of doing that, we opted for an appetizer of house cured bresaola, local arugula, and parmigiano-reggiano with a sprinkling of aromatic olive oil and meyer lemon juice. It was everything an opening dish should be, flavorful and light, with a balance of seasonings that leaves you wanting more. The thinly sliced bresaola nearly melted in your mouth and played well with the salty cheese, piquant greens, and citrus. I wish I could buy the bresaola from them by the pound! Next time I might try the steamed Penn Cove mussels in an herbed white wine butter sauce or the veal sweetbreads with grainy mustard and crème fraiche (that is if the menu does not change in the mean time). The chefs work with local and in- season ingredients so the menu is constantly evolving.

Moving on, each of our entrees came with either soup or salad. My husband’s soup was a vegetarian winter broth that consisted of various root vegetables. It was earthy, rich, and you did not even miss the meat. The salad was perfectly imperfect blend of local greens from Willowood Farm (just down the road), homemade focaccia croutons, and candied almonds dressed in a red wine and mustard vinaigrette. Although my husband enjoyed the savory and sweet salad, I thought the sugary dressing masked some of the flavor from the lively greens. The Oyster Catcher’s wine bottle list was quite diverse, with some high-end and more economic French and Spanish choices, as well as a wonderful blend of local Washington favorites ($24 and up). Unfortunately, they only give you around 6 choices of wines by the glass ($7-11). However each of our selections were well balanced and paired beautifully with our dishes. If you'd like to bring your own wine, they do offer a corkage fee of $20 a bottle.

Although it took me a while to decide on an entrée, my husband knew exactly what he wanted, roasted quail with turnip sauce and gooseberry chutney. The skin was crispy with perfectly cooked meat that paired well with the tang and cream from the sauce. As delicious as the dish was, it did not compare with my braised venison shank. I didn’t even need to use my knife, because this meat was so tender and perfectly prepared. The venison was hardly gamey and the chef did a wonderful job of bringing out the velvety flavors without over complicating. Along with my venison, I was given the chance to retry my peppery local greens and this time with an orange juniper cream sauce. It was a much better combination, giving the entire dish a pleasant earthiness that I will order again. Unless the braised pork shoulder with bacon, mustard and sherry sounds like a better idea.

While I could have stopped at the entrees and been perfectly satisfied, we could not resist trying the desserts. It wasn’t a hard decision to pick the flourless chocolate gateau. It had an almost
custard like texture and was dusted with a rich cocoa powder. The salted caramel sauce and whole toasted hazelnuts balanced the intense chocolate in a complex way and I almost licked the plate. Our other dessert choice was an almond and tupelo honey ice-cream sprinkled with cocoa nibs and served with vanilla shortbread cookies. I half expected an overly sweetened dessert, and I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t. The ice-cream was simplistic yet opulent. You could taste the fresh honey and almond unified in a non-artificial medium and it was truly luscious. Add that to the gentle crunch of cocoa nibs and you have a lifetime customer!

Our waitress was absolutely fabulous, especially considering that she had four other tables to tend to. She patiently answered all our questions about ingredients while keeping our water glasses full and busing tables. When our check came, she brought out two small creamy chocolate stars sprinkled with cocoa nibs, although I was a little too full to truly enjoy them. The service was amazing and the food was even better. I highly suggest that next time you think about driving off the Island, you try the Oyster Catcher!