Dinner at RN74 for Seattle Restaurant Week

This week I got to do something special I've always wanted to do. It was to attend the Seattle Restaurant Week. This event happens in the fall and spring and over 165 places participate. You can dine out for dinner and get three courses for $33. Lunch is two courses for $18. I went with a friend and she was kind enough to let me pick the restaurant. It was hard to pick one because of all of the wonderful choices. But RN74, a French restaurant, was a spot I've always had my eye on. When I checked out what they were offering, it was a no-brainer. I saw the words Duck Confit and Beef Tartare and knew it would be a solid choice.

The restaurant was dimly lit and the service was refined. I especially enjoyed the decorations and lighting fixtures. The train station wine menu on the wall was really cool. After checking in for our reservation we were seated promptly at a nice round booth, facing the room so we could take everything in. We were both ready to order pretty quickly since we had already studied the choices for Restaurant Week prior to our dinner. You receive an appetizer, an entrée, and a dessert. There were three or four choices for each category, so there's something for everyone.

 I started with a cocktail, a This Old House, RN74's version of an Old Fashioned. The drink was strong and I really liked the flavor. For our first course, my friend started with the Roasted Butternut Squash Veloute. It had Duck cracking, toasted pepitas, and spiced crème fraiche. She found the soup to be really rich and creamy. The perfect thing for the fall weather but hard to eat a lot of something so rich. My first course was the Classic Beef Tartare. It had Petit cornichon, crispy shallot, and was served with baguette crostini. This was my first time trying Beef Tartare and I didn't know what to expect. Tartare is raw beef so I was a little afraid but I just dove in and gave it a go. I spread a little on a piece of the crostini and took a bite. And I enjoyed it. The flavors were on point. The tartare was a little different, but I liked the dish for what it was, and it's fun to be adventurous with food. I felt like the serving was a little big for such a rich dish, so I didn't finish all of it.

Then our dishes were promptly whisked away and our second course arrived with a flourish. Our Maple Leaf Farms' Duck Confit Cavatelli had arrived. It had Delicata squash, parmesan fonduta, and some prunes aux cognac. The dish was excellent and we enjoyed every bite. The duck confit was tender and seasoned correctly and the fonduta made everything taste so creamy and decadent. The squash was prepared like pasta and was soft and creamy. It was a nice contrast to the duck.

Then it was time for our final course, the dessert. I chose the Hand-Cut Warm Beignets and my friend picked the Yakima Valley Apple Pain Perdue. My beignets came with a Salted caramel, Macallan butterscotch custard that was out of this world. I didn't expect such bold and delicious flavors and I hurriedly dipped a warm beignet into it. My friends Pain Perdue came with a crazy good cinnamon basil ice cream. She let me try a bite and I was surprised by how good it was. Who knew that basil and cinnamon would go so well together?

Then we took care of our bill and headed outside, back into the busyness of the city night. We both sighed with contentment and felt blessed to have had such a fun and delicious dinner out.