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| - Happy Thanksgiving Yelp Nation!
As a transplant from a small town roughly 200 miles west of the 'Burgh it is a treat when I get to see my family. This year, due to work I had the actual holiday off, but no time for travel. My wonderful family decided to make the 4 hour drive in the snow and holiday traffic to come see their beloved baby boy. As a dedicated bachelor my apartment is suited to making spaghetti and meat balls and maybe a salad. Since this is no suitable Thanksgiving meal, we decided to book a table at McCormick & Schmick's. Truly this was a great decision.
To start with the decor, as usual (creature of habit), one automatically knows what one is in for. The place is full of lots of wood paneling, art-deco light fixtures, white tablecloths, and every other cliched trapping of a post industrialist restaurant. It conjured images of Ruth's Chris, Morton's or Capital Grill. Expensive and pretentious. However I am secretly 73 years old at heart so I kind of like it. At least it is consistent.
The service, which can at times mirror the decor in the high end steakhouse world, was actually quite pleasant. Our waiter, Peter, was very friendly and pleasant without being overbearing. This is a stark contrast to the last time I ate in a restaurant in the same style. Unlike that trip to the Capital Grill, which was me and my family suffering through some of the most condescending service I have ever had the displeasure of experiencing, Peter was warm and inviting and treated us like family. When I open my own restaurant I am cloning him about 20 times and calling it a day.
The main reason anyone goes to M&S, and any restaurant really, is the food. I had a very memorable Thanksgiving dinner. Everything was amazing. We started with the Shrimp Kisses and the Coast to Coast Tuna. Both were wow dishes for me. The shrimp were lightly fried, stuffed with a pepperjack cheese (which was not overly spicy so big plus there) and wrapped with bacon, because bacon. The Tuna definitely had an Asian flavor profile and was comprised of very good seared tuna and a tuna tartar.
I followed the appetizers with an Iceberg Wedge Salad and some oysters. The salad was good, but nothing unique; think the same obligatory wedge salad you find in every steakhouse in America. The oysters were fantastic as well; fresh succulent and just the perfect bite of the ocean.
For dinner I had a grilled swordfish with asparagus, a butternut squash cous cous and a citrus salad on top. I cant even begin to put into words how awesome this dish was, so I'm not going to even try. Just take my lack of word for it.
For dessert, I ended with a chocolate and mocha cheesecake that was a special offering for the day. It was amazing. It was rich and sweet and had just the right balance of crunch in the Oreo crust. The thing I liked the best about it though was the dusting of cinnamon and coco powder put on the plate, obviously as a garnish. However, I had the bright idea to put the garnish on the cake and it gave it a pleasant spicy kick that set the dessert over the top.
To wrap up I like McCormick & Schmick's. Expect to pay top dollar (our bill was pushing $250 and we weren't drinking either) but I feel it was well worth it. The food was amazing, the decor, while a little stuffy, was exactly what I expected, but the star was the service. It is so easy to get caught up in yourself working for a high end restaurant, however our particular server, Peter was absolutely fantastic. I would go back just for him. And the cheesecake. And swordfish. And i need to stop myself before this gets even gushier.
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