I love the restaurant, the building I mean. The food's good too. It was 95 degrees when I picked up my friend, I wasn't feeling particularly hungry, who wants to eat when it's so scorching out? Thank god for small plates.
We walk in, My friend looks around, I looked around, looked different from the last time I was here, right after it opened. Added attraction...the waitress remembers me from last time, calls me Joe and remembers what table I sat at, and I get "will you be dining at your normal table?" This is only my second visit, I didn't know I had a regular table. Last time I chose the table right in front of the big black board with the menu written on it. So, I guess this is my regular table. We sit down.
As I stated earlier, It was hot as a witch's other part, I was happy I found a parking spot right outside the door, and the restaurant was nice and cool, not cold, just right, and our waitress brought over two nice big glasses of water with lemon. I sucked it down like it was the last glass of water on Lincoln Ave. That really hit the spot. She refilled us both right away.
Ordering dinner was hard, I decided on two small plates, I chose the grains with cardamon tomatoes and the wild mushroom polenta with a drizzle of walnut oil. Two small plates, nice and light and saving room for dessert. Friend of Joe decided between bread pudding with truffled Asparagus or the Crab BLT. She chose the latter and proclaimed it delicious. The aioli served with the crab sandwich made the meal she said, nice and spicy, it played nicely off the fresh lump crab, the smokey bacon and the heirloom tomatoes. My polenta was soft and delicious, with a hint of cinnamon. The wild mushrooms were trumpet mushrooms, expertly sauteed and drizzles with the right amount of walnut oil. The grains were equally delicious, perfectly cook, a combination of lentils and chick peas, crispy onions, and a tomato
sauce with a nice bit of cardamon.
For dessert we both had the grilled banana bread with macerated berries, nice and light, not the least bit heavy. I would have served it with a little whipped cream, but it was very good.
We had fun watching the Bellvue natives walking past the large picture windows as we dined.