FOOD MATTERS | A tale of two mistresses

Have you heard about Ernest Loves Agnes, in the old Kingfish Cafe space (600-602 19th Ave. E.)? Hemingway-themed cocktails, imaginative pizzas and a dessert called Orange Blossom that stole my heart. So good that I thought I’d never fall in love again. 

Then along comes another creamy dessert: the Peanut Butter S’mores, at Luc (2800 E. Madison St.). 

Yes, Luc is one of the highest-profile restaurants in Seattle, named for the father of its creator, Thierry Rautureau, squarely in the tradition of cozy-yet-bustling French neighborhood bistros. Its happy hour is particularly attractive, since it features smaller versions of Luc’s regular-menu items. 

A Lucatini, for example, has the same ingredients as the regular cocktail (gin and vodka, Lillet and elderflower); the happy hour cassoulet is simply a smaller portion of Luc’s scrumptious white-bean stew, pork shoulder and duck confit. 

The Chef in the Hat, as Rautureau styles himself, shuttles between Luc and Loulay, in the Sheraton Hotel downtown, leaving his wife, Kathleen Encell, on duty at the door and his chef de cuisine, David Mitchell, to run the kitchen brigade. 

Now, California-born Mitchell, who works the grill station and expedites the orders, can plate a Painted Hills flat iron steak or a Carlton Farms pork chop with all the flair and discipline of a French chef, but he carries in his soul a secret passion for that Yankee staple: peanut butter. 

And so it came to be that Mitchell envisioned a dessert that would combine peanut butter with another uniquely American creation: the guilty pleasure of a campfire s’more. 

Rautureau, intrigued, suggested hazelnuts, but Mitchell held out for peanuts. He made a test batch of peanut butter ice cream, crumbled some chocolate ganache in the bottom of a bowl, added the ice cream, sprinkled in a handful of chopped peanuts and then substituted freshly whipped French meringue for the Boy Scout marshmallow. 

No campfire? No problem. Every kitchen has a mini blowtorch these days, and pastry chef Emily Fleckenstein wields it with aplomb. Either Mitchell or Fleckenstein make a fresh batch of the ice cream daily. 

The dessert’s a hit beyond everyone’s expectation.

For years I’ve been telling people that I wasn’t a dessert person. And yet, within a 10-day span, I’ve taken two mistresses. 

Two Doors Down

If there’s a dividing line between Capitol Hill and Madison Valley, it’s 23rd Avenue East, which does a straight shot from the Jefferson Park Golf Course on Beacon Hill to the Montlake Bridge. 

At the triangle formed by 23rd Avenue and East John and Madison streets, Chicago native Erin Nestor (who also had Tommy Gun on Olive Way) opened Bottleneck Lounge (2328 E. Madison St.) eight years ago in a spot that didn’t have a strict neighborhood identity. Bottleneck was a bar with great drinks but a limited menu, so now Nestor has expanded. 

The space two doors farther down (2332 E. Madison St.), occupied for a generation by the bright blue-green Philadelphia Fevre Steak & Hoagie Shop, is now named Two Doors Down. 

Really good burgers and a broad selection of draught beers. There’s a space for kiddies and a second bar that overlooks the kitchen. 

Nestor also runs regular events, like a Halloween party, that attract fans from all over Capitol Hill.

Extras

Did you hear about Dyne? A sort of directory for diners to find freelance chefs and pop-up restaurants, “secret” menus, special events and so on? All a bit too secretive, it turns out. They’re shutting down in mid-November. 

Also picking up the marbles and leaving town: Zomato, a much broader directory service (two-dozen countries). At the beginning of 2015, Zomato’s Indian founders paid a cool $50 million to buy home-grown Urbanspoon and soon moved the U.S. headquarters to Dallas. All in the name of cost-effectiveness, says Zomato’s CEO Deepinter Goyal.

Almost open: Madrona Arms (1138 34th Ave.). Owner Peter Johnson is waiting for bar stools: “They delivered the wrong ones,” he said.

Should you find yourself at Voilà! Bistrot (2805 E. Madison St.), ask about their new gadget called TimerTime. It’s a kitchen timer that you wear on your wrist, which keeps track of the minutes and seconds and beeps when the time is up. 

Sure, the Apple watch and most phones do the same thing, but how many of those are you going to wear on your sleeve? Voilà owner Laurent Gabrel came up with the idea, had them designed in Seattle and made in China. He says the timers will be on Amazon soon enough; meantime, they’re $20 at the restaurant.

RONALD HOLDEN is a restaurant writer and consultant who blogs at Cornichon.org and Crosscut.com. To comment on this column, write to MPTimes@nwlink.com.