Union Restaurant offers the simplest sort of fine dining. It may be an oxymoron but it's an apt description of this Seattle bistro.
With a concise, thoughtfully considered daily menu, the culinary focus is on fresh, seasonal, ingredients. Northwest-Pacific flavours, like Dungeness crab salad with avocado and seared sea scallops with ham hocks and lentils, sit alongside Italian strozzapretti with wonderfully rich lamb ragu, and tender, caramelised pork cheeks on potato mash.
The grilled mackeral on smokey, citrus lentils was more disappointing. The flavour of the fish bordered on bitter - perhaps stemming in some respects from its Atlantic origins, but also from charring from the grill. Salty, bitter and sour flavours desperately needed some sweetness to mellow them.
The atmosphere is modern and simple, with clean lines, mirrors and burgundy walls. It's not exactly cosey or casual, but has absolutely no pretense for a restaurant of its calibre. Prices are surprisingly reasonable too, with Appetizers around $15-$20 and mains $25-$30. Waitstaff are very attentive, well informed and relaxed.
Overall, Union food is modest excellence and reserved elegance. A must do in the rainy seaside city of Seattle!
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