Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Finally.....Smith


I have been talking about going to Smith for months. For some reason it never happened or I walked in and it was too packed for my taste. I finally made it this past Sunday with some family.

When you walk in, you immediately realize the decor is similar to lots of other hipster dining establishments in the captiol hill area. Whats the deal with the infatuation of taxidermy covering the walls and the dark heavy wood? The thing that makes this spot stand out is that the high ceiling and the open light work well with the somber decor.



The dinner menu is filled with a range of salads, poutine, steak, catfish, soup, deviled eggs, burgers and mac and cheese. This neighborhood pub is very meat friendly but the grilled cheese sandwich for veggies is a definite must. All three of us agreed this grilled gruyere and onion jam sandwich was by far in the top 3 of things we ate.

We started with the deviled eggs which were very traditional but with an extra hint of lemon, the grilled gruyere and onion jam sandwich with butter lettuce and the roast beet salad with mascarpone and horseradish. Like I said the sandwich was amazing, the cheese and bread were very tasty and soaked with butter. The other dish which was on the top of my list was the roast beet salad. The light combination of the mascarpone and horseradish served as the perfect vehicle for the mixed greens.

We also enjoyed the ham n' cheese donuts....which were also very good and salty. I could have used more cheese and less bits of chopped ham but the taste of the pastry was BOMB. They were served in a tasty sauce reminecent of rich béchamel sauce, also a nice touch.

The mac n' cheese was suprisingly the under performer. The sauce was bland and the cheese really didnt shine through. I would not order this again...but I am also biased because I love my own mac n cheese so much that I compare everything to it.

The poutine was interesting, but I ended up really enjoying it. The fries were really nice and cooked crispy but the gravy took a bit getting use to because of the chunks of carrots and ham. With some ketchup the vinegar and salt really brought out more of the flavors.

The cornmeal crusted catfish on top of the hamhock lentils was a really hearty dish. The lentils were nice and complemented the fish very well. I could have used some hot sauce but overall this was a very nice plate.


I totally need to go back to Smith and try the pork shank as well as eat another one of those grilled cheese. I am also interested in testing out their brunch which includes breakfast standards like biscuits and gravy and ham n cheese omelet.

Monday - Friday 4pm- 2am

Saturday - Sunday
Brunch 10am-3pm
Dinner 4pm-2am

Happy Hour Daily 4pm-6pm...and M-Thur 11pm-1am too! Not happy hour food but cheaper drinks!

Reservations for parties 6 or more, call them! 206-709-1900

2 comments:

TekkaDon Juan said...

the color and coating on the catfish looks great.

also...gruyere and onion jam? so bomb. was the butter lettuce dressed at all? it's funny cause when i was younger, i used to eat my grilled cheese wrapped in iceberg lettuce since i hated getting my fingers all greasy. kids are weird, man.

you know you only went to smith's because you miss rob and cypress :)))

Unknown said...

I aint signing on for any of that schtick,