When a restaurant wins three awards in a city magazine’s “Readers Choice Awards,” it cannot be ignored.
And so it is with Canlis, selected by the readers of Seattle magazine as best splurge restaurant, for having the best view, and for having the best wait staff/service.
Located in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle, northwest of downtown, Canlis is dramatically lit at night (as the picture on its website’s homepage illustrates), and perched on the highest hill in the city — which accounts for its “best view” award.
At many restaurants with great views, the food takes a back seat. But not at Canlis, which has been wowing locals and visitors for more than 60 years.
“That’s a long time to stay cutting edge,” the website notes. “It’s a long time to be pushing the culinary envelope. In the fifties and sixties, Peter Canlis brought the world to Seattle on a platter. Exotic food from foreign nations was ahead of the curve, and Peter even snuck Hawaiian fish onto returning PanAm flights to impress the locals. Today, local is exotic. Tomorrow, we’ll dine from an earth well cared for.
“Throughout it all, Canlis has used food as a platform to care for others. It doesn’t need to be worshiped or studied — leave that work to us. We just want you around our table, and we want to celebrate you with our cooking. Our aim is to nourish community, to nourish stomach and soul, and we can’t wait to cook for you.”
The restaurant offers a three-course meal (first course, main course and dessert) for $85, a four-course meal (first and second courses, main course and dessert) for $100, and a seven-course meal (a preset menu for the entire table to enjoy) for $145 per person.
And here’s the part we really love: Two wine pairing choices are available to complement the tasting menu: a flight of six wines (for $85), and a “sommelier” pairing selected to showcase rare bottlings and unique producers (for $145).
Unless you have dietary restrictions, I always recommend going all-out at restaurants like this. So I’d go with the seven-course tasting menu and the sommelier’s selections. When you consider how much it costs a family of four to go to Disneyland these days, a romantic dinner for two at Canlis is a relative bargain.
You could even make it part of a long weekend or week-long vacation, as a number of wineries can be found not far from Seattle.
But if a trip to the Pacific Northwest is not in the stars anytime soon, you can still experience a taste of that beautiful region with today’s sale on Pacific Northwest Reds you can find It’s the next-best thing to being there.
