A spectacular night at Joule in Wallingford, Seattle

Last night my partner and I visited a restaurant called Joule at 1913 North 45th Street  Seattle, WA 98103 (Wallingford).  Since my partner did all the research on this one, I had no idea where we were going nor any history on the restaurant.  Oh boy were we in for a treat!

I didn’t find out until after that the chefs Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi were on Iron Chef America only last year.  Frankly, this doesn’t surprise me.  Hands down, this was the best meal I’ve had since moving to Seattle.  Not only was it highly creative, but there is true mastery of texture, flavour and plating.

What we ordered:

• (Cocktail) Orange Sparkler: Blood orange liqueur, cava, basil ice
• Baguette w/ seaweed butter (no picture)
• Geoduck:  pickled daikon, seaweed, sweet chili vinaigrette
• Parsnip bisque: mangosteen confit, walnut cardamom strudel
• Hawaiian prawns: stone pot, vermicelli, smoked peanut
• Charred Kale:  pickled king oyster mushroom, smoked chili (no picture)
• “Joule” box: tapioca pearls, ruby grapefruit brulee (coconut milk infused w/ kaffir lime leaf), lime zest
• Flourless chocolate cake:  candied pear, caramel, and hazelnuts

Orange Sparkler: Blood orange liqueur, cava, basil ice (on bottom)

I feel jaded to say it, but when I cringe when I go to a restaurant and see their cocktail list is all centred around citrus flavours; Everyone does citrus drinks, it’s easy and takes no real skill to make it taste good.  As citrus cocktails go, the orange sparkler was a nice surprise.  My first sip, I almost found it too sweet – almost.  Then the slight sour note reigned the sweetness in. Only then did I realise my mouth was filled with a  of  orange with delicate basil undertones.  Put simply this drink took a lot of skill to craft.  Next time I’ll have to try their other cocktails.

Not pictured was the baguette w/ seaweed butter.  Normally I wouldn’t even mention this, but the seaweed butter was worth talking about.  It was also notably good.  So good that we wondered why nobody thought of it before. Then we concluded, who would think mixing nori with butter sounded good?  It really was that good, though.

The cocktail and seaweed butter really gave us high expectations for what to expect next. Out came the geoduck, pronounced gooy-duck – clam.  As ingredients go, I’ve never had bad geoduck (luck perhaps?).  While this dish was probably the least stellar dish of the night, it was still very good.  We were more than happy to eat every last bite.  The geoduck was perfectly cooked and had a wonderful texture and I’d certainly order it any time.  I was a little disappointed in the pictures I took of it too, but this was my failing, not Joule.

Parsnip bisque: mangosteen confit, walnut cardomom strusel

They did not disappoint with the parsnip bisque which quickly followed.  As the waitress told us, the bisque was simply roasted parsnips and onions pureed together.  Even after she told us, we had to taste it a few times.  Even after a few tastes we still had trouble believing all that flavour came from just parsnips and onions – so earthy, sweet, creamy, and wholesome; We didn’t even start on the ingredients that topped it yet!  The flavour on top was both interesting and amazing.  With every spoon-full,  we were faced with a different flavour combination – sometime sweeter with mangosteen, sometimes nuttier, sometimes spicier with cardamom.  WOW!

The charred kale, was worth noting and our overall favourite dish for the night.  With every bite there was all the good qualities that come to mind when you think “charred” – every bite was delightfully smoky and with a slight tinge of sweetness; All while the grilled the kale was still slightly crunchy – such a nice texture.  The pickled oyster mushrooms retained their meaty texture, and had so much more flavour from the pickling.   We were almost fighting over the remains.  It was silly, fun, and really, that good.  I’m disappointed I didn’t get any good pictures of it.  Next time!

Hawaiian prawns: stone pot, vermicelli, smoked peanut

The final savoury dish for the night was the prawns.  Put simply, I was ecstatic just over the presentation – It was warm and inviting.  Then the smell hits – smoked peanuts.   To my surprise even with the hot stone pot, that the prawns were perfectly cooked – their texture still had a slight snap.  The flavor  was what you would expect from grilled prawns and smoked peanuts, but combined with being perfectly cooked was so delightful.  The Vermicelli underneath could not be defined as anything else but comfort food to me. I finished my portion of the vermicelli before the prawns.

Joule didn’t disappoint with the desserts either.  We decided to get two:  One more traditional sounding, and the other less traditional sounding.

“Joule” box: tapioca pearls, ruby grapefruit brulee (coconut milk infused w/ kaffir lime leaf), lime zest

The non-traditional one was fresh ruby grapefruit on top of kaffir lime leaf infused coconut milk and tapioca.  This dish was a pure delight. So fresh, and a wonder blend of textures.  The coconut milk added a lot of cream to the dish without weighing it down.  The after-taste of lime finished off every bite.  I was hoping the flavor would stay with me all night.

The chocolate cake was everything you’d come to expect from a flour-less chocolate cake… only better.  Such a rich creamy flavour mixed with dark cocoa.  Just as I thought I was getting overwhelmed with chocolate, I’d take a bit of the candied pear.  Yum!  This is how chocolate cake should be made!  Such a standard dessert done impressively well.

In Summary:  We’ll be going back, and recommend you do to.

Without much further ado, here are the large pictures:

Technical info:  Another shoot with the CN-160 and 16-28 lens.