Valentine Dinner one night early at Poppy in Seattle

Photo of a different, but very similar "Thali" meal at Poppy

We went on our Valentine's Day one day early, at Poppy on Broadway on Capitol Hill - "eat. drink. herb. spice. "

Poppy opened in September, as a highly-anticipated new restaurant from the longtime (17 years!) Herbfarm chef Jerry Traunfeld. Poppy sort of fuses the Indian culinary tradition of "thali"—a platter featuring about ten small dishes— focused on his big love of fresh herbs and spices. And the herbing and spicing stood out in every single dish. Here's what I had (Keelin had a subset of this, with vegetarian dishes substituted for the pork and scallops):

Salt cod fritters with smoked paprika aioli - excellent. I think the soaked cod was blended with potato and some herbs. . .I think it was mainly sorel?

Nettle dill soup - was a little salty and a little bland, and any dill was either cooked away or forgotten in the first place. That being said, it was good enough that I finished it.

A blood orange, endive, and taggia olive salad - perfect, maybe my favorite of the cold ones. It was a tiny salad, and as I was eating it I kept thinking "This is about three tablespoonfuls of salad, and it's one of the best I've ever had. Mas! Mas!"

Celery root remoulade with hazelnuts - celery root--or this particular one--has no taste! it was dressed nicely and the hazelnuts were nicely roasted. The dressing was very nice.

Qualicum scallops with beet-wasabi sauce and burdock root - Perfectly cooked scallops, but the sauce is a little too sweet. And burdock root doesn't have a lot of flavor. The beet-wasabi would have been perfect if it was more savory and less sweet. I devoured the two plump scallops in six bites, if you are keeping track.

Berkshire pork short rib with salt caramelized pear - Nice. The pear was awesomely roasted. The rib was nicely done, and seemed more like pork belly than a rib. . .it was that good. . .nicely charred, tender, and tasty.

Braised red cabbage with pomegranate - Nice, and refreshingly unchallenging. . .almost a palate break in between the other dishes.

Saffron risotto fritter in a yogurt sauce. Nice, but I couldn't taste much saffron. The one small fritter was just the right amount.

Cauliflower gratin - Possibly the best-realized dish. It was the most magnificent treatment of cauliflower I have ever had. And I love cauliflower.

Carrot ribbon pickle - Excellent, and one of the few things with no trace of sweetness. I could identify coriander, but there were other things going on. I also couldn't figure out what the acid was (thinned vinegar probably...there didn't seem to be lemon). I could eat a bucket of this stuff. I must learn the secret. It was sparkling and refreshing.

Nigella naan - a very nice piece of naan, charred at the edges.

And, of course, a couple glasses of red Rioja.

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