LloydMartin & the Dead Milkmen

A few weeks ago, my friend Reece and I had what I considered my best meal of the past year at LloydMartin. Located on the top of Queen Anne hill, it is thankfully way closer to where I live than most eateries. As this article eloquently explains, the LloydMartin menu rotates according to what's local, fresh, and inspiring each day. That night, Reece and I enjoyed arugula salad with bacon, dates, goat cheese, and spiced pecans; cavatelli pasta with a farm egg, asparagus, pea vines, and fonduta; bruschetta with mozzarella and fava beans; veal meatballs with oyster mushrooms; and gnocchi in a marsala wine sauce. We enjoyed unpretentious service and candle-lit, church-pew atmosphere.

Jay and I returned there last night before a Dead Milkmen show at El Corazon. Preparing for some punk rock sweat and confinement for three hours, we ordered light. Jay had poached frog legs with capellini pasta, currants, and pine nuts with riesling, while I had wagyu beef with truffled potatoes, asparagus, and a foie bearnaise. We shared the cavatelli, which Jay referred to as "glorified mac n cheese" -- glory well-deserved, I say!

Unfortunately, this was a case of the first time being so amazing that a subsequent visit is comparatively disappointing. The wagyu was described as a coulotte cut, so I asked the waitress if that was like a beef skort steak! She didn't understand, explaining that she was "born in '88". (I immediately took this as a dig and held it against her.) The portions were smaller than the price justified, and the best part was the starter. Jay thought his frog legs were tough and a bit boring, compared to pan-fried varieties he's had in the past. It was the priciest light dinner of all time, including the increasingly expensive Harvest Vine. We enjoyed our food, but it was slightly underwhelming.

LloydMartin chef Sam Crannell has a homemade ethic, tweaking variations every day -- which I very much respect -- however, not every night can be a winner. On the other hand, the Dead Milkmen show was phenomenal -- the kind of band that's better after 20 years and bring as much excitement and fun as in the good old days -- when culottes were an unfortunate fashion trend, not a culinary one. We were still hungry when we got to the show, so it's a good thing they were serving up some surfing cow.