Restaurant Review: The Georgian

Before Kristy and I attended the performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony by the Seattle Symphony and Chorale, we had dinner at The Georgian located in the Fairmont Olympic Hotel. The Fairmont Olympic Hotel is one of the oldest hotels in Seattle, having been built in the 1920s. The hotel entrance and lobby ooze with old world charm. The interior of The Georgian, located prominently up a grand staircase on the east end of the lobby, is just stunning. The room must measure some 40 feet tall by 120 feet long by 80 feet wide (by my very rough approximation). There were several chandeliers hung about halfway down from the ornately decorated ceiling. All of the walls were also beautifully treated; a 25-foot Christmas tree was placed against the east wall. The tables were spaced widely from one another - about 6 to 8 feet apart - creating generous elbow room and a semi-private dining space at each table. Here is a picture of the interior:

We were seated at a table in one of the corners of the large dining room side-by-side (instead of facing each other) on a very comfortable settee. In one of the other corners of the dining room, a two-person duet (bass and string guitar) played some live jazz music. White napkins were placed on the table, but for whatever reason... I presume because we were both wearing black... the hostess switched the white napkins out for black ones and placed them on our laps. A nice touch. Clearly this would not just be a meal, but a full dining experience.

We weren't in a terrible rush - Benaroya Hall is only two blocks away from the Fairmont - so we sat there for a couple of minutes and just looked around, admiring the beautiful interior. When some flat bread and a selection of flavored butter arrived, we hadn't yet even thought to open the menu, it was almost as if we forgot we were there to eat. The menu offers a wide vaiety of options, most featuring local northwest foods. After looking over everything, we decided to go for the 4-course prix fixe dinner.

The 4-course menu starts with a choice of soup or a couple of the apps on the menu. Kristy got the chicken noodle soup (she still isn't feeling so good), and I got a smoked salmon and cream cheese app. My app was fantastic. It was a layered square piece of stacked thinly sliced smoked salmon with alternating layers of basil-flavored cream cheese. It was topped with a small selection of caviar. The amazing part of the app was the presentation. The layers were each probably about 1mm thick and were uniform throughout the entire 3-inch square. The total thickness of the app was probably only about 7mm (4 layers of the thinly sliced smoked salmon, 3 layers of cream cheese). While we ate our appetizer and soup, a new selection of bread was served which we were told complimented the food we had selected.

Both Kristy and I ordered the same salad for our second course, a spinach salad served with a small amount of goat cheese, honey, and long thin cheesy fried crutons. Yet another selection of bread, lightly grilled slices of brioche, were served with the salad course. Again, the presentation was phenomenal.

We had a choice for the main course between a filet mignon and salmon - both of us opted for the filet (prepared medium-rare of course). The filet was served topped with some shredded beef (beef on beef... now that's living!) with mashed potatoes and steamed fresh veggies on the side. The shredded beef was cooked in wine, so it had a bit of a sour taste... it was interesting but the filet stood on its own (I ate all of the filet, but not all of the shredded beef topping).

There was but one option for dessert, the signature dessert of the restaurant - The Georgian Black and White Chocolate Soufflé. The soufflé was brought to our table straight from the oven where it was baked in a pretty decent sized rammekin (about 3" in diameter). The hot soufflé was broken at the table by our server and drenched with vanilla-infused crème fraîche. It was a great dessert... we both ate every last bite.

We both really enjoyed our dining experience at The Georgian. We will definitely return... we attend the Seattle Symphony's performance of Beethoven's Ninth every holiday season, perhaps we should make a tradition of eating at The Georgian on the same night. Good idea.