Foodie Studio
The daily innovations of Sitka & Spruce.
I can’t remember if it was while I was savoring crostini topped with chicken and duck liver pate, a sheen of oil, thin–sliced radishes, and a whisper of Portugese salt; or a plate of tender smoky venison leg brightened with fresh wild huckleberries; or a hunk of black cod, sumptuous as butter, with Walla Walla sweet onions and fava beans frisky with mint—that I concluded that Matt Dillon just plain boils water better than I do.
He trolls the purest sources for seasonal ingredients, then improvises preparations around them. His method seems as mystical as wizardry, particularly when the result turns out to be, say, a wedge of gnocchi alla Romana topped with an egg over grilled frisée. A wild riff on hash combines—perhaps for the first time in history—chickpeas, oranges, buttery Castelvetrano olives, and bits of octopus, crispy without and tender within. Perfectly executed dishes whose very improbability heightens their perfection.
Each evening eight or nine of these innovations—a salad, some starters, and a vegetable or two among them—are scrawled on a wall–mounted chalkboard. Most of these à la carte plates come in two or three sizes, allowing small–plate or family–style—and therefore quite affordable—dining. This small–plates set–up constitutes an almost museum–quality experience of being in a chef’s hands. When that chef is Matt Dillon, this is a very good thing. Indeed the only generalization that can be made about the dinner crowd is that they’re food nerds, drawn by the chef more than the scene. As the evening matures a sizzling foodie energy begins to rumble through the room as strangers thrust into proximity begin comparing notes on their vaca frita and braised rabbit loin. My initial visit found me so giddy with this energy, we turned down a table so we could eat standing up.
Partly it was that standing in the close dining room allowed me a peek into Dillon’s domain. There he was in the back, practicing his alchemy in a kitchen that offered space aplenty. Comment, if you wish, upon the chef’s priorities. Then take another bite.
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Published: September 2006
