Let’s Eat: Ballard’s Belle Clementine is perfect for adventuruous locavores

This week Let’s Eat co-host and Seattle Times restaurant
critic Providence Cicero visited Ballard’s new Belle
Clementine restaurant, where she had a unique communal
dining experience.

“I call it a supper club for gregarious locavores,” says
Providence.

The restaurant, run by David Sanford, has a set menu and
is only open a few nights each week for dinner at 6 p.m.
on weekdays and 7 p.m. on weekends, as well as brunch from
10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on weekends.

Belle Clementine only accepts dinner reservations in
advance in order to prepare a family style meal served at
large group tables.

“It’s communal seating, so there are three large beautiful
fir tables that I think he made. So you’ll be sitting with
strangers,” says Providence.

While the serendipity of communal seating can intrigue
some adventurous guests, it certainly isn’t for everyone.
Co-host Terry Jaymes prefers a more private dining
experience and says group tables make him feel like he’s
in a cafeteria – especially if, as with Belle Clementine,
the meal is served family style and guests pass dishes
back and forth.

“I just clam up thinking about it. I don’t know why, I
feel like I’m in a cafeteria. I feel like I’m forced to
meet people and I may not be in the mood for that. It
drives me crazy,” says Terry.

Providence, on the other hand, likens the experience to a
dinner party: different groups are at the restaurant every
time and create their own flow of conversation. Sanford
encourages this kind of informal atmosphere by inviting
guests into the kitchen to see what’s cooking and to talk
about the food.

Belle Clementine, in an effort to grow a feeling of
neighborly intimacy, offers subscriptions to its
restaurant. Regulars buy a set of six or twelve meals at a
time, offered at a cheaper rate, and note food preferences
and allergies when they sign up.

“I dropped in a few times, over several weeks. Which is a
very good way to do it because it’s very, very seasonal
food,” says Providence, “And he’ll go to the market and he
may get inspired and he sends out an email every week:
‘This is what we’re thinking of cooking’ so you really
never know.”

For dinner, Providence was served a striking, yet simple,
pasta with fresh morel mushrooms, fava beans, and slices
of roasted pork shoulder. The salad was raw kohlrabi,
Tokyo turnips, and radishes that made “a beautiful bowl of
crunch” topped with sesame vinaigrette.

“The food, on the whole, was beautiful. It was the kind of
food that you can eat every night. The kind of food that,
if I had a personal chef, this is what I would imagine my
personal chef would make me every night, really fresh,
kind of simple food,” says Providence.

Brunch at Belle Clementine is equally gourmet, though it
doesn’t require a reservation. When Providence stopped by,
they served salmon cake topped with a fried egg, as well
as some of their fresh salads and crusty, soft brown bread
that tasted slightly sweet, with hints of molasses.

“The bread alone is worth the subscription,” says
Providence.

In all, Providence paid an average of $33 for each of the
three-course meals, which included tax and gratuity as
well as dessert and a beverage.

Listen to Let’s Eat with Providence Cicero and Terry
Jaymes:



By Jillian Raftery, MyNorthwest.com Editor

Let’s Eat can
be heard on 97.3 KIRO FM on Saturday at 4 p.m., Sunday at
noon, and anytime ON DEMAND at
MyNorthwest.com.