Finding success as a restaurant isn’t easy—something many chefs and restauranteurs will tell you upfront and in great detail whilst sipping tequila. Finding success, and credibility, as a restaurant in a hotel is even more challenging. Since opening in the lobby floor of Kimpton’s new colorful and press-adorned Seattle property, Palladian Hotel, in a once prosperous restaurant space in an area of Belltown that’s now seeing better days—Shaker + Spear is making it look easy.
With tenured Seattle hotel restaurant chef Walter Pisano taking the title of executive chef and Seattle native chef de cuisine Chris Lobkovich also in the kitchen, knowledge of not only the area but also the hotel dining scene was established at the start. In the front of the house, the brightly-lit, partially subterranean dining room is open and inviting, similar to the open and inviting kitchen and bar—both are attached with seating for closer views. The 65-seats get views of the stunning cast glass and weathered wood designed by renowned Seattle architects Graham Baba, and are supplied with convivial and conscientious front-of-the-house staffers.
Vibrant food and drink come out of the dynamic production spaces as well. Although seafood-inclined, the menu shows breadth, with seasonal and local reigning most prevalent and relevant. At brunch, groggy guests can order from the “Hair ‘o the Dogs” cocktail list including Carpano Bianco, Chartreuse, Orgeat and fresh grapefruit juice, or Pisco, Cocchi Rosa, cranberry pear shrub and cassis. “Real Meals” offered range from cornmeal pancakes with berries to a sausage sandwich topped with an egg and Beecher’s Flagship cheese. At lunch, get the fish-wich with the fish of the day or the quintessentially Northwest salmon pastrami sandwich and match it with Cocktail 1 (Aperol, bubbles and St. Germain).
Dinner is a darker story—as in it gets a little bit darker in the sunlit space but the restaurant magically carries on an eternal glow. Working on a personal glow, guests can hit the wine list, a menu designed and distinguished by aromatic and flavor profiles. How convenient! From “Glitter and Fizz” and “Bright and Briny” to “Luscious and Ample” and “Audacious and Heroic,” wine lovers find out what their wine personality is as they taste through profiles. Libations are equally flamboyant, with some classics and a few more signatures like the I Get What I Want (gin, lemon-coriander shrub, lemon bitters, bitter lemon soda) or the Damn Fine Cup of Coffee (reposado tequila, salers, Seattle Distilling coffee liqueur, walnut bitters).
Pair that drink preference with a variety of options on the plate. Noteworthy starters include fresh-shucked oysters (with a rotating topper), a seasonal escabeche and tempura squash blossoms. Before moving onto larger plates, the heirloom beans with a fennel puree, raisins and radish make for a fresh transition, while mains of the chef’s selection and preparation of the fish of the day, diver scallops served alongside chickpeas, spring onion, pancetta and a chili rhubarb sauce or (if meat is mandatory) the coulotte (sirloin cap) steak with spring garlic, fava beans and avocado chili pure.
Needing a nightcap? Step into PennyRoyal for another exceptionally designed bar experience and cocktails to match. Menus change seasonally and bartenders are proud and excited to showcase what’s new, like the spirited gin drink, Copperworks gin, Banane du Bresil, Capaletti, lemon juice, rhubarb bitters), or the sherry-focused libation hamomile-infused English Harbour, Solerno, fino sherry, lemon juice).
Shaker + Spear || 2000 2nd Ave, Seattle || shakerandspear.com
