Cutter's Bayhouse

*Warning- this blog post is not short.  It contains very critical details of something very simple, yet critically important- food.  If you do not have an appreciation for food, you may not enjoy this post.  Or this blog for that matter, because it is written and maintained by two avid foodies.  Wondering what a foodie is?  Click here to find out.  Maybe you're one.....

People.....this is no time for goofing around.  This is very serious.  I must spread the word. We have just had the most sinfully incredible, fantastic, wonderful meal of our lives.  I must tell the world about this dinner because NOT telling would be doing the food a disservice.  As foodies, we must pay proper homage to the noms which have just consumed. 

One of our Seattle traditions is to dine at a place called Cutter's Bayhouse, arguably the best restaurant in Seattle. Here is the web site.  Click through, people!  Educate yourselves!
Inside the plain, unassuming exterior is a Seattle treasure.  It has warm amber lighting and candles on the tables. It has tanks of live seafood.  It has the most horrendous tacky plaid carpet ever made (but we can ignore this).  It overlooks the bay with huge windows, so you can watch the ferries go back and forth across the water.  I recommend going there at night, though, because the ambience is fantastic.  That, and the darkness blots out the fact that while it IS a nice eatery, it is located next to what Seattle natives have dubbed "Homeless Park".  This is a small grassy area with benches and a killer view of the water.  It was no doubt intended to be a nice place for tourists and natives alike to sit and reflect, read, contemplate, sightsee....... Unfortunately, it is also a hub of activity for hobos, vagrants, and pot-heads.  Earlier this same day, we stopped there after our food tour to take pictures of the view and we witnessed a homeless man lighting up the most potently smelling doobie in creation.  But the restaurant is very nice and has the most sensational food around.

When we arrived, I was devastated because they were out of the scallops I wanted to order. I ordered them last year and they were the best thing I'd ever eaten.  My mouth was ready for the scallops. I've been talking about them for a year- ask Cody.  I had to have them. I was almost disappointed enough to leave and find scallops elsewhere.  Little did I know that his was a fortunate accident. I was meant to eat other things.

For a warm-up, we both had an oyster shooter.  Cold, fresh raw oysters in cocktail sauce are not easy to top.  When you bite into them, you get this sweet, metallic taste that is just........mmmmm.  They just taste like the sea.  If you haven't had an oyster shooter, give them a chance.  So. Good.  We started the meal with a smoked beef carpaccio appetizer.  If you don't already know, carpaccio is  raw, lightly smoked beef sliced paper thin.  It is eaten on warm, chewy grilled sourdough toast points with mustard spread and cornichon baby pickles.  The beef was drizzled with truffle oil and sprinkled with fresh pepper and kosher salt.  Heaven.  Try beef carpaccio sometime, if you don't mind raw meat.  It is stellar.  Then we ordered the Mediterranean style mussels- fresh Puget Sound mussels cooked in white wine, butter, fresh basil, chopped garlic, and chopped tomatoes with the most incredible hot, thick sourdough bread for dunking.  AND the mussels came with a side of house-cut fries, which were the most insanely good fries we have ever tasted.  Our mouths were SO happy. 
For dinner, Cody ordered a whole Dungeness crab, steamed with melted butter.  He ALWAYS enjoys crab and this was no exception.  The crab was huge- about 2 1/2 pounds.  He tore into that thing like a hungry sea otter.  This was good crab.  No, this was great crab.  It was sweet, tender, juicy, and doused in drawn butter.  OMG.  So. Good. It came with fresh, tender green beans and silky mashed Yukon gold potatoes.
I couldn't decide what to order.  I never can.  Since more than one thing sounded good, I went with the appetizer sampler as my entree.  Best. Decision. Ever.

The sampler came with house-made crispy potato chips drizzled in truffle oil and coated in fresh minced garlic.  They were so great and SO garlicky!  It also came with smoked beef tenderloin medallions, grilled medium rare with spicy pineapple and a teriyaki glaze.  This beef was so tender I could cut it with my fork.  It was an eye-closer.  You know, when something is so good that you have to close your eyes to fully bask in the glory of the delicious flavor?  That's an eye-closer.  And this beef was an eye closer.  So were the enormous tiger prawns grilled to perfect done-ness and topped with rich, buttery bearnaise sauce.  And so were the crispy ahi tuna rolls.  Huge chunks of fresh, red, raw ahi tuna wrapped in seaweed and then in rice paper and flash fried.  It was served with daikon sprouts and  this chili aioli sauce that was the perfect blend of creamy and spicy.  I took one bite of beef, one bite of shrimp, one bite of ahi.....over and over just to mix up the flavors in my mouth.  Every mouthful brought with it a hallelujah chorus of taste.

This was not just a meal.  This was an event.  This was an ordeal.  We spent hours enjoying every mouthful.  We were so sublimely satisfied, we were giddy.  We were actually giggling as we ate. Just randomly giggling.  I actually felt guilty.  Like I had done something wrong just by enjoying the food this much.  Like no food should be allowed to taste this incredibly. The food was great.  The wine was great.  We didn't even bother to order dessert because we wanted the taste of the dinner to stay in our mouths all night.

If you ever find yourself in Seattle and HUNGRY-  not just hungry, but HUNGRY- you must try Cutter's Bayhouse.  Your mouth will not be disappointed.