Bateau
It’s true: We’ve never met a Renee Erickson restaurant we didn’t immediately love. The Seattle chef just has a knack for cooking the kind of food we find irresistible, a talent that’s on display at her new triumvirate of side-by-side ventures in Capitol Hill. On the corner is Bar Melusine, the most recognizably Erickson-esque of the group—a stylish white-and-seafoam-green oyster bar where most of the seats are at two marble counters, an arm’s reach from buckets of Treasure Coves and Sister Points and a half-dozen other varieties of precious Washington bivalves. Next door is Bateau, which is a steakhouse as only Erickson could imagine it: one that brings in whole animals from Whidbey Island, butchers and dry-ages them in-house, and sells each steak by its weight, accessorized with your choice of bone-marrow or preserved-lemon butter. And finally there’s General Porpoise, the doughnut-and-coffee shop of our dreams. The sugar-dusted cloud puffs called yeasted doughnuts, piped with not-too-sweet fillings like lemon curd and honey yogurt, left us in a state of speechless euphoria. As if Erickson would have it any other way. __PRO TIP: __ Doughnuts (in quantities of ten) can be preordered from General Porpoise online for next-day pickup. THE DETAILS: Reservations are accepted at both Bateau and Bar Melusine. The latter hosts a Happy Hour ($1 off oysters) Sunday–Thursday, 5–6 p.m.
