Seven Beef Opens Today

The 4,000 square-foot space has seating for 90, including 16 at the bar and 10 at a large table in the front of the space, plus room for 16 in a sunken dining room at the back of the restaurant. Guests enter through a large glass door into the central part of the restaurant, which is lit from above with generous windows and crisscrossed with glowing bistro lights. To the right is the bar, where a lower ceiling with exposed beams lends a cozy atmosphere, and to the left is the open kitchen. The décor is simple, with exposed wood and metal, white parchment paper-covered tables, and classic wooden chairs. In the bar, there are 20 additional seats at banquettes upholstered in a slate grey. While the bar top is white marble, the kitchen counter is warm fir, set above storage space for serving ware. Vintage plates with feminine patterns serve as a nice contrast to the hearty steaks being served at Seven Beef.

Each week, the restaurant will receive quartered cows from Heritage Meats, which they’ll break down into steaks right in the restaurant. Using the whole cow means that the menu will be populated with both the familiar:

Porterhouse, T-bone, New York Strip—and the unfamiliar: oyster, belly, Teres Major. There will always be a three-pound bone-in rib steak, an 18-ounce Porterhouse, and a 16-ounce T-bone on the menu, all dry aged in house—the rest of the cuts will be listed on an ever-changing fresh sheet and available to order a la carte. Steaks will be market priced.

To go along with the beef, there will be six potato dishes, all $6. Offering will include burnt sweet potatoes with honey and thyme, pommes anna, frites, and even poutine. There are also a handful of $7 vegetable sides like ratatouille, caramelized endive, burnt tomatoes, creamed spinach, and roasted Brussels sprouts with kimchi and mint.

There will be additional dishes available to fill out the meal like clams with coconut milk, galangal, turmeric, and chorizo for $14; fire-grilled albacore tuna with eggplant caviar, red pepper, and basil for $18; burnt acorn squash salad with arugula, mint, and goat cheese for $11; and roasted wild Coho salmon with braised leeks and rye cream sauce for $22.

As an alternative to ordering steaks and sides, there is also the Banh’s modern take on the classic Vietnamese seven-course beef dinner—which the restaurant is named for—available for $50/person. The dinner, which was traditionally served for royalty or celebrations in Vietnam, will make use of some of the lesser-known cuts of beef created during the butchering process. There is also Seven Beet, a vegetarian version for $42/person, which will start off with raw vegetables, move through different tender lettuce varieties, and end with vegetables prepared on the wood-burning grill.

The signature dessert is a 72% cocoa Valrhona dark chocolate cake with creamed peanut butter frosting, $9 for a very shareable slice.

The wine program focuses on a mix of French wines and French varietals from Washington, Oregon, and California. The list is comprised primarily of natural wines; wines made with minimal chemical and technical interventions, wines that truly represent where they’re from and the grapes they’re made of. Banh feels that these wines truly complement the food at Seven Beef, and offer an opportunity for Seattle diners to explore new wines they may not have experienced before.

As for cocktails, Jon Christiansen, bar manger at Ba Bar and Monsoon, has come up with elegant plays on classic drinks like Rusty Nails and martinis. “The Devil’s Broom” is an updated apple martini, with hopped Granny Smith apple syrup, vodka, lemon, and an apple ribbon—it keeps company with “Waiting for Jim,” made with gin, lemon, peach jam, Casoni 1814, bubbles, cracked coriander and dried flowers. There are two rotating non-alcoholic carbonated cocktails on draft—the first two are a marigold and elderflower soda and a honeybush tea and oloroso wood chip soda.

Seven Beef is open Sunday through Thursday from 5pm – 11pm, and from 5pm – 12am Friday and Saturday. Valet parking is available daily from 6pm – 10pm for $10. For more information or to make reservations for six or more, call 206.328.7090 or visit sevenbeef.com.

The Monsoon Restaurant Family was founded in 1999 by sibling chefs Sophie and Eric Banh with the opening of Monsoon in Seattle’s North Capitol Hill neighborhood. A beloved gem of a restaurant, Monsoon serves dishes influenced by the culinary traditions of Saigon as well as the fresh ingredients of the Northwest. An expansion in the summer of 2014 doubled the size of the restaurant and added an elegant bar. In 2008, Monsoon East opened in Bellevue, Washington, offering guests a stylish space serving excellent food and creative cocktails on the eastside. In 2011, Ba Bar opened in the south end of Capitol Hill, serving Vietnamese street food made with quality ingredients, the most talked about pho in town, standout cocktails, and classic French pastries. Seven Beef, a steakhouse serving classic cuts of beef as well as the Banhs take on a traditional Vietnamese seven-course beef dinner, opened in October of 2015. More information can be found at monsoonrestaurants.com, babarseattle.com, and www.sevenbeef.com.

Photo credit: Seven Beef Twitter