Valentine’s Weekend From Local Restaurateurs

While romance may be celebrated outside of Seattle’s restaurants for Valentine’s 2021 (Sunday, Feb. 14), diners are still not bound to the home kitchen to figure out a fabulous meal; they have delicious reinforcements! Seattle chefs are creating indulgent feasts and special menus with easy takeout and or, in some cases, outdoor dining in mind. Treat beloved to terrific pre-fixe menus, local seafood kits, decadent desserts, wine/bubbles and weekend-long indulgence.

Highlights include:

1. Shiro’s Sushi Platter
2. Ray’s Champagne and Sparkline Wines
3. Ba Bar Valentines + Lunar New Year Specials and Outdoor Dining
4. Monsoon Takeout for Two and Cocktails To Go and Outdoor Dining
5. Cafe Flora Vegan Dinner + Dessert Trio
6. The Lakehouse Four-course Dinner + Decadent Add-ons
7. Canlis – Valentine’s Day weekend reservations are now available for the Yurt Village. Most tables are for four, so make it double date night

Shiro’s Valentine’s Weekend Takeout Platter for Two ($160)

Enjoy sushi for two from Shiro’s made with top ingredients from Japan, such as Kasugodai (young sea bream), Anago (sea eel), and Kuruma-Ebi (Japanese Tiger Prawn). Shiro’s also draws from premium Western seafood such as lobster, tongue sole and oyster, crafting them into delicious sushi with new interpretations of the Edomae-style technique.

On the Valentines Platter: Tuna, Medium Fatty Tuna, Fatty Tuna, Ola King Salmon, Sockeye Salmon, Kasugodai (young sea bream), Anago (sea eel), Kuruma-Ebi (Japanese Tiger Prawn), Hokkaido Sea Urchin, bi-color Ikura, lobster, tongue sole, oyster, egg omelet, and a dessert befitting of Valentine’s weekend.

Reserve your takeout-only platter (pickup either Feb. 12, 13 or 14) by calling 206.443.9844, or online beginning Feb. 12; limited supply. Shiro’s Sushi is located at 2401 2nd Ave in Belltown.

Ray’s: Coveted Bubbles for Pickup

Seattle’s treasured waterfront seafood restaurant is also renowned for its vast premium wine collection. For this coming Valentine’s weekend, while Ray’s is not serving dinner for this occasion, it is opening its virtual cellar for special orders of its extremely limited selection of Champagne and Sparkling Wines by the bottle, from near and far. Cava, Cremant, Champagne and Sparkling Wines are all available! Examples of offer:

1. Bollinger Grand Année Brut Aÿ 2008 – $300
2. Cristal by Louis Roderer, Brut, Montagne de Reims 2008 – $445
3. Sea Smoke ‘Sea Spray’ Blanc de Noirs Santa Barbara, Calif. 2014 – $155
4. Domaine Huet Pétillant Brut Réserve, Vouvray 2009 – $90
5. Ruinart Brut Rosé Reims, France NV – $135

All it takes is a click and your fast-acting decision to get your hands on something you won’t find just anywhere. Simply click, peruse, purchase and schedule your pickup time starting now. Not to burst your bubble, but these bubbles will go quickly, so don’t delay! Shop here.

Find Ray’s at 6049 Seaview Ave NW, Seattle, WA 98107; 206.789.3770.

Ba Bar: Valentines + Lunar New Year Takeout or Heated Patio Dining

This year Feb. 12-14 brings two celebrations in one to Ba Bar (Capitol Hill and University Village locations): Tet (the Lunar New Year) and Valentine’s Weekend. Choose from heated outdoor patio seating or pick up your meals and drinks to go through takeout or online ordering, beginning Feb 8-14.

Special Tet and Valentine’s Weekend menu items include: Ba Bar’s Bánh Tét(sweetened cake appetizer) for $7, featuring sticky rice rolled in banana leaf filled with mung bean and pork. A special Tet and Valentines combination including Wagyu phở(instead of the standard prime eye round) and a red bean mochi dessert for $25 per person. Ba Bar’s beef bone broth, made with Painted Hill oxtail bones and Meyer Ranch prime brisket bones, is cooked over 24 hours, starting with a 1:1 water-to-bone ratio, lending richness and a very high collagen content.

Order online at babarseattle.com, order for takeaway, or dine on the well-appointed heated patios at both locations.

Ba Bar Capitol Hill: 550 12th Avenue Seattle, WA 98122; 206.328.2030.

Bar Bar University Village: 2685 NE 46th Street, Seattle, Wa 98105; 206.328.1112.

Monsoon

Seafood for Two Takeout, Champagne Add-Ons and To-Go Bottled Cocktails

Beginning Valentine’s Day (and running beyond), the Vietnamese favorite, Monsoon,offers a fully prepared, ready-to-eat Seafood for Two meal kit for takeout only ($60). Takeout pre-orders available now, dine-in reservations for Valentine’s available Feb 13. Includes:

1. Dungeness crab rolls with shrimp, glass noodle and nước chấm
2. Pickled mustard green fried rice and fried oyster
3. Pan-seared diver scallops with turmeric and sweet ginger broth.

Just Add Bubbles

As a festive addition, Monsoon offers Laurent Perrier Champagne by the bottle for just $25.

Bottled Cocktails to Go

Bartender Jon Christiansen has created three takeout cocktails; bottled and ready to be poured over ice. (3.5-ounce Single, $10 or 7-ounce Double, $18)

1. Taiyo Kuro – Toki Japanese Whiskey, cold brew syrup, Angostura Bitters, orange and chocolate bitters, as an old fashioned.
2. The Long Haul 10/18 – Famous Grouse Scotch, Lustau Dry Vermouth, Amaro CioCiaro, Brovo Boomerang, Peychaud’s bitters
3. Dirty Boulevard – Jim Beam Rye, housemade chinato.

Reserve Seafood for Two now at monsoonrestaruants.com. Reservations for Valentine’s Day available Feb 13.

Monsoon Seattle, 615 19th Ave E, Seattle, WA 98122; 206.325.2111.

Monsoon Bellevue, 10245 Main Street, Bellevue, WA 98004; 425.635.1112.

Cafe Flora: A Very Vegan (and absolutely delicious!) Valentine’s Box for Two to go, Plus a Gift to Give

It’s an all-takeout Valentine’s Day at Madison Valley’s beloved Cafe Flora, offering a limited number of boxed dinners made for two ($90 food only; or $135 with three beverage pairings). All items are vegan & gluten-free.

1. Starter – Taro chips served with butternut pate, beet pepper jam, and an avocado-pumpkin seed scallion pistou
2. Salad – Colorful rainbow carrot ribbons, shaved green papaya, red and savoy cabbage, papaya, grapefruit, and spiced cashews, with a grapefruit serrano dressing
3. Entrée – Artichoke croquettes with spiced lemongrass sauce + gingered kabocha smash + grilled chayote squash with beluga lentils & maitake mushrooms + pickled starfruit & blood orange garnish
4. Dessert – Chocolate Tower – chocolate mousse on a graham crust enrobed in a dark chocolate ganache with raspberry coulis and coconut whip
5. Optional cocktail and wine pairings (for first three courses) – Golden Negroni cocktail (saffron-infused gin, brovo pink vermouth, bonal gentiane quina, rishi saffron bitters); Nomadica Red Blend; and Gruet Sparkling Brut Split.

Give the Gift of a dessert trio of Buckwheat heart-shaped cookies, Mendiants (dark chocolate discs decorated with slivered almonds and pistachios, candied ginger, and dried apricots), and Passion Fruit Pate de Fruit.

These boxed meals for two are limited to the first 250 orders. Place your order online at cafeflora.com.

Find Café Flora at 2901 E Madison St, Seattle, WA 98112; 206-325-9100.

The Lakehouse: Special Valentine’s Weekend Pickup Menu for Feb 12-14

James Beard Award-winning Chef Jason Wilson has created an opulent four-course Valentine’s takeout dinner sure to please from his Bellevue outpost, The Lakehouse. He’s extended this special menu to run all Valentine’s Weekend, from Friday through Sunday. Price per person: $100 (excluding tax and gratuity). Course features include:

1. Salad – Citrus Roasted Beets, Toasted Pistachio Butter, Honey Black Truffle Chevre, Arugula
2. Pasta – Maine Lobster stuffed Cappelletti Pasta, Meyer Lemon-Fennel & Lobster Salad, Saffron Herb Sauce
3. Entrée – Grilled Washington Filet Mignon. Black Truffled Potato Puree, Thyme roasted Baby Carrots, Chimichurri
4. Dessert – Valrhona Chocolate Tart, Salted Caramel Curd, White Chocolate Strawberry Mousse, Crystalized berries

Make it decadent with these add-ons:

1. Caviar Course, $75 – 2 ounces of Russian Caviar Service with Blinis, Chive creme fraiche, traditional garnishes
2. Duck Foie Gras, $36 – Duck Foie Gras Mousse in a jar, huckleberry compote, rain forest crackers & grilled toasts
3. King Crab Roll Kit, $62 – King Crab Roll “Kit” with butter lettuce, brioche buns, basil lemon aioli, cucumbers (2 each)

Select cocktails and wine to go are also available online. Place your order at The Lakehouse online.

The Lakehouse is located at 10455 NE 5th Pl, Bellevue, WA, 98004; 425.454.7076.

Canlis: Valentine’s Day weekend reservations are now available for the Yurt Village. Most tables are for four, so make it double date night – make your reservation here.