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Chef Brendan McGill’s Seabird officially opens today at 5pm. Located in the former Hitchcock space on Winslow Way, Seabird is an elevated seafood and vegetable focused restaurant.
“We just finished a week of soft opening services, and it was inspiring to see so many familiar faces and welcome them back into our home,” said Brendan McGill chef and owner of Hitchcock Restaurant Group (HRG).
“We’ve had the chance to reset, build, and come back with a tighter focus, and sharpened sense of purpose,” said McGill. “We are so grateful to be able to return to this style of dining and welcome guests into Seabird.”
Seabird’s ocean blue exterior is an inviting pop of color and the interior offers a simple elegance with blond wood booths, modern tan leather chairs, vintage cutlery, and dishware by local ceramist Laurel Wilson. The split-level dining area seats 45 and three Louis Poulsen pendant lights, matte blue with a peek of orange, grace the charming six seat bar. The art on the walls evokes a Pacific Northwest beach vibe and includes stunning pieces by Meghann Riepenhoff, Dwight Hwang, and George Tsutakawa. The large front windows open fully and look out onto the intimate seasonal patio.
The kitchen has undergone an extensive renovation with a gorgeous Carrara marble raw bar and roast station framing the entrance to the open kitchen.
Grant Rico, executive chef, and partner in the restaurant, brings immense creativity to his ever-changing menu. Continuing the ethos of Hitchcock, ingredients are thoughtfully sourced, local, and sustainable with purveyors given credit on the menu.
“Working with Joth Davis to procure oysters and sea kelp, grown together in a symbiotic aquaculture, from Baywater Shellfish & Blue Dot Sea Farms has been a highlight of our sourcing,” said McGill. “As they say, what grows together goes together!”
“The kelp shows up in myriad ways, infusing umami into stocks and sauces, powders, jerkies, crisps, butter, and other fun garnishes,” he adds.
The menu features a Raw Bar section with a rotating selection of local oysters, and other gems from the sea like spot prawns, geoduck, green sea urchin, and Dungeness Crab.
Small Plates include Dungeness Crab Custard with trout roe, dulce, and seaweed foam, Uni French Toast brioche with dashi anglaise, crème fraiche, sea lettuce, chive, and pickled spring onion, Chinook Salmon Crudo with beets, spring onion ash, black sesame, dulce seaweed, and cucumber, Sablefish in almond broth with salsa macha, Marcona almond, nootka flower, cherry, and cilantro, Seacuterie with sturgeon bacon, smelt boquerones, and cabbage cured king salmon, Roasted Hakurei Turnips with bagna cauda, fermented turnip greens, green garlic, and mustard greens and Potatoes and Morels featuring potatoes baked in their own soil, marinate morels, sea buckhorn, and porcini.
Large Plates include Wood-fired Halibut with black garlic mole, potato fondant, and radish, Whole Roasted Yelloweye Rockfish with koji barley risotto, wood-fired asparagus, and pine nut gremolata, King Salmon with carrot hollandaise, carrots, beluga lentils, and grilled little gem and Maitake a koji porridge and mushroom consommé.
Desserts include Milk and Honey with honey sorbet, milk granita, honey tuile, and toasted milk crumb and Seaweed with seaweed ice cream, meringue, sesame, and seaweed foam.
Tony Lombardi, beverage director of HRG, has created a wine program that features organic, low-intervention, boutique producers of bubbles, whites, and light bodied reds that pair well with seafood.
The cocktail menu includes a Seabird Old Fashioned with rye whiskey, sorghum syrup, and wild cherry bark/kombu bitters, Parabolic Martini with shellfish rested Highside gin, vermouth blend, and Suze, and Bigger Bub with Shochu, Suze, Yuzu Kosho, and lime.
Located on picturesque Bainbridge Island, a quick 35-minute ferry ride from downtown Seattle, Seabird is chef Brendan McGill’s love letter to seafood. Housed in the original Hitchcock space, the restaurant features locally sourced and cultivated seafood and vegetables exquisitely executed. Seabird is open Thursday through Sunday from 5pm – 9pm. For more information or reservations, visit https://www.seabird.fish or call 206.201.3789.
Seabird is located at 133 Winslow Way East on Bainbridge Island in Washington.