Pacific Northwest Restaurants
Sitka & Spruce
- Critic's rating
- LAT
Propped on the bar, a child's chalkboard is scrawled with the words "Food worth standing up for." And stand up they do. People lean against the bar and the big chalkboard where the menu is written each day, waiting for one of the half-dozen tables.
My friends and I start with Stellar Bay oysters with a pink grapefruit and Campari granita, its bittersweet bite delicious with the oysters. That's followed by a beguiling salad of warm beets and wild watercress and an order of grilled oyster mushrooms with shallots, freshly cracked walnuts and wood violets. Chicken livers sautéed with sultana raisins and a splash of rosé are wonderful and earthy. I love the fat white beans heaped with charred octopus tentacles in a bright green salsa verde too.
Most dishes come in regular and half portions, the better to taste one's way through the menu.
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