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1320 Broadway Plaza Tacoma, Washington 98402 (253) 572-3200 (888) 862-3255 |
| I have heard good things about the Hotel Murano, so I decided to take my daughter Mariel, visiting from Los Angeles, and longtime family friend Tate Edwards from Honolulu, who is here apprenticing in my kitchen at Pacific Grill for the summer, to Lunch there. |  |
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The Murano is chic and beautiful—reminded me a little bit of the sexy stylishness of the W Hotel chain, with it’s impressive modern art, and chic votive candles in the lobby. Their restaurant BITE is located on the 3rd floor. It is a nice modern space, the staff very polite and attentive. |
The waitress described the “fries and gravy” as a good starter [served with a mushroom zinfandel gravy & gorgonzola cheese]. We passed, but it did sound interesting in a messy comfort food sort-of-way.
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I went for the “limoncello cured salmon” on sesame flatbread, chive crème fraîche, and red onion gremolata. It looked beautiful as the plate was set before me. I didn’t taste any sesame in my flatbread crackers, and the crème fraîche was a little sparse for my tastes. But the dish was good if not spectacular. The fish was a little too sweet which may have been the fault of the Italian Limoncello liqueur, since there is no citrus juice in it but rather it is made from the rinds. |
Also, the gremolata that was piled on top was made from orange zest instead of lemon, which also lent another hint of sweetness. [I should have ordered a lemon wedge to squeeze over the dish, it would have benefitted from the additional acid].
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Mariel had the “green market” salad with roasted beets, haricots verts, onion, cauliflower, butternut squash, scallions, walnuts, and ricotta salata, with a sherry-shallot vinaigrette. She complained about how under-cooked the vegetables were, and after I tasted it I had to agree—all the vegetables were hard and raw tasting. |
She pointed out that the haricots verts were unappealingly thick—almost as if they were blue lake beans. A lot of damage has resulted from the idea to undercook vegetables al dente. I tell my cooks to cook the vegetables so that they are tender to the tooth—not mushy—but that they should not snap when bitten and certainly not taste raw.
The other vegetables were also underdone, and the butternut squash—stained with the dark red juice from the beets—looked and tasted like an unripe nectarine.
She had ordered the salad with additional chicken, which she fished out and ate, but did not finish the salad.
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Tate ordered the “classic reuben” with corned beef, sauerkraut and swiss griddled on seeded rye, but the sandwich came out on marbled rye bread instead. The sandwich was served on an impressive-looking mountain of “herb fries”. But the fries tasted like they had cinnamon on them. When we asked, the waitress said no , only basil & parsley, garlic, salt & pepper. We all swore there was a mysterious sweet cinnamon flavor to them. We wondered if something was fried earlier in the oil that imparted that flavor? Anyway the fries had that crunchy coating [potato starch] that so many fast-food type chain places put on their fries now to retain crispness and heat. |
Tate said the sandwich meat was a little dry. But other than that he enjoyed his meal [although his starter salad he didn’t finish as the balsamic dressing he said was much too sweet].
Altogether our bill came to about $60 [including tip] for the 3 main courses, one starter salad, and one glass of Pinot Grigio—the rest of us had tap water.
Although our meal was a little uneven, I am going to go back to try their breakfast, recommended to me by picky foodies but-knows-their-stuff clients of mine.
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