An unstuffy French masterpiece sitting in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood

Fremont. The center of the Universe according to a few people. Fremont holds one of my very favorite restaurants, but because it is under construction right now, I had to venture out of my comfort zone and try something new. Just kidding, trying something new is NOT out of my comfort zone… But I am telling you the truth when I say this was my first time at this restaurant.

Pomerol. It’s French and I am so glad I didn’t know that, until after I finished my meal. Historically, I have never enjoyed a French meal. French dining to me is stuffy, small portions and underwhelming. BUT! This is not your average French dining place.

Before even opening the door, we were welcomed with a strong rush of that yummy, wood-fired food scent. As soon as you walk in you see that beautiful wood-fired grill right behind the bar AND that bar doubles as their kitchen. This place is AWESOME. Any place that has an open kitchen is a good place, in my book. I love to see the chefs in their element, pouring their love into the food that they are preparing for people like you and I to eat.

We sit down and it’s time for a Friday night drink because hey, we made it through another work week. Are the drinks expensive? Yes. Do they use quality ingredients? Yes. If you can afford a drink for $12, go ahead and get one here.

I went for their “New” Fashioned because it offered Gin. An Old-Fashioned offers whiskey or Bourbon which in my books equal a big ol’ Yuck. Gin, on the other hand? Sign me up! This New Fashioned was a strong, powerful little guy made with local gin, orange, and freshly muddled cherries. One of these was a perfect amount; it was a sipping drink, not a sloshing one.

Time for food. When we ask our server, what he recommends for the night he offers up some appetizers to share across the table. Then he let us know that the entrees are their own venture. He couldn’t truly tell us which entrée he recommended because he loved them all.

I wasn’t starving tonight so I picked two apps that sounded interesting and agreed to share them with the others.

• #1: Arugula, Burrata, Strawberry, Peanut Brittle, Shallot Vinaigrette. Now if you see Peanut Brittle in a salad, my question to you is this: Why wouldn’t you get it?
• #2: Confit Chicken Wings, Garlic, Thai Chili, Basil. Wings on the weekend, yep I am def an American.

The salad came out first. Our waiter urged us to appreciate the peppery bits of arugula within it. I do love when a waiter points out extra points of interest about the food, so I can really think about the flavors I am enjoying.

The goal of my first bite: Just make sure I get a little of everything in this bite, so I can taste the flavors all together.

Man oh man, that peanut brittle. Who the hell comes up with this stuff?

Strawberries, light and fresh.

Burrata, melt in your mouth.

Arugula, peppery, just like he said it would be. 

Peanut brittle, sweet and crunchy.

The shallot vinaigrette tied it all together as a whole dish; sweet and salty with garlicy bits. Love!

The wings come out in a cutesy little metal dish. It looks small, but you get a good number of whole wings. Now I am not kidding you when I say that I went to pick up my first wing, and the bone detached from the meat in my hand. They are THAT soft. In my mouth, melting, extra garlic, fish sauce for that extraaaa saltiness, and the tiniest bit of spice.

Now there’s this weird and gross (but not gross) part I have to tell you about the wings… And that would be Cartilage… Gross, right? I told you!!!

When I eat wings, I eat the meat and then there’s a good amount of other odds and ends left behind on the bone. However: I ate the cartilage on accident with these guys because it was so soft, it literally melted in my mouth. I ate the entire freaking wing, all but bone. WHAT. I’m still shocked, and still weirded out by it, but please don’t judge because it was the best.

The rest of my party ordered full entrees so they ate those while I tidied up the rest of the apps.

I would strongly recommend their dishes. The serving size on their mains are HUGE. They came out as large, beautiful piles of food. Pieces of art really. And I truly mean that, because we saw the chef pull out his camera to take a picture of it before he sent it out to be served to our table. If that doesn’t scream passion and love, then I don’t know what does. This chef loved his creation so much, he wanted to take a picture of it. How cool.

So, moral of the story: Pomerol is awesome.

I will be back.

Promise.