Demonstrating a recipe to use fresh produce at the Magnolia Farmers Market is a natural for Mike Bryan, executive chef of Palisade Waterfront Restaurant, near the Elliott Bay Marina at the foot of Magnolia Bluff.
"At home, my wife and I don't plan too far ahead. The Central Market, which is near us, is phenomenal, and we go there to see what's best in seafood, meat, which we cook very simply. It's the same with veggies. We're always looking for the freshest food," Bryan said.
Bryan brings that same philosophy to Palisade, where the cuisine is based on Northwest ingredients with a Polynesian theme running through it.
"I keep in constant contact with my produce purveyor, and she lets me know what's available that week, and then I decide on menu items," Bryan said.
That may mean greens from a place in Woodinville or cherries from Eastern Washington. The cherries, for example, might be used in a fruit crisp, with a topping of brown sugar, walnuts, flour and butter and finished in a wood-fired oven. As he does at home,
Bryan wants to let the flavors of the produce shine through. So, in the crisp, he stays away from heavy spices like cinnamon that could mask, rather than complement, the taste of the cherries.
Bryan will demonstrate how to make a caprese salad at the Magnolia Farmers Market on Saturday, July 26, at 11 a.m. The basics of the typical caprese salad are ripe tomatoes (no pale replicas need apply), mozzarella cheese, extra virgin olive oil and fresh herbs. Bryan, however, is substituting goat cheese sold at the farmers market for the mozzarella, but the replacement had to meet his specifications.
"The goat cheese [from the market] has a little more subtle flavor than Montrachet, which is sharper.
That's good because you don't want to overpower the tomatoes," Bryan said.
He is a fan of heirloom tomatoes and hopes to use them at the restaurant in a more exotic version of a caprese salad that might be dressed with a passion fruit-infused honey and balsamic vinegar dressing and Thai basil, a form of basil that Bryan describes as having "a peppery essence, a more sharp flavor, that finishes with a basil flavor."
Becoming a chef wasn't Bryan's original career goal, but cooking was always a passion.
"As a child I remember coming home from school and watching Julia Child and The Galloping Gourmet - Graham Kerr - on TV," Bryan said. "From that point on, I was experimenting in the kitchen." Bryan went to the University of Washington to become an architect like his father. But, as he worked in restaurants while attending college, he realized he enjoyed the business side of cooking, as well as creating dishes. So he enrolled in the culinary program at South Seattle Community College in 1986.
Bryan was called in to take over the restaurant about a year and a half ago when then-executive chef John Howie moved on to open his own dining establishment. Restaurants Unlimited, which owns Palisade, was familiar with Bryan, who has worked his way up through the company in 13 years.
Another plus was his experience working with fresh seafood at restaurants like Cutter's Bayhouse in Seattle and his two-year tenure in Hawaii at Horatio's, which is now Kincaid's.
"The time spent in Hawaii opened my eyes to a lot of different cultures and cuisines," Bryan said. Since donning the chef's toque at Palisade, Bryan has moved away from the heavier, French influence fostered by Howie.
"I tend to go more with olive oils, reductions, salsa - especially with the summer menu," Bryan said.
He also pushed for adding selections under $20 to the menu, including a $19.95 early-bird special, to attract people who normally come to the restaurants only for special occasions.
And where else in the Northwest can you get Bryan's take on Hawaiian flavors like alaea, a sea salt from clay beds in Hawaii, which is smoked at Palisade and used, among other things, to season meats?
The market takes place in the parking lot in front of the Magnolia Community Center, 2550 34th Ave. W., every Saturday through Oct. 18 from 10 a.m-2 p.m. Palisade restaurant is located at 2601 W. Marina Pl. by the Elliott Bay Marina, 285-1000.
Editor Maggie Larrick can be reached at mlarrick@nwlink.com[[In-content Ad]]
