Matt’s in the Market is on the second floor of a building overlooking the popular Pike Place Market.  There are plenty of signs directing you to get there.  We have been there for lunch a number of times and always enjoyed it so it was time to try it for dinner and that was a great decision.  The place is extremely busy thus reservations are a must and noise level is moderate.  There are a few stools facing the bar and tables fill the rest of the room.  Windows get a lot of sun during the day but look directly down on the busy Market, which is a show in itself.  An open kitchen is in an ‘L’ shape and the tables next to it are another fun show with the kitchen movements and the variety of ingredients in jars atop the divider.  The staff were all friendly and go out of their way to make your visit wonderful.  For example, one of our martinis arrived with an olive rather than a lemon.  Rather than replace the garnish a whole new one was made and brought to us without asking.  

 

The menu is all a la carte and a couple specials were orally presented the night we were there.

 

We both started with the dungeness crab salad.  It was a ton of crab meat on top of watermelon radish, red cabbage and cucumber and sauced with a lemon vinaigrette.  The vegetables were almost as good as the crab – very crisp, fresh and flavorful.  The tart dressing worked well with all the ingredients.  This was a fine beginning to the meal.

 

For an entree we had a nightly special which was an 8 ounce wagyu beef short rib that had been cooked in a sous vide for 48 hours and then seared on the grill.  It was served with a garlic puree, that tasted like it might have a bit of yogurt in it, slow roasted carrots, sea buckthorn, corn and grilled escarole.  It had been marinated in something which brought out a ton of flavor in the rich meat.  It was scrumptious and a tender and buttery explosion with each bite.   The sea buckthorn added just a tad of tartness that helped balance the plate.  The grilled escarole was also outstanding – a great plate of food.

 

For dessert we tried the  cinnamon sugar bread pudding that was served with brown butter pecan ice cream.  Wow!  Crispy edges on the dense, well soaked cake combined with the rich creamy ice cream into total goodness.  Yum x2 here.

 

We also tried a nightly special caramel tart served with caramel popcorn and popcorn sherbet.  This was amazingly great.  The rich buttery caramel combined perfectly with the popcorn flavors – who doesn’t like caramel popcorn?  The sherbet was yummy as was the buttery crust on the tart.  A bitter caramel mousse was smeared on the plate and a dusting of caramel popcorn was sprinkled on top that was a perfect touch on near perfection.  Sweet, crispy and buttery this was heavenly.  Yum x3!