The Crow’s Nest is on the 20th floor of the Captain Cook Hotel, which are the 3 tall buildings in the downtown area.  It was built around 1976-77 and offers a wonderful view of the city.  The restaurant faces the water while the bar area faces downtown.  The ceiling of the entire area is carved to resemble the skeleton of an inverted boat bottom.  As you got off the elevator the large bar is in front of you, finished with lots of wood and low lighting.  To one side is the medium sized dining room.  Widely spaced tables are set into deep booths or against the floor to ceiling windows.  Tables are draped in beautiful embossed linens with matching napkins.  Service was exemplary – friendly and helpful – and very polished. They offered probably the biggest wine list we found in town.  

 

We started with martinis which were brought to the table in the cocktail shakers and gently shaken at the table and poured immediately into a chilled glass.  It was a perfect start to a lovely meal to come.  Bread service was next with a choice of plain French bread, black olive or parmesan rolls.  I tried the first type and the crisp crust held a dense interior of doughy goodness.  They were served with a large dish of whipped butter.

 

An amuse bouche of pineapple ginger sorbet was topped with black sea salt.  It was a one bite spoonful of flavors that melded well together.

 

A salad of Mixed Field Greens included a mesclun mix, honey glazed chevre, baby tomatoes, beets, toasted pecans and dressed with a roasted shallot and maple vinaigrette.  The dressing could have been mixed better with the greens or maybe it just needed more but it was full of good flavors.  The greens were locally grown.  I thought I found some pear in it too.  The toasted pecans added a nice crunch and their nutty taste was good with the cheese and beets.  I would order it again.

 

The King Crab Bisque was made with tarragon, sherry gelee and crab leg medallions.  It was a very mild in flavor and the broth seemed to be as much from vegetable purée as crab shells.  It was not the heavy buttery soup you’d expect but nevertheless it was very pleasant and tasty with nice pieces of crab in it.

 

King Crab Legs were one pound of legs with lemon and drawn butter.   This place gave you plenty of butter for dipping the easily removed crab meat.  It was a lot of crab but very good.

 

The Duroc Pork Chop was served with roasted butternut, burnt apple, pork jowl, cippollini onions, and brussel leaves with a maple and Bourbon lacquer.  It was another large plate of food and generous serving of pork cooked slightly pink.  The apples were tasty and lightly crisp and the butternut squash was in purée form and also really good.  All good flavors to blend with the tasty pork.  The cut was mostly the white meat and unfortunately a little drier than I’d like but it was still very good.

 

The Crow’s Nest is known for it Bananas Foster which is flambéed tableside.  I wasn’t sure if I wanted it since we’d had it just a night ago but the server said it was great so we ordered it.  She was right – it was a fun tableside show (video at end of article) and the smells were divine.  Then you got to eat it and it was truly delicious.  The bowl starts with a couple scoops of ice cream and then she prepared the wonderful caramel and banana mixture to top it with.  She didn’t leave the bananas in the whole time so they didn’t get so soft and still had a nice texture to eat with the sauce and ice cream.  It was a terrific melding of flavors and textures.  If you go, don’t hesitate and order the bananas foster.