Our third visit to Restaurant Beck we were a few minutes early and so had some time to explore old photos of the hotel, Whale Cove Inn, that has been its home for the 11 years it has been open.  The Inn has just 8 suites but all are spacious and have private balconies overlooking the Whale Cove.   We were lucky to secure one of the suites and that made it an even more fun experience to just walk down to dinner.  We were given a different table that changed the view slightly, but there is not a bad table in the place.  While looking over the menu and listening to the 70-80’s music in the background we got to talk with the wonderful server.  We wanted to do another 5 course tasting but wanted to make sure and have different things than we’d had the previous nights.   The previous night Stormee Wills had suggested another wine to try so we were not going to partake of the wine pairing options.  As with every night, portion control was on the generous side and pacing was well done – no lapses or rush.

 

We enjoyed an Old Fashioned made with Bulleit Bourbon, House Bitters, Sugar Cube, Bordeaux Cherry, Orange while talking with staff and enjoying the casual atmosphere of the restaurant.  You can see them just above the first course, the Roasted Carrot Bisque with hay yogurt, pea blossoms, fermented blueberry powder, pepitas and pickled blueberries.  The pickled blueberries were plump and delicious and the pea leaves were locally harvested.  It was not a combination that I would have thought of but all blended well and it worked.

 

Tonights bread was made with purple barley and wheat.  It was warm and dense with a great crackly crust.  It was seasoned with a hint of thyme that was delicious.  The softened butter had just the right amount of course salt on the top.

 

Chinook Salmon was served with beet greens, thin sliced radish, nasturtium pesto and thyme butter.  The greens were really tasty but I would have cooked the well seasoned salmon a hair less, but salmon is a really forgiving fish.  Even so it was good.

 

The halibut on tomato cream was with bronze fennel frond and cauliflower.  The fish was browned nicely and unfortunately I cut into it before I remembered a picture so I moved things around and tried to smooth the sauce, so imperfections in the plate were my doing.  The sauce was nice with the fish which was a tad dry, but that is so often the case with halibut.  The cauliflower was a fun, different vegetable to get.  A nice plate.

 

The last savory was a bacon wrapped pork tenderloin served alongside a sunnyside-up local farm egg on top of spring potato hash and all decorated with microgreens.  The pork tasted like it had been cooked in a sous vide which kept it super moist and tender.  The runny egg mixed nicely with the potato dice.  This was a rich and tasty plate.

 

Dessert was a chocolate anglefood cake topped with a reduced blueberry and chocolate sauces studded with puffed rice.  Alongside was a blueberry macaron with chocolate filling.  The puffed rice added a wonderful texture to the sauce and cake.  The liquid chocolate was sweet and added fun to the already moist cake.  This one was really good and really filling.  The ultimate sweet and chocolate fix.