After 22 years in business as the owner and chef at the Pacific Cafe, a small restaurant in Bellingham WA, Robert is selling the restaurant and moving on to other things. Yesterday was his last day at Pacific Cafe, and I went with some friends to the festivities. In addition to the restaurant, Robert has taught cooking classes sponsored by the community co-op, hosted wine tastings at the restaurant, and taught Tai Chi.
I have had several memorable evenings at Pacific Cafe over the last few years. It was the site of an offline a few years ago where I first met Jenise. We celebrated my sister in law's 40th birthday there and many other fun evenings. Robert will be greatly missed.
We started the evening with a bottle of NV Billecart Salmon Rose, to accompany an appetizer of sizzling ginger calamari. The wine was copper in color and had fine tiny bubbles. It had a sappy red cherry flavor with ginger snap spice. I liked this a lot.
In between salads and entrees Robert brought out a plate of seared ahi seared to a crisp on the outside, but red on the inside, served with a ponzu sauce, compliments of the house. It was very tasty and fresh. We are lucky here in Bellingham to get lots of fresh fish in the summer months, but things can dry up in the winter months. Robert has some great connections with the fish sellers in Honolulu, and always had fresh Hawiian fish year round. Something else I will miss a lot.
I had a roast duck entree that was served with a reduced duck stock mushroom sauce. It was nicely crispy and had excellent flavor. The wine with dinner was the 2001 Pavelot Savigny Les Beaune. Initially there was a good bit of funk and barnyard, with some restrained red berry fruit. The tannins were firm and on the rustic side. It opened nicely and could have used a decant as the last glass was the best. It went well with the duck.
I had a taste of some of the other dishes and all were very good, including an Oregon Fillet with excellent frites, and a fresh halibut dish with a sweet and sour chili sauce on the side.
For dessert, Robert's wife had made eclairs, from scratch, with a raspberry sauce. These were to die for. Then the host brought out a Jeroboam of Perrier Jouet champagne and poured a glass for everyone in the place. We toasted Robert and said our good nights.
Thanks Robert for some nice memories, and best of luck in the future.