Icon Grill

Icon Grill
1933 5th Ave, Seattle, WA 98101
Tel: (206) 441-6330
http://www.icongrill.com/

Last night we decided to have dinner at the Icon Grill in downtown Seattle. We had dined here a few times in the past, but it has been about 5 years and it was time for a return. The Icon is located under the shadow of the Monorail within a few short steps form Cinerama and Top Pot Doughnuts. The restaurant has a fun and warm atmosphere. With warm colors ranging from red to gold, over sized chandeliers holding ornate blown glass art and an over abundance of scattered knickknacks; this place is a circus of interior design. The high ceiling room is laid out with a combination of tables and booths with beautiful cream colored marble tables. We decided to start with a special seasonal asparagus salad. The salad was composed of grilled asparagus, baby greens, hazelnuts, herb goat cheese with creamy mustard vinaigrette. We enjoyed the delightful pairing of flavors and will remember this as a possible "home recreation", in the near future. For our main course, Kate chose the Sea Scallops with Mushrooms and Pappardelle and I chose the Parmesan Lemon Cover Sole. My dish was the winner of the two. The Sole fillets were coated with grated cheese and panko, pan fried, and topped with lemon butter and fried capers. The fish was served with some creamy corn and cilantro spiked mashed potatoes and some fresh asparagus. We both enjoyed this dish rating it an overall "good", but not great. Kate's choice was a disappointment. Six medium sized scallops were served in a bowl with some pappardelle pasta and some wild mushrooms. The scallops were rather dry and flavorless and the pasta with mushroom sauce was rather bland and boring. We finished our meal with one of their "seasonal" desserts. This was a warm strawberry and rhubarb crumble, topped with vanilla ice cream. The crumble was delicious. It was very rich with butter, toasted walnuts, sugar and fresh baked fruit all served in a hot crook. The large scoop of ice cream helped to pushed it over the top. It was a nice way to end our dinner and to make us comment on how we would eat "light" tomorrow. Overall, we enjoyed our return to the Icon Grill. The fun atmosphere of the dinning room and the high energy buzz of the dinners makes this a fun place for a weekend outing. However, overall the food was not as good as it should be so the Icon will probably drop of our radar for another few years.