Joule

Joule – The 3rd of the Trinity of Relay Restaurant Group Restaurants

Recommended by: Nobody. After visiting Trove and Revel recently we decided to revisit the last of the three Seattle restaurants belonging to Relay Restaurant Group.

Description on the Joule’s website: Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi opened their first restaurant, Joule, to critical acclaim in 2007. The food—a confident, beautiful blend of Korean flavors and classic technique—earned them a reputation as culinary innovators and creative forces. In 2013, they reimagined Joule as a contemporary Korean steakhouse serving nontraditional cuts of beef, and reopened it in an expanded space. The same year, it was named one of the Best New Restaurants in America by Bon Appétit magazine.

Neighborhood/Type:  Fremont

Address: 3506 Stone Way N, Seattle, WA 98103

What we ate/drank:  Beef tartare, Asian pear, spicy cod roe aioli $12, Bone marrow, spicy anchovy butter, leek $13, Geoduck fried rice, seaweed, pork rind $17, Peppered wagyu steak, ramp, maitake mushroom larb, 6 oz $29, Crispy eggplant, pickled garlic, black bean sauce $11.

Comments: Update 9/22/19: Joule just made Seattle Met’s 100 Best Restaurant

Joule is part of the Relay Restaurant Group created by Chef couple, Rachel Yang and Seif Chirichi. In addition to Joule, Relay Restaurant Group includes  Revel right down the street and Trove in Capitol Hill .NOTE: It was just recently reported that Trove will unfortunately be closing.  They also have a restaurant in Portland. Rachel Yang and Seif Chirichi actually appeared on Iron Chef on the Food Network, so that should tell you something about their popularity and skill.

Joule is the scene of a memorable experience I had about 6 years ago. It’s the first and only time I ever had a shot of Pappy Van Winkle bourbon. At the time, it was a bourbon that was in high demand and low supply and if I remember correctly the Seattle Times at the time mentioned there were only 3 places in all of Seattle that had any.  Joule happened to be one of them. I met a somebody at Joule for brunch around that time and told them that I had just got engaged. I was gifted a shot of Pappy Van Winkle as an engagement “present”.

Anyways, back to the present and 6 years later.  My wife and I had a rare date night without the kids and thought Joule would be the perfect place.  Luckily, we were able to grab a table at 5:00 on a Sunday evening. We had the choice of patio seating, the chef counter or a regular indoor table. We chose to be inside.

On to the dishes.  As mentioned in our Kokkaku review, we love tartare and a tartare dish actually made it on too our best dishes of 2018, so of course we had to order the beef tartare as a starter. The combination of a tart cod roe and the tartare was an unexpectedly nice combo of flavors.

We were expecting a bit more from the geoduck friend rice. The odd pairing of geoduck and pork rind is what drew our attention, but although the pork rind was there it, was lost in the dish. As a fried rice dish it was still good, I just wish there was more geoduck and pork rind in it.

This was our veggie dish. My wife loved this dish much more than I, but I still thought it was good.

This was a home run! I don’t know if there is always this much marrow on their bones or if I just hit the jackpot, but usually there’s not much marrow whenever I order . This dish had so much marrow, I couldn’t believe it. Served with bread the marrow was perfect turning into a rich pudding that tasted like beef flavored butter. Add in the generous topping of leeks and you’ve got FIRE!

This was another home run albeit a rather expensive one. It’s one of those dishes where you may cringe at the price, but once the first bite is in your mouth, you understand why and say to yourself, “i would’ve paid double”. Tender, just the right amount of char and spice and coupled with the mushroom larb( w/ fish sauce?) was perfect.

A miss, but a few hits and a few homers. If you can get a few homers in one sitting, that’s a successful night in our book. We also had a couple of beers with our dinner.  Like Revel and automatic 20% gratuity is included in the bill. It was a packed house on the Sunday evening we went with lots of buzz. It was fun hearing the comments of nearby tables when tasting many of the dishes that they definitely won’t find anywhere else.

Ratings:

Atmosphere: 4.75

Service: 5.00

Food/Drinks: 4.75

Bang for the Buck: 4.25

Overall: 4.65

Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is.

• • Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
  • Most locals know about it
  • Locals “in the know” know about it
  • Only those who live close by know about it.
  • You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!

Related Articles:

• Our Top 15 Best Seattle Dishes of 2018 (Part 1)
• Our Top 15 Best Seattle Dishes of 2018 (Part 2)
• Kokkaku
• D’La Santa