Paju – Queen Anne
Recommended by: We were raving about Revel and their brand new location to some friends. They had just tried a new Korean inspired restaurant in Queen Anne that they claim had some similarities to Revel called, Paju.
Description on the Paju’s Google page: Snug, simple restaurant offering contemporary, inventive takes on traditional Korean cuisine.
Neighborhood/Type: Queen Anne
Address:11 Mercer St, Seattle, WA 98109
What we ate/drank: Paju Fried Rice – Kimchi, bacon, squid ink, smoked quail egg. Yellowtail(Mul Hwe) – Fennel-Cucumber Gazpacho, Gochujang Granita. Mushroom – parmesan cheese, white kimchi, truffle aioli. Rib-eye Steak Bulgogi w/truffle flavor-crispy quinoa scallion, enoki mushroom. Blue Moon Beer.
Comments: Three of our favorite Seattle restaurants fall into the Korean fusion genre – Chan, Joule and Revel. Even Watson’s Counter, one of our favorite breakfast places, can sorta be put in this category. So when we found out another such restaurant had opened to rave reviews and long waits, we had to see for ourselves.
Paju opened in August of 2019 in lower Queen Anne near the Seattle Center and quickly garnered a following that has kept the small industrial space packed. Paju doesn’t take reservations, so when we went on a Friday evening after getting the kids situated with the babysitter, the wait was already an hour long.
We put our cell phone# on the waitlist and headed next door to good ole T.S. McHughs for drinks. We mentioned to our bartender that we were just having drinks while we waited for our seats at Paju. He said he’d hadn’t had a chance to eat at Paju but he was happy to hear that it was doing well. He lamented the demise of the previous business in the location, a nondescript sushi joint.
About an hour later, we received a call from Paju asking us if we could arrive within 5 minutes. We settled our tab at T.S. McHughs and walked over. You could still feel the remnants of that nondescript sushi joint, a very simple rectangular layout with what appears to be a former take-out counter in the back. It’s a bit dim with Edison lights and votive candles providing the lighting. The vibe is industrial and in the way of decor, it’s pretty sparse. No need to fancy up the place. Let the food do the talking. In total Paju probably seats around 40 people max.
The two co-owners have quite the pedigree, having met while working at an New York City, 2 Michelin Star, Korean restaurant. There are a total of only 11 dishes that are served at Paju, but there is a wide variety and should be something for everybody in your party. The dishes are meant to be shared and eaten family styles, so we ordered 4 dishes:
All the dishes have a few things in common. These are traditional Korean dishes with a twist. Like quinoa and truffle with bulgogi, gochujang granita and smoked quail and squid ink with kimchi and rice. Also, none of the dishes are heavy on sauces that overpower. The combination of all the flavors in each dish is very subtle, but works extremely well together.
Our first dish and the one we were most underwhelmed by was the Mul Hwe(Yellowtail). It was sort of like a ceviche. The dish was fine as a starter and the gochujang granita was innovative, but the portion was small for the price or maybe the presentation of the yellowtail spread on the outside of a large bowl just made it seem small.
Beoseot(Mushroom) is a mountain range of seasonal mushrooms with white kimchi and parmesan cheese acting as the snowy peaks. The truffle aioli adds some richness that complements the parmesan. We really enjoyed this one.
The rib-eye steak bulgogi with crispy quinoa, scallion and enoki mushrooms was a beautifully presented dish. We decided to get the optional truffle flavor. We were skeptical of the pairing of truffle and bulgogi, but it really works. Who would have guessed? We also enjoyed unusual addition of enoki mushrooms and quinoa to the dish. We really appreciated the creativity of this one.
Saving the best for last. The Paju Fried Rice contains bacon, kimchi, rice immersed in squid ink with rice with a smoked quail egg yolk in the middle. So many different textures -gooey egg yolk, crunchy kimchi, sticky rice. So many different flavors – smokey, sweet, savory, but none overpowering the others. Such a distinctive dish both visually and taste-wise. You won’t find anything like this in Seattle. This is the dish we’ll get over and over on return visits. I’d love it if they could add more quail eggs. The egg is only able to be mixed with a small percentage of the rice. Definitely, an early contender for top 2020 Dishes of the Year.
The service was attentive and friendly and when my wife mentioned we were there for my birthday, they comped my beer!
Not every dish was a home run, but we really appreciate the updated interpretation on these Korean dishes. When chefs are pushing the envelope creatively and continually experimenting there are bound to be misses, but when a dish hits, the payoff is big. They’ll be dishes so unique that patrons will want to come back over and over to see what new inventive dishes have been created.
Paju is the perfect spot for a dinner prior to going to the Seattle Rep or any other event at the Seattle Center. It will most likely be a Seattle hot spot for sometime if we had to guess.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 4.25
Service: 5.00
Food/Drinks: 4.60
Bang for the Buck: 4.50
Overall: 4.60
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!
Servers recommendations to visit in the future:
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**********Unfortunately, This Restaurant Has Closed Down**********
Recommended by: We’re huge fans of Revel and Joule from the wife/husband team of Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi, but had never been to Trove in Capitol Hill. We were in the mood for some Korean BBQ, so off we went.
Description on the Trove website: Korean barbecue is at the heart of Trove, the ambitious culinary playground Yang and Chirchi opened in 2014. Trove BBQ’s dining room holds tabletop grills on which diners can cook their own deeply flavored meats.
Neighborhood/Type: Capitol Hill
What we ate/drank: Pork Kimchi Dumplings w/mapo sauce, Meat Tower for 2: Beef sirloin with salted black bean cure & pork belly with garlic chili cure. Stoup Pale Ale.
Comments: We knew about Trove since we are fans of Revel and Joule and remembered when it opened, but we were shocked that it was over 4 years ago. Well, we finally made it out here. First of all, Old Village Korean BBQ, this ain’t. We’re in Cap Hill, so of course we’re dealing with a very chic place.
Trove seems to be split in 5 different compartments. You have the truck that is attached to the building that serves parfait from the truck window. Although this section was closed when we visited on a Friday night. The entry leads you to the second compartment, which is a noodle bar with a few seats that are right in the store front on Pike. At first we thought this was the entire restaurant and thought, “Wow, this place is tiny”, but when the host appeared, he took us back to the main bbq area. Although, they don’t have the built in bbq grills into the table at this section, I did see that they had portable grills that they could put next to your table if you wanted bbq.
Before reaching the main dining area, we passed by the third compartment, which is their bar area that’s got a dark romantic vibe to it. The forth compartment is the main dining area which has the tables with the bbq grill built in. This is wear we ate. The fifth compartment is a slightly elevated private room area.
For starters we ordered some drinks and the Pork Kimchi Dumplings w/mapo sauce. One thing I notice about these dumplings is that there was no wasted space between the wrapper and the filling of the dumplings. Normally, there is the filling and then a bunch of space between the wrapper when the filling inside normally shrinks when it’s steamed. Not only are the dumplings on the bigger side, I really feel like you get your moneys worth when the dumpling is all the way full of pork.
As our main course we ordered the Humble Meat Tower that included beef sirloin with salted black bean cure and pork belly with garlic chili cure. This was perfect for two of us, but oh how I wish we had more people so we could have gotten the Baller Tower Plus for 6 people, which include pork collar, beef tri tip, leg of lamb with cumin and Sichuan peppercorn rub and duck with carmelized plum sauce. We’ll definitely have to come back with more people or bigger appetites.
With the Meat Tower comes three dipping sauces-a jalapeno sauce, a seafood sauce and a miso sauce. The Meat Tower is literally a tower of meat. It also comes with leafy veggies so you can wrap your meat and eat ssam style. We did use the lettuce to wrap our cooked meat, but we also ordered rice to eat that way too. So you get your tower of thinly sliced raw meat, they provide some tongs and you place the meat on the grill. Once done you use a pair of scissors they also provide to cut up your meat, put in your lettuce wrap, put a little bit of the sauce on and devour. You can cook the meat at your pace, so you can take breaks in between.
Some might think, “I came all the way to this fancy restaurant in Capitol Hill and I have to pay to cook my own meal?!?” But there is something fun about cooking your own food, especially when you’re out with groups. And like I said, you can eat at your own pace, which is nice. What you’re really paying for is the spices/marinate and quality of the meat that you can’t get anywhere else.
We really enjoyed our meal at Trove, but if we’re being honest, it’s a distant third to Revel and Joule . I know it’s not fair to compare since Trove’s niche is Korean BBQ which is very different from Revel and Joule , but we consider those two to be two of the top 5 in all of Seattle so our expectations were high. All in all, it was fun and tasty and we’d love to come back to see if we could take on the Baller Meat Tower so we can get more of a variety.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 4.25
Service: 4.25
Food/Drinks: 4.75
Bang for the Buck: 4.60
Overall: 4.50
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!
Servers recommendations to visit in the future: Our server mentioned Il Corvo as her favorite lunch time pasta restaurant.
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