Queen Anne – February 14, 2020

On Valentine’s Day 2020, we celebrated our sixth special holiday together. Wanting to make the occasion extra special, we decided to celebrate the best way we knew how – with great food!

For this year’s special holiday, we wanted to try someplace new. Enter in Eden Hill Provisions. If you are unfamiliar with Eden Hill Provisions, they are a sister restaurant to Eden Hill Restaurant, also located in Queen Anne and just a block away from one another. Provisions opened in September 2019 and took over the space that was once occupied by Cupcake Royale.

Executive chef and owner Maximillian Petty was interested in creating an experience that was more laid back than his first restaurant, Eden Hill Restaurant. Some context – Eden Hill Restaurant is a small, quaint and intimate restaurant that offers innovative and absolutely heavenly New American dishes. Before Provisions opened, Eden Hill offered both a-la-carte options as well as a tasting menu. They took elevated approaches to dishes which is one of the reasons we wanted to try their new sister restaurant. Of the three or so times we visited the original Eden Hill, we thoroughly enjoyed our experience and the food. I mean, if they can get Ray to fall in love with a crudo, you can consider that a MAJOR win. Special note – Since opening Provisions, the first Eden Hill transitioned is now a tasting-menu only establishment.

As aforementioned, Petty was interested in creating a more laid back experience for his next restaurant. While he enjoys pushing the envelope and finding new and exciting ways to create a dish, he also wanted to provide a dining experience and environment on the other end of the spectrum. Being a family man (with two young kids), he wanted to create a spot where local patrons would feel comfortable bringing their kids for a family night out. In Provisions, you’ll find toys and rocking horses for the kiddos, but more on that later.

While more casual, we were excited to try Petty’s newest restaurant since we were such big fans of his first. Now let’s get down on the good stuff.

Let’s talk about the….

SPACE

The Eden Hill Provisions space is much larger than the original restaurant, almost 2-3 times the space and capacity of its sister restaurant. There is a mercantile-style area in the front where you can pick up wine, cards, chocolate, and some other small goodies. Once you move past this area, you come across a lovely small bar area where the bartender works their magic. As you move towards the back of the restaurant, you get to the main dining room. Although smaller and with less capacity than other restaurants, there was still a considerable amount of tables and seating, with a combination of bench and high top seating. Provisions succeeds in creating enough space for ample seating to allow both patrons and servers to move around freely.

• 

• 

• 

When seated, you can catch a small glimpse of the kitchen and the cooks hard at work. Provisions also has a small patio area on the side of the restaurant overlooking the corner of West Crockett St and Queen Anne Ave N. During the late spring and summer time, I’m sure this will be a delight to dine at.

• 

SERVICE

The night we dined at Provisions, it was a full house. Not a surprise considering it was Valentine’s Day. The night’s service was managed by about 2-3 servers and they did so without a hitch. Despite the busy environment, the servers moved effortlessly through the restaurant and were attentive to each table of patrons. Color us impressed.

We’ve had a similar experience in service with our visits to Eden Hill Restaurant down the road. With highly attentive and considerate servers who always take the time and effort to answer questions and explain the dishes, you can dine comfortably. It was nice to see that they hadn’t let this aspect of their overall experience fall by the wayside in their new restaurant, especially with the increase in square footage.

FOOD

Alright, now to the good stuff. For our special Valentine’s dinner we ordered:

• Cauliflower “Chilaquiles” – Jalapeno & honey hot sauce, curtido, lime crema, and manchego: The “Chilaquiles” dish is one we’ve had before at the other restaurant and just had to order again during our visit at Provisions. Everything about this dish just works. The perfectly roasted and cooked cauliflower provides a great base for the hot sauce, the crema and the manchego topping. A favorite we will order time and time again.
• Roasted Quail – Kimchi risotto, shoulder bacon dashi, lemon aioli, and herb salad: The quail meat itself was delicious and the meat was tender and juicy. It can be hard not to dry out poultry at times, so I’m glad this wasn’t the case here. The two pieces of quail sat on top of a kimchi risotto that had great flavor and offered a nice tart balance to the meat. The risotto wasn’t overly kimchi-y, which was appreciated. I’m all for kimchi, but sometimes restaurants can take it a bit overboard, Here, the less-is-more-rule won.
• Duck Confit & Lemon Pasta – Rosemary, red chili, garlic, duck fat, and fine herbs: Unfortunately, this pasta dish was a little too spicy for my taste. I think I would have enjoyed it more if there were a little less red chili flakes (of course Ray thought it was the perfect amount). That being said, it was still a good dish and the duck was extremely tender. I also thoroughly enjoyed the fact that the dish was not over-sauced, and instead had a nice light lemon sauce. It can be hard not to cross the line from perfectly sauced to drowning in it, so props to Provisions to getting it right.
• “Big Max” Cheeseburger – Wagyu chuck, aged brisket, bacon, gouda, secret sauce, onion, and pickles on a challah bun with fries: The “Big Max” used to be a secret and special limited time-only entree that was offered at Eden Hill Restaurant, only on Sundays, and also not always on the same Sunday. You just had to be lucky enough to be dining at the restaurant that day for a chance to taste Chef Petty’s take on the Big Mac. Since this was one of the staple dishes of the new restaurant, we knew we had to order it. While neither of us have ever had a Big Mac before (and unfortunately no control to compare this entree to) the Big Max was a good cheeseburger in itself. Even with the burger being split, Ray and I both got a sizable portion of the burger to taste and eat. The mixture of the meats and other ingredients (especially the melted gouda) were a great flavor combination and made it a more elevated cheeseburger experience. The only thing that didn’t work quite well for us was how messy the burger is to eat. While we appreciated the mass amount of toppings and ingredients that were put into the burger, it did prove hard to keep everything in – most notably the secret sauce.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Drink notes:

• Duck Hunt – Duck fat bourbon, lemon verbena, thyme, and orange: This was Provisions’ take on an old fashioned. The duck fat infused bourbon created a very smooth flavor and palate for the drink, so much so that we almost couldn’t taste the alcohol! Both Ray and I thought it was clever and resourceful of the restaurant to utilize multiple parts of an ingredient across different experiences in the restaurant (duck fat in the drink and in the Duck Confit Pasta).
• Bartlett Bash – Pear liqueur, bourbon, orgeat: Definitely more alcohol forward. But very refreshing at the same time!

• 

IN SUMMARY

Overall, we were not disappointed with our visit to the second restaurant of Maximillian Petty. It was nice to see that the quality of the ingredients and innovative ways that he combines these ingredients did not disappear with a more laid-back approach at Provisions. If you’re looking for a nice date night spot or somewhere to bring the kiddos along with you, Eden Hill Provisions has got you covered.

Space and ambiance – Larger space than first restaurant, but smaller in comparison to others in the neighborhood. Still accommodates a good amount of people with a combination of table, bar, and high top seating.

Food – More laid back than Eden Hill Restaurant, but still brings the flavor. Light and well composed dishes that will fill you up, but won’t weigh you down. Resourceful in their ingredients, incorporating different parts across dishes, drinks, and across the whole dining experience.

Service – A pleasure. Resourceful and attentive staff that provide you with undivided attention, even while juggling a full restaurant.

Price – A little more on the expensive side, but not tasting-menu price tags. A worthy indulgence.

Next visit – Hopefully in the summertime or even early fall to try the other intriguing dishes and to enjoy the outside patio seating.