Altura – A Review

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Altura is fairly new to the Seattle restaurant scene, having opened less than a year ago, and already, the tiny Capitol Hill eatery is getting a ton of attention locally and nationally, including being recently named a semi-finalist for Best New Restaurant in the country by the James Beard Foundation.

Altura has fairly small and ever changing menu. The menu is broken out into an appetizer/salad section, a pasta section an entrée section and a desert section, each containing about 6 choices. Altura does things a little differently: you can pick 3 choices from anywhere off the menu for $49, any 4 items for $59 and any 5 for $69. So if you go in there and want to order 3 main courses, you can do that. The portion sizes are not overly large but they are rich and packed with flavors and the kitchen will adjust them depending on how much you have actually ordered. There is an optional wine pairing for each dish and they also have a tasting menu, which is the chef’s choice. When Mrs. Iron Chef and I were in, we both had 4 courses (I had 4 savory courses and Mrs. Iron Chef went with 3 savory and the desert) and I could barely move after the meal.

My menu choices were the sweetbreads with a lobster reduction, spicy grilled octopus (both off the appetizer section), the tripe and oxtail parpadelle, and the pork shoulder. Mrs. Iron Chef went with the beef carpaccio, the stinging nettle ravioli, the roasted chicken and the flan for dessert.

Overall the dishes were stellar. I was very skeptical about the sweetbreads with a lobster reduction, but it worked – a well-cooked pillow of meat sitting on top of an intensely flavored smear of the lobster, which was reduced to a syrup consistency. I found myself tempted to ask for a bowl of that with some bread and make that my meal. The carpaccio was well seasoned and reminiscent of a tartare and came with a brioche parmeggiano crouton, which was a symphony of, salty and buttery while still being crispy and chewy. The crouton may have been the best thing to come out in a fantastic meal and I could have been happy with just a plate of those. Heck, I would probably go back and order whatever dish it appeared with just to have it again. The parpadelle was a well cooked, house made pasta with an intense ragu of tripe and braised oxtail, bringing back fond memories of the tripe soup my dad made when I was growing up; personally this was my pick for the best thing I had in the meal. The nettle ravioli were a toothsome trio of wonderfully earthy pasta pockets, enhanced with a brown butter sauce – simple and delicious allowing the nettles to shine without overpowering the dish with a lot of complex flavor. The roast chicken was delicious and perfectly cooked, but was probably the least adventurous dish we ordered. The pork shoulder was a model of perfection of pork wrapped pork – crispy prosciutto surrounding a fall apart tender and fatty medallion of shoulder – very reminiscent of porchetta. The desert was well thought out and a nice compliment the richness of the meal.

The only dish that I would say did not come out to my expectations was the octopus. Flavor wise, the dish was great – a classic combination of white beans and chili peppers with a broth and grilled octopus. It had a nice heat without being too overpowering and the beans were cooked al dente to allow for some contrasting textures in the dish. The octopus was just a touch overcooked, causing it to be slightly chewy instead of completely tender and could have used a bit of char to lend some smokiness to the dish. It was not that this dish was a disaster; it was just that it was not nearly as well executed as everything else we had that night.

Altura has a small but well laid out wine list, both by the glass and bottle, with glass selections ranging from 8 – 16 dollars and bottles starting at around 30. The wine pairings come with a generous pour, so be aware if you go that route when you order. They also have a small cocktail menu available.

The dining room is small, with high ceilings, tables practically on top of each other, minimal lighting and an open kitchen, so the noise level can be pretty high. They do have 8 counter seats that overlook the kitchen, which might be a nice treat if you enjoy watching the kitchen churn out its product.

Overall, a visit to Altura is not an inexpensive meal, and will probably run you 75 –100 dollars per person, and can be difficult to get a reservation at based on its popularity and diminutive size, so not a place that you would want to hit every night, but definitely worth the trek to Capitol Hill for a special occasion.

Overall, Altura scores 4.5 bellissimos out of 5.