| Right in the heart of downtown
Anchorage, Simon & Seafort's - a member of Seattle's
Restaurants Unlimited assemblage of generally upscale dining
establishments, has maintained its position as a premier business and
elegant dining location for roughly 2 decades.
Overlooking
Cook Inlet to the West, the main dining room offers up a distant view of Mt. Susitna,
usually called "The Sleeping Lady", and an up-close view of
Anchorage's tidal flats, albeit across a residential multifamily parking
lot. Across the dining room is a view of the Anchorage cityscape
looking due East.
The lunch fare is typical fine dining, with a host of
soups, specialties, big salads and sandwiches, and relies about as
heavily on native and regional seafood as it does on more conventional
fare. The dinner menu, which does sport a smoked reindeer tenderloin
entree, plus some native scallops and king crab at a price, $43.95 -
which would make even a Chicago native squawk (no thank you! It's
cheaper back home and I don't care how fresh it is!!!!!) in addition to a range of poultry and steaks.
The depressing, heavily brass-weighted decor looks more like a tired
hotel lobby than a jewel in Alaska's fine dining crown, but I kept my
mind, and my palate, open, as the food would surely tell the loudest story.
So, newly impressed with the halibut I had just encountered at another
restaurant, and needing little prodding to feast on native salmon, I opted
for the Simon's Alaska Salmon and Halibut Sampler, with a twist.
The fresh Seldovia Point sockeye salmon was to be basted with a butter of
Maytag bleu cheese and shallots, but I asked the server if I could opt out
of the bleu cheese (love it, but am allergic to penicillin).
Could I just have the shallots? She said I couldn't as the
blue cheese and shallots were combined in advance (and I guess that meant there were
no shallots in the cooler!). I asked her to
encourage the chef to then please "use his discretion," and come up with
something different from his repertoire.
What I got was a slightly overcooked piece of salmon, broiled dry and
completely bland, without any accoutrements whatsoever! Was this
reflective of the cook's culinary imagination? Not sure, but it was
disappointing, and somewhat insulting considering the several other versions of salmon on the
menu, which I was later able to review, including Roasted Garlic
and Rosemary Butter, Honey Peppercorn Crusted, or Garlic
Vermouth Butter. Gee, maybe I should have been more specific,
been more insistent on the server suggesting an alternate,
named a composition of my own, or perhaps even got up from the
table and seasoned it myself - but isn't it also the task of a fine dining
server to guide the diner? Things were not looking good!
This was after a very well-composed New England Clam Chowder had
arrived lukewarm but edible Though I had wanted to send it back, I
had decided to leave well enough alone. Later, I had second thoughts
when my companion eventually sent back her dessert.
Twice.
The halibut which accompanied the salmon was fresh Dangerous Cape
halibut grilled with macadamia nut butter and served with a
pineapple-mango salsa. It was good, on the light side flavor wise,
but this was fine as the fish itself was very delicate, and the salsa was
very refreshing. Two additional halibut selections came to the table
as Simon's Alaska Halibut Combination. The first was
Parmesan and Asiago Crusted, and the second was Crab and Macadamia
Nut Stuffed (yes, the menu has a lot of repeat ingredients, mango
and macadamia are not the only reruns). Both were very good, with the nicely seasoned
crab-stuffed version winning that day's opinion poll.
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Asparagus seemed to be the vegetable of the day (week, month?),
whole spears pleasantly steamed al dente. However, it appeared that
this locally abundant favorite found its way onto most of the
plates, cooked in the same style regardless of the main course.
Functional, yes, inventive, no.
Not to be overlooked however is S&S's endless service of excellent
Cracked Wheat Sourdough Bread, served warm. Sourdough bread is a
staple at nearly every Alaskan meal, and this was one of the many pleasant,
subtle variations I tasted on my visit.
When time for dessert came, I enjoyed the freshly made Chugach Wild
Berry Ice Cream, which was quite good, though the coffee was
very bitter. And the bitterness was not because it was a fine dark
roast, it was genuinely bad. My companion's Brandy Ice
arrived as scoops of ice cream floating in a tall glass of brandied
liquid, but she insisted to the server that she'd had the dessert many
times and it is usually blended to an even texture. The server was
extremely indignant, yanked the glass from the table and did an abrupt
about face, with a huff. A remake with attitude - hmmm. So it
went back to be remade, but what came back to the table looked more
like a melted milkshake, runny, without a hint of the body my friend had
come to expect after many encounters with her favorite dessert. So it was refused with no additional redo, and
rightly so. We did get a monologue from the server about all the bar
staff having called in sick (I have a feeling she wound up having to make it
herself, and she was insulted), but enough already - between the rude
attitude and the crude food, I had definitely had my fill!
So, at least in its present form, the tired jewel in Anchorage's fine
dining crown has probably seen its better days, and is in prime condition
for an overhaul. Unimaginative kitchen staff, so-so food (I get
better salmon in my own kitchen), and mediocre ---
well abrupt --- service combined for a disappointing visit. There
are simply too many competing fine eateries, even in the far, far North,
for me to visit this pricey establishment again. Simon and Seafort's
- sayonara!
Lunch:
Monday- Friday 11:15am-2:30pm
Saturday and Sunday, no lunch
Dinner:
Monday- Thursday 5pm-9:30pm
Friday 5pm-10pm
Saturday 4:30pm-10pm
Sunday 4:30pm-9pm
Bar Hours:
Monday - Friday 11:15am-11pm
Saturday and Sunday 4:30pm-11:00pm
Last call 11pm daily Non-smoking dining room and bar.
Kids menu, booster seats and high chairs available.
Large groups up to 20 can be accommodated; call in
advance.
- Entrees range from $11.50 - $43.95
- Entree salads from $11.95 - $16.95
- Appetizers from $8.95 - $23.95
- Soups, Sides, Desserts and Extras Vary
- Beer, Wine and House Drinks
- Accepts All Major Credit Cards
- Seating is open and spacing is
generous.
- Acoustics are fine for conversation
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