Elegant Cafe Worth The Long Drive

Hit the road, Jack.

That’s what Americans typically do this three-day weekend, the official start of the summer travel season.

And that’s what I’m dedicated to doing these next few months with a new feature we’re adding to our restaurant coverage: Destination Dining.

During my lifelong love affair with food, I’ve traveled great distances in search of the ultimate meal. I’ve eaten fish and chips in England, heavenly strawberry tarts in France, and unforgettable duck ravioli with a ethereal orange sauce in Tuscany. And then there was last weekend’s taste-test of the hot dogs in and around Safeco Field in Seattle. (The plain old $2.25 version at the “Roll Back the Roof Refreshments” was top dog.)

Still, not all great eating adventures require getting on an airplane. There are plenty of delicious discoveries to be made right here in our region, and I intend to hit the road to find them.

The first spot on our destination dining journey — Patit Creek in Dayton, Wash. — isn’t exactly a discovery. This gastronomic gem has been written about in glossy food magazines and guidebooks for nearly 20 years.

What has always made Bruce and Heather Hiebert’s restaurant such a surprising find is that it’s an elegant fine-dining spot in a farm community. But what makes Patit Creek truly extraordinary — and most definitely worth the nearly three-hour drive from Spokane — is the consistently high quality of what shows up on your plate.

From the first dinner I ate there more than a dozen years ago to the stellar spring supper last month, the food has been flawless.

The roadside restaurant is easy enough to miss on the road leading into Dayton. It’s a wood building that was once a service station in the 1920s, then later a soda fountain. Inside, a counter with coffee shop-like stools offers a reminder of the old days.

The cozy dining room has an elegant feel now, with white linen tablecloths and fresh-cut flowers perfuming the air. Classical music plays in the background.

Bruce is the chef and a master of sauces. His menu has the usual mix of steak, seafood and pastas, but he takes those straightforward preparations to a nirvana-like level with his rich, velvety sauces.

I have a friend from Walla Walla who always orders the same thing: the tournedos. Not just because the beef tenderloin cuts like butter. Not just because the meat is perfectly seasoned and grilled to perfection. But so he can mop up every last drop of that amazing sauce, an intense demiglace enhanced with a little cream.

During my most recent visit, I splurged on a bottle of Woodward Canyon cabernet sauvignon from the short but excellent wine list. Because most of the famous Walla Walla vintners are the Hieberts’ friends (and frequent customers), Patit Creek’s list often has rare selections you won’t find anywhere else.

And the fare nicely complements these world-class wines.

In addition to the impressive menu that starts with a savory “cheesecake” appetizer and concludes with luscious homemade dessets, there are also at least a half dozen specials each evening. Those ambitious dishes showcase the freshest seasonal ingredients. The particular evening I was there, asparagus and morel mushrooms were the stars.

A pasta entree with those two ingredients sounded so good, I asked our server whether we could split an order as a first course. Sure, why not?

Fettuccine and a light, lemony cream sauce were tossed with tender asparagus and bits of those wrinkly looking wild mushrooms. Morels are gathered for a short time each spring and are prized for their unique taste and texture. But what I like about them is how they take on the flavor of the sauce without being overpowered by it.

Next came a cream of asparagus soup. It was rich without being cloying. The only minor complaint was that it wasn’t quite warm enough. (I chalked that up to being the first customers that night.)

All entrees come with the featured soup and mixed greens with a selection of housemade dressings. The salad was garnished with edible flowers from the Hieberts’ extensive herb garden. (Unfortunately, that pretty garnish also had a few bugs on it.)

For the main course, I opted for the morel double-header, ordering a special roast pheasant that was cloaked in mushroom sauce. The bird was nicely roasted, the white meat still moist, the dark meat tender and falling off the bone. The dark, almost smoky sauce was a fine complement to the gamey meat.

I also talked my tablemate out of a bite of his tournedos. It was spectacular, the kind of flavorful bite that shows how good a piece of meat can taste in the right hands.

Desserts are in the skilled hands of Bruce’s wife, Heather. They’re a selection of fruit pies and cobblers that sounded so tempting. Especially the strawberry rhubarb cobbler.

I usually leave room for something sweet, but at Patit Creek that was impossible because the dinner was just too good to not clean my plate.

This sidebar appeared with the story: Patit Creek ***1/2

The tab, etc.

Prices for complete dinners (with soup and salad) are in the $20 to $30 range. They accept Visa, MasterCard and personal checks. The room is smoke-free and is wheelchair accessible.

Serving

Dinner Tuesday through Saturday. Reservations are essential. Don’t leave home without them.

What the ratings mean:

**** Excellent *** Great ** Good * Fair Patit Creek 725 E. Dayton Ave., Dayton (509) 382-2625

Map of Dayton area