October 27: The Faerie Queene/Pittsburgh Lunch and Superette

[Formerly Faerie Queene, renamed in February 2017, closed December 2017. See comments below this story]

The Faerie Queene has been on my list for several weeks now, but I wanted to save it to enjoy with a group. Two different co-workers recommended it to me, and rumor is that our CEO has been spotted there. Today nine of us in IT went out to lunch, and it fell to me to pick the spot.

The 1½-block walk from the office is a short one, and when we arrived ahead of the lunch rush, the staff was happy to push two of their handful of tables together for us. The Seattle Times says that it's named after an 1590s unfinished epic by Elizabethan poet Edmund Spenser. The decor is a bit quirky, with 1800s style paintings of birds who wouldn't look out of place in a Lewis Carroll story.

I'd looked at the menu online before we arrived, and although I'd heard great things about their seafood, I hadn't even come close to deciding. Once seated, the waitress took our drink orders quickly, and a co-worker suggested that the two of us order the picnic and seafood boards to share.

The seafood board is a winner, especially the smoked salmon. The fishy flavor I normally associate with salmon was very, very faint, and the smokiness revealed itself slowly. I had a second slice with cream cheese on a slice of baguette, and the result was heavenly.

The tuna salad was also outstanding. Sure, the tuna flavor was considerably more robust than the salmon, but the creaminess of the mixture was perfect, and the greens mixed with it added just the right texture.

The pickled onions on the seafood board were also very good. I thought they might have been pickled in some kind of wine vinegar; my co-worker thinks it may have been pickled with beets. I should have had more.

The chimichurri shrimp cocktail was a bit spicy. To be honest, I had to look up what "chimichurri" was (it's an Argentinian green sauce with garlic, parsley, oregano, pepper flakes, olive oil, and wine vinegar [ha! wine vinegar! I'm now more confident in the pickled onions!]). Although the shrimp was coated in the chimichurri, the cocktail sauce it was sitting in overpowered it. If this had been the only thing on the board, it would have been impressive, but in comparison to the rest, it fell a little short.

The picnic board had two cured meats, two cheeses, apple slices, and fig jam. The menu also listed "house pickles" and "candied nuts," but those were nowhere to be seen. Perhaps the pickled cauliflower was the "house pickles"; I didn't try them. Of the cured meats, the salami was good; the slightly spicy coppa was a little better.

We split on the cheeses; I had the English cheddar while my co-worker ate the gorgonzola. The cheddar crumbled as I ate it ("good catch," said another co-worker, as I snagged a crumb out of the air before it tumbled into my lap), and although she expected it to be firmer, my co-worker only hesitated a moment before finishing off the gorgonzola. The apple slices weren't notable, other than they were effective palate cleansers when moving between the umami of the cheeses and the lightness of the seafood.

We both forgot about the fig jam until it was too late; we'd already finished off our baguettes. Next time, my co-worker pointed out, we should order an extra loaf.

Overall, it was really good. It was a bit on the pricey side, but worth it, and perhaps the healthiest lunch I've yet had on this journey.

The Faerie Queene
90 Yesler Way
Half of a seafood board, half of a picnic board, iced tea, $20.17.