Allons, mes enfants! On va faire la fête!
Let's start the party with a glass of Veuve Clicquot poured at Seattle Cellars by Cindy Sido of Alaska Distributors. Then we head to Le Pichet, where chef and co-owner Jim Drohman has drawn door duty. Inside, the menu is pared down to sandwiches, frites and crèpes, with gypsy-jazz guitar music to enhance the mood.
At Campagne, a distinct upstairs-downstairs flavor. Chef Daisley Gordon presides over a $65 prix fixe dinner that starts with quenelle de poisson, a halibut dumpling topped with whitefish caviar. Sous chef Nikki Schiebel did the actual cooking; Gordon inspects, wipes and dispatches.
In the alley behind Café Campagne, there's a crowd scarfing up $5 merguez sausages, downing goblets of wine and listening to French music.
And at Maximilien, another accordionist, bleu-blanc-rouge balloons and a $34 prix fixe menu.
Fireworks? Not in Seattle. Need to be content with memories of the Eiffel Tower and feu d'artifice from a couple of summers back.
