Cedar + Elm — Restaurant in Kenmore

Turning off of Juanita Drive, the lights and sounds of the suburbs slip away and you are transported through space and time as the woods envelop you. Drive to the clearing and arrive at The Lodge’s stately circular drive. Opt for valet if for no other reason than to check out the beautifully restored antique autos that help set the scene.

After handing off your keys, take a left before entering in order to view what is blooming in the Chef’s Garden. Preview parts of your farm-to-table meal. Marigolds, nasturtiums, heirloom tomatoes, and oregano were blooming in midsummer.

Enter the former seminary and take the long, art-lined hallway to Cedar + Elm. The hallway’s gallery-like space is filled with tasteful original artwork. I wish we had arrived earlier so I could linger. (As an aside, allow enough time to explore the grounds. The Lodge is what you would get if the quirky McMenamins and the elegant Four Seasons had a love child. It is tasteful, refined, unique, and unexpected, all without trying too hard.)

Entering the dining room, the beamed ceiling opens up and three walls of windows allow you to fully take in the park’s beauty. On the other side of the Romanesque revival arched windows, guests were playing croquet on the lawn and dining on both the upper and lower patios.

As soon as we sat down for our meal, the real experience began. The craft cocktail I had was just as well-balanced and carefully curated as the food was. The service was top-notch, creating an effortlessly elegant atmosphere for our friend’s special birthday dinner. Executive Chef Luke Kolpin (who is new to Cedar + Elm, after returning to the PNW from Noma) came to our table and told us about our meal. It was as incredible as we expected it to be and more.

We started with the mixed greens salad, which provided pops of vibrant flavor with every bite. The fresh tomatoes, herbs and flowers from the garden delivered, holding their own against the sweet-tart notes of the lemon olive oil and aged balsamic dressing.

The freshness of this salad transitioned well to the richness of the black cod. Black cod is an outstanding fish, and this dish allows it to truly shine. The cured egg yolk glaze on top locks in the oils and the flavors of the broth in which the cod is resting. The roasted spring onions add depth and acidity that balances the black cod’s oil content with every bite.

Oh my god. The black garlic braised short rib. It is unreal. The presentation of all of the dishes is unmatched, but this one feels like a novel that you just know is going to be amazing because the cover art is that good. The generous maitake atop the short rib is bursting with flavor and texture, and the complexities of the shiitake sauce take the short rib places I did not know it could go. This dish is comfort food dialed up a notch. This is wrapped-in-a-blanket-watching-Netflix-in-silk-pajamas-in-a-Tokyo-penthouse comfort food. It is a hearty, rich, elegant and refined warm hug.

We finished the night off with the seasonal sorbet. Fresh flowers, herbs, and berries and a savory seaweed sauce accompanied the sweet and tangy sorbet. It was resting on a delicious little slice of cake-bread, which cut the intensity of the flavors perfectly. Finishing the night with this sorbet helped to again set the mood before we embarked into the midsummer evening air.

Experiencing Chef Luke Kolpin’s reimagined vision for Cedar + Elm was unlike anything I could have expected. It was a mini-vacation into a different time and place. We went somewhere where ingredients matter. Where there are no shortcuts. Where eating is an art form. I cannot wait to come back every season so that I can experience it again and again as the garden transitions and the angle of the light through the...

Starting with the food: The individual dishes have good flavors, the issue is with menu composition and value for money. We ended up paying $170 for two adults and a child, no alcoholic drinks and left starving.

As a former restaurateur, I can say this was a nice attempt, with all the pieces to be amazing, but misses on a fully thought through concept.

We came for dinner but my wife has also been for brunch which I suspect is where the majority of top rating are coming from. My feedback is based solely on dinner service.

The dinner menu is broken into "large and small" but it is not really a coursed menu, a share menu or a composed dish menu. The small dishes seem good value for money and are mostly good concepts and good execution. But the larger dishes are too small to be a main course and are priced as if they are all you need.

We had two salads from the smalls. Nice. $30 for two basic starter salads... Okay.

My sable fish dish was $36 which is fair price if it is a "main" but it was more like another starter; the broth was a nice umami flavor with some mushrooms and caramelized onion, also nice. The size of the fish was much smaller than previous photos shown so I suspect the kitchen either is trying to save money or doesn't do a great job standardizing portions. Either way, I loved the flavors but was furious; felt like a $14 portion and offer, $18 tops.

My wife had the vegetarian option which was $29 and it was literally a round of pumpkin and two mushrooms. She is a very small eater but even she was annoyed. And it looked ridiculous. Like the chef had put no thought into a composed dish for vegetarians. The price tag for this dish could have been $12.

We asked for fries to have SOMETHING to satisfy our hunger but they are not on the menu at dinner. We would have loved to add some other starter but there was nothing of interest.

Our child's chicken fingers and fries were a larger portion, the size an adult would eat, which is a method for getting a good check out of a kids seat.

Service was very kind but the greeter and others definitely were not industry. Our waiter was so nice. We arrived at 630 and, although the restaurant has close to 200 seat, maybe 3 tables were filled and only two additional reservations showed up before we left, they sat us in the furthers corner, near an exit and a serving station. Possibly the worst choice of table. When I asked to change, they were willing to accommodate but then sat us immediately next to one of the only other tables with customers... Table management should not be so complicated.

As for design, the venue is beautiful. They do an okay job of building sections that break up the room but the furniture is ratan so sound carries from table to table. Not great when the venue is empty and you are next to the only other table with customers. Additionally, the bench seating is not the same height as the chairs so it's weird being at a table where one person is really slouched down and another is really tall. Again, good attempt, but missed the mark.

We talked about going back for brunch or drinks but not for dinner. We also tried to think what occasion we would choose this place over other restaurants and we couldn't find one. It's no café Juanita with a fair high price for experience and it's no Cactus where you go for comfort food in a cozy chill environment. All in all, if feels like it's competing with Sparrow: a pretty Instagramable venue that's over priced for...

My partner and I had visited the property twice since their opening to explore the grounds, art and overall vibe. The restaurant was always packed each time we were there. Great sign, yea? I finally found a dinner reservation and booked it 3 weeks out (was literally the closest one I could find on Tock).

We were booked for a Sunday evening at 7pm hoping to relax and spend time together while being able to get the full vibe/experience. The booth was a 2 person booth with a small bistro table & a chair at the end. It felt cozy and secluded -which we liked vs the tables at most restaurants that are too crowded. I kept waiting for the lights to soften/staff to turn down the lights, though. We had a cute Art Deco style lamp on our table, after all. But softer lighting never happened. For some reason, the original cool light fixtures they retained in the dining room were fitted with lights that give off a harsh lighting -similar to a schoolhouse or fluorescent lights in a hospital. So instead of feeling cozy and a vibe, the couples booth felt like a SkyClub Lounge instead.

We started with 2 cocktails that were really nice, albeit not anything that we’d ever tried before. The menu was extensive and we could tell the vibe the mixologists were going for was unique. I had their take on a modern Negroni and my partner had the Black Manhattan.

Our server was running all around and out of breath from the moment we met her. We could tell she was well versed and had great experience -but that the night had already been intense for everyone. We felt it from the host to the manager to the back-end staff. We were later told that celebrities are in the restaurant all the time and that the remaining members of Soundgarden were just behind us. Maybe that’s why everyone was racing around and things were so slow?

We split the tomato soup and the shaved celery bacon salad that our server raved about. Both were just ok. I was hoping since it was July we’d have a Gazpacho option and possibly more Salmon, Halibut and Crab options? The menu felt more like Spring.

It was hard to select entrees, and that never happens to us -we love food. The entire menu read like there was at least one thing that was thrown into the recipe/plate that didn’t seem like it would work. I ordered the Halibut and my partner ordered the spring pea ricotta pasta. Ten minutes later we hear they’re out of Halibut. I ultimately went with the duck because I didn’t want a steak. The cut of duck was way too large, rare (not Med Rare) and lacked any flavor. I was extremely disappointed. My partners pasta was lovely.

We left at 9:30 completely exhausted and took a dessert to-go. It felt so slow and the lights being so bright made us feel anxious and on display.

We really wanted to love this place and were considering the property for our wedding. I’m hoping it was just a...