Restaurant Review: Dining at Local Arts Venues

Along with this fall’s theater and arts lineups, don’t miss the headlining acts at Seattle’s best arts-venue eateries

This is the way it usually works: You’ve got tickets to the ballet or the symphony, but you’re running late. You wanted to make it a special night out—drinks, dinner, show, the works—but squeezing all of it in before an early curtain call is more stressful than blissful. Before you know it, you’ve nixed your plans, stopped at a nearby café, and you’re checking your watch every three minutes, silently praying for your server to bring the check so you can make it to the show on time.

In recent years, though, select Seattle arts venues have shown that they feel your pain by opening restaurants onsite or nearby. And we’re not talking about the grab-and-go premade salad/sandwich options (we’re looking at you, Benaroya Hall). No, the latest examples are destination-worthy eateries, whether you’re touring the museum, seeing a show, or not.

Last summer, California-based Savor management took over food operations at McCaw Hall’s main dining room on the first floor, Prelude (Lower Queen Anne, 321 Mercer St.; 206.615.0404; savorsmgmccawhall.com). Savor made no bones about its ambition for the establishment: It wanted Prelude to cause a stir. And so it hired James Beard Award–winning chef Holly Smith (Café Juanita) to consult and create menus, and Kelly Gaddis, owner of the now-defunct Porcella Market in Bellevue, to be chef. A year after Prelude’s debut, Smith is no longer affiliated with the restaurant, but Gaddis continues to lead the kitchen well. I liked everything I tasted on the small-plates section of the menu, especially tender octopus tentacles laid over a smoky garlic-pepper sauce ($9), and bacalao fritters ($8) paired with a lush saffron aioli. Larger plates are less successful, with the exception of slow-cooked meats like braised chicken ($17), awash in a sweet-spicy Mediterranean sauce over saffron-flecked rice. The primarily local wine list (by-the-glass prices range from $8 to $22) is well-edited, and desserts are pretty and delicious, especially a lovely rosemary flan ($6). Reserve a table before the show, as they fill up shortly after 5 p.m. (Prelude closes at 8 p.m.), but even stragglers can view the show from a television in the corner of the dining room, so as not to miss a single note. If hunger strikes during intermission, find your way to one of six quick-stop, individually named food outposts dotted throughout the hall’s four floors. Worth noting: The first-floor Promenade Barista serves Smith’s fantastic Poco Carretto gelato ($7), and on the second floor, the Wine Bistro features small plates and a nice selection of wines by the glass, along with snacks—nuts, bruschetta and olives.