The restaurant structure is cute and deceptively simple from the exterior. We were met at the front by one of the staff who ushered us in and gave us a wonderful little nonalcoholic beverage to start off. We were encouraged to roam about the facilities and tour the award winning wine “cellar” which has also won a number of awards and even offers a 1811 Tokaji Essencia for $22,000.  We did so till the first snack was served in the garden – a delicious freshly baked herb pizza that was being made by Chris, one of the many talented kitchen staff, as we watched . 

A bottle of 1811 Tokaji Essencia for $22,000

Fresh fire roasted herb pizza 

After the pizza, we were escorted on a tour of the garden by one of the owners, Carrie who gave us a rich history of the Herbfarm, and encouraged us to sample a variety of interesting herbs and other edible plants over the course of the next 30 to 40 minutes. Petals, leaves and stems – nothing was sacred. I have to admit, I got a true appreciation of how complex and subtle herb flavors can be. Another tour highlight – we got to meet the Farms to recyclers:  their potbellied pig siblings who apparently are prone to confuse fingers with baby carrots (how do they know this, you ask? Well I was to afraid to…)

We were then escorted into the dining room, where the owners eBay addiction is clearly evident from the decor. We sat at a communal table (which I highly recommend) so we spent a little time introducing ourselves to our table mates while enjoying the first beverage and course of dill leaf ice cream, smoked salmon roe and onion crisps, a geoduck salad with minced radish and cucumber and a shot of corn soup which even the midwesterners at the table were impressed with. We were instructed to play a few games, some involving singing. However, we all elected to skip this as we felt no one has imbibed enough to start singing. Of note, there is a pre-selected wine, beer or nonalcoholic beverage pairing with the dinner. I had the wine pairing, while my sweetie had the nonalcoholic beverages. Honestly, I’m not sure which I prefer, since a couple of the wines were a clear miss in my opinion and every one of the mocktails was quite yummy. 

What was under the dill leaf ice cream

Owner Ron Zimmerman introducing the staff 

We spent the next three hours enjoying the remainder of our meal (eight more mouthwatering courses). The meal was extremely well executed, and the pace was just right: I never felt rushed through any portion of the meal, nor did I languish waiting for the next course. 

We started with a beautiful dish of prawn, tomato, zucchini dressed with lemon verbena tea and garnished atop with marigold petals. The light broth really accentuated the delicate prawn and complimented the tomato. 

Next was my favorite dish of the meal: a tarragon and sorrel crusted tuna delicately seared and coated with a single crisp pastry shell served with white garlic cabbage and cornflower. Not sure how they kept the shell so crispy and intact but it really added a lovely texture. 

We then moved from sea to land with a delicious rabbit pate tortellini served with morel mushroom and fresh basil. The dish looked quite simple, which belayed the earthy and complex flavor combination. 

Next, we had my sweetie’s favorite dish, the Snake River wagyu strip, rosemary-barbecued beat and beef cheek salad served with current sauce. The tart of the currents provided a wonderful contrast to the sweet from beets and the earthy meat. This course also had my favorite wine of the evening-the 2013 Syrah from Gorman Winery. 

The next course was the blue cheese butter biscuits (clearly the brain-child of a budding culinary mad-scientist), a wonderful sawtooth cheese from Cascadia Cremery and a strawberry, red-pepper thyme and saffron jam. I’m not a blue cheese person, so only found the biscuit tolerable; the cheese was delightful and paired well with the tangy, herby jam.

For desert we cleaned our palate with an herb ice followed by a raspberry merveilleux ( you don’t know what that is either???) with coco nib crust and mint sherbet. We even got an extra course – a cherry hazelnut pie – another experiment of the kitchen staff and arguably my favorite dessert of the evening (this is probably the most gluttonous sentiment of the evening). 

Raspberry merveilleux with coco nib crust and mint sherbet