Seattle Met Reviews Bourbon & Bones and Roux; The Stranger on the "Bloody Celebration" That is Red Cow

[Red Cow, Roux, Bourbon & Bones. Photos: S. Pratt/Bourbon& Bones Facebook]

Seattle Met restaurant critic Kathryn Robinson checks in on two members of Seattle's burgeoning "Southern invasion," starting with Fremont's Roux. The eatery from Where Ya At Matt's Matthew Louis "radiates a rustic sweetness" with cucumber water and flowers on "every shellacked wood table and red tufted booth."

While the critic declares that "all is not perfect" with the menu, including an overdone order of root-beer barbecued ribs and an apple-maple salad with "screwy" proportions, Lewis kills it with the superior braised rabbit and shrimp and grits. Same goes for the beignets.

Robinson is mixed on Bourbon & Bones, the barbecue and booze spot from former Wandering Goose chef Michael Law. Robinson calls the Frelard restaurant in the former Anita's Crepes space "an undersize roadhouse" that's especially well-suited for chatty friends. The brisket, smoked for 18-hours, can be "break-your-heart tender" or speckled with dry bits. The fried chicken can also be equal parts delicious or greasy, depending on the piece. Still, the pork shoulder is "solid" and sweet ribs "outlandishly good."

Sides are also spotty: Robinson finds the collards and baked beans delicious, the mac and cheese "blandly velvety," and the grits "lush with cheese and such subtle flavors only a dog can detect them—I mean that as a compliment." Somehow, she manages to like "the wrong stuff just fine."

The Stranger's Bethany Jean Clement heads to beef temple Red Cow, the latest spot from Ethan Stowell. The Madrona restaurant's "monochrome" design ("better to see the ruby meat") by the venerable Roy McMakin gets livelier with the "buzzing hedonism of those here to eat meat" and a cheery staff.

About dinner: Clement likes it. The menu includes five cuts of meat: hanger steak, New York strip, "perfectly delicious" filet mignon, a boneless rib eye, and a mondo $75 bone-in rib eye for two hearty appetites. Red Cow offers four sauce options: "good in a dinner-out-with-your-rich-great-uncle way" béarnaise, red-wine reduction, horseradish cream, and compound butter. Also, fries, "cushy" scallops, charcuterie, roasted bird, and some veg for the brave non-meat eater who can tuck into dinner surrounded by a whole lot of meat.
· Southern Charmers: Two New Fremont Restaurants Explore Cuisines of the South [Seattle Met]
· Eating Red Meat at Ethan Stowell's New Red Cow [The Stranger]
· All Week in Reviews Coverage [-ESEA-]