This Frelard Knockout Is More Exclusive Than Ever After a Major Renovation

Tarsan i Jane, a high-end, wood-fired Eater 38 member known for mind-blowing tasting menus at 4012 Leary Way NW in Frelard, has seriously improved its space and adjusted its dining format for the second time in a year, with dinner now starting at $185 for 12 courses at an impressive chef’s counter. At this point, the restaurant definitely feels like it’s channeling the exclusive, Michelin-starred fine-dining restaurants on chef and co-owner Perfecte Rocher’s resume.

“For financial reasons and the desire to slowly introduce our guests to this type of dining experience, we opened Tarsan i Jane in a more casual space with simpler menus,” Zaine says. “This most recent renovation now reflects the experience we have always dreamt of offering our guests.”

The restaurant opened in May 2016, largely retaining the decor of the previous restaurant, Tray Kitchen, for a low-lift turnaround. The menu, informed by chef and co-owner Perfecte Rocher’s Valencian background and mixing traditional and hypermodern elements but offering his famous paella Sundays only, was available a la carte or via a four-course tasting menu, which seems positively quaint now. Last August, Rocher and his co-owner and wife, Alia Zaine, remodeled the space to add many of their own touches and to better match the kitchen’s increasingly complex and expensive tasting menus, starting at $140 for 12 courses.

The latest upgrade introduces a new interior in the same vein, with lots of dark woods, green plants, and a centerpiece of a 10-seat chef’s counter that spans the entirety of the kitchen and the eye-catching wood-fired grill.

Luke McKinley

There’s a private dining area, too, for groups wanting to face each other rather than the kitchen. Zaine says these diners will still be able to partake of the showiness, though, as several dishes involve table-side displays; this option starts at $325 per person. A lounge addition is an inviting place for diners to gather before or after their meal for a cocktail.

A wine room with greater bottle capacity allows the restaurant’s new sommelier, Susana Barros, who interned for a year alongside sommelier Josep Roca of El Celler de Can Roca (currently number two on the inequitable list of World’s 50 Best Restaurants), to bulk up the wine list with more unusual and natural options.

On Sundays only, the couple still serve their outstanding paella at the counter, in the garden outside, or in the private dining space, for various prices starting at $75. A full breakdown of dining options is listed on the restaurant’s website. No matter the route diners choose, they’ll be wowed by Rocher’s intricate, ever-shifting creations that mix fermented, seasonal, and wild local foods with his Spanish heritage for a unique expression of Pacific Northwest and Valencian cuisines.

• The 38 Essential Seattle Restaurants, Spring 2018 [ESEA]
• Tarsan i Jane’s New Look Befits Its Baller Tasting Menus [ESEA]
• Tarsan i Jane [Official]
• Tarsan i Jane [Facebook]
• All Coverage of Tarsan i Jane [ESEA]