Tukwila, WA – Basil’s Kitchen

We were wasting time and waiting on our train to Portland, and Basil’s is about a one block walk from the Amtrak platform in Tukwila. Although Basil’s has the usual spendy hotel restaurant prices, the food, drinks, and service more than made up for it.

A note on the service: our server/bartender, Jessica, is one of those rare individuals that really “gets” the notion of hospitality in an industry so-named, and kudos to her and the management for having the wisdom to employ her.

We were perched at Basil’s long enough to do some serious grazing, and imbibing, and although the cuisine is publicly described in various places as “Mediterranean”,  in fact, while there might be accents from that region, the offerings are wide enough to please most any palate.

We had the reuben sandwich with a side of fries, a steak salad with a blue cheese  vinagrette, and crab “tater tots”.

The reuben was prepared on marble bread, grilled with the requisite corned beef, kraut, and swiss; I eschewed having the usual thousand island dressing.  The sammich was grilled perfectly, and the fries were hot, crispy, the thick.

The salad was artfully arranged on a platter, with the steak to the side of the greens, and cooked perfectly to the medium rare specification.  I haven’t been offered a blue cheese vinaigrette before, and it was a nice combination of both sweet and tangy.

Some crab (or salmon) offering is seemingly mandatory on any restaurant in the NW, and Basil’s “crab tater tots” with jalapeno aioli dipping sauce is unique.  Puffed croquettes, fried and stuffed with crab and potato, are hot, flavorful, and    have a little kick, in both the filling and sauce. I’d be tempted to try and replicate them at home.

Three food items and four glasses of a premium wine set us back a cool c note, with tip, but as I stated earlier, I have no complaints.

Basil's Kitchen, Tukwila, WA

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