SkyCity at the Needle

Join us in October for a series of events in SkyCity that celebrate our local wine & chefs!

Tuesdays: Half-price Wine Night
Dine with us in SkyCity on Tuesdays this fall and receive half-off bottles of select wine under $100. Currently 50 discounted varietals on our list!
. . .
Wednesday – Sunday: Guest Chef Series
Join some of Seattle’s best chefs as they team up with SkyCity Executive Chef Jeff Maxfield 500’ above ground to create a selection of signature items just for SkyCity diners. Each chef will be on-site for you to meet in the SkyCity dining room from 5–7pm on the Wednesday that we introduce their courses. Won’t be able to meet the chefs but you want to try their cuisine? No problem! Their offerings will be available from Wednesday-Sunday of the week they are featured.
October 13, 5-7pm: Greg Atkinson
October 20, 5-7pm: Chefs of Farestart, featuring Sam Clinton
October 27, 5-7pm: Peter Levine
, Executive Chef at Waterfront Seafood Grill
$55 for seasonally inspired 3-course prix fixe menu
. . .
Thursdays: Meet the Winemaker
On Thursdays in October, local winemakers will be making their way through SkyCity talking with guests and pouring complimentary samples of their wine.
October 7: Sparkman Cellars – 2009 Lumiere Chardonnay, 2008 Ruckus Syrah
October 14: Gamache Vintners – 2008 Viognier, 2005 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
October 21: Pomum Cellars – 2008 Riesling, 2006 Shya Red
October 28: Olsen Estates – 2008 Chardonnay, 2007 Petit Verdot

To make dinner reservations: 800.937.9582 / 206.905.2100 or click here

Cooking with Class

Written by Space Needle
September 13th, 2010

We’ll be part of Cooking with Class again this year, a fundraiser for Providence Heritage House at the Market and Providence ElderPlace, both of which assist low-income, frail elderly. It’s a fun event for Chef Jeff Maxfield as he gets to choose a recipe to teach to his “students.” They then eat what they produce with Chef and enjoy it with a wine paired specifically with his dish. This year, Chef Jeff is making hazelnut crusted goat cheese with mountain huckleberry syrah reduction. His dish will be paired with Hightower Cellars’ Syrah. The event takes place on Tuesday, September 14, 2010, at Salty’s on Alki in West Seattle. The cost is $125 per person and includes the opportunity to cook hands-on with Chef Jeff and two other chefs, the food, wine and appetizers and a chance to try out a variety of wines and Pike Brewing Co. beer at the tasting table. Get more details, register and pay online at www.seattledining.com/cwc. Hope you can make it!

Wine Bottle Surprise!

Written by Space Needle
September 10th, 2010

The next time you dine at Sky City Restaurant and order a bottle of Baer Ursa, Stevens 424, Sparkman Chardonnay, any Betz Family Wines, or any Washington Wine, you may be in for a big surprise. There is a good chance that the bottle of wine you are drinking was bottled by someone from The Space Needle. There is a group of us that have a passion for Washington Wines, especially bottling. We could be your server, server assistant, bartender, someone in accounting, or the person cooking your meal.

Woodinville Wine Country is less than 30 minutes from The Space Needle. Our bottling crew will start the bottling day at 8AM and usually be done by 3PM. That’s about enough time to bottle 800 to 1,500 cases of wine or 9,600 to 18,000 bottles. All of us have different jobs to perform — it could be dumping the empty bottles onto the bottling line, placing the foil capsule on the bottle, checking the fill level and making sure the labels are on right, packing 12 bottles back into the case, or packing that 45 pound case on a pallet that will hold 70 cases of wine. Yes, everyone has an important job that the Winemaker has given us, and trusts us to do.

And at the end of the day, we sit down with the Winemaker and enjoy a glass of wine or two that we just helped bottle. Hard work, but it is our passion. It is a chance to be together outside of work and have some fun.

So, enjoy your wine and dinner at Sky City, especially the Betz, Baer, Sparkman, and Stevens wines, or any other Washington Wines from our award winning Wine List. And remember, there is a good chance that the wine was bottled by the person serving you.

A Space Needle Wine Bottler

Facts and Myths About Seattle’s Most Famous Dessert

Written by Space Needle
March 2nd, 2010

For over a quarter of a century, I have had the good fortune of serving the (Space Needle’s) Sky City Restaurant’s all-time best-selling menu item.

Tens of thousands of delighted diners, young and old, from near and far, have become mesmerized instantly by this original 1960’s Seattle World’s Fair Space Needle ice cream sundae! This simple concoction is the lone survivor of our original early 1960’s menu. Simply stated(!), this top-seller arrives at one’s table as if smoking- with the use of the simple cooling agent, carbon dioxide (or dry ice; commonly seen in a punchbowl at a grade school Halloween party). With the use of local, gourmet ice creams combined with domestic and imported syrups and coulis, fresh, sliced fruit and a unique serving dish, something so simple is transformed into a magical, show-stopping, attention-getting, steaming, floating, billowing, hovering, crown jewel of our dining room…..
The Lunar Orbiter!

Once this dessert hits the stage at your table, you and your guests become part of the show, as envious on-lookers eagerly inquire about the cloud-like, space-aged dish and how they too can experience such a creation.

I take a lot of pride in being the courier of this amazing edible attraction. I ensure critical timing and placement of the dish, lifting it high above the center of the table and following with a true vertical landing, which if done with precision, will create a perfect “smoke” ring or plume, if you will, somewhat similar to an atomic explosion in reverse!

Talk about in-house advertising!!!

Rumor has it that the Space Needle stopped serving the Lunar Orbiter sometime back in the late sixties/ early seventies. After researching my personal collection of vintage Space Needle menus, interviewing senior employees, and searching online, I am unable to confirm or deny this temporary lapse of reason!

Another rumor has it that a past CEO conducted an employee- only contest to recreate this nostalgic dessert. The contest never really made it off the ground (no pun intended)!

That being said, this fact I can confirm:
As long as I am alive and spinning, I will continue to deliver this futuristic blast from the past to any and all who venture high into the sky to feast upon our fantastic cuisine and absorb our breathtaking views of our magnificent city and beyond! The Lunar Orbiter will remain the highlight of our Sky City Restaurant dessert menu along with many of our other sweet options for years to come!

See you in the sky,

Your Anonymous Sky City Waiter

To pair with the elusive Winter Steelhead

RECIPE: Pinot Noir and Huckleberry Compote

1 cup sugar
Juice of half a lemon
3 cups Pinot or other red wine
1 ea star anise
1 shallot, chopped
¼ cup red wine vinegar
¼ cup mountain huckleberries

Method:
In a nonreactive saucepan, place sugar, lemon juice and enough water to wet sugar over medium heat and cook until golden brown. Add all remaining ingredients and reduce until it reaches a syrupy consistency. Keep at room temperature.

RECIPE: Hedgehog Mushroom Saute

½ lb wild Hedgehogs
1 ea shallot, thinly sliced
3 T butter
2 T fresh thyme, chopped
1 T Italian parsley, chopped

Over medium high heat, sauté mushrooms in a sauté pan with butter and shallots. Cook until moisture is released and evaporated, season with salt and pepper and toss with chopped herbs.

Winter Steelhead

Written by Jeff Maxfield
February 5th, 2010

On a recent abnormal winter day, a couple chef friends of mine and I met up early to embark on a quest for the elusive winter steelhead. Many people before us have assimilated this quest to Snipe hunting (a fool’s errand sending inexperienced hunters on a “wild goose” type chase). Keeping this in mind, we were off to the Snoqualmie river at the mouth of Tokul creek, right below the falls. The weather was perfect, filtered sunshine, unseasonably warm weather, and a break from the rain. We set off from my home in Issaquah for the short drive east. I filled a small cooler with sandwich’s, brats and Rainier beer. A thermos of coffee and a flask of the newly released year 2000 Knob Creek, quintessential nectar for a day of fishing with the guys. Upon arrival, it’s sort of a show and tell of all the new tackle and gear purchased to wrangle the phantom beast. Armed with different colored jigs, bobbers and cured eggs from last seasons salmon catch, we set off to stake our ground for the day.

Both at home and in the restaurant, I have always relied on winter Steelhead as a means for fresh, wild, fish in the dead of winter. Once the fall salmon seasons come to an end, it usually isn’t until May when the Alaskan salmon runs commence. Steelhead are a member of the salmonid family, such as salmon and trout. The difference between salmon and steelhead however, is Steelhead rejuvenate after spawning and return to the briny Pacific. On a menu, it can be treated like salmon or trout; I prefer to prepare it with ingredients that would be found in the flora that surrounds us here in the Northwest. Simply cedar plank roasted, or grilled with cedar fronds, wild Hedgehog mushrooms and mountain huckleberry coulis, the possibilities are endless. I’ve sourced Steelhead from experienced anglers on the Columbia basin to the die hards of the Olympic peninsula. Whether wild or hatchery raised, it’s showing up in more and more stores as a fresh alternative to frozen wild salmon or a replacement for the farm raised Atlantic species that litters the coolers around our area.

Unfortunately for my buddies and I, this particular January day, our only “catch” was a midwinter sunburn, a slight buzz, and a memory to last us until next time.

Jeff Maxfield, Executive Chef

ELEVATED EATS: Coffee ain’t just for drinkin’!

Written by Jeff Maxfield
January 6th, 2010

In my world of hectic schedules, inclimate weather, and the busy holiday season, I cherish this time in January. It’s a time of relaxation, catching up and cooking for “real”. These dark and lazy afternoons are the perfect recipe for a slow cooked meal shared by friends and family. One of the dishes that evolved from these meals has been recreated into my “other” kitchen at work. This version of braised short ribs is a creation that my wife Christal and I conjured up using ingredients found in our small pantry at home.

Starting with a simple brine using the leftover morning coffee, salt and water, we let them marinate for a few hours. Scavenging the cupboards, we found beef stock, bay leaf, and tollhouse chocolate chips (those were from my wife’s attempt to reenact a Friend’s episode where the secret cookie recipe was from Phoebe’s grandmother “Nestley Tolouse”). We had an onion and a half bottle of wine from the night before which all made it into the pot. It really only involves about twenty minutes of work, but the tough part is the anticipation while they cook. The pay off however, is the savory aromatics that fill our small townhouse, the windows clouded by steam and the rich flavors in every bite that seems to make the cold, wet weather disappear.

This past Christmas, Christal surprised me with a Le Creuset French Oven that I broke out immediately to make these ribs. That night, in the middle of our crazy holiday season, our world slowed down enough to really enjoy this dish we created together….

RECIPE: Mocha Braised Short Ribs

Brine:
1 cup salt
2 cup water
2 cup brewed coffee (chilled)

Braising:
1 medium onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 lbs short ribs
1 cup bittersweet chocolate
2.5 cups red wine
2.5 cups beef broth
2 ea bay leaves

In a heavy bottom braising pan, season and sear ribs over medium high heat. Remove from pan and add onion and garlic, sauté until translucent. Deglaze with wine, add broth. Add ribs back to the pan and add chocolate and bay leaf. Cover tightly and put in a pre heated 350 degree oven. Braise for 3 hours or until tender. Remove from oven and let cool for 20 minutes. Remove ribs from liquid and keep warm. Strain sauce and let fat rise to the top to skim. Reduce sauce until it coats the back of a spoon.

Jeff Maxfield, Executive Chef

Welcome to our blog!

Written by Space Needle
January 6th, 2010

Now that the holidays are over and 2009 has come to an end, we want to start the decade out with something new. The Space Needle and SkyCity restaurant will be posting a blog about the food, wine, people and experiences that surround us in our daily lives.

We hope you will join us!