Gourmet Alaskan Seafood: Simon and Seafort's

This weekend, my husband and I were celebrating, so we went to dinner at Simon and Seafort’s.  This is a long time staple of ours for when we want to go out someplace nice. Two people can easily spend over $100 here, because there are delicious appetizers, soups, and salads, $25-$45 entrees, and great desserts. It’s located downtown on L Street, between 4^th and 5^th Avenue; it’s a little hard to spot, since it’s in the first floor of a very plain looking office building, but there’s a sign out front with two old-timey Gold Rush fellows to point you in the right direction. I recommend getting a reservation- you don’t have to make it more than a few days ahead, but it is nice not to have to wait. If you show up and can’t get a table, you can always try and find a spot in the bar, which has a couple dozen tables, but that’s been pretty busy lately, too. They will bring you both the dining room menu and the bar menu, so you won't miss anything. Whether you go to the dining room or bar, you get a bonus if you get a table by the picture windows that overlook the Knik Arm of Cook Inlet and Mount Susitna.

Simon and Seafort’s is very much a classic “steak and seafood” kind of restaurant, and they really do have fantastic Alaskan seafood. They always have some fresh seafood selections for entrees, and have several great things that stay on the menu because they are so good. They also have a good bar for mixed drinks. The selection is good for beer and wine, too, but not really amazing or unusual. They have great happy hour food and drink specials that are just served in the bar. The drinks they’re better known for are things like the scratch margarita and the mojito.

We always start with the hot Dungeness crab and artichoke dip, and if you have been here before, you know why. It’s a hot and gooey cheesy crab dip, and you have to get it if you go. Make sure you get extra of the warm sourdough bread that the waiter or waitress brings to your table, though, because the little bread slices they give you with the dip aren’t enough, and aren’t nearly as good as the sourdough. Other great appetizers I have had include the steamed clams and the calamari. I've never had the oysters, but they serve those as well.

Simon’s also has incredible salads and soups. They always have New England clam chowder and authentic French Onion soup. I think they must make their own stock for the French Onion, because the soup I've made at home isn't nearly as rich and dark as theirs. Their salads are also fantastic. They have a great Caesar salad, a Maytag bleu cheese salad with slivered almonds and hard boiled eggs, and a salad with egg-mustard dressing that is amazing. The latter always makes me think of my aunt, who got the recipe years ago and has been using the dressing on green salads and potato salads at family occasions for years. On this visit, my husband and I both ended up with the Maytag bleu cheese; I got the Caesar the last couple times I was here, so I thought I should have a different one.

For entrées, they have several choices. They have your basic steakhouse options: filet mignon, ribeye, and prime rib, as well as a burger, seafood linguine and a seafood etouffee. They also have a variable menu that depends on the availability of fresh seafood. This weekend, they had a few different preparations of fresh Alaskan sockeye salmon,  your basic king crab legs, and King salmon special. They also had a steak special that sounded great, which included bleu cheese and carmelized onions. As mouth-watering as the salmon specials sounded, I was torn between their two fresh Alaskan halibut selections, because they do such a great job with halibut. Their classic is the crab and macadamia stuffed halibut, which is well known around town, and has even gotten a special mention in the Anchorage Daily News - Simon's has won various "Best of Anchorage" awards for over ten years, including Best Fine Dining and Best Seafood, but this dish has also been specifically called out. As much as I love it, I went for something new, the pan seared halibut cheeks, made with fresh halibut from Kachemak Bay. They were really good, with a light coating of Panko bread crumbs, and were served in an asiago cheese and butter sauce, with creamy red skinned mashed potatoes and roasted vegetables. After the crab dip and salad and sourdough bread, I didn't get very far on the halibut, but that's okay, they'll pack up your leftovers for you. Simon's also gets extra points for using paper take out boxes instead of styrofoam. My husband got the prime rib, which he said was very tender and perfectly medium rare. He thought the au jus was a little salty, but we don't use much salt when we cook at home, so a lot of things taste salty to us. Even though he got the "small" steak, he also had a lot of it boxed up.

I also had a great wine to go with a great dinner. While their wine list isn't spectacular, they do have a decent selection of white wines to go with their seafood. They had just run out of the nightly Sauvignon blanc special, so I had a delicious Chateau la Fregnelle Sauvignon Semillon from Bordeaux that was just the perfect thing for the crab, salad, and halibut.

Now, shockingly, after everything I've just said, we decided to try and squeeze in a little dessert, because we knew how great they were. They also usually have New York cheesecake, creme brulee, and berry cobbler, but we got our two favorite things: the chocolate indulgence cake, and the key lime pie. As you know, I looooove chocolate, and this warm, gooey slice of cake is just great, served with vanilla ice cream and some warm chocolate sauce. Love of chocolate aside, the key lime pie is also fantastic, and a must-have if you bypass the chocolate cake- it's fresh and light and made with real key lime juice and garnished with fresh lime zest.

Okay, I know, that was a lot of food. We totally over-indulged, and shouldn't have gotten nearly as much as we did. But as you can tell, we love several things from every course they offer, so it is really hard to skip something, especially since we don't come here very often. Next time, we will probably have a lighter dinner at the bar, and I'll tell you all about it.