14 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
Coast Weekend’s local
restaurant review
Restaurant aims high with stylish atmosphere, globe-trotting menu
Review and photos by
MOUTH OF THE COLUMBIA
CARRUTHERS
MOUTH@COASTWEEKEND.COM
In the year and a half since I
became the Mouth, a few handfuls
of restaurants have thrown open their
doors. None have been as ambitious
as Carruthers. Sure, there have been
big buildouts (Pelican Pub) and
innovative menus (Buttercup). But
none have aimed so high simultane-
ously.
Named for the historic building
on 12th and Commercial streets,
Carruthers is plunked in the dead
center of the ever-revitalizing
downtown Astoria. Kitty-corner to
the Liberty Theater, the restaurant
is a designer’s dream (one which,
perhaps, reflects the historic theater,
whose sign and aura twinkle through
the windows). On show nights it’ll
be the place to see and be seen.
Like a hip hotel lobby with dou-
ble-high ceilings, art deco — with
clean, stark lines, icy, bold colors
and ornate flourishes — rules the
day. There is marble — real and faux
— plus plenty of low-light sources,
gargantuan gold-rimmed mirrors,
delicate stemware and so on. It’s all
about mood, and that mood invokes
two things: high-society and metro-
politan style. That there’s a cocktail
named the Clark Gable says just
about everything you need to know.
OK, there are few more things
you need to know: Carruthers, which
opened in mid-August, is owned by
the same folks as the respected and
well-oiled Astoria Coffeehouse &
Bistro. But I digress: Clark Gable,
Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant.
The sizable though hardly cavern-
ous restaurant is divvied into three
spaces — a dining room, including
a potential communal table capable
of seating parties greater than 10;
a gleaming, titanic U-shaped bar
with a few adjacent tall tables; and
a lounge of burly, black leather
couches and chairs clustered around
a humming gas fireplace.
While certainly reaching for
a fanciful vibe of exclusivity and
privilege (and indeed, peering out
Above: The Blackened Scallops married an earthy richness to the
ocean’s kiss.
Top left: The Creole Gumbo Chowder was a resounding success.
Bottom left: The Moroccan Vegetable Sauté offers flavors that are
scarce on the North Coast.
the dining room’s large windows
can feel like a portal to the class
divide), Carruthers avoids feeling
overly haughty, thanks mostly to a
staff that’s down to earth and willing
to laugh. That said, service and exe-
cution sometimes slip out of whack
with the grand vision and high price
point.
The menu’s aspirations are broad-
er than the tightly realized interior
design. There are three classifica-
tions for entrées — Ocean, Pasture
and Garden — as well as starters,
soups and salads. There are flavors
from Africa, Europe, America,
Mexico and Asia. For a time I fretted
about what to order — many things
interested me, and I worried how
I might get a wide-enough sam-
ple.”It’s really eclectic,” said one
server of the menu. “So you have to
keep coming back to try everything.
And then in December everything
changes.” The menu will continue to
turnover every four months. A little
more at ease, I wondered if there
could be method to the varietal mad-
ness: that, as the North Coast lacks
many regional cuisines, Carruthers
could fill some of those holes.
But, then again, is an $18, Moroc-
can-spiced couscous plate really a
hole we need filled?
Piled in a pyramid — plating
presentation is tantamount at Car-
ruthers — the Moroccan Vegetable
Sauté ($18) stacked the aforemen-
tioned couscous, chickpeas, figs,
mustard greens, onions and a thick
tomato sauce, all crowned with a
poached egg and micro-greens.
The Moroccan spices — coriander,
turmeric, paprika and so on — both
unified the dish and filled one of our
region’s underrepresented profiles.
The egg offered gooey protein, but
there wasn’t enough. While healthy,
lean and nourishing, I felt like I was
eating hippie food from a fancy
bowl. And had it been real hippie
food — served, in my mind, from
an imaginary cart — the portion
would’ve been twice as large.
The same bowl — like an
upside-down UFO, with a big white
rim for negative space — cupped
the Blackened Scallops ($25). The
trio sat in the center, surrounded by
smoked, white cheddar grits whose
pungent cheesiness made me sit up
straight. Over were laid a few spears
of asparagus, grilled over a flame,
inciting barbecue’s char. The large
scallops were blackened on the edge
and supple. They were topped with
pickled chanterelles and a truffle oil
black garlic relish, which married an
earthy richness to the ocean kiss. With
the scallops, Carruthers hit its marks
— refined, deep, exquisite and rich.
I too enjoyed the Creole Gumbo
Chowder ($6 cup), which effectively
crossed chowder and gumbo. It was
creamy, viscous and hearty, sparked
with cotija cheese crumbles. When
it comes to rewriting the menu, the
chowder should remain.
The Carruthers Salad ($7
half), though, needs work. It was
multi-faceted, though almost
confusingly so. Bites alternated
between sweet and salty, though not
in any meaningful — or seemingly
intended — conversation. It was like
laundry that hadn’t been separated.
The ingredients, however — like
avocado, roasted squash and dried
blueberries — seemed plucked from
a fine wardrobe.
From my first visit I stared at the
menu’s Rack of Lamb with a gimlet
eye. When I finally got it, though,
Rating:
1198 Commercial St.,
Astoria
PHONE: 503-975-5305
HOURS: 4 to 10 p.m. Tuesday
through Thursday; 4 to 11
p.m. Friday and Saturday.
PRICE: $$$ – Prices to match
exclusive atmosphere
VEGETARIAN / VEGAN
OPTIONS: Vegetarians will
do well
SERVICE: Charming, not
quite white-gloved
DRINKS: Full bar with fancy
cocktails
KEY TO STAR RATING SYSTEM
Poor
Below average
Good
Excellent
Best in region
I was let down. While again with a
nice, crusty char and tender center,
the two chops were hardly above
room temperature. Ringed with mint
chimichurri, apricot jam, candied
citrus fennel and stood up over a pile
of cheesy, brown-rice-like sage farro,
I found the sweetness unbalanced.
The accompaniment could’ve — and
probably should’ve — provided
counterpoint. Without question,
though, the lamb should’ve been
hotter. And at $29, Carruthers’ price
zenith, you expect and deserve an ex-
cellence that the lamb didn’t deliver.
Perhaps that’s the pitfall of such
an involved, globe-trotting menu
— there’s just so much the kitch-
en has to pay attention to and get
ever-so-right. Indeed, Carruthers set
its own bar high. There’s no reason
to believe that, upon future menu
revisions, the restaurant may begin
to clear it with finesse. But for now,
the landing of its moon shot has been
a little bumpy.