floundering fusion (joule, wallingford)

My dinner partner and I arrived at Joule last night with much anticipation. This Korean-French-American restaurant by Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi (formerly of Coupage in Madrona, now closed) has received favorable reviews since its opening several years ago, and we have both expressed an interest in dining at Joule on several past occasions. With a reason celebrate, we decided it was time to give Joule a try.

Joule: 1913 N. 45th Street

Joule is located on 45th Street just east of the Wallingford Center. You have likely passed it dozens of times, but unless you are on a leisurely stroll or intentionally looking for this restaurant, you may not have noticed it at all. It's a small rectangular space, seating 40-ish people, with an open kitchen towards the back right side of the room.

View looking straight down the middle of the restaurant
with the open kitchen towards the back. Tables line both
sides of the room, with bench seating along the walls.

The décor is clean and simple, featuring dark wood tables, tonally-matched place mats, and neutral-colored accents throughout the space. About half of the tables were full when we arrived for our 7 pm reservation, but more people trickled in over the next half hour and filled the tables. As more people were seated, the noise level increased dramatically and we found ourselves often leaning across the table just to hear each other.

After perusing the menu, we decided to order individual items rather than the family style supper of 7 dishes for $35 per person (the items on each menu were mutually exclusive). The supper seemed like too much food, and there were two side dishes that caught our eye, as well as two of the entrées. We skipped ordering any appetizers before our main courses. but had we known how long it would take for our food to appear, we might have made different choices!

About 20-30 minutes later, our four dishes arrived at our table: the Joule BBQ (entrée), Hawaiian prawns (entrée), fingerling potatoes and brussels sprouts (side), and charred kale (side). The Joule BBQ consisted of short rib steak, sweet chili sausage, grilled kimchi, and collard greens. Both the steak and sausage were seasoned and grilled to give each a nice charring and crispy edge. The steak was reminiscent of kalbi (traditional Korean short ribs) but with a more refined flavor and tender, boneless slices of meat. The pork sausage was made in house and had a pleasantly sweet flavor. Unfortunately, the plate arrived cold and I was left to wonder how much better the food could have been. It had so much potential that I thought about requesting a new, hot plate from our server, but I was unable to catch her attention and gave up after a few minutes. The kimchi and collard greens were fine, but nothing spectacular.

Entrée: Joule BBQ short rib steak and sweet chili sausage
over grilled kimchi and collard greens.

Our second entrée, the Hawaiian prawns, was served in a stone pot over vermicelli noodles and Chinese broccoli. Across the top was a generous sprinkling of roasted peanuts. This dish was very tasty, and it was served hot! The noodles were simple but nicely flavored with the peanuts and broccoli, and the prawns had a sweet-savory Korean BBQ taste. A squeeze of lime added a brightness that enhanced the other spices.

Entrée: Hawaiian prawns stone pot with vermicelli, Chinese
broccoli, and roasted peanuts.

One of our side dishes was a mix of fingerling potatoes and brussels sprouts in brown butter and Szechuan salt. While we perhaps should have gotten a clue about the spiciness level from the reference to Szechuan-flavored salt, we did not anticipate that this would be our spiciest dish. However, one bite in and it was clear that I would need more water! Curious what the culprit was that created this spice, I realized that there was a whole chili pepper prominently displayed in the middle of the dish. Overall, the dish was very good, but I definitely would have enjoyed it more (and tasted it more) had it been a little less spicy.

Side: Fingerling potatoes, brussels sprouts, brown butter, and
Szechuan salt.. with surprise chili pepper!

The last dish was was charred kale with pickled chanterelles and smoked chili. The kale was cooked to be tender with a slight crispness throughout, and the chanterelles added a warm, earthy flavor. Unfortunately, this dish also suffered from being served cold. It was definitely more tolerable than cold steak, and it could have been intentionally served at this temperature. However, with two cold dishes on the table, I wasn't really interested in giving Joule the benefit of the doubt. Also, charred kale doesn't really give me the impression that it should be served cold. I should also note that although the description of this dish included "smoked chili," it was only mildly spicy and nothing compared to our other side dish.

Side: Charred kale, pickled chanterelles, and smoked chili.

After adding up the cost of our four dishes and eying the family-style supper being served next to us, we came to the conclusion that we didn't make the best choice when ordering. Our four dishes added up to $60, and for $10 more we could have had an appetizer (salad), dessert (spiced pumpkin cake), and 5 other dishes in between. I don't think we got a very good value, and personally, $19 for three prawns and some noodles seems a little high (but at least it arrived hot).

We skipped ordering dessert but were given a house-made salted caramel with our bill. We were warned by our server that it was spicy, but it only had a mild spice flavor and was otherwise very sweet. At this point, I gave up trying to understand "spicy" at Joule.

"Spicy" salted caramel.

hhf says: A rather disappointing meal. The flavor combinations were intriguing and had so much potential, but cold steak is not appealing and difficult to forgive. For the price, you can find much better food and atmosphere in Seattle. If you decide to go, try the family style supper and let me know how it is!

Shoes: Gucci black patent leather Sophia wedges with a softly
pointed toe.

Shoes for rain (and hail): Gucci black patent leather Sophia wedges with a softly pointed toe. Rubber soles and patent leather make these wedges perfect for our dreary Seattle weather.