Anyone been? Opinions? Reccomendations?
So, I had a birthday dinner here last night. It was good, and for reasons appearing below, I will go back. But it was not great.
La Conner, a tourist villiage on Swinomish Slough, has many restaurants, but few good ones, and probably only one (Nell Thorn) with any claim to “fine dining”. So we were pleased that Fork had opened.
We had been to the sister restsurant, Fork at Agate Bay. on Lake Whatcom twice, and enjoyed it a lot. Both places are relaxingly casual, yet have a service regime that resembles a haute atmosphere. Fork on Skagit Bay (Who wants to be on a slough?) is cozy, yet the tables are pleasingly spaced apart.
I chose cassoulet, Wahine had the white shrimp appetizer with add-ons, and we split a Green Goddess salad. I found the cassoulet very odd, because it had a bbq taste and look about it, and the beans were nowhere near creamy. My guess is that someone salted and acidified the beans–which were neither Tarbais nor Great Northern–and so they were doomed to chewiness. The sausage aspect was apparently an afterthought: one half of a casingless hot dog-diameter tube was split and stood as a monolith in the beans. The dish was served in a tiny cast iron skillet. Wahine’s shrimp were good, but I thought they lacked savor.
Service was good. Our server handled a wine issue gracefully. The wine list was long and well-curated. They have their own parking lot, a big plus in La Conner.
We have neighbors who’ve gone to this Fork several times for their Happy Hour food and drink deals. They recommend it.
Overall, a pleasant experience. A cut above the usual places in La Conner. Prices were reasonable.
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It’s been many years but we did go to apparently the sister restaurant a couple times. I didn’t realize it was a chain. The ambience was nicer than the food was good. I recall it being fine but nothing more.
I think it’s a “chain” of two, and this one’s not been open all that long.
I feel like we should give it another try. We seriously curtailed our going out for months - unemployment and all… Just starting to emerge from that hibernation.
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