Mom and I had a lovely lunch on a rare sunny afternoon in downtown Bellevue a few days ago. The venue was Purple and the place was all ours. However, we did encounter a slight problem getting in. In the end, it required the efforts of three people to enter its hallowed walls. The hostess, seeing us struggle with the mighty fortress-like doors, offered an assist. When I "joked" about how heavy the door was she explained, to our consternation, that this was the restaurant's theme, owned by "Heavy" Management Group. "You should see the chairs," she quipped.
As mom would say later, "once you're seated, make sure that's where you want to be because there's no way you're going to skootch closer to or further away from the table." Everything in the place is HEAVY. As in iron, steel beams, Richard Serra-like "Tilting Arc" banquettes
and industrial spiral staircases (I counted four) leading to two-storey walls of wine bottles. Smooth black rocks. Concrete counters.
Though the decor was tres formidable, the food was outstanding. The chicken/avocado/bacon sandwich was the single most exquisite meal I've eaten in recent memory. I had two glasses of wine (for which they're best known) and I never, ever, do that. It was just too dang pleasant. Thanks, mom, for a divine lunch!
The doors in all their splendor: piece of paper on right side says: "Use door on left." Possibly because you'll get a hernia trying to open the (locked)one on the right?
Another reservation I had about this place was the fact that one of the "wine walls" sits in the window facing west--for the few sunny days we do have this could be a serious hindrance to preserving the wine. On the plus side: passive solar gain?
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