Up on Capitol Hill, there's a bar called The Lookout that has a great, west-facing view. Two months ago, owner Michael Forte opened a second spot at First & Battery, on the site of Scott Carsberg's much-loved Bisato, which he named Lost Pelican.
Ironically, there's already a Forte in Belltown, right around the corner: Giuseppe Forte, the owner of La Vita è Bella, who's no relation.
Lost Pelican bills itself as a gastropub featuring Cajun and Creole food. Presumably this means ingredients like crawfish and oysters, or sweet potatoes and andouille, fried green tomatoes and gumbo. In other words, an underserved, perhaps even neglected segment of Seattle's gastronomic landscape.
However, those Happy Hour crawfish fritters? That poor little red guy has nothing to worry about. The deep-fried balls don't have the slightest taste of seafood, just of sorry, soggy breading. And I'm a sucker for anything that combines "seafood" with "deep-fried." Another item on the HH menu is Oysters Rockefeller, which are supposed to combine bivalves, spinach, and hollandaise sauce. Since the whole point is to melt everything, why would you want to shower the oysters with parmesan after running the dish under the broiler?
Still, you get an airy setting, friendly service and stiff drinks. As I said, an underserved market. Louisiana and Belltown? Not a match made in heaven.
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