Happy Hour: Get your vegetables at Emmer&Rye

Happy hour |

With all the gushing over veggies of late, you would think that greens aren't just the next pork belly, but the new black.

There was celebrity chef Mario Batali in the spring, bouncing around Seattle and declaring veggies to be the next big thing. So too did a horde of acclaimed chefs at the last James Beard Award Dinner in New York City. And no higher authority than the great chef José Andrés was mugging for the cameras on "60 Minutes," calling veggies sexy.

So guess what's on the happy-hour menu this week?

Veggies done Seth Caswell's way, he being the chef of Emmer&Rye in upper Queen Anne and formerly of Stumbling Goat Bistro in Phinney.

There are happy-hour shared plates of protein, supersized with so many veggies that it's hard to tell which is the main — the protein or the greens. Caswell, a farmers-market regular, likes to play with organic and local greens to accentuate the flavor of the meat.

Some crispy pork belly from hazelnut-fed pig, paired with a pile of greens drenched in a hazelnut-mustard dressing. A mound of grilled zucchini in an herbaceous marinade on the dish, too.

Also tasty, some seared tuna with briny sea beans and fried capers. Lettuce is also on the plate, served with the egg sauce gribiche, which is lighter than Béarnaise and tasted like tartar sauce.

Just as hefty, but lacking acidity, a plate of sauteed oyster mushrooms and roasted porcini and cauliflower, sweet and a tad smoky, covered in a warmed walnut vinaigrette. And some greens with some heat.

Should be obvious where to sit at Emmer&Rye — in the patio area, with a crisp rosé to start and some shared plates, a taste of summer.

Emmer&Rye, 1825 Queen Anne Ave. N., offers happy hour daily from 4-6 p.m. with shared plates and sandwiches from $1-$9 and $3 beer, $4 wine and a $4 rye Manhattan (206-282-0680 or www.emmerandrye.com).

Tan Vinh: 206-515-5656 or tvinh@seattletimes.com

Information in this article, originally published (July 14, 2010), was corrected (July 15). The Stumbling Goat Bistro in Phinney reopened under a new owner and chef. A previous version of this story about happy hour at Emmer&Rye stated incorrectly that it was closed.