October 17-28 was Seattle Restaurant Week 2010, and as is my wont I went to several restaurants to try out their food. Unfortunately I was fairly lax in keeping track of the details of the dishes, so that’s why some of the descriptions are fairly brief.

Spur Gastropub: First on the agenda was Spur. I’ve dined there before, but it’s one of my favorite places to eat in the city so I couldn’t pass up the chance. Plus, Katie’s boyfriend, Jais, had never been.

What I really love about Spur is the variety — even items that are on their standard menu receive small changes to suit the season. The pork belly sliders were served with a different, more autumnal fruit and gelée than the one used during the summer, for example.

For that reason, I’ve taken to ordering the sorbet every time I eat at Spur — it’s different every time, and usually really interesting. This time it was plum, and served with a brown butter sugar. Other strong elements of the meal that evening were the duck confit and the beef carpaccio. The only real negative I found was the presentation of the chocolate cake that Katie ordered for dessert. It had a bit of mint icing draped across the length of the cake — it tasted wonderful, but the icing itself looked like toothpaste.

Staple and Fancy Staple and Fancy is Ethan Stowell’s newest restaurant. It’s out in Ballard, in a strange location that seemed devoid of any other night life; nevertheless, the atmosphere in the establishment is very warm (and I love exposed brick, which there was plenty of). Our waiter recognized Katie and I from previous excursions to the Stowell’s now-closed Union restaurant.

Rather than forcing us to choose among the available appetizers for Restaurant Week, we were presented with all six for the table. This was pretty cool, although the apps themselves were a touch uneven — the figs and salami were my favorite, followed closely by the bruschetta with liver paté — the other options just lacked something that would make them really stand out. We still ate them all, though.

Our entrées were a pasta served with mussels, grilled swordfish, and squid ink spaghetti. The swordfish was amazing, and the spaghetti was unique in that there was a real distinct richness to it. I’d never had the dish before, and I was concerned it would be indistinguishable from regular spaghetti with black food coloring, but that was absolutely not the case.

There were only two dessert options: a brownie and a panna cotta. I ordered the latter, while Katie and Jais got the former. The brownie was served with a walnut sorbet that maintained a distinct nutty texture, which we all agreed was pretty damn awesome. But I still think my panna cotta (with huckleberries) was the best dessert ever.

Boka Kitchen I was really looking forward to Boka, because I’d heard such wonderful things about the chef and the food. The decor was unusual, a mixture of color-shifting panels on the walls (reminiscent of Morimoto in Philadelphia) and irregularly-shaped polished rock tables. The food was… disappointing. I don’t mean it was bad, it was really quite tasty. But in contrast to what I’d been expecting, it just seemed uninspired.

We had poached pear salad (good pear but an odd combination), pork cheeks (which were amazing and easily the best part of the meal), roasted quail, apple tart and a chocolate ganache. The plating and presentation was about as run-of-the-mill as the food itself, unfortunately, although the lighting was really good.

Poppy The last stop for the week was Poppy, over on Capitol Hill. Poppy does a tahli presentation, so each entrée is a selection of small dishes, in this case with one signature item. Katie, Jais and I split a variety of oysters (braised and fresh), mussels and naan as our appetizers.

The main courses featured pork belly, scallops, duck leg, and some really awesome fall-flavored soups (squash, cinnamon, pumpkin). But it was Katie’s dessert — some kind of rich, chocolate sorbet — that stole the show at the end of the night.

Staple and Fancy was the best overall meal of the evening, although the apps — while abundant — were more uneven than those at Spur. The next Seattle Restaurant Week event is in April, so make sure to check it out if you live in (or will be visiting) the area!