Spring Hill: A Sure Thing in West Seattle

Restaurant Name: Spring Hill
Location: Seattle, Washington

Last night Jeff and I got another chance to go out to dinner without the baby. Our opportunities to have an adult dinner at a restaurant are rare these days, so we were pretty excited to try Spring Hill, on my dad Steve's recommendation. We were not disappointed. It was, in my opinion, one of the best restaurants in the Seattle area that we have eaten at in awhile. And I would quickly recommend it to anyone.
The atmosphere is great - casually classy and modern without being cold. They have an open kitchen layout, but it's not overly loud, and we found it a good source of conversation with our dinner companions, Eileen and Jason.
Without a doubt, the best feature of this restaurant is their food. Wow. Everything we had was excellent, from the starters, all the way through to dessert. Highlights from the table were the deconstructed clam chowder, which Jason said was the best he'd ever had, and the red wine braised short ribs that I ordered for my main - falling apart tender and refreshingly interesting with a tomato caper lemon relish and fresh cilantro. I've had plenty of short ribs before, but these were hands down the best I'd ever had. The citrus tang in the relish gave this dish a totally new perspective and was an ingenious complement to the meat. I'm not a capers fan, but didn't even notice them...so don't let that deter you.
Nitpicks....they charge $3 for bread with butter - I'm sure it's excellent (didn't try it), but it seems a bit absurd to charge for something like bread at the table. While my starter - roasted beet salad - was quite tasty, I would have preferred it paired with a stronger blue cheese. The one used was a bit too mild to stand up to the beets.
Those issues aside, I would wholeheartedly recommend this restaurant to anyone who appreciates good food. With starters, mains, and dessert, our bill ended up being about $50/person, but only half of us had wine, so adjust accordingly. I for one can't wait to go back and try the other items on the menu. Spring Hill is a sure thing!