Chinook's Captures The Flavor Of Seattle

XXX Chinook's, Fishermen's Terminal, Salmon Bay. Seafood, steaks, grills, pasta. Lunch ($5 to $10) 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Dinner ($4.25 to $15) 4 to 10 p.m. nightly. Weekend breakfast ($3 to $10) 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Sunday. View lounge, full bar. Major credit cards. Nonsmoking area. Reservations not taken, except for groups of 12 or more. 283-HOOK. ------------------------------------------------------------ Want a waterfront-view table away from the tourists, away from the sidelong glance and cocktail crush of cruising yups?

Cast off from Elliott Bay and Lake Union, then, and get yourself to a working sailor's dock. Try Fisherman's Terminal at Salmon Bay, between Magnolia and Ballard. There, in the middle of a $13 million upgrade completed three years ago, you will find Chinook's, one of Seattle best seafood restaurants set in decidedly blue-collar surroundings.

Chinook's, which was designed by architect Joey Ing, is a remarkable combination of form and function, mission and setting. It is a workmanlike structure with all of the exterior charm of an upscale warehouse set a few feet away from the docks of Seattle's fishing fleet. It is both a fish house and a boisterous bar, a drop-in spot for a first-rate dinner and a refuge for a weary deckhand. If anybody ever asks if you know of a successful project between the Port of Seattle and private enterprise, tell them about Chinook's.

But don't tell too many of them. Chinook's is busy enough as it is.

The restaurant was installed by - and is run by - the Anthony's HomePort team, headed by Bud Gould. The menu and kitchen operations were set up by executive-chef Sally McArthur. Together they achieved one of those blessed rarities: dedicated quality and moderate prices.

There isn't another restaurant in the city that more truly epitomizes the seaside flavors - culinary and sociological - of Seattle.

Within its booming Industrial Strength Modern interior, enhanced by gorgeous giant color blow-ups of fishing ships at sea (done by Pro Lab of Ballard) you get the sense of a city both at work and at rest.

And at play.

You can start off with a rousing Manila Clam Stew ($4.95) a substantial bowl of the tiny clams steamed in light cream, with bacon, red potatoes, leeks and chives. Or oysters on the half shell: a selection of Quilcene, Kumamoto, Penn Cove selects and Malpeque, also from Penn Cove.

Other options: Louisiana Hot Wings and Salsa for $4.95 or a Kippered Salmon Spread with Pilot Crackers for $2.95. The Dungeness Crab Cocktail ($6.95) is definitive.

The dinner salads - Shrimp Louie, Crab Louie and Almond Chicken ($7 to $13) - are almost overwhelming. I enjoyed, however, the basic house small Caesar ($2.95, I think), with the exception of the single filet of anchovy draped across the top. (The original Caesar salad created in Tijuana about 50 years ago contained no anchovy, neither crushed nor draped).

This time of year, the best choices are the simplest. Fresh Alaskan and Canadian halibut and salmon are in, and you can get either prepared a variety of ways. The Canadian Halibut, for example ($9.95 at lunch) can be either char-grilled Greek Style, Blackened Cajun Style or Char-grilled with Citrus Butter (finished with fresh citrus butter and served with orange sections over the top.)

Blackened fish is, I think, not only highly overrated (as well as overseasoned) but frequently overcooked. There are times when the chefs of the Western world must wish Paul Prudhomme had never left the bayous. Chinook's does it as well as anyone - on a white-hot griddle - but the more elementary Greek Style inflicts less melodrama to the fish with olive oil, lemon, fresh oregano for the marinade and a glaze of oregano butter over the finished filet. It was perfect.

The salmon ($11.45), too, comes in a variety of roles: baked or char-grilled with sun-dried tomatoes and fresh, chopped basil butter; over-broiled with Washington white wine (vintage not specified), lemon and herb butter, or marinated in teriyaki sauce and grilled over coals. The generous fillet of Chinook was set off nicely by small bits of basil and tomato and was cooked to the point where the deeper interiors of the cut were hot, distinctly flaked, but not yet opaque.

Other choices on the "Galley Sheet" included Garlic baked Prawns-Scampi ($9.95), simply done in garlic butter and fresh lemon; Washington Rockfish ($6.95), prepared with oil, garlic, lemon, herbs, etc., but presented under a fresh tomato salsa; and Alaskan Ling Cod ($7.95) with an Asian accent: sesame and teriyaki marinade, then baked with a pineapple-apricot glaze.

Chinook's served pan-fried red potatoes with almost everything, and they are really fine. Sauteed fresh vegetables complete most servings, usually a mix of summer squash and julienned red bell pepper. On a couple of recent visits, the zucchini, yellow squash and pepper strips may have been a bit undercooked. Crunch is nice, but it takes a bit of heat to bring out the sweetness of most vegetables - and underdone red pepper is something that belongs in a salad, preferably not mine.

I liked the place. Enormously.