Beauty comes with some pricey beasts at 727 Pine

I am not averse to spending big bucks on a great meal, nor do I mind paying "extra" for a theatrical culinary production. But when it comes to breaking the bank, I have my limits. Those limits were severely tested at 727 Pine, the gorgeously appointed dining room at the Grand Hyatt Seattle.

Here courteous, efficient servers offer artistically presented "Northwest-inspired" cuisine in a marvelously mirrored, casually chic environment. Too bad the kitchen favors artistry over execution and the average price of a dinner entree is a credit-card-busting $41.

With its gleaming open kitchen, well-stocked bar and downtown location, 727 Pine has all the hallmarks of a hotel restaurant locals would love to love. We loved it when it opened three years ago, exceeding expectations with innovative, artistically presented fare courtesy of a chef long-gone. But back then, dinner was more affordable and tasted as good as it looked. Today it's clear that the Hyatt needs to take a more down-to-earth approach to its signature dining room before we're willing to call it our own.

That said, there are reasons to make this a stop on the nosh-circuit, but more about that later.

Early this month, a dinner began with a complimentary amuse-bouche. This chilled strawberry soup set the tone for the remainder of the meal with the flavors of peak-season berries all but obliterated by a dollop of stone-cold brie and a bouquet of miniature celery greens packing a vegetative punch.

Columbia River smoked sturgeon ($10) was imbued with no discernable smoke, its fresh sashimilike quality cloaked by a creamy concoction better befitting pickled herring.

The local asparagus season had neared its denouement, but we couldn't resist the idea of an "Asparagus Tasting" subtitled "soup, Provencal style and pan fried" ($12). This elegant still-life offered flavorless asparagus wrapped in a pastry skirt and fried; a colorful micro-dice of vegetables dominated by capers; and a shot glass of milky white froth that tasted like something the Jolly Green Giant might have been weaned on when he was a sprout.

Entrees, too, flaunted style over substance, with one exception — Oregon rack of lamb. Three chops, each posed over a risotto cake enriched with mascarpone, were surrounded by a pool of thyme jus. These big pink-centered beauties begged to be lifted and devoured. And $45 later — poof! — I did just that.

The most egregious expense was not the Alaskan halibut whose most interesting component was a brandade cake ($35). It was a Kobe "gold" baseball-cut steak from Snake River Farms ($46). Granted, this is the top-grade of top sirloin from Wagyu cattle — America's answer to Japanese Kobe beef — but the best thing about this overcooked, under-seasoned steak was its side of fries.

Ahi tuna had been cooked to specification: rare. But that dull hunk of fish ($36) needed all the help it could get from its accompaniment of crab-stuffed piquillo peppers and Spanish chorizo.

After that initial visit, I was prepared to relegate 727 Pine to the ranks of hotel restaurants whose overpriced fare and uneven execution is best left to conventioneers with generous expense accounts. Then I came back for lunch, and to sample the bar menu, and made a left turn.

At lunch, a Kobe beef burger with golden fries ($12), gilded with cheddar cheese and caramelized red onions, wept beefy juices into its sturdy bun. Lobster mac 'n' cheese ($13), creamy, dreamy and rich enough to pay my dinner bill, arrived in a petite tureen with generous amounts of lobster hiding among twists of tarragon-scented pasta. Had this filling fare allowed for dessert, I might have been blown away by executive chef Shannon Galusha's radical re-dos of such old chestnuts as Peach Melba and carrot cake.

A carrot-cake base, with fluffy-centered cream-cheese Bavarian perched on top, was dolled up with a frizzle of crisp candied carrots ($8). Its unusual textures paired with those familiar flavors to perfectly approximate the classic. Marinated heirloom watermelon slices, pretty in pink (and yellow), swam in a summery fruit soup sparked with candied melon rind and soothed with goat-cheese ice cream ($8). What fun!

The bar menu, offered in the spacious lounge from after lunch till midnight, gave me another reason to reconsider. Among the dozen dishes are flat-bread pizza ($11); pan-fried calamari reminiscent of the salt-and-pepper squid served at my favorite Chinese restaurant ($11); and that swoony macaroni and cheese, with lobster ($13) or without ($9). What's more, these treats appear on a short list discounted during the nightly happy hour from 4:30 to 7 p.m.

In the bar and lounge, one might choose among several dozen wines by the glass, each presented in a small carafe alongside (hiss!) those newfangled stem-less wine glasses. The more intriguing of these pours is steeply priced. This is also true of 727's world-ranging wine list, which, despite its depth, offers little excitement for those of us hoping for an interesting bottle under $40.

Last week, a new summer menu debuted at dinner, and the least-expensive entree price was lowered (by two bucks) to $30. With it came an addendum offering a half-dozen "seasonal tastings." These truly small plates included a corn-filled raviolo ($6) floating in corn chowder so sweet it could have passed as dessert, and grilled prawns ($9) that would have benefited from some of that sweetness. Presented as three forks cradling a single prawn strewn with festive "cucumber gazpacho" (envision a deconstructed salsa), this looked great. And once again, therein lies the problem.

Nancy Leson: 206-464-8838 or taste@seattletimes.com