Ibiza Dinner Club

Although it might seem like a contradiction in terms, the Ibiza Dinner Club is now open for lunch and one should approach this development forewarned. Ibiza is a place to go when you’re in the mood for ridiculous extravagance, preferably one you’re able to indulge with an expense account. One enters through a walkway of diaphanous cream-colored curtains, which are also festooned throughout the cavernous space, suggesting a boudoir kind of ritziness. In the middle of the bar is a bed draped in scarlet, which one hopes is meant for effect only. In the dining room, high-backed booths lend themselves to private conversations over cocktails. This has to be one of Seattle’s best restaurants for carrying on an affair. Order well from the mainly Spanish menu and you will be rewarded. Steer clear of the Catalan pasta ($16), which features an undistinguished tomato sauce. However, the gazpacho is outstanding. Two plump shrimp and a dab of goat cheese bejewel this refreshing and perfectly spiced version of the cold tomato-based soup. You don’t get much, though, and it costs $8.50—an expensive appetizer for lunch. A dish of chicken skewers presents the same predicament. The saffron coconut sauce that adorns them is delicious, as is the intriguingly textured side of barley risotto, topped with corn ratatouille. The chicken skewers, however, are unusually measly. The price, $14, is not. I finished a recent lunch at Ibiza hungry. That’s an odd state to be in after dropping, between my partner and me, more than $60 for lunch. 528 Second Ave., 206-381-9090, www.ibizadinnerclub.com PIONEER SQUARE