The sign has changed at one of ilani’s seafood addresses, but Sunday brunch still has a place on the calendar. sámn Pacific Coast Kitchen opened October 1 at the Ridgefield, Washington, casino resort, replacing Line & Lure and retaining an all-you-can-eat seafood brunch.
Line & Lure served its final meals September 19, according to Meanwhile in Ridgefield. The restaurant had been part of ilani’s dining lineup since April 2017. Its successor occupies the same space at 1 Cowlitz Way, giving regulars a familiar address with a different point of view.
The name sámn means fish, and the new restaurant draws on Cowlitz foodways alongside coastal influences from Cajun, French and South American cooking. The broader menu also makes room for steaks, chicken and pasta. Seafood remains central, but the concept reaches beyond the former restaurant’s identity.
Sunday still belongs to the seafood buffet
The current brunch runs Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Adults pay $68, and children 10 and younger pay $34. ilani lists crab legs and steamed clams among the seafood possibilities, with prime rib and steelhead Wellington at the carving stations. Eggs, bacon, sausage and pastries give the breakfast contingent something to work with, too.
Steelhead Wellington is a particularly fitting detail for a Pacific Coast kitchen: a regional fish getting the carving-station treatment usually reserved for beef. There is plenty here for the diner who considers brunch an opportunity to assemble a plate that would make very little sense at breakfast on Tuesday.
The adult price matches the $68 listed on a previous Line & Lure brunch menu. Children’s terms have changed: that menu charged $24 for children under 12, while sámn lists $34 for children 10 and under. Families comparing the two restaurants should keep that difference in mind.
A second change in ilani’s dining lineup
sámn follows another restaurant replacement at the resort. Sovereign opened June 2 in the former Michael Jordan’s Steak House space, bringing a separate Cowlitz-focused concept to ilani’s dining roster. The two changes put more of the tribe’s perspective into the restaurants at its casino resort.
Beyond brunch, sámn serves Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday until 10 p.m., and Sunday until 9 p.m. It is closed Mondays. For Line & Lure regulars, the next Sunday visit offers a fairly direct introduction to the new kitchen: same resort, new name, crab legs still in the conversation.
