seattle

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Blind Pig.  Need to try.

Cor­son Build­ing.  Need to try.

Bar Sajor.  By the Cor­son peo­ple.  Need to try.

Rione XIII.  Ethan Stow­ell’s new place on 15th.  Superb.  We had a beau­ti­ful snack here of a rather spe­cial pros­ec­co, car­ciofi alla judea, and sup­pli al tele­fono.  The micro-counter on the side­walk out­side reminds me of the side­walk parks San Fran­cis­co has begun putting in, e.g. right out­side Four Bar­rel.  15th is look­ing up.

Mon­soon, 615 19th Avenue East.  This is a place we’re very lucky to have so close to home, tucked away in the leafy part of Capi­tol Hill.  Posh Viet­namese, strong on French influ­ences and with a win­ning focus on high-qual­i­ty ingre­di­ents (paint­ed hills beef, mad hatch­er eggs, etc.).  The inte­ri­or is min­i­mal and attrac­tive; open kitchen behind the bar.  Prices are quite rea­son­able, but this is very much not a Chi­na­town dive; date night works here.  Open every day for din­ner, and now for lunch as well.  On week­ends there’s a love­ly brunch, at which one can get dim sum (pieces ordered indi­vid­u­al­ly though, there’s not near­ly enough vol­ume here for the cart approach), bro­ken rice bowls, banh xeo crêpes, or west­ern things like eggs bene­dict and waf­fles, are very fine­ly pre­pared.  Faves: cat­fish hot pot, green papaya sal­ad, egg dish­es, all the dim sum.  Pret­ty much every­thing is good here.

Vios.  Owned by the cheer­ful, gas­tro­nom­i­cal and com­mu­ni­ty-mind­ed Thomas Soukakos, this is anoth­er local gem.  Greek food, again with an empha­sis on sim­plic­i­ty and fine ingre­di­ents.  Pleas­ant inte­ri­or, with a place in the back for kids to play, and nom­i­nal­ly a “mar­ket” counter in the front, though mar­ket prices are well north of Greek islandish.  For lunch, it’s hard to beat the lamb sou­vla­ki sand­wich, loaded with oven-roast­ed toma­toes, yogurt and pars­ley.  At din­ner, a glass of retsi­na and a pik­il­ia plate to share would be a good start.

Anchovies & Olives.  This has become per­haps our favorite place, because: it’s some­how light, in that one can go ear­ly or late or on a whim and feel instant­ly accom­mo­dat­ed.  The menu is short and sweet, and changes often.  The dish­es are inter­est­ing and might include things like, for instance, a lit­tle slab of grilled mack­er­el with the skin charred, the flesh suc­cu­lent, on a bed of chori­zo and wild mush­rooms or some oth­er such uma­mi-inten­sive thing.  The wines by the glass are very good.  There’s a paint­ing on the wall they should change.  But oth­er­wise the envi­ron­ment is appeal­ing, dark and casu­al; the wait­staff hip and pierced, but not over­ly.

Casci­na Spinasse.  Warm but­tery light, love­ly hand­made pas­ta, an open kitchen with lots of mason jars.  The fon­du­ta with truf­fles and egg is not to be missed.

Café Lago.  Need to con­firm ver­sus Seri­ous Pie, but prob­a­bly the most expen­sive piz­za in Seat­tle.  Worth it: very fine tra­di­tion­al crust, cor­rect ingre­di­ents, nice­ly black­ened buboes, more on the crisp side than Tut­ta Bella’s.  There’s a puri­ty about the dish­es here; noth­ing has more ingre­di­ents than need­ed.  The Cae­sar sal­ad is dead sim­ple and very good.  The lasagna is per­fect— noth­ing but fine hand­made pas­ta, ricot­ta, and béchamel in mul­ti­ple lay­ers, and a per­fect­ly tex­tured seed­less red sauce on top.  Wine: the rubio san polo goes well.  Also: the Aran­cia Sala­ta, made with Aper­ol, Vod­ka and roast­ed orange, is deli­cious.

Oste­ria La Spi­ga

Via Tri­bunali

Tut­ta Bel­la

Le Pichet

Cafe Presse

Har­vest Vine

Boat Street Café

India Bistro

Vol­un­teer Park Café

Smith.  Pou­tine!

Pike Street Fish Fry.  The fish and chip and friends are very good here.  Also, the pulled pork sand­wich is rev­e­la­to­ry.

Malay Satay Hut

Agua Verde Pad­dle Club.  Decent Gringo Mex with high qual­i­ty ingre­di­ents.  There’s often a long line, but in the sum­mer you can rent out a kayak before a late din­ner.

Ele­men­tal

Car­ta de Oax­a­ca

Sta­ple & Fan­cy

How to Cook a Wolf.  My oth­er co-favorite of Ethan Stow­ell’s, with Anchovies & Olives.

Shang­hai Gar­den

Essen­tial Bak­ing

Armandino’s Salu­mi

Grand Cen­tral Bak­ery

Colum­bia City Bak­ery

La Medusa

Besalu

Hon­oré.  I thought we’d nev­er sup­plant Besalu for the cof­fee and pas­try dur­ing the kids’ park­our class.  But this place has done it.  Short­er lines, astound­ing quiche, beau­ti­ful berry-filled dan­ish­es and excel­lent canelles.

Ocho

Poco

De Lau­ren­ti

Mutu­al Fish

Vivace

Vic­tro­la

Than Broth­ers

Bal­lard piz­za place next to Hon­ore.