[Seattle] Farewell & Welcome: Closings, Transformations, Openings (Part 3)

[little ms foodie]

The Confectional- a cheesecake and hot chocolate stand- is now open in Pike Place. It is where the cured meat place was by the truffle place. They have cheesecake, cheesecake truffles and awesome thick drinking chocolate with unusual s. american spices......

[tsquare]

The Confectional- a cheesecake and hot chocolate stand- is now open in Pike Place. It is where the cured meat place was by the truffle place. They have cheesecake, cheesecake truffles and awesome thick drinking chocolate with unusual s. american spices......

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See post 1380. But another plug is okay too. Did you sample the NZ chocolate? Some great flavors.

[tsquare]

Sorrentino, 2128 Queen Anne Ave. N., Seattle 206-694-0055

Anyone been? Same folks as La Vita e Bella, Mondello, and DiVino. More elegant. A new empire!

[dandelion]

Sorrentino, 2128 Queen Anne Ave. N., Seattle 206-694-0055 Anyone been? Same folks as La Vita e Bella, Mondello, and DiVino. More elegant.  A new empire!

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I think this is the place that took over Firefly/Lumiere? That was fast! Maybe I'll take a peek tomorrow....

[Bruce Burger]

It was Firefly and then Lumette (not to be confused with the excellent Lumiere in Vancouver!). The new place looks elegant and the menu very interesting. It says it's a mix of regional Italian cuisine, branching out from the Sicilian focus of their other restaurants.

[kiliki]

We tried La Spiga in its new location on NYE-overall it was a good experience. It's a much bigger space, lots of new staff, and a much larger menu (now there are antipasti, primi, secondi, contorni, etc...). Most of the dishes were great but the eggplant was way too salty (someone forgot to rinse it, I guess), and the truffle pasta that I've ordered a thousand times and is always great came out almost cold. Maybe this was due to the newness of the staff? On the other hand, I had some wonderful butternut squash, and the other pastas and the polenta dish were delicious (and hot). We had some very nice house cocktails. Service was very attentive and friendly but not quite knowledgable about the menu yet (not unsurprisingly, since they've only been open a few weeks).

There are so many new, delicious sounding things on the menu I am looking forward to going back.

[Ling]

Just a quick note on De-Ra at Clay and Western (across from the new Sculpture park - fabulous spot!)

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I walk by this restaurant almost everyday. And it always smells good, but I haven't had the chance to try it yet. It seems like business is picking up for them!

[cupcakequeen]

Across from city kitchens, right next to See's, "New York Cupcakes" opened up. Has anyone tried it? The signage looked like it might be a chain? i will investigate tomorrow...

[mamster]

We tried it a while ago and it was really bad--mushy cake, fake-tasting frosting. Laurie posted around here somewhere, but I can't find it now.

[reesek]

Beato (pronounced bee-ah-toe) ...is open and busy in west seattle in the old O2 space. rob and i braved gale-force winds to try it out last night.

the short: it has potential, and we'll go back, but there are some issues in both sides of the house which need some work.

the good: good wine list, decent price range, some WA wines which relate to the italian wines (like the yellow hawk sangiovese) and some interesting varietals overall. they also offer a wine flight each week to compliment their food. the menu looks great - we had trouble deciding what to order. they haven't done too much to the space, but they classed it up a little - padding the wood benches, new carpet (i think) new lighting over the bar and the overall effect is warm and upscale.

the bad: we waited 15 minutes to be noticed after we were seated. the weekly wine flight list is on the back of the wine list, but no one ever mentioned it to us, and we didn't know it was there. our server was very sweet, but not a natural - maybe she was young...? we ordered 4 things and told her we were splitting them. i did not clarify that we wanted to course them, and she didn't ask, so i'll take that as my fault, but the first 2 dishes came out not together, not separated far enough apart to be courses, but way too far apart to be served together. when the second dish came out i asked the waiter who brought it (who was working the next section over) to slow things down and asked him to tell our waitress that we wanted things coursed - he kind of threw her under the bus by saying she should have known better. frankly, that didn't really endear me to either one of them. the final service frustration was that they didn't split anything for us. the waitress brought out one tiny (not bread) plate each time - very awkward. i understand not splitting the duck confit or the shortribs, but the pasta? the salad? i just don't get that - but whatever, i would have been less baffled if she had said something like, "the chef doesn't believe in splitting dishes, but i'll be happy to bring you a couple of extra plates." at least then i would have understood it was policy, not oversight that drove the decision. finally, the room is really narrow in one spot - i don't remember it being an issue at O2, but if the restaurant is full, people are *squeezing* between 2 back-to-back chairs, or have to go around the entire room. they have to re-stagger those tables, it's kind of absurd, a busser could get himself gored if a patron picked an unlucky moment to push back from the table.

the food: amuse: a bit of shredded radicchio with a dollop of squash puree. very good, always a nice touch.

duck confit (pulled & shredded) with perfect green beans and frisee. loved the walnut oil in the vinaigrette with the beans, lovely presentation, great flavors, an excellent dish.

salad: mixed greens (watercress & radicchio) with guanciale, red onion gastrique, and sunchoke puree. the salad was on a bed of the puree. we're still trying to figure out why it was there at all - it added creaminess, and helped to tone down the sweetness of the dressing, but there was too much of it. interesting concept, but i'm not sure i get it. the gastrique tasted wonderful, but was more like taffy or a gelee - very sticky and hard to cut. it was also on top of, and persistently stuck to, the guanciale. a little hard to eat. despite all my nits, we really liked it...it was not your run-of-the-mill, boring mixed greens.

fresh fettucine with oxtail ragu and truffle: we were very excited about this dish, and it had potential, but fell short. the pasta was a little too done, the truffle was missing and the ragu needed some brightness.

we had a bit more time between this and the next course so the kitchen sent out little palate cleansers of strawberry and prosecco sorbet. a really nice touch, and despite my confusion about the choice of strawberries in january, most appreciated.

veal shortribs with swiss chard and candied fennel. the candied fennel was very good, but not on this dish which already had plenty of sweetness. in fact, eaten without the chard, it was entirely too sweet for my palate. eaten with the chard, the dish was marvelous, the veal tender and succulent.

the portions were all very nice - not too big, which was reflected in the moderate prices. i am dying to like this place, but hope that they work out their kinks. a kitchen that sends out palate cleansers is so thoughtful - so why don't they split a plate of pasta? maybe that was all the fault of our server...which may be another issue entirely.

[creepygirl]

David and I went to Doong Kong Lau on Aurora for dim sum this morning, and received bad news: they're closing in about a week. I'll miss the Hakka pork in pickled mustard greens. We're hoping that they stay open for the weekend so we can do dim sum there one more time.

[JasonTrue]

I think New York Cupcakes aspires to be a chain. They have a location in Bellevue Square that's been around for a year or more.

For an occasional indulgence, I liked the Bellevue location's "Black and White" but haven't really been there very much. There aren't many days when I can take that much of a sugar hit all at once; that's why I'm also not such a huge fan of the other cupcake institution, Verite/Cupcake Royale, which seems even more sugar-heavy to me.

The decorative work at New York Cupcakes is more impressive than Cupcake Royale, but I have a hard time with the sugar at either place. The $1 version at Cupcake Royale and the half-size cupcakes at New York Cupcakes I can occasionally handle.

The think I don't understand about the nascent cupcake industry is why people will spend more on a cupcake than on, for example, a far more labor-intensive croissant. I guess this nostalgia thing doesn't hold as much sway for me.

Across from city kitchens, right next to See's, "New York Cupcakes" opened up.  Has anyone tried it?  The signage looked like it might be a chain? i will investigate tomorrow...

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[kiliki]

I have a hard time with the sugar at either place.

I felt like I went into some kind of sugar shock the one time I ate a cupcake at CR (I don't even LIKE cupcakes, but got suckered in by the cuteness factory).

[FeedMaria]

Coupage is the latest tennant at 1404 34th Ave in Madrona.

I have no idea what the food is like, I just drove by this morning & noticed

that it wasn't Dreys anymore. I never ate at Dreys. I can't remember what

was there before Dreys, but there have been so many restaruants in that space,

it's amazing.

The space is inbetween Cafe Soleil - a delicious little Ethiopian cafe on the corner & the Hi-Spot, a neighborhood favorite for years.

[LEdlund]

Coupage is the latest tennant at 1404 34th Ave in Madrona.

I have no idea what the food is like, I just drove by this morning & noticed

that it wasn't Dreys anymore. I never ate at Dreys. I can't remember what

was there before Dreys, but there have been so many restaruants in that space,

it's amazing.

The space is inbetween Cafe Soleil - a delicious little Ethiopian cafe on the corner & the Hi-Spot, a neighborhood favorite for years.

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You can read about it here.

[chadum]

I think New York Cupcakes aspires to be a chain. They have a location in Bellevue Square that's been around for a year or more.

I tried NY Cupcakes in Westlake Park a few months ago. It was not a great cupcake and looked much better than it tasted. I tried their signature cupcake: NY Black & White. The frosting tasted midling and the texture was gritty as if the sugar had not been creamed with the fat long enough. The cake itself was low on flavor with an mediocre texture.

It's quite poor for being focused on just the cupcakes.

I'm not sure if they were working through kings; I haven't been back since.

[SusieQ]

Bye bye Cafe Long -- Lake City

They're closing tomorrow because half the block is going to be torn down and condo/retail complex put up in its place. This is the Vietnamese cafe that's been there for many, many years that had to rebuild after a fire (arson) a few years ago. Then, just after they reopened, they learned they had to close by the end of the year.

Anyway, I'm posting this in case any of you are fans of this small, family-run homespun Vietnamese Cafe. Tomorrow is their last day. I went in for their pho last night -- excellent as usual. I'll be in for their grilled pork and rice and vegies tomorrow. Sigh. Some of my favorite food. Really good people. They haven't been able to find a new place yet.

SusieQ

[Ling]

The new Baguette Box in Fremont is now open. I think the menu is the same. There was an awesome roast suckling pig at the party last night...

[LaurieA-B]

The new Victrola on Pike is now open. (It seems silly for me to go there, since we live a couple of blocks from Victrola on 15th, but the new location's exterior is so appealing that I want to check it out.)

[mamster]

I checked it out for you.

[vengroff]

Tavolata is now open. 2323 2nd Ave in Belltown. I recommend the oysters and the oxtail and orange manicotti, and look forward to working my way through the rest of the menu.

[tsquare]

Tavolata is now open.  2323 2nd Ave in Belltown.  I recommend the oysters and the oxtail and orange manicotti, and look forward to working my way through the rest of the menu.

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The octopus salad is quite nice - resplendant with white beans, lemon, parsley, and red chilis (those got to be a much by the end.) The manicotti is very rich - split an order. The bread is great (CC?)

Like the room - the rough concrete walls with rock pockets, the high open joist ceiling, the metal work, the solid table tops. Not so sure about the giant table - a trend I am a little uncomfortable with.

[rockdoggydog]

The minestrone was fabulous, and a total steal at $8, it's a really big bowl. I loved the agnolotti with veal brains, just a wonderfully smooth texture to the filling. Get the zeppole but be prepared for them to run out if you go late. We got the last order the other night and while it was not early in the night, it was not late either. In fact, go early have the zeppole, do your nightlife thing, then come back for dinner. I'm going to be loving having someplace open late to go.

Rocky

Edited January 24, 2007 by rockdoggydog (log)

[Bruce Burger]

FareStart, the nonprofit that trains homeless men and women to become cooks, opened for lunch today in its new location at 7th & Virginia. It's actually a soft opening; the official grand opening is Feb 5, but anyone can go there now. The space is gorgeous, the menu is the same diverse but mostly American fare as before, the food was delicious, and it was cool to be able to see the students working in the kitchen. The new building also has 3 private dining rooms for meetings, parties, etc. And the increased space will allow them to double the number of students they train.

They're open M-F for lunch and Thursday nights for guest chef dinners. Here's the Guest Chef calendar; reservations are recommended for dinner (the first two are sold out) but not needed for lunch. Full disclosure: I'm a volunteer for this worthy organization.

Edited January 26, 2007 by Bruce Burger (log)

[DRColby]

We got back in town yesterday and decided to try Tavolata for an early (6:30 p.m.) dinner.

What a mob. By 8 p.m. it was lined up outside waiting to get in and all the whole staff was working its tail off. Not bad for a restaurant that has been open to the public for 3 nights and without formal reviews.

We couldn't get to the third plates because of the quanities and richness of the first two courses. Most interesting to me was was a Meyer lemon preserve served with the charcuterie. All the dishes we tried for 2nds were very rich, and all enough for two people. Everything, including the wines, was priced reasonably.

It will be interesting to see how Ethan amd Patric handle the crowds with the no reservation system and how much more staffing they need to handle the flow. It looks like they will need a lot of bartenders.

After we over 60s left at 10 the average age of the crowd probably dropped to about 25. I imagine they're still partying in Belltown this morning.

Dave