Seattle restaurant suggestions

[Alberts]

Ok Seattle friends, this Portlander could use a recommendation.

My wife and I will be without the kids for dinner in Seattle in a few weeks and would like to hear a few suggestions, particularly downtown. My first wish would be simple, authentic Italian, nothing too pretentious. Anything fresh and local would take us out of an Italian fixation though. (I will admit the gelato thread has me thinking Italian).

I hate using citysearch, etc. and would rather hear it from those of you who really go out to eat.

Thanks

[tighe]

For "simple, authentic Italian", my recommendation would be Osteria La Spiga on Capital Hill. The service is consistenly mediocre to bad, but the food is the true to what I've had in Italy.

For a unique "local" experience I would probably go for Matt's in the Market.

Both of these places have been discussed extensively here, so if you do a search on either name, you can weigh the pro and con arguments for each.

[Chef Fowke]

None of this is Italian, but here is the best of Seattle...

My wife makes me drive down to Seattle at least once a month for dinner. We always start at the Queen City Diner for a great (expensive, but very good and unique) glass of wine and a small appetizer. We move across the street to the Flying Fish for another great beverage list (martinis) and enjoy the foie gras (only $12 for 2 - 3oz !!!!!). And most importantly we end up at Oceanaire. This kid, the Chef. is brilliant! The menu is spot on for 2003. You can tell from his plates that he loves what he does. The place is always packed so phone ahead. If you ask to speak to Kevin Davis, the executive chef, he will actually talk to you. Tell him that you love food and he will be at the table and will spend time talking to you about the Seattle restaurant scene. This guy is good!

Enjoy your night.

[Alberts]

These are exactly the kinds of places we are looking for. Thanks.

[DRColby]

It's pretty tough to beat eating Italian food on the patio at the Pink Door in the Market during the Summer.

dave colby

[Eric_Malson]

I worked in Seattle one summer and found it a rather strange place for day-to-day dining. Coming from NYC, I have a sizable repertoire of restaurants in which I can be happy for $20 or so. These don't seem to exist in Seattle....I was confronted daily with the choice of spending either $6 (burrito stand or the like) or $40 minimum (and this in some VERY casual-type places!). (This observation is limited to restaurants within walking distance of lower Queen Anne hill and downtown).

The one exception to this is Mediterranean Kitchen. Excellent sort of pan-Middle-Eastern/Mediterranean. They have a marinated and grilled garlic chicken wings entree for which they are justly famous.

There were only two other restaurants I tried in those six weeks that I would intentionally go back to:

Wild Ginger--I am not generally a fan of Pan-Asian/fusion cuisine, but this place has delicious food, and was worth every penny.

Metropolitan Grill--one of my favorite steakhouses anywhere. If they have it, get the rib chop with the roasted garlic sauce (on the side, if you're a purist, but try it--it's wonderful).

[Chef Fowke]

I believe the Executive Chef at Oceonaire's wife is the GM at Wild Ginger...

[sabeno]

cafe juanita in kirkland is very authentic and very good!

[Alberts]

More thanks

With regard to Osteria La Spiga, I think it was one of the owners there that came down to Portland for the Slow Food convivium last year and did a discussion of "eating Italian" in the Northwest with Cathy Whims (formerly) of our restaurant Genoa. Sounded good.

Too bad about the service there. We have Piazza Italia here, run by a family and friends from just outside of Rome. Excellent, authentic food, but the service is also crappy, and I mean crappy every time. We put up with it only for the chance to speak Italian and eat good stuff. It is shocking the difference between a family trattoria in Italy, and some of these places.

Regarding the other suggestions, I would agree that, in my experience, anything on a summer evening around the market when you have no car to get in your way, is incredible. I have seen the Pink Door, but never been in to eat.

These are great possibilities, as is Oceanaire. Maybe I need to stretch our time out up there...

[Roger McShane]

Four or five month-long visits over the last three years leads me to the conclusion that Cafe Juanita serves the most "truly-authentic" Italian dishes in town. The soup simmered with Parmesan rind simply sings of Italy!

The best French dishes can be found in two restaurants quite close together. Campagne is memorable (and the wine list is good as well). Nearby Le Pichet serves simpler food in simpler surroundings but it is authentic and prepared with care. The salad of pork belly is indistinguishable from similar dishes i have tried at many bistros in country France. The charcuterie plate is a great dish to graze on while trying a selection of their French wines.

Someone mentioned Matts in the Market. I thought that this restaurant is really trying to please. On my visit in april 2003 I was on my own. They really looked after me there! And the food was simple but very competently cooked. A nice place.

I didn't try Oceanaire but I liked Flying Fish (despite the smokers at the bar), Cascadia, Brasa and Zoe.

It was only when I delved into non-Japanese Asian restaurants that I became disappointed with the 'dumbing-down' of flavours.

[bourdain]

SALUMI!!

[mamster]

Tony, I go to Salumi all the time, and it doesn't taste anything like the food in Bangkok.

[Jim Dixon]

Nobody has mentioned Harvest Vine...I haven't eaten there, but wish I had last time I was in Seattle.

Is it still good?

Jim

[Schielke]

Yes, very.

[LaurieA-B]

For "simple, authentic Italian", my recommendation would be Osteria La Spiga on Capital Hill.  The service is consistenly mediocre to bad, but the food is the true to what I've had in Italy.

For a unique "local" experience I would probably go for Matt's in the Market.

Today Matthew and I decided to treat ourselves to lunch after a morning appointment with the obstetrician.* We walked by Osteria La Spiga, our first choice, on the way to the doctor, and it is only open for lunch Wednesday to Friday. My bright idea, for lunch on a weekday: Salumi! Haven't been there in a while. So we left the doc, took two buses to Pioneer Square, and found Salumi closed for a week. As this is the second time this has happened, serious note to self: ALWAYS call first before going to Salumi.

As I had already planned to pick up some groceries at Pike Place Market (Rainier cherries from Sosio's; thanks for the tip, Fish), we decided to try our luck at Matt's. After waiting only about ten minutes, we were given the best table, overlooking the market. This was our first time at Matt's, and it was lovely. Matthew and I both had the fried catfish sandwich, because neither of us would give in and order something else. He had soup, I had the house salad, which was very delicious: crisp greens in vinaigrette with blue cheese and spicy pumpkin seeds. Sandwiches were crunchy and spicy and drippy, very good all around. I'm not sure why it took us so long to visit Matt's, but now we'll definitely go back.

*Why were we seeing an obstetrician? You probably guessed right: Matthew (mamster to you) and I are expecting a small gourmand in January. You'll hear from me next over on that pregnancy cravings thread. All is going well and I am constantly hungry.

[col klink]

Matthew (mamster to you) and I are expecting a small gourmand in January.

Yeah! Congrats!

Mmmmmm, pickles and ice scream . . .

[Alberts]

A report back on the Seattle experience of a Portlander.

First of all, even the food at Safeco field was better than average (of course, $2.75 for a cup of coffee?).

What a great food town! Matt's in the Market was having a wine dinner and was full up, so we opted for Osteria La Spiga on Broadway at Union. I had noted the complaints about the service, but ours was exceptional, probably because we were there early and there were only a few other tables full at the time. We even had time to BS with the waiter and talk about Italy.

Anyway, we ordered stuffed piadina with roasted eggplant, scamorza and arugula. Great combination, and even though the piadina is the specialty, on its own we really weren't taken by it too much. Good yes, but throw in the other stuff and it was great.

In their insalata Caprese, they used slow roasted tomatoes, rather than fresh, and the flavor was almost like a tomato sauce, a nice change. The other salad, whose name escapes me, was baby greens, shaved fennel, red onions, crostini, parmagiano reggiano, with a red wine vinagrette.

The pastas were lasagne verde with asparagus, leeks and bechemel, and spinach ravioli with butter and sage. The pasta was the highlight. It is hard to imagine anything but homemade pasta after eating theirs.

Panna cotta, a yellow cake, espresso and a glass of port were desert. A bottle of Barbera d'Alba was finished somewhere halfway through dinner.

Anyway, enough rambling. Thanks again for the suggestions. We can't wait to go back.