New York Times in Seattle

[jamiemaw]

As your northern neighbours we've often noticed how Big Smoke writers cruise into our town and end up blowing smoke up their readers' (and our) arses by their bizarre choices of supposed go-to restaurants. An article in the Wine Spectator a couple of years ago was laughably inept, another flying visit from a middlebrow glossy to the Okanagan wine country was merely painful.

We noticed that The New York Times deigned to visit Seattle yesterday, selecting Tamarind Tree, Volterra, Crush and Ibiza Dinner Club as four worthies in your city, rendering largely positive reports.

Did they choose well? Would you have chosen four other rooms that you think might have demonstrated a more balanced view of current Seattle dining?

Edited July 19, 2005 by jamiemaw (log)

[chefturnedbum]

They are all pretty good places. Looks more like some flavor of the month picks. There are so many restaurants here that did not get mentioned. As you can see, Salumi is an amazing little place. Carsberg at Lampreia does such an amazing job and he probably does not make a dime. Seattle is so underrated as far as places go and so many of the great ones get constantly overlooked. I say this as a food professional and not just a foodie. A lot of the places that get the press are just slick marketing and fancy decor. That is why egullet is such an important place to go when it comes to food. The pulse of what is good and bad is displayed here and the smoke and mirrors joints get there just due. On the flipside it was good that a few venues got some press.

[vengroff]

I believe the emphasis of the article was on what's new and notable. None of those places is even a year old. Given that criteria, I would have considered Via Tribunali and Elemental for inclusion on the list. Perhaps they did. One of the problems with these articles is you don't know if those are the only four places they ate, or whether they ate at ten and liked those four the best.

[kiliki]

The NY Times has had a number of travel articles about Seattle in the past few years (and this was a travel article, not a piece devoted to restaurants), so perhaps they have talked about those older restaurants. I've never been to Ibiza but think the others are good choices to write about.

[tsquare]

Carsberg at Lampreia does such an amazing job and he probably does not make a dime.

←

He probably stays in business thanks to the New York Times! He's had more press there than just about anyone in Seattle (not counting Gates and Allen.)

[cookingclassjunkie]

I read their restaurant recommendations as what is new, hot, and notable in Seattle right now. They've probably already done an article that included Seattle classic's, etc. The article only mentioned 3 restaurants in "Where to Eat": Crush, Volterra & Tamarind Tree. Ibiza was listed under "What to do at Night". I think all 3 are excellent choices. Crush and Volterra always come up in conversation as the new places to check out right now and Tamarind Tree is a great new place for interesting, Vietnamese food & it's very inexpensive. Ibiza is really more of a nightclub/bar that serves food. Trendy & a good place to people watch and grab a cocktail but I don't think that their food is the draw. Probably why they weren't listed under the dining recommendations. Congrats to all that were mentioned!

[jbonne]

i give those picks a 50 percent. whether you want to score that on the usual test-grading curve, i leave up to you.

(one quick note on the notion of including Elemental: While I do adore that place, I'd hate to see it mentioned in a travel piece. It's already got overcrowding problems; last thing I want is taxi-riding visitors getting lost in the Fremont-Wallingford badlands while trying to find a place they won't be able to eat at anyway. That said, Jamie, you should try it.)

[jamiemaw]

I believe the emphasis of the article was on what's new and notable.  None of those places is even a year old.  Given that criteria, I would have considered Via Tribunali and Elemental for inclusion on the list.  Perhaps they did.  One of the problems with these articles is you don't know if those are the only four places they ate, or whether they ate at ten and liked those four the best.

←

The article was indeed in the Sunday travel section and began with the brief introduction, "Good restaurants seem to feed off Seattle's winter rains like forest mushrooms, and new ones pop up with th e same delightful frequency." So it seems natural that they would mention what's new in the space alloted.

Earlier, it also mentioned, "From July through September, the dry months in this notoriously wet city . . ." OOps, let's bust that myth, Seattle receives 39 inches of rain per year, New York 43. Seattle does have more rainy days (158 versus 119), the better to grow forest mushrooms, I suppose--seeing as they notoriously underperform in blizzards.

Question though. Can't help but notice the lengthy ''Farewell and Welcome" thread that's now percolated to 28 pages on your Forum. Do you think that Seattle has a higher turnover of restaurants than might be the norm? Or is your eGullet membership simply more intrepid at tracking them? If there is an unusually high turnover, why is that? Real Estate pressures? Labour? Transporattion/density issues? Unusually competitive for its market size?

Edited July 19, 2005 by jamiemaw (log)

[cookingclassjunkie]

The PNW Board is extremely diligent in discussing what's going on in the local restaurant scene. I would be willing to bet that most openings/closures are posted on this board w/in 24 hours of the news going public. The 28 pages of discussion goes back nearly 3 years - to Oct 2002. While the restaurant business was hot in the 90's - primarily due to the booming economy from the dot coms, we saw a pretty significant slump after Sept 11. Union and Lark were a few of the 1st restaurants to come onto the scene after the slump. In the last year, the activity has increased significantly. It's exciting to see activity again.

[kiliki]

Yet another NY Times article about Wa. State-this time, about the Walla Walla food and wine scene.

Walla Walla