I’ll just start this off with a BANG! In a word DELISH. I don’t usually go to Italian restaurants because I haven’t been to too many that make food as good as I can cook it. This is one of the best I have been to in a VERY long time. Ethan Stowell’s beautiful and tasty restaurant gave us most everything we could have wanted. It’s restaurant week in Seattle this week and my friend Carol and one of my partners Jen went to have 3 courses for 28$ not including tip, taxes. I love going with 3 because most of the time the places give us 3 choices and its always fun to say “We’ll have one of everything!” I’m rollin GF these days so I’m always a little shy about Italian places for the obvious reasons. I went slightly off that diet with the fried oysters- a little over fried but still very tasty and a plum upside down cake with coconut ice cream- just plain tasty. The Anchovy Bigoli pasta was full of anchovy flavor without being fishy (I know kinda an oxymoron but…), lots of Italian parsley, garlic, mint and pangrattato (aka- toasted breadcrumbs). I felt like I was at home making dinner.

Other apps were, We started with 3 raw oysters served in a small oval AllClad baking dish- Blue Pool oyster with cucumber-coriander ice, Sea Cow oyster with chili vinegar and chives, and Hama Hama oyster with scallion mignonette with a lovely glass of Prosecco, Escolar with Persian cucumber, chili, avocado and lime, the fried oysters with napa cabbage, goat horn chili, chili aioli, and a beet salad with pears, walnuts and a creamy dressing. Entrees were the Bigoli pasta- it’s a long pasta like macaroni but no hole, Salmon with braised leeks, navel orange and herb jam, and Rockfish with fennel, pepperonata, controne beans (a little firm for me but perfect for the Italians). dessert was plum upside down cake with coconut ice cream, corn panna cotta with whipped cream and berries- the panna cotta was WAY too firm, flavor was good though, and last but not least pear sherbet with rosemary shortbread cookie- we are ready for the rosemary shortbread cookie craze to be OVER! Stop by the next time you are on Capitol Hill in Seattle and have your mind expanded. Thanks to all the staff and of course the chef, producers, truck drivers, farmers and everyone else involved. Much love!