This is almost a year old so check your local listings for times, availabilities and possible obsoleteness.)Now I can see how one can get carried away with WHERE, wherever. I started with the tops and personal favorites, then worked my way down.
There are lots more, if anyone has any questions – ask away. There are no things to do/wine shops, etc., just food and wine. Will be happy to help with those on a case by case basis!
And NEVER carry an umbrella – none of the best people do.
DS= Downtown Seattle
PPM = Pike Place Market & nearby
NW = Northwest Cuisine (local vegetables, meats, seafood, style.)
THIS IS RATHER LONG.
Tom Douglas- Three Restaurants - all highly recommended, all downtown Seattle. This is the man who got me to eat beets.
Dahlia Lounge - Oo-la-la, seafood, NW, innovative, wine, Belltown chic, coconut cream pie.
Palace Café - loud (could be the monorail overhead), fun, funky, animated, coconut cream pie
Etta-s - PPM, north end of market, seafood, eclectic. Coconut cream pie.
Tom has a bakery adjacent to Dahlia L., where you can buy his - coconut cream pie.
Metropolitan Grill - DS. American, Serious steaks, NY character, great bar, great service, serious wine list, enticing happy hour, think Dean Martin. Australian lobster tail for $89 - stick to steaks.
Place Pigalle - PPM. French, NW, great view, wine, tucked back in the market, intimate, charming (great floor).
Queen City Grill - DS, Belltown. American, NW, bustling, wine, high-back dark booths, masculine, sexy, pretty people (is that Steve Winwood crooning-), high-energy, way-hip bar.
Ray's Boathouse - Ballard - Cliché but notable. NW, seafood, wine, waterfront, deck, sweeping views of Puget Sound and Olympics. Great for Ballard locks boat traffic and dazzling sunsets - the NW does those best, IMHO.
Rover's - Exquisite marathon meals, sticker-shock-excellent wine list. French, NW, seafood. Tucked away in Madison Valley in a charming cottage with lovely dining courtyard. Three prix-fixe menus de degustation, top-notch service. Artful and sublime. Chef Thierry rules.
Tulio Ristorante - DS, rustic Italian, comfortable, just plain nice. Tulio is in the Hotel Vintage Park. The HVP is a unique, Euro-style hotel. Each guestroom is named after a Washington winery. NW Wine tastings for guests every afternoon. Lovely. Romantic.
Georgian Room: DS, Olympic Four Seasons Hotel. Swank, special occasion, within is the Petit Georgian Room - ritzy private dining room. Stunning décor, elaborate breakfast, lunch and dinner. In the adjoining lounge: cigars, cocktails, guests and snooty locals (or wannabes) hang out, people watching. Further adjacent is the Garden Court, a massive greenhouse of giant trees. It's a beautiful, elegant jungle-like room for cocktails, light meals, and over-the-top martinis, fancy dancing on Saturday night. They do a daily High Tea, and do it proper.
Shuckers Restaurant - skip it. If you don't dine in this magnificent hotel, at least do a walk-through. It is Seattle's Grand Dame.
Herbfarm - Marathon "sensory overload" dining in Woodinville, stone's throw from Chateau St. Michele, Columbia Winery and Red Hook Brewery. This five-hour, nine-course gastronomical event features five Northwest wines, classical guitarists, die-for menus, and a visit with the restaurant's resident pot-bellied pig - who serves as the on-site recycling department. This is the Northwest's answer to the French Laundry. A once-in-a-lifetime experience. Pre-meal garden tours, Mt. Rainier sightings to the south and perusal of the 10,000-bottle wine cellar are highly entertaining. Two luxury overnight suites are available, as are plenty of rooms at the Willows Lodge across the courtyard. Herbfarm reservation are tricky, a la French Laundry - call, email, beg, borrow, steal.
Cascadia - NW, in Belltown. "Cascadia gets its inspiration strictly from foods and flavors indigenous to the region between the Cascade Mountains and the Pacific." Graceful and sophisticated, Limoges china, baby grand. "Unpretentious sommelier whose fairly priced wine list is largely culled from -Cascadia- -- the greater Northwest." Go with the tasting menu. Kerry Sear, former chef of The Georgian Room, really goes all out with his brilliantly creative, ever-changing, unique menus.
Restaurant Zoe - Belltown, tragically hip, fab cocktails, wine, think "Sex and The City," artisan bread, chic, "urban American bistros pays homage to pan-Mediterranean cuisine." The only place I'll drink a cocktail named "Lemon Drop." My favorite salad in Seattle: grilled romaine salad, whole hearts of romaine grilled and smoky, with bacon, apple and Roquefort dressing. Enticing wine list. I love this place!
Avenue One - DS, PPM, French, sexy, romantic, another former brothel (we like those), extensive wine list - not too French, though, cozy fireplace and view in back room. Happy-hour tapas-style bar specials, Best bet - $29 prix fixe dinner, 5-7 p.m. daily, then head over to one of Tom Douglas- joints for coconut cream pie.
Assaggio Ristorante - DS, Belltown, festive, Italian tratorria, nice wine list, traditional with a twist, pastas and seafood dishes, tiramisu. Make sure you meet Mauro.
Brasa - DS, Belltown, warm, creative Mediterranean, wine, has nice glow; extra-Spanish Wednesdays, 5 to 7pm, flamenco guitars, tapas. Happy Hour is 1/2 price off appetizers, which are like meals (did this the other day - wow)
Café Campagne - DS, PPM gem, French, NW, sensual, consistent, **Late-night light meals for $10 and under in the bar 10 p.m.-midnight nightly, French wine list; little sister casual Cafe Campagne is below on Post Alley.
Wild Ginger - DS, Pan-Asian, packed bar, wine, this place tripled in size with its move to 3rd Avenue, across from Benaroya Hall (symphony). It is massive, gorgeous, and worthy of your indulgence.
727 Pine - DS, "theatre" kitchen, casual chic, elegant, in Grand Elliott Hyatt, serious food, serious wine - -99 Leonetti Merlot by the glass - $35. For a new place, very impressive. Fell out of grace with the sommelier quickly, as I found several inaccuracies and typos on his list - okay now, though, he's history. Beware the wine list proofreader!
Canlis - Queen Anne, steaks, international, NW, great views, piano bar, special occasion, romantic, jackets "preferred," old-style Seattle (good thing), Geisha-girl style waitstaff - still works here.
El Gaucho - DS, Belltown, Steaks, funky cigar room complete with Archie Bunker-style armchairs, apres dinner and jazz at Pampas Room downstairs, massive-selection bar, check out wine wall in the private dining room. Owner Paul MacKay has been doing tuxedo worthy joints in Seattle for many, many years.
Flying Fish - DS, Belltown, seafood, people watching, action-packed, lots of fish flying around.
Kaspar's - NW, Seafood, lower Queen Anne, artistic menu, classy.
Lampreia - DS, Belltown, International, NW, truffles, duck, wine.
Waterfront - DS, waterfront, Pan-Asian, Seafood. The view is better than the food, IMHO. Very good wine selection, great bar and happy hour.
Sostanza Trattoria - Madrona/Madison Park, Tuscan- Italian, yummy, veal, quail, close to magnificent fare. Distinctive wine list, Italian, domestic.
Monsoon - Vietnamese, great wine list, stunning, innovative dishes. Traditional Viet-Northwest cuisine, huh-- yup. Capitol Hill
Icon Grill - DS, artsy-funky beyond the call of duty, fun-good food. Do lunch. Across from the Westin.
Fandango -DS, Belltown, "new Seattle (??)," Latin American, exotic, tapas. Think Ricky Ricardo on a good day.
Szmania's - Magnolia, Euro-Northwest, creative, big food, great wine. Far away and often forgotten.
Sazerac - DS, Seattle's attempt at New Orleans. Proprietor Jan Birmbaum (From NOLA) does the job as best can be done. Lively, winding bar. Located in the wild and wonderful Hotel Monaco (sister to Hotel Vintage Park).
Serafina - Eastlake area, lustrous, lusty and luscious (is that Sarah Vaughn crooning?). Jazz, wine, olives, pasta, veal, people wearing lots of black.
Cactus - Madrid meets Mexico meets Madison Park. Margaritas, locals. Exciting, loud and wonderful. Three-milk Cuban flan for dessert. Good wine store across the street, underground.
Café Flora -High-brow vegetarian. Portabello Wellington with mushroom-pecan pate and sauteed leeks encased in puff pastry with a Madeira wine sauce is a dish to die for. Located in Madison Valley, great for non-veg tagalongs (like me), aesthetically pleasing, stone floors, plants - no signs of tofu-heads or clove cigarettes. Over-the-top feng shui. Totally.
Café Juanita - N.Italian, located in Kirkland, eclectic, distinctive, white linen (is that Diana Krall crooning. Probably Norah Jones now), superb wine list. Pasta, things done to mushrooms considered obscene, lamb, rabbit, heaven. Way off the beaten Seattle path, but worth every kilometer.
Harvest Vine - Basque. Tapas. Madison Valley. I haven't been, shame on me, but everyone raves, not just the Spaniards. Great wines, I hear. (UPDATE: Have been since. Liked it okay. Didn't like that they wouldn't serve us plates of olive oil. A little too Basque for me.)
Dulces Latin Bistro - European bistro, located in Madrona, Latin jazz guitar, candlelight warm, chiles rellenos, prawns a la diabla, lamb, paella, wild boar, cigar lounge, great wine list.
Le Pichet - DS, PPM, French, tiny, clandestine meetings, wine, tres hip, dinner. Great hats on the dames. Men with berets. Or so it feels.
Lush Life - DS, Belltown, lush and lively. Tiny, intimate, tres-tres hip, wine, dinner, hush-hush conversations, illicit affair-ambience.
Painted Table - DS, fancy painted plates for sale, excellent cuisine, NW, wine, in Alexis Hotel. Chef just left for NY however.
Marcos Supper Club - DS, Belltown, Dark and handsome, great bistro food, wine, lots of funk. Good people watching or you can watch and snicker at the upper crust entering El Gaucho across the street.
Earth & Ocean - DS, French, slick, in W Hotel, savvy, urban, stylish, fixed-price menu offered, clever and smart creations, defines Northwest cuisine best. Food & Wine best chef -00. Good, good stuff.
Il Bistro - DS, PPM, secret, Italian, worth persuing. Great lobster dishes, believe it or not.
The Pink Door - DS, PPM, wacky, unbridled Italian with a great water view, eclectic bar, live music, dining deck, tarot card reader on
Thursday (still there I hope). Look for the pink door across from Kells.
Kell-s - DS, PPM, Best Irish food, best beer, insane Irish music and dancing through the wee hours. Genuine Irish everything. Kidney pie, the works. Across from the Pink Door, no green door.
El Puerco Lloron - PPM, best quick, real Mexican lunch stop at market. Seattle meets Tijuana, counter service, cerveza. Beans done right.
Bizarro – King's favorite lasagne, except for mine. Way away in Wallingford, it's a secret, local, twilight zone favorite. IT'S BIZARRO.
Il Terazzo Carmine - DS, Pioneer Square, unsung hero, hidden, confident standby and old-time favorite for savory Italian fare. If I see another bottle of old Leonetti pass me by to the next table- I'm diving.
Luigi's Grotto - DS, Pioneer Square, down and dirty, literally underground, genuine Italian. Spotting Luigi is more than fun spotting Waldo.
Al Boccalino - DS, Pioneer Square, one more old brothel turned good girl. Italian, a la Tony Soprano. In Seattle mini "Flat Iron" building.
Matts In The Market - DS, PPM - Just go.
Salvatore's - University District. Very honorable, personal mention. Italian, obviously. Long dinners, big laughs, wine.
Spanish Table - DS, PPM, good quick lunch bites, cheap. Retail Spanish goods.
Typhoon - DS, PPM, GREAT Thai in old Wild Ginger Spot. Do a slew of appetizers with wine.
Outer Limits Honorable Mentions:
Inn At Langley - Ferry ride away on Whidbey Island. Check it out if you're over there. Reservations. Spectacular food and wine.
Salish Lodge - Snoqualmie. STILL worth it. Hot tubs over waterfalls. What more could you want- Wine & exquisite dining.
[This message was edited by Queen Of Hearts on May 27, 2003 at 04:52 PM.]
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The wine was fairly reasonable. I read one review about them over-salting the steaks, but don't know personally about that, & one of the other couples goes there regularly.