Nosh Pit

Fun With Health Department Warnings

Seattle Met would like to inform you that reading menu warnings may make you laugh.

Posted by: Kathryn Robinson on Apr 09, 2012 at 09:00AM 4 Comments

Warning: spontaneous combustion ahead. From Blind Pig Bistro.

Was it Matt Dillon who wrote the first smartassy one at the original Sitka and Spruce? That just seems right, though the proof has long since been erased from those old blackboard menus.

They’re all over the place now, of course: sarcastic tweaks of the Health Department–mandated warning that in its straight-faced form goes something like this: The King County Department of Health would like to inform you that consuming raw or undercooked foods may contribute to your risk of foodborne illness.

At first it was funny just to have the ante upped, as in this warning from Staple and Fancy: The King County Department of Health would like to inform you that consuming raw or undercooked foods may indeed kill you.

I noticed that soon after Madison Park Conservatory opened, death was likewise invoked. By midsummer, the Gothic tone had subsided to this: Check yourself: Eating raw or undercooked foods may make one sick.

My colleague Allecia Vermillion last year reported on one from Anchovies and Olives: The King County Department of Health would like to inform you that consuming raw or undercooked foods may contribute to your risk of foodborne illness. The chef would like to inform you that overcooking fresh seafood is a crying shame.

Take that, Health Department: You’re not only alarmist, you’re the enemy of fine cuisine. In a similar vein from Altura, penned with admirable brevity: Food not overcooked may be hazardous.

The Health Department has even been cast as the enemy of health. Recently spied at the soon-to-open Juice Box in Capitol Hill’s Farmer’s Market: The Health Department would like you to know that fresh vegetables might kill you.

These days we seem to be trending away from the dire and/or political, with sprightly bits of madcap nonsense. Recently spied at Blind Pig Bistro: King County says these items may cause spontaneous combustion. Fun!

Or this from Manhattan Drugs, which may be my all-time favorite: Eating raw or uncooked foods may kill you…as could an M–16 wielding ram.

You’ll get it the minute you walk in the door.

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Tags: Ethan Stowell, Juice Box, Anchovies and Olives, Matt Dillon, Manhattan Drugs, Altura, Sitka and Spruce, Blind Pig Bistro, Critic's Notebook, Madison Park Conservatory

Restaurants with Cushions

If your tushy could talk, where would it beg you to take it for dinner?

Posted by: Kathryn Robinson on Jan 23, 2012 at 09:00AM 0 Comments

RN74’s cushy booths and chairs.

I get loads of requests for restaurant recommendations, but here was a first:

“I have a ‘bony butt’ which means it’s painful to sit on chair with little or no padding. I carry a cushion in my car so that if I end up in a place with hard chairs I can use it. However, I don’t want to carry my chair pad into a restaurant with my colleagues.”

(Not to mention the prospective job candidate she was seeking to impress.)

“I was hoping you could suggest a few restaurants that have excellent food, are not too loud, and have comfortable, somewhat cushy seating. I know I am not the only one with this issue; it might make a good post!”

Indeed. As I stopped to reflect, however, I realized that this was not going to be an easy question to answer. I had recently dined at Terra Plata, which has hard wood chairs, and Altura, in which my seat was hard as a church pew (indeed, it probably had once been a church pew)—but neither bothered me overmuch, owing probably to a posterior which I’m fairly sure has no bones at all.

I reflected on a few super pillowy places—-the Moroccan belly-dancing haunt Kasbah; the lay-down-if-you-want-to Thai joint in Madrona, Naam neither belly dancing nor full-body reclining seemed particularly right for a client dinner. A few casual places have struck me as comfortable over the years; namely Madison Valley’s casual French bistro Luc; Fisher Plaza’s TV-and-burger emporium Sport; and the sceney, singlesy Sip downtown. All are ‘third places’ of a sort, encouraging the kind of lubricated lingering my friend wasn’t talking about. The Herbfarm in Woodinville also has notably cushiony chairs; but then they’d better have when dinner comes in nine courses over four hours.

What she was talking about was a place like the elegant and comfortable Book Bindery, whose lightly cushiony chairs I remembered as very comfortable. Or RN74 downtown, whose booths and chairs both allow a nice friendly sink.

In fact she chose the latter, and had a wonderful time.

If your derriere has any favorite restaurants, won’t you please invite it to share them here?

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Tags: The Book Bindery, RN74, Critic's Notebook, Terra Plata, Altura

Top Five Restaurant Openings of 2011

Lots of newbies…but which were best?

Posted by: Kathryn Robinson on Dec 27, 2011 at 11:00AM 2 Comments

The tidy, white-and-celery Skillet Diner is one of our new favorites.

Like 2010, this year brought spinoffs aplenty, with restaurateurs like Tom Douglas colonizing in earnest—in his case, South Lake Union (see Serious Pie, Serious Biscuit, Ting Momo, Brave Horse Tavern, and Cuoco.) Jason Stratton of Cascina Spinasse brought us his Italian aperitif masterpiece Artusi, Maria Hines of Tilth delivered her ode to the Arab Spring in the form of Golden Beetle, and Scott Staples of Quinn’s enhanced his portfolio with Uneeda Burger (even as he diminished it by Restaurant Zoe).

Mobile operations like Marination Station, A La Mode Pies, Seattle Sausage Company (which would become Dot’s Delicatessen), and Skillet Street Food went bricks-and-mortar, while Mexican food went the new-restaurant equivalent of viral. (Openings included Poquitos on Capitol Hill, Kirkland’s Milagro Cantina, Coa on Roosevelt, Fremont’s Pecado Bueno, Eastlake’s Little Water Cantina, and the jaw-dropping Queen Anne sister to La Carta de Oaxaca, Mezcaleria Oaxaca.)

But of all the openings, five stood out as superstars. In alphabetical order, they are:

Altura Shhh…open since just October, it hasn’t been operating long enough for my print review to come out. At the risk of spoiling the surprise, let’s just say this North Capitol Hill beaut fires on every cylinder and then some: creative and seasonal Italian food; a romantic space presided over by at least one member of the heavenly host; and some of the most gracious service I have encountered in Seattle.

Bar del Corso Look up “neighborhood restaurant” in the dictionary and there’s a picture of the burbling happy room that’s made Beacon Hill dwellers lose their minds. Perfect wood-oven pizza, nice bitter cocktails, Euro nibbles and salads, and all the community you could ever want—in one deafening room.

Coterie Room Thank you, Dana Tough and Brian McCracken (Spur Gastropub, Tavern Law), for opening a restaurant that’s brought a little life and beauty back to Belltown. The schtick in this elegant white fin de siècle room is timeless comfort food (grilled rib eye, buttermilk chicken) brought off to a turn, with all the modern methods chefs love to employ but hate to own up to.

Revel Sue me, it opened the tail-end of 2010. The folks who brought you Joule have trained their perfectionist eye on Asian street food, and the short rib rice bowls with kimchee and pork belly pancakes and warming morning porridge are simply the most exuberant thing to happen around here all year. A treasure.

Skillet Diner The Pike/Pine neighborhood of Capitol Hill is breathless over its clattering drop-in diner, where the fried chicken has a fennel seed crust and the grilled cheese is made with brie. It all adds up to the perfect ratio of foofy-to-fun, in a tidy white-and-celery space where the cocktails go down like Kool-Aid. Don’t say you weren’t warned.

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Tags: Seattle Restaurant Openings, Skillet, Revel, 2011 in Food, Altura, Coterie Room, Bar del Corso