Nosh Pit

Belle Clementine’s Communal Dinners Commence on December 15

David Sanford’s much-anticipated project opens next week.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Dec 08, 2011 at 02:32PM 0 Comments

Belle Clementine, named for the beaut pictured here, opens December 15. Photo courtesy belleclementine.com.

David Sanford sends word via newsletter that Belle Clementine, his communal dining restaurant on Leary Avenue, is set to open for its first feast on December 15.

Belle Clementine (my, what a trendy name) will host subsequent evening meals on the 16th, 17th, 22nd, and 23rd. In January the dinners will occur every Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. One menu (determined by what’s in season, natch) will be served nightly alongside wine or beer. Brunch is on the docket, too, starting January 8 at either 10 or 12:30. That costs $20 a pop and includes coffee or tea and gratuity.

Sanford, a Corson Building alum, says to stay tuned for details regarding further meal series. Ring 206-257-5761 or visit belleclementine.com for reservations.

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Tags: Seattle Restaurant Openings, Ballard

More Glowing Press for the Walrus and the Carpenter

And the odds of scoring a table grow slimmer yet.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Nov 23, 2011 at 02:35PM 0 Comments

Photo: Olivia Brent

Order the salad, ladies.

The Walrus and the Carpenter is no stranger to accolades.

There were those glowing mentions from Frank Bruni in the Gray Lady. Bon Appétit and GQ have both included the Ballard oyster bar in best restaurant roundups. It made Seattle Met’s most recent list, too.

The latest lovefest comes from T magazine. In a piece titled “Leafless in Seattle,” Oliver Strand talks up the shaved turnip and pomegranate salad. A salad in winter? Exactly what Strand thought, and yet the plate impresses in its creativity. He describes it as “a crisp, lush, tangy pile that’s something like a brighter, more polished celery root rémoulade.”

Strand then breaks down how the salad is made, which you’ll find on the T magazine site.

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Tags: Awards and Accolades, Ballard

Book It: Family Dinner at the Pantry at Delancey

The family-style feasts are selling out fast, so get on in there if you’re going.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Aug 23, 2011 at 09:29AM 0 Comments

Reserve now to experience a Moroccan feast or apple harvest dinner at the Pantry.

Photo: The Pantry at Delancey via Facebook

The Pantry at Delancey’s family dinner—it changes monthly and is held twice per lunar cycle—is sold out in September.

And one of November’s apple harvest dinners is already booked too. (The meal on November 3 has seats remaining.)

Also available: Places at the table during both of October’s Moroccan feasts. Call or email to secure your spot.

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Tags: Special Dinners, Ballard, Molly Wizenberg

A Chat with Olaiya Land About the Pantry at Delancey

The cofounder fields our burning questions.

Posted by: Katie Ormsby on Apr 27, 2011 at 02:21PM 0 Comments

Olaiya Land, Pantry at Delancey cofounder. Photo courtesy olaiyalandcatering.com.

Family-style dinners for 26, a summer-long roster of enticing classes, a trio of seasoned toques…it’s no wonder Seattleites are pumped for the Pantry at Delancey, the community kitchen opening behind the beloved Ballard pizzeria.

With the launch date fast approaching (look for it in May), we got in touch with cofounder Olaiya Land, a cooking instructor at Delancey and owner of an eponymous catering company. Here, she shares what about the Pantry has her most excited.

What made you decide to open the Pantry?

Brandon Pettit (co-owner of Delancey), Brandi Henderson (Delancey pastry chef), and I are a group of friends who work really well together. I met Brandon back when we worked at Boat Street Kitchen, and we’ve been friends since. He’s like a mad scientist when it comes to cooking; the Pantry will let us play off of each other to create new and exciting things.

What inspired the venture?

There’s a vibrant DIY scene in Seattle, and we love farmers markets. So that really influenced us along with local cheese makers, bee keepers, et cetera.

A big part of the Pantry will be cooking classes. Who do you picture attending these classes?

We’d like to reach a wide range of Seattleites. Realistically we’ll probably draw mostly from Seattle’s uber-foodies, but I’m super excited about also introducing people to cooking. We’re offering a wide variety of classes that meet different skill levels. But I think most classes will work for even a beginner cook.

What are some of the main challenges of catering versus working at a restaurant?

With catering, you have to be very flexible. Since you’re cooking in a new kitchen each time, you don’t know what to expect. It can be stressful, especially huge events like weddings. But it’s also very exciting.

In addition to cooking classes and catering services, the Pantry will host family-style dinners. How many people can fit at these events?

We’ll have a dinner table that’s 16 feet long, and we hope to eventually be able to host up to 26 people at each dinner.

What excites you most about the Pantry?

We want to host community events, which I’m looking forward to. Basically we would host someone like a farmers market vendor for a talk and cocktails. I think we’ll be able to fit about 35 people at those. I’m probably most excited, though, about getting people to cook and realizing it’s not difficult. I want to empower them and get them cooking for their friends and family.

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Tags: Seattle Restaurant Openings, Pizza, Ballard, Pantries and Mercantiles

Five Corner Market Closed

Less than four months after opening, the Ballard gastropub calls it quits.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Apr 18, 2011 at 10:07AM 0 Comments

Five Corner Market shuts up shop after a short run.

Word from the press release pile: Five Corner Market, which opened just this December in the former Lombardi’s space smack dab in the center of Ballard, closed on April 12.

Per the release: “Owner Steve Hayter said that the concept received an enthusiastic reception in Ballard, but there ultimately wasn’t enough patronage to sustain the business.”

The building, at the corner of 22nd Ave NW and NW Market Street, remains one of the best pieces of restaurant real estate anywhere in town as far as location is concerned—Lombardi’s had been in business for 23 years before it closed last fall.

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Tags: Restaurant News, Ballard, Seattle Restaurant Closings

Golden Beetle Will Serve Brunch

But not until the very end of April.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Mar 24, 2011 at 11:39AM 0 Comments

Photo: Lucas Anderson

You can have brunch at Golden Beetle in Ballard starting April 30.

On Thursday morning Maria Hines tweeted the news her Ballard eatery Golden Beetle plans to launch weekend brunch service. That won’t happen until April 30, but it appears the menu is pretty much set.

Divided into four parts, the bill is made up of t’mazza (“little bites”), crepes, plates, and sides. Your typical morning fare is there—a wild mushroom omelet, fruit salad, fried potatoes (sorry, no bacon)—but Hines stays true to the restaurant’s Eastern Mediterranean roots with dishes such as a harissa-lamb scramble, fava bean pita, and an eggy-cheesy wood-fired flat bread. As for those crepes, choose between roasted apple or strawberry (both with creamed toppings, of course), or a braised chicken or lamb-pepper-peanut variety. Spiced donuts, puff-pastry pies, and grilled leek with egg sauce round out the t’mazza fare.

The brunch announcement comes just a couple of weeks after Hines introduced her happy hour menu.

Keeping us on our toes, this Hines!

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Tags: New Seattle Restaurants, Brunch, Ballard

First Look: Golden Beetle in Ballard

Get a sneak peek of the bold new Ballard project from Tilth chef Maria Hines.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Feb 14, 2011 at 08:46AM 3 Comments

The 85-seat Golden Beetle includes a bar area (capacity 45) and dining room (capacity 40). Twenty-five lanterns hang from the ceiling, all custom made for Hines in Istanbul, Turkey.

“It cost more to get them changed over so they would be legit in the US—the electrical or whatever—than it did to buy the lanterns,” said the chef. “But they’re really pretty.”

View Slideshow » Illustration:

The 85-seat Golden Beetle includes a bar area (capacity 45) and dining room (capacity 40). Twenty-five lanterns hang from the ceiling, all custom made for Hines in Istanbul, Turkey.

“It cost more to get them changed over so they would be legit in the US—the electrical or whatever—than it did to buy the lanterns,” said the chef. “But they’re really pretty.”

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Eating her way through the street food of the Eastern Mediterranean, Hines was struck by the ingenuity of the vendors, and how openly they cooked and assembled their food.

“It’s about as exhibition as you’re going to get,” said Hines, who prefers her own restaurants to have open kitchens. “I like having that nice flow. We’re all connected: the servers, the cooks, and the guests.”

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Hines loves the inherent juxtaposition of installing a super-precise combination oven next to the rustic wood-fired oven. “It’s the meeting place of the ancient, the beginning of times, all the way to the most contemporary equipment. I think it’s going to be fun to eat here and experience having snails sous vide and then have, like, a goat flat bread coming out of a smoky, wood-fired oven.”

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The Wood Stone oven came with the space and is part of what attracted Hines to it. She commissioned Seattle Mosaic Arts to cover it in tiles matching the Mediterranean palate of the restaurant.

“That was the one luxury that I splurged on,” said Hines.

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Tables will be set with a pot of housemade harissa (a Tunisian chili sauce) as well as cumin for seasoning.

In the Golden Beetle kitchen, says Hines, “we’re seasoning the food with spice, not just with salt. Whereas at Tilth everything is so clean—it’s just a little salt and a little lemon juice—here it is handfuls of cumin, handfuls of cardamom, toasted spices. All the food is big, bold, and spicy.”

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Also on each table: Pink Flake salt from Murray River in Australia

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Hines’ rock-climbing partner Frank Huster traveled with her through countries like Turkey, Tunisia, and Egypt, snapping the photographs that decorate the new restaurant.

“I told him: ‘I have this fantasy that when I go to the Eastern Mediterranean to check out the food scene, you come along and take photos and I just pay for your room and board because that’s all I can afford to do,’” recalled Hines. “He was like: ‘Let’s do it.’ We stayed in hostels, we backpacked. It was like $60 a day for the two of us.”

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Hines visited the only farmers market in Beirut, she said, whose organizer owns a restaurant nearby. “This guy is so forward-thinking and progressive. There are probably 30 vendors, and he has this great little restaurant down the street where he features a vendor every week.”

Another inspiring moment: a guy with a sweet-potato smoker in Cairo. “How fucking cool is that?” Hines marveled. “The thing probably never gets cleaned, it’s perfectly seasoned. With street food, what you see is what they’re doing. There’s nothing hidden.”

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Golden Beetle will serve dinner six nights a week starting Friday, February 18.

A chef trained at some of the fanciest restaurants in the world, James Beard award-touting Maria Hines made a reputation for herself cooking elegantly simple, pure-flavor-promoting food at Tilth, her organic eatery in Wallingford.

When she opens her second restaurant, Golden Beetle, this Friday in Ballard, she’ll become associated with an entirely different sort of food: boldly spiced dishes inspired by Eastern Mediterranean street food.

“I spent some time in Morocco ten years ago,” Hines told me last week when I dropped by the nearly complete restaurant, “which is kind of what kick-started my love for street food from that area.” When it came time to open a second restaurant, “it was pretty quickly formulated in mind. But I didn’t want to open up a restaurant based off of research out of cookbooks. I wanted to go and be on the street tasting the food.”

So a few months ago she and her friend Frank Huster, a photographer whose photos of the trip now line the restaurant’s walls (see slideshow for details), set out to soak up the region. They traveled to Cairo, Istanbul, and Beirut among other cities, meeting street vendors who created inspiring eats composed in tiny nooks or atop ancient carts pushed down cobblestone streets.

“There’s a soulfulness about this kind of food,” said Hines. “Tilth is minimalist and restrained and the flavors are really clean. [At Golden Beetle] the food is big, bold, and spicy. I’m definitely comfortable having a broad range.”

Tilth alum Forrest Brunton will be chef de cuisine at Golden Beetle, and Hines will split her time between the two restaurants. Expect, among the dishes, lamb kibbeh fried in beef fat, turkey doner kebabs, and lamb tagine with green olive, cauliflower, and couscous. You can click on the slideshow above for a tour of the restaurant and more details, and read about the restaurant’s bar and happy hours here.

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Tags: New Seattle Restaurants, Seattle Restaurant Openings, Ballard, Maria Hines, Seattle Restaurants

For Your Weekend Consideration: Brunch at Lot No 3, The Blue Glass

The Bellevue and Ballard joints join the morning shuffle.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Jan 21, 2011 at 11:04AM 0 Comments

Doesn’t this look like a comfy place to start the day? The Blue Glass in Ballard begins weekend brunch on January 22. Photo courtesy The Blue Glass.

A couple of new spots jumping on the brunch bandwagon:

Heavy Restaurant Group–backed Lot No 3 in Bellevue is doing it up Saturdays and Sundays 10–3. Here, toques take your usual offerings up a tick—consider the pumpkin pancakes with bourbon syrup, malted waffles (also with bourbon syrup), and egg-bacon-cheese sliders. Because everybody loves sliders, right? Plates hover around $10, with the salmon-garnished house-made bagel topping them out at $13.

The recently opened Blue Glass debuts its morning menu Saturday at 10am, says myballard.com. The NW 65th Street spot will serve the standards—two types of Eggs Benedict (one with Kurobuta pork shank and caramelized fennel, the other with sherried mushrooms and fresh arugula), French toast with whipped goat cheese (yummers), and an omelette, to name a few—as well as more lunch-leaning items: a roasted poblano burger, a monte cristo, etc.

And don’t forget about Revel.

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Tags: Bellevue, Brunch, Ballard

Update: Lunchbox Lab Cancels Move to South Lake Union Lunchbox Lab Set to Open in South Lake Union January 27

What awaits the giant-burger joint? We got the story.

Posted by: Kathryn Robinson on Jan 14, 2011 at 10:30AM 3 Comments

We’ll take three, please.

Well how dumb do we feel.

Lunchbox Laboratory isn’t sticking in its old space in Ballard, as we reported this morning; the deal is just that they haven’t changed their website in a year. A friend of Seattle Met read the site’s news of last year’s cancelled move, called us in a panic, and we put it out for all the world to tweet.

Um. Oops.

Just got off the phone with John Schmidt, CEO of Neighborhood Grill, the owner of the restaurant (Southlake Grill) Lunchbox Lab will be replacing. “Nope, Scott Simpson is full-steam ahead,” Schmidt confirmed, adding that today is the last day of business for Southlake. Schmidt’s outfit and Simpson will partner to create a new, much glossier Lab, complete with an upstairs loft and retro-80’s style arcade games.

But those behemoth burgers will still be in place. “We’re taking his concept from quick-serve to full-service,” explains Schmidt—corporate restaurant-speak for “serving booze.” Plus there will be more appetizers, a selection of paninis, and more desserts.

Not that anyone will ever get to dessert after one of Simpson’s burgers.

Look for it to open Thursday, January 27.

(And for us to never make a mistake again.)

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Tags: South Lake Union, Ballard, Food News, Burgers

Special Dinner: Ray’s Retrospective of Northwest Wines

The Ballard restaurant holds its 24th annual dinner on January 28, 2011. Reserve now.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jan 07, 2011 at 01:20PM 0 Comments

Ray’s showcases top-scoring Northwest wines on January 28.

This week I had the opportunity to participate in Ray’s annual retrospective of Northwest wines. For two days, the boathouse is full of sommeliers, wine shop owners, and writers all tasting through hundreds of Northwest wines and evaluating them based on nose, palate, and finish. (Once the winners are announced I’ll write about my findings—we tasted the wines blind, but at the end the staff gave us a key and a copy of our notes.)

Anyway on Friday, January 28 at 6:30pm, Ray’s is holding a dinner featuring the top-scoring wines, and the winning winemakers will be there. It’s a multi-course meal created by executive chef Peter Birk to pair with the wines, and it costs $75. Seems like a good opportunity to taste wines that are pouring really well right now, and meet the people who make them. You know, if you’re into that sort of thing.

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Tags: Special Dinners, Ballard, Wine and Food Pairings

Maria Hines to Open Golden Beetle in Late February

Eastern Mediterranean small plates and craft cocktails are coming soon to Ballard.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jan 03, 2011 at 09:42AM 0 Comments

James Beard Winner and Iron Chef superstar Maria Hines opens her second restaurant in late February.

I just got word that Tilth owner Maria Hines will open her second restaurant, Golden Beetle, in late February at 1744 Northwest Market Street in Ballard.

According to press materials, Golden Beetle will serve a menu inspired by the cuisines of countries like Turkey, Greece, Lebanon, Morocco, and Algeria. Expect lots of rabbit and lamb and small game birds and beef portioned into skewer bites and meatballs rather than big hunking steaks. There will be an emphasis on Eastern Mediterranean seasonings such as sumac, fenugreek, and ras al-hanout (a spice mixture that includes dried golden beetle, hence the restaurant’s name). The menu will be small plates-focused but will include entree-sized options, too. Hines is also planning a list of craft cocktails—it sounds like the bar will be a draw of its own at Golden Beetle. All in all it sounds a lot more casual than the Northwest-inspired Tilth.

Meanwhile at Tilth, Hines has promoted her sous chef, Jason Brzozowy, to chef de cuisine. She plans to split her time between her two restaurants.

Hines is currently traveling, I’ll talk to her as soon as I can about all the details.

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Tags: New Seattle Restaurants, Seattle Restaurant Openings, Restaurant News, Ballard, Maria Hines

The Walrus and the Carpenter Makes GQ’s Best New Restaurants List

But don’t be messing with the Market, Richman.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Dec 15, 2010 at 11:18AM 2 Comments

You’re still the one, Market.

I was excited when my coworker sent me news this morning that GQ’s Alan Richman has included The Walrus and the Carpenter, Renee Erickson’s Ballard oyster bar, among the 10 Best New Restaurants in America. No arguments here.

But then.

“The Walrus and the Carpenter feels like a throwback to an earlier era of Seattle dining. It reminds me of the once wonderful Pike Place Market, long before it got touristy and bland.”

I could comment extensively on why this statement is inaccurate but it all just sounds silly and defensive.

But one thing I must say about the Market, my very favorite place in this city. Yes, it attracts tourists. But it is not touristy! Anyone who has ever spent time there—cheering burlesque at the CanCan, popping fried oysters at Emmett Watson’s, watching the boats go by while scarfing up a gooey reuben from I Love New York Deli —can tell you that much. Seattleites share Pike Place with the tourists because we are awesome like that, but we have not ceded it.

Congrats to lovely Walrus, an utterly charming new addition to the Seattle dining scene.

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Tags: Pike Place Market, Seattle in the News, Awards and Accolades, Ballard, Rankings