Nosh Pit

The Social Awkwardness of Small-Plate Dining

Who wants delicate bite negotiations on a business dinner?

Posted by: Kathryn Robinson on Nov 28, 2011 at 09:00AM 4 Comments

Photo: Lindsay Borden

How do you split this between three business colleagues?

A colleague who dined with his girlfriend’s business colleagues the other night just told me he had to stop at the grocery store for cheese and salami on the way home. “I was still hungry,” he confessed. “It’s stressful eating at a small-plate restaurant with business colleagues.”

No need to name the restaurant; it didn’t do anything wrong. The point is the social awkwardness of the small-plate enterprise. To share or not to share? Who calls out the first suggestion of what to order? How many plates to order…especially if it isn’t yet clear who’s picking up the bill? If you’re still hungry at the end, do you suggest ordering more and risk looking gluttonous before your betters? What about that poor last spoonful of risotto that always goes back to the kitchen, since nobody wants to look like the piggy chasing after the last precious grains?

And the eternal conundrum: What if there are only three croquettes on a plate for four people?

It’s one thing to have fun with your dinner, steal bites across the table, cut an appetizer down the middle with the side of your fork when you’re with friends. Such is the culinary fun small-plate dining allows, and the reason those of us who love it love it. (Psst: for our November issue we found out who loves it most—see slide 9.) It’s another thing to take such liberties around your boss.

Remember the days when each diner ordered her own dinner and it was hers and hers alone?

Miss ’em?

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Tags: Critic's Notebook, Seattle Restaurant Culture

Vietnamese: the Ethnic Cuisine Seattle Does Best

We churn out fine Japanese, too.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Nov 11, 2011 at 01:45PM 0 Comments

As part of Seattle Met’s Best Restaurants feature, we asked dozens of Seattle chefs and restaurateurs to give us their take on trends, customers, competition—pretty much everything under the restaurant sun. What we got was an earful of juicy insider insight. We’ll be posting some of the responses in the coming weeks.

Seattle boasts quite an Asian food scene (Need proof? Read about our best Asian restaurants here) so this may come as a no-brainer. When we asked chefs to name the ethnic eats Seattle does best, the top five responses were Eastern cuisines. Vietnamese proved the most common answer, followed by Japanese, Chinese, Thai, and Korean. (Non-Asian mentions included Ethiopian, Italian, Scandinavian, and “new French,” whatever that means.)

Said one respondent: “I eat more Asian food than I do any other cuisine. You can go high-end, low-end—across the board we have phenomenal Asian food.” “I’ve traveled to Vietnam, up and down the country. I find that some of the pho [here] is really, really, really authentic,” gushed another.

And to the toque who mourned, “Well certainly not Indian. I’ve yet to find any real good Indian places,” we hear you.

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Tags: Asian Food, Seattle Chefs, Seattle Restaurant Culture

The Hardest Thing About Opening a Restaurant in Seattle Is…

Permitting, competition, and business taxes, to name a few.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Nov 08, 2011 at 02:30PM 0 Comments

As part of Seattle Met’s Best Restaurants feature, we asked dozens of Seattle chefs and restaurateurs to give us their take on trends, customers, competition—pretty much everything under the restaurant sun. What we got was an earful of juicy insider insight. We’ll be posting some of the responses in the coming weeks.

Owning a restaurant is a tough racket—this you probably figured—but what are the hurdles that really trip up restaurateurs? The crowded market, for one: “There are a lot of restaurants now, and there are a lot of good ones, so while you’re getting ready to open you need to be building curiosity and anticipation,” opined a respondent. Echoed another: “It seems to me that there’s more restaurants in the city than the city can actually hold.”

Another biggie: permitting and “trying to jump through hoops that change constantly.” “In Portland their rules are so loose, it seems like everyone opens whatever they want wherever they want. Up here it’s pretty restrictive, but heading in the right direction.”

For a breakdown of other obstacles peep the pie chart.

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Tags: Seattle Chefs, Seattle Restaurant Culture

Where the Chefs Go to Eat

Plus: their favorite pizza and sandwich joints.

Posted by: Seattle Met Staff on Nov 04, 2011 at 09:44AM 0 Comments

La Carta de Oaxaca: a favorite of Seattle chefs.

As part of Seattle Met’s Best Restaurants feature, we asked dozens of Seattle chefs and restaurateurs to give us their take on trends, customers, competition—pretty much everything under the restaurant sun. What we got was an earful of juicy insider insight. We’ll be posting some of the responses in the coming weeks.

It’s not often chefs hang up their aprons. But when opportunity knocks, where do they head for a meal?

Most said Sitka and Spruce and Revel, followed by Madison Park sushi staple Nishino. Delancey and La Carta de Oaxaca took the number three spots. Other notable mentions: Sea Garden, Shiro’s, Monsoon, Luc, Kisaku, and Serious Pie.

When they’re craving pizza, Delancey is the go-to. Best sandwich joint? Paseo. “I can’t ever say no to Paseo,” confessed one, while another lamented, “I wish they sold beer. Their sandwiches cry out for beer.”

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Tags: Seattle Chefs, Seattle Restaurant Culture

The 25 Best Places to Eat Right Now

Here’s Seattle Met‘s take on the year’s dining all-stars.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Nov 02, 2011 at 11:47AM 0 Comments

Photo: Olivia Brent

Yum: Vongole pizza from Bar del Corso.

Did you know? Seattle Met‘s annual roundup of best restaurants is out. In this year’s survey, critic Kathryn Robinson corrals the 25 establishments, both old and new, bringing it. Writes Robinson:

In an industry where the newest and trendiest can seize the spotlight—we’re bringing you the best. Restaurants with strong culinary identities and consistency of execution. Restaurants with smart, affable servers and assuredly crafted senses of place. Most critically: restaurants where the food dazzles with invention and intention.

So which ones fit the bill? Only one way to find out.

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Tags: Rankings, Seattle Restaurant Culture

Who Are Seattle’s Most Underrated Restaurateurs?

Hint: They’re married and recently opened a hit restaurant in Fremont.

Posted by: Seattle Met Staff on Oct 20, 2011 at 12:23PM 5 Comments

Underrated: Seif Chirchi and Rachel Yang of Revel and Joule. Photo courtesy Jackie Baisa.

As part of Seattle Met’s Best Restaurants feature, we asked dozens of Seattle chefs and restaurateurs to give us their take on trends, customers, competition—pretty much everything under the restaurant sun. What we got was an earful of juicy insider insight. We’ll be posting some of the responses in the coming weeks.

They were recent subjects of Food Network fawning, and all the critics love ’em, yet Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi just don’t get the props they should. The duo behind Joule, Quoin, and Revel are Seattle’s most underrated restaurateurs, according to the crew we polled.

Commented one chef: “People who are really into food know about them, but I don’t know if they’re really attracting the crowds they deserve. Revel and Joule—they’re very unique, nothing else like what they do.” Said another: “They get a lot of local attention, but then you kind of forget they’re there, you don’t hear much about them.”

Behind Yang and Chirchi was Renee Erickson of Boat Street Cafe and The Walrus and the Carpenter (“She’s just doing her thing, she doesn’t do PR; she just has really cool, straight-ahead places”); and Dana Tough and Brian McCracken (Spur, Tavern Law, Coterie Room).

Other mentions included Scott Carsberg, Ba Culbert, Jim Drohman, Bruce Naftaly, Ryuichi Nakano, Melissa Nyffeler, and Scott Staples.

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Tags: Seattle Chefs, Seattle Restaurant Culture

Chefs Sound Off on Seattle Restaurant Week

“It’s a necessary evil I hope to not be doing in a few years.”

Posted by: Seattle Met Staff on Oct 18, 2011 at 12:25PM 2 Comments

Restaurant Week and Dine Around Seattle stir up a mixed bag of emotions among local chefs. Photo courtesy Luc/Geoffrey Smith.

As part of Seattle Met ‘s Best Restaurants feature, we asked dozens of Seattle chefs and restaurateurs to give us their take on trends, customers, competition—pretty much everything under the restaurant sun. What we got was an earful of juicy insider insight. We’ll be posting some of the responses here in the coming weeks.

The bi-annual Seattle Restaurant Week got underway this past weekend and we’re already hearing rumblings. So what better time to present results from this question: Which best captures your feelings about Restaurant Week and Dine Around Seattle?

25 percent

Love ’em! “We get [customers] in the door, give them a good experience, and they come back.”

25 percent

Loathe ’em “It’s dumbing down your food for people who don’t want to spend the money.”

20 percent

Restaurant Week: yes, Dine Around: no “The 10 days of Restaurant Week don’t burn your staff out, but those month-long things are painful.”

8 percent

Good for business, but grueling “It’s a necessary evil I hope to not be doing in a few years.”

8 percent

Doesn’t ultimately increase business “Same with the coupons: It brings in people who are after a deal, and those are not your repeat customers.”

8 percent

We can’t afford it “We’re a small restaurant with a small kitchen, and it’s hard to do things the way we want when we’re slammed.”

4 percent

If we don’t do it, we have no business that week “You’re over a barrel.”

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Tags: Dining-World Drama, Seattle Chefs, Seattle Restaurant Culture

Michael Mina Thinks Seattle Diners Are…

You know you want to know what the bigshot San Francisco chef who made Seattle the site of his 19th restaurant, RN74, really thinks of us.

Posted by: Kathryn Robinson on Oct 17, 2011 at 09:00AM 1 Comments

Photo: Lucas Anderson

Michael Mina’s RN74 Seattle.

His story’s well-known among restaurant watchers: Born in Egypt, raised in Ellensburg, Michael Mina went on to seize the restaurant world by the gullet with his upscale seafood at San Francisco’s Aqua in the early ‘90s. After racking up accolades and awards the chef partnered with tennis pro Andre Agassi to pepper the country with concept restaurants, from the elegant Michael Mina in San Francisco to the manly Bourbon Steak in Washington D.C.—and, now, some 17 in between. In June he opened his second RN74 on the corner of Pike and Fourth in downtown Seattle. Five months in, I asked him how it’s going.

“RN74 feels a lot like when I first opened Aqua,” Mina told me by phone from San Francisco. “Seattleites are enthusiastic in that way that says they hadn’t quite known what to expect. In this case I think they weren’t expecting RN74 to be so approachable. They knew it would have fine wine elements so I think they weren’t expecting it to feel casual.”

Mina was touched that so many of his high school buddies came to the opening. “I think there were 18 people from my high school graduating class there. My best friends live in Seattle. I tell you, it’s hard to get my head around how Ellensburg, this whole area, has changed since I’ve been here. It’s always been about farming, yeah…but it was cool when we were trying to find a great source for heirloom tomatoes and I learned that the best came from Ellensburg.”

During a brief stint living in Seattle after high school Mina worked at the Space Needle and the Kirkland Anthony’s HomePort; now he operates 19 of the most sophisticated and high-profile restaurants in the country. What regional dining habits has he noticed? “Definitely there’s heartier food on the East Coast, more traditional French technique,” he said. “The West Coast, spreading from California, is more product-driven, more rustic Italian.”

“And happy hour!” he hoots. “Seattleites are WAY over the top!” Utterly taken aback by Seattle’s bottomless thirst for the late-afternoon “meal,” Mina had to add a cooking station to the back of the house and change up his staffing patterns to accommodate. “Some nights I have half my line busy with happy hour food…it’s amazing,” he marvels. So happy hour is a bigger deal in Seattle than anywhere else?

“It sure feels bigger!” he roars.

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Tags: Celebrity Chefs, RN74, Critic's Notebook, Seattle Restaurant Culture

OpenTable Names Five Seattle Restaurants Among Its National Top 50

Same as New York, folks.

Posted by: Kathryn Robinson on Oct 10, 2011 at 09:00AM 11 Comments

One of the delectable options at Tilth.

In its annual diner’s-choice awards, the online restaurant reservation service OpenTable recently named five Seattle restaurants to its National Top 50: Cascina Spinasse, MistralKitchen, Spur, Staple and Fancy, and Tilth.

(Pssst: Four of these five landed on my upcoming list of the Top 25 Restaurants in Seattle, to hit news-stands end of next week. But which four…?)

The only regions to make a better showing were the Bay Area (with 10 restaurants) and Chicago (with six). And though we were a little puzzled to find the Greater Boston area tied with Seattle, we are most pleased to report that our other tie is with New York City.

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Tags: Seattle in the News, Awards and Accolades, Rankings, Critic's Notebook, Seattle Restaurant Culture

Gross-taurants

Between the raw food and the guts…where do normal foodies go to eat?

Posted by: Kathryn Robinson on Sep 06, 2011 at 08:00AM 2 Comments

Photo: Amos Morgan

Spring Hill

Surveying Seattle menus gives me increasing cause to wonder: Where are the regular people eating?

You know, the people you had visit from the heartland this summer. The in-laws. Your meat-and-potatoes colleague from the ‘burbs. Your college kid. Even epicureans…of a tamer inclination.

Take them to Artusi, Spinasse’s swanky aperitif adjunct, and here are three of their seven choices: black rice polenta with slow roasted goat, borlotti beans with wild fennel pollen and smoked salmon roe, and tripe with bone marrow and local black truffles.

Goat. Fish eggs. Tripe with bone marrow and local black truffles.

Artusi, you may argue, is a known sophisticates’ playground. Alright, then what about Madison Park Conservatory, where four of the eight small plates on a recent visit were the following: octopus Bolognese, Pacific octopus crudo, Anderson Valley lamb tartare, and grilled Wagyu beef tongue.

AKA: slimy sea creature, raw slimy sea creature, raw lamb, and tongue of cow.

Once calamari, stinky cheeses, and raw oysters were edgy. Then pork belly was the New Scary Thing. Now you can’t throw a sweetbread in this town without hitting pork belly in some permutation. Our sustainability-driven interest in nose-to-tail dining has strewn offal (er, guts) all over menus; raw beef has infiltrated such mainstream joints as Spring Hill and Matt’s in the Market.

Offensive? Heck no! Delectable? At times, extremely: I’m thinking now of the aforementioned octopus Bolognese at MPC, a stunner. OctoBolo.

But popular? Unquestionably getting more so, as Anthony Bourdain acolytes grow ever more adventurous about what they’ll eat, and a certain “fearless foodie” cred attaches to those who really will go to Taiwanese restaurants and go right to the section labeled “Intestinally Interesting.”

But I suspect that most diners, even discerning ones, would rather be satisfied than challenged in a restaurant. These diners don’t much care to be a player in a restaurant’s bid for a more sophisticated-than-thou reputation, and would prefer more menu choices of foods they’re familiar with—done really, really well—than foods they’re supposed to open their minds to.

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Tags: Critic's Notebook, Seattle Restaurant Culture

Portland Gets Another Show Mocking Its Restaurant Culture

When’s it our turn?

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Sep 02, 2011 at 10:14AM 2 Comments

First came Portlandia. Now, a web series called Forty Weight. The show is all about working in the industry and dealing with botchy customers and whatnot. Videos are posted every Tuesday, the first one goes up September 6.

Seattle, how bout a show all about eating at a restaurant and dealing with the snarky servers? Eh?

Here’s a trailer:

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Tags: Seattle Restaurant Culture