10 Best Restaurants 2009
Cascina Spinasse
1531 14th Ave, Capitol Hill, 206-251-7673; spinasse.com
THE VISION
“I knew that the original chef, Justin Neidermeyer, was looking to ease out of Spinasse; in his heart he’d been wanting to get back to Italy for a long time. This was a great opportunity for me. I’ve been to Piedmont, that’s the food I just love to make. I love the way they eat in Piedmont. The wine is so amazing, they keep the food simple so as not to overwhelm it. I’m not going to change the pastas. Everyone who comes here gets pasta. But if anything bugged me about the menu, it was that the big family-style portions kept people from ordering anything else. Other areas were getting overlooked. We added more portion-size flexibility so people can comfortably have antipasti, primi, and secondi. In Piedmont pasta is the centerpiece of the meal—but still a piece of the meal.” — Jason Stratton, chef, Cascina Spinasse
THE VERDICT
That’s Pike/Pine peeking through the lace curtains, but in the steamy room with the wrought-iron chandeliers and the long, hand-hewn plank tables—those tables filled with sybarites lingering over Campari or lush semifreddo—you’re deep in the chestnut hills of Piedmont.
Cascina Spinasse is the most Old World restaurant in Seattle. It opened a year ago with Justin Neidermeyer at the helm, an artisan pasta maker so enamored of his source material he soon decamped back to the Piedmont where he apprenticed. Enter Jason Stratton, who trained with Neidermeyer and therefore knew just how many egg yolks it takes to fashion the rich, delicate pasta called tajarin. Each strand is still hand-cut daily; the miraculously featherweight ragu is the paragon of that dish in this town, perhaps in this country. Other pastas are reliably first rate; the tajarin is special.
Yes, the new regime brought changes: less of an emphasis on communal dining, friendlier and more grounded service, and desserts—cue that semifreddo—more various and memorable than before. But the food continues to pay dazzling tribute to the authentic cuisine and wines of Piedmont. Every bottle on the list is from that region. Side dishes and salads make glorious use of seasonal and simple ingredients, like chicory, common to the Northwest and Northern Italy. And Spinasse’s underheralded meats remain its best-kept secret, as in a recent preparation of roasted quail, its crispy golden joints perched on a bed of polenta sweetened with whole corn kernels and the first of the year’s chanterelles. It’s every bit as good as the pasta.
Published: October 2009
Serious pie is amazing! We try to treat ourselves every month.
Fairly new to the Seattle area, and this list was great. I am excited to knock out all 1-10!
We are from Wisconsin. While visiting our son in Seattle this summer, we celebrated my wife’s birthday at the Boat Street Cafe. A nice ambience. A varied menu. Fabulous food. The service was excellent.
I love this list! We’ve enjoyed a few of the Top 10 before, and look forward to going to the rest. Good to see Seattle classics on here like Canlis and Rovers, as well as some of the newer places like Spring Hill.
I agree with Jefferson…great list. Classics deserve to stay on the list if they continue to innovate and impress! Can’t wait for the parentals to come to town…going to Boat Street and Crush for sure!
I went through the whole list wrote them down and I want to try them all. Your reviews were great. My birthday is in feb and we are going to try one of these fabulous sounding restaurants. Thankyou Sherry in south king county.
Hey,
how are you?
i’m coming into seattle and was wandering if a pro like this blog could help me out in terms of…
1. best breakfast – i’m coming in on thurs, so cant do the corson building- so depressed
2. best lunch/dinner place to eat good seattle grub fare.
thanks so much!!! anything else i must eat etc like donuts just let me know too – yum yum.. i’m so jealous you have it all at your fingertips!
michelle
Serious Pie is great but for 2010?
Is there any list of top restaurants for 2010?
Mike,auto insurance quotes
Serious Pie is pretty damned good, but it says a lot about Seattle that one of it’s best restaurants is a pizza joint.
If Rovers can nail it’s consistency problem down, it would probably be a strong candidate for top spot in WA, maybe even contend for a michelin star.
For serious foodies, hop a ferry to Bainbridge (half an hour, great for visiting relatives) and walk to “The Harbourside Pub.” Looks like a fun, happy Pub joint with lots of micro-beers. What it really is that’s different is locally grown foods, highly creative seasonal choices of organic and grass-fed beef. The foodies will be happy and so will the whole family (no kids). There’s even a sunny deck. The owners have made this possible by working directly with local farmers—you can really taste the difference in the food. Best list for 2011?
Serious Pie is seriously UN-amazing. None of Tom Douglas’s restaurants are at all impressive compared to chef owned restaurants in Seattle including most that are on this top ten list. Tom knows how to market himself and make money. Cooking great food with authenticity and sustainability? He doesn’t have it. Serious Pie is a step up from Pagliachi, but not anything I would write home about. I miss Brasa’s fig pizza…. that is worth writing home about.