2007 Best New Restaurants
Our picks for the best eateries to open in 2007.
Bakery Nouveau
Opening date December 17, 2006.
Why we love it Beauty. The scent of browning pastry and fresh chocolate greets you at the door. An elegant gilt trophy on the counter pronounces owner William Leaman the finest baker in the world. Beneath it in the case, a tidy row of truffles and petits fours and pastel confections. Beside them, acres of croissants and raisin brioches and apricot Danishes and cherry-almond-pear tarts so pretty and so flawlessly sumptuous we ignored the fact that, but for a few sandwiches and quiches, this isn’t actually a restaurant at all.
What to order A flake-perfect twice-baked almond croissant. Sigh.
Who to bring Your own good company. Whiling away an hour here with a good book, a cappuccino, and a brown-sugar pecan brioche is time well whiled. (Besides, the fewer people who know you believe breakfast requires dessert, the better.)
But sheesh… Everyone in town loves this place as much as you do—and they’re all ahead of you in line.
Bakery Nouveau, 4737 California Ave SW, West Seattle Junction, 206-923-0534; www.bakerynouveau.com
Café Presse
Opening date June 20, 2007.
Why we love it Je ne sais quoi. From the creators of Belltown’s archetypal Le Pichet comes the Frenchest joint in town: a shrine to the way the French eat every day, from pain et beurre avec confiture all the way through to steak tartare. For its come-as-you-are informality, its quotidian price tags, and its culinary effortlessness, a place like Café Presse might be forgettable. It so isn’t.
What to order A plate of meaty steak frites and a bottle of Chateau d’Oupia Les Heretiques Vin de Pays de l’Herault. (Or whiskey, neat.)
Who to bring Grandma at breakfast, business associates at noon, the family at dinner, the revelers at midnight. In other words: everyone. It’s the wildly varied cross-section of humanity rubbing elbows in this café that lends the place its urgency and vigor.
But sheesh… Sixteen-and-a-half hours each day this busy kitchen’s at it, so perfect consistency ain’t on the menu.
Café Presse, 1117 12th Ave, First Hill, 206-709-7674; www.cafepresseseattle.com
Published: November 2007
