On the one hand, the new anchor of the Palladian Hotel at Second and Virginia radiates its regional identity: The menu is a paean to seafood and, on our visits, framed portraits of Seattle music notables hung in the hotel lobby. Chef Walter Pisano, also the chef of sister restaurant Tulio downtown, enjoys a local following. The room is that greatest of anomalies: “A hotel restaurant that conveys a genuine sense of the local and the intimate,” I quote from my review in the July issue of Seattle Met.

So would Shaker and Spear make a good place to bring your guests for a taste of Seattle?

Better read my review before they get here.