NWsource | Cody Ellerd

Pike's Bar & Grill is a retro refuge from the cool on the Hill

Cody Ellerd — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:24:23 -0700

I grew up in an apartment off Broadway, and I remember well the Capitol Hill of the 1980s. Those were the days when, if your jeans hugged your ankles, you probably sported Converse below them, a Mohawk above and lots of rattling chains in between. Being gay meant you might get beat up, and irony was expressed verbally, not on a V-neck tee.

Conviviality is the house special at Belltown's Branzino

Cody Ellerd — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:05:20 -0700

When I go out to eat, I love being treated like a guinea pig. Waiting for my four friends the other night at Branzino, a new Italian seafood joint in Belltown, I saddled up to the bar, where a bartender was plucking leaves from the stem of a mysterious bright-green herb. I asked for a cocktail menu, and instead got one of my favorite propositions: Let me try something out on you. If you don't like it, it's on me.

Columbia City's Island Soul merges regional cuisines with winning results

Cody Ellerd — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:58:17 -0700

You knew Caribbean food had soul. But did you ever envision soul food from the Caribbean?

If Island Soul, the newest addition to Columbia City's restaurant row, had an ounce of pretension, they might start throwing around words like "fusion." Instead, they're calling their miraculous marriage of Jamaican and American Southern cooking a lucky accident, and everyone else is just calling it awesome.

Spring Hill thrills with attentive service and delicious dishes

Cody Ellerd — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:16:54 -0700

When my sweetie and I arrived at new West Seattle restaurant Spring Hill, we were seated at a table set with gleaming forks on lemongrass-green placemats, and we felt a little like we were playing house in an IKEA showroom.

Then one of the owners came over to graciously welcome us and get acquainted, and we felt a little like celebrities. (I profile local restaurants anonymously, so I'm not normally showered with special treatment.)

South Lake Union welcomes Portage Bay Cafe to the neighborhood

Cody Ellerd — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:06:54 -0700

Lately, it seems that any local restaurant worth its salt has taken a perpetually endless waiting list to mean that they ought to spawn a sibling. Thus we have a great new crop of twists and spin-offs that have ridden the reputations of their older counterparts to some solid success over the last year.

Pike Street Fish Fry is a hipper chipper

Cody Ellerd — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 10:46:23 -0700

If, as Michael Hebb says, the vitality of a society's food culture can be measured by its street food, our little corner of the world can add some more cream to its burgeoning crop. The One Pot impresario's first legal Seattle restaurant -- complete with a permanent address and (nearly) regular hours -- is to fish 'n' chips what Frites was to French fries: a joint that honors proletarian street grub by giving it the respect it deserves.

Table 219 has your number for brunch and upscale comfort food

Cody Ellerd — Thu, 22 May 2008 13:10:20 -0700

New name, same brunch. Different decor, same brunch. New dinner menu, new chef, more wine, full bar, same brunch, same brunch, same brunch.

Yes, the old El Greco on Capitol Hill has made some changes, but there's no need to panic. On Saturdays, Sundays and even Fridays, you can still get the same eggs Benedict with the same tomato mushroom sauce and the same crack-dipped French toast. The owners of the Capitol Hill mainstay would never dream of abandoning the neighborhood in its hungover hour of need.

Grease is the word

Cody Ellerd — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:10:14 -0700

Local entrepreneurs Dave Lefkow and Justin Esch are one of the greatest success stories to come out of the Seattle food world in the last year. Since late 2007, their culinary creation has made it onto grocery store shelves in 50 states, plus Canada, Guam, Mexico and Singapore by tapping into the belief that everything -- yes, everything -- should taste like bacon.

Baby, I love your whey: The Seattle Cheese Festival returns

Cody Ellerd — Tue, 06 May 2008 10:46:22 -0700

Pat McCarthy, owner of DeLaurenti Specialty Food and Wine in Pike Place Market, says it is entirely possible to eat 250 different kinds of cheese in one day. To test his theory, mark your calendar for the fourth annual Seattle Cheese Festival, which will bring artisan cheese makers from all over the world to Pike Place Market, offering the perfect opportunity to hone your cheese-tasting chops.

Easy does it: Mr. Lu's Burgers & Seafood offers simple satisfaction

Cody Ellerd — Fri, 02 May 2008 13:46:47 -0700

This week I was sent out to profile what is undoubtedly going to be the most kickin' fish 'n' chips shop in town. Michael Hebberoy, the infamous mastermind behind the oh-so-subversive One Pot dinners and the "kill the restaurant" movement, has -- GASP! -- opened a restaurant.