Restaurants

Tiny Bistro Turkuaz brings elegance to Turkish home cooking

Providence Cicero — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

At Madrona's Bistro Turkuaz, small details make a big impression. Roses blush in a crystal vase on a round table in the window. Lilies bloom in the bathroom. A mint sprig pokes from a frosty glass of lemonade. On the sideboard, cucumber slices float in a pitcher of ice water.

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.

Counter intelligence: Eat, learn and enjoy from the best seats in the house

Nancy Leson — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Want to eat at a counter? Need some culinary entertainment? If you're in Seattle, you're in business. We've got many restaurants with counter seats that front an open kitchen — the best seats in the house.

From this vantage point, you get the raw and the cooked! Sharp knives and hot pots! The speed of the feed! Wondering what's in the soup? Where'd they get that grass-fed beef? How to make that delicious pan sauce or brandish a squeeze-bottle like a pro? Look and learn.

The Mexican Moose is loose in Ballard

Warren Cornwall — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Seattleites frustrated in their search for local, authentic Mexican food that's not served from the side of a truck can find solace in the land of lutefisk.

Ballard is host to a small restaurant that exudes Mexico, from its smoky moles to its painted clay dishes.

Georgetown's Hallava makes a helluva falafel

Geoff Carter — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 15:16:07 -0700

Somewhere in Georgetown right now, you'll find a bright yellow lunch truck that is the rolling home of Hallava Falafel. It could be parked in front of the Corson Building at 5609 S. Corson, as it is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, or it could be parked in front of the 9 Lb. Hammer, as it seems to be most Friday and Saturday nights.

Dining pawsibilities for pups and people

Jen Harper — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:37:38 -0700

A poodle, a Labrador and an Irish setter walk into a bar ...

It sounds like the start of a joke, but it's just another Saturday afternoon at Norm's Eatery & Ale House in Fremont.

Despite the state health department's restriction against having dogs that are not service animals on the premises of any restaurant, some places in laid-back, dog-friendly Seattle turn a blind eye to your pup's presence -- and in some cases, like Norm's, even roll out the canine red carpet.

Wallingford welcomes the 'clean vegetarian' cuisine of Sutra

Geoff Carter — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:11:00 -0700

Excuse me a second; I gotta say something to my vegetarian girlfriend. You can read over my shoulder if you like.

Hey, honey. I just got an e-mail with some good news: There's a vegetarian restaurant opening in Wallingford this Friday, July 11. It's called Sutra, and it's at 1605 N. 45th St. I think that's the old Bottle Rocket Cafe space.

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.

The Virginia Inn is set for the next phase of its culinary life

Providence Cicero — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

"Grab a menu. Pick seat," read the sign. I did as instructed one tranquil midafternoon at the Virginia Inn. A couple in the dining room munched on chips and sandwiches. Their gloomy faces signaled relationship woes, so I gave them a wide berth and sat near the bar.

We swoon for Molly Moon's balsamic strawberry ice cream

Lara Ferroni — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:09:55 -0700

There's nothing like strawberry ice cream to cool you down on a hot summer day. But we crave an enormous scoop of Molly Moon's balsamic strawberry ice cream in any weather. Perched on a sugar cone or housemade waffle cone, big chunks of supersweet Skagit Valley strawberries and salty-sweet balsamic ribbons swirl through dreamy organic cream. It's heaven in a cone, lick after tasty lick.