Seattle Foodies

It’s a sad week in Seattle, and not just because of the mood-setting rain. It’s because Union, my favorite foodie restaurant, is closing. You can read more in the Seattle Times and the Seattle Metropolitan.

Friday evening, when Chuck told me, I felt like someone cut off my left leg (for an umbrella stand, no doubt, to make use of that hollow). So I wandered up and sat for a 7-course tasting menu (plus a few other items because, well, the ribeye I had cooked at home was hours ago).

Sad but incredibly delicious. But the best part is the staff are quite upbeat about it—they are all going to Ethan Stowell’s new place in Ballard. To be called Staple and Fancy Mercantile, after the building they will occupy, it sounds very cool, especially since it will feature more Ethan in the kitchen. So my complaints have been reduced to “I can’t walk to Ballard.” Not bad.

Still, for the moment, Union is here, and not being ones to miss an opportunity to eat well, we’re heading there tomorrow night at 6pm. We’ve got the chef’s table reserved and, as co-owner Angela Stowell said, Ethan will be rocking the head band for us. We will let him drive.

It’ll be a fun farewell to a great spot. Please let me know if you can join us and I will bulk up the reservation accordingly!

It’s lunchtime and you’re in the mood for something special. You close your eyes and imagine yourself on a Tuscan hillside. It’s a warm spring afternoon. At a large table, you’re surrounded by friends and platters of hand-made pastas, organic produce from nearby farms, and succulent meats. It’s rustic, comfortable, and romantic all at the same time. Your wine glass fills with a gorgeous rosso. You breathe in deeply, the flavors permeate your senses, and you feel satisfied even before the platters are passed.

When you open your eyes, somehow you find yourself outside Trevor Greenwood’s ravely reviewed Cantinetta, staring through the front window, pining for a taste of Chef Brian Cartenuto’s magic. But sadly they won’t open until dinner.

Unless it happens to be Seattle Foodies First Friday Lunch on June 4th, when Cantinetta will open it’s doors for a special three-course Seattle Foodies-only lunch! (Special thanks to Robyn, Bruce, and Dana.)

Chef Brian will select our lunch based on last-minute market availability, so the menu will be a bit of a surprise. But here’s a recent example to get you salivating:

Shaved fennel salad, tangerines, oil-cured olives, fennel pollen

Ricotta gnocchi, pork & beef spezzatino, preserved tomato, chilies, mint

Lemon panna cotta, Marion berry compote, almond cookie

It’s $25 per person (plus drinks, tax, and tip), and the first courses will be served family style. 11:30am, Friday, June 4th at 3650 Wallingford Avenue. Please R.S.V.P. before noon on June 3rd if you can make it!

If, like me, you never made it into William Belickis’ Mistral in Belltown before it closed two years ago, you probably still get teary eyed at the prospect of life-long, deep regret. How could that be, closing after earning four stars, making the top 10 Seattle restaurant lists, and even being listed as one of the top 100 restaurants worldwide?

Well, turns out he was planning his new, gigantic, 5,000 square foot restaurant, now Mistral Kitchen. With many of the same staff, the same infamous Belickis foodie madness, plus a massive dose of investment into the kitchen and interior, Belickis’ new joint has been getting shockingly rave reviews.

So for the upcoming First Friday Lunch Club, we’re going to surrender ourselves at the front door, and enjoy a special menu we’re putting together (details to follow).

Skip it if you dare. And the regret will be yours to bear for the rest of your life. Or better yet, R.S.V.P. by Thursday, and show up at 2020 Westlake Avenue this Friday (May 7th) at 11:30am for a three-course experience you might just be gloating about for years to come.

UPDATE: I just heard from Amber at Mistral Kitchen, and we’re going to be pampered. Here’s the special menu:

SEATTLE FOODIE MENU

1st Course

Wild Arctic Char, Pea Spears, Pea Vine Salad

2nd Course

Slow Cooked Beef Shortrib, Red Quinoa, Hon-Shimeji Mushrooms

3rd Course

The Ultra Brownie, Fresh Mint Ice Cream, and Cacao Nibs

Plus some delicious fine print: “In light of our regular menus changing daily there is a very high chance of the vegetables on the two savory courses changing or being added to tomorrow morning.”

And the cost will be $30 (plus tax, tip, and drinks). See you there!