Just announced, the 2008 James Beard award nominations and Seattle does just fine, thank you. Tom Douglas, left, is one of five nominees for outstanding restaurateur in America; Canlis a nominee for best restaurant service, and four Seattle chefs in the running for "Best Northwest Chef:" Maria Hines, center (Tilth), Holly Smith (Cafe Juanita), Ethan Stowell, right (Union) and Jason Wilson (Crush). Winners to be announced early June.......

The timing couldn't be better: as Bear falls, as chaos looms, what's more reassuring than comfort food? Reassuring staples like meatloaf, mac-and-cheese, or chili. Especially chili. Every culture has ways of cooking meat in an aromatic liquid till it falls into tender pieces. Think of all those stews and casseroles, think of pot-au-feu and daube, goulasch and carbonade. Add beans and it's cassoulet, add seafood and it's bouillabaisse. Maybe not in Belltown, but there......

Comfort is a two-way street. Sometimes we need comfort. And sometimes we give it. Crave has been the giver by way of its menu of “contemporary comfort food,” which includes favorites like blintzes, overnight baked beans, and shiitake macaroni & cheese. Now is the time for us to give. Diagnosed with two forms of lymphoma, Crave’s chef-owner Robin Leventhal is giving away her collection of copper Jello molds to some of Seattle’s finest chefs.......

They buzz, they flit, they fly. They dart, they dash, they zip. Ethan Stowell putt-putts from Union (downtown) to Tavolata (Belltown) to Wolf (Queen Anne). Corino Bonjrada bounces from La Vita e Bella (Belltown) to Mondello (Magnolia). Jim Drohman shuttles between Le Pichet (Belltown/Market) to Café Presse (First Hill/Madison). Scott Staples hops from Zoë (Belltown) to Quinn's (Capitol Hill). Josef Jimenez doesn't ride himself but sends his cooks on a scooter--a Honda, not a......

Just when you think you've made up your mind about a place, about Tavolata specifically, along comes a dish of gnocchi akin to a religious experience. Regular readers know that Seattlest has been Seattle's lone holdout in the standing ovation for Tavolata. Ethan Stowell--who pays ferocious attention to his reviews--has not been happy with us, going so far as to purge a critical thread from one of the Chowhound discussion boards. Yet we keep going......

What fun! Another restaurant promotion! This one's called New Urban Eats, and it features 20 relatively new places offering three-course dinners for thirty bucks. Sunday through Thursday, throughout May except (wonder why?) Mother's Day...the one day nobody should eat out but everybody does. Sure, there are plenty of perfectly lovely places that serve dinner for less than $30. But the NUE restaurants are kinda fancy, kinda pricey, kinda hot. In some cases, very fancy, very......

There's no sign outside, no street number, just a Vespa on the sidewalk below a fluttering Italian flag. Welcome to Tavolata, the long-awaited Belltown outpost of Union's Ethan Stowell and business partner Patric Gabre-Kidan. Neither has clogs-at-the-forno experience in Italy, but that didn't stop them from creating an upscale, "modern Italian" restaurant in Belltown. Now, before you start reading accolades from folks who can't get a seat at 8 o'clock, consider this: at midnight, bracketed......