Results tagged “italian”

We've been from Spiga to Spinasse, Bizzarro to Barolo. Good Italian eats all. But we found our favorite bowl of pasta at Cantinetta. We didn't choose it ourselves. Chef Brian Cartenuto was sending out samplings from the menu, per our request. That's the perfect way to go when you're commitment-phobic, and allows you to discover dishes you'd never considered eating before.

Late on a warm Seattle night, nothing's as welcome as sitting in a flowered garden, discreet lighting in the shrubbery, the sounds of live music coming from within, the buzz of lively conversations rising around you. Waitresses in black tops and floor-length beige aprons glide by, effortlessly picking up and dropping off plates to contented diners. It's as pretty a scene as you could find in Italy, and it's in Eastlake, at Serafina.

This fall we are combining our love of the football and our dream of learning to cook by preparing a meal from the city of the Seahawks' opponent.

This fall we are combining our love of the football and our dream of learning to cook by preparing a meal from the city of the Seahawks' opponent.

"Surprise us," we told Ben at Zig Zag last night. "A cocktail?" he asked. We nodded. A few minutes later he reappeared with a rye-based concoction that also contained Fernet Branca. We nearly fell out of the goddamn booth. A few weeks ago we'd gone to see The Grocer's Son, which featured a little old lady who drinks shots of Fernet Branca. Then in the last issue of The Atlantic, Wayne Curtis waxed rhapsodic about the Italian liqueur's "uncommonly sharp and bitter" taste. So we were all primed to try it out, we just didn't know it--but that's Zig Zag's charm, knowing what you want before you do.

Opening night crowd at this splendid, brand-new Italian eatery is conservatively dressed, considering the Capitol Hill location. One customer in a tank top, one server with a piercing and tats, but mostly it's long-sleeved shirts of muted stripes. The chef, Justin Niedermeyer, wears a vest. The barman, Gavin Morris, serves Seattlest opening night's first negroni.

Last night the Northwest Film Forum had a line out the door with moviegoers eager for some classic European cinema. As previously mentioned, the Italian sex comedy Divorce--Italian Style (and its follow-up, Seduced and Abandoned) are showing in the small theater through tomorrow, leaving the big one to hold the main event, the NWFF's latest film series, Duel of the Cool.

At first, we weren't ready to like Artistic Director Nacho Duato's work Castrati--out of the gate it felt strained, and we worried that the topic (castrated Italian boys who became famous singers) would be too easily over-dramatized. Set to a series of works by Vivaldi, it opens with a group of men wearing low cut gowns, half dress-half cape numbers in all black; we later deduce these are the veteran castrati, their mission to bring vulnerable new recruits into the fold. They waver between almost inquisition-styled menacers, with striking unison choreography that relies heavily on canons and repetition to lend a military feel, and older-brother, caring mentors who swoon and partner each other gently--in the latter roles they shed their black robes to reveal sparkly corsets and tights underneath. The contrast worked, illustrating the dual lives these men endured, the loss of that which defined then as men simultaneously bringing them great fame and adoration.

We went in to , the performance piece by Italian experimental theatre troupe Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio, at On the Boards last night with high expectations. We'd be dishonest if we didn't admit we were somewhat disappointed, but we still recommend the show highly. After all, it features some of the greatest stage magic we've ever seen, with effects and images that stick with you longer than the inkling you have while watching that, thematically, this isn't nearly as clever as the effects.

. Purportedly inspired by a group of women waiting around a bus stop, the Italian performance group's show traces the "lineage of women" and promises to be both breath-taking and sexy. We haven't been able to find out too much about Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio (most of the stuff we've found is in Italian), but the images of the show already available are arresting: flesh-colored goo shed from bodies like protean flesh; moxie-haired waifs with silver fists; and massive butterfly wings.

It’s early on a Sunday morning and for once, parking is easy to find in Pioneer Square. We click across the historic red-bricked plaza to the flagship store of Caffe Umbria. We’re met by a long, polished steel bar with clean lines. It’s classic Italian design, second only to the other, more rustic half of the store with exposed brick, wooden beams and beautifully painted tile work. The friendly baristas smile alluringly and then surprise us by asking for our drink orders in plain old English. We really thought it was going to be Italian.

When we're not blogging about food, wine and opera, Seattlest works as the sommelier at Sorrentino atop Queen Anne. (Keeps us out of the bars, don't you know.)

Seattlest and the fiancee have a holiday tradition that manages to work out each year, even when our procrastination reaches DefCon Four: Catch the annual Christmas Ship show at Gas Works on December 23.

Are food safety and food tasty mutually exclusive goals? You have to ask after both Zesto's and Wild Ginger show up on the P-I's list of Seattle's dirtiest restaurants.

They buzz, they flit, they fly. They dart, they dash, they zip.

We're not sure exactly what this is...seems like it's some voice software reproducing some of the comments Amanda Knox has made in relation to the slaying of her roommate in Italy. In Italian. With English subtitles. And music. And slides.

The last time multi-culti multi-genre singer-songwriter Manu Chao hit the Seattle area was at Sasquatch this summer (see above). Singing in French, Spanish, Arabic, Galician, Catalan, English, Portuguese, Italian, and Wolof, Chao fuses a variety of styles, including rock, reggae, punk and ska. So this ain't your grandma's drum circle's world music. There's no word as to when he's headed back to the Northwest, but if you're looking to experience the Spanish political punk in your own home, Nacional Records just released a limited quantity of the double vinyl version of his latest album La Radiolina today, available at Sonic Boom, Easy Street, and Everyday Music.

This summer Manu Chao showed his love to Seattle (and the rest of Washington) with an explosive set at Sasquatch (above). The seriously broadly multilingual and multicultural songwriter—he's French-born and -raised of Galician-Basque origins and sings in French, Spanish, Arabic, Galician, Catalan, English, Portuguese, Italian, and Wolof, often mixing languages within the same song—Chao fuses a variety of styles, including rock, reggae, punk and ska. With his hodgepodge of genres and tongues, he crosses cultural boundaries and appeals to many listeners who don't typically dive into "world" music. No doubt that's part of the reason why he just won his first Latin Grammy. If you're looking to experience the true Spanish political punk in your own home, Nacional Records is releasing a limited quantity of the double vinyl version of his latest album La Radiolina tomorrow. It'll be available at Sonic Boom, Easy Street, and Everyday Music.

This fall we are combining our love of the football and our dream of learning to cook. On Sunday morning, following a trip to a local farmer’s market/major supermarket chain, we will be preparing a meal from the city of the Seahawks opponent. Then at halftime we will throw our badly burned hands in the air and make hot dogs.

For a quarter century, Kent Stowell and Francia Russell, artistic directors of the Pacific Northwest Ballet, stood at the summit of Seattle's cultural elite. Russell founded the company's ballet school and still travels widely as a consultant. Among his many achievements, Stowell choreographed Seattle's holiday favorite Nutcracker before stepping down three years ago. So what's he going to do for an encore? Hold that thought.

This fall we are combining our love of the football and our dream of learning to cook. On Sunday morning, following a trip to a local farmer’s market/major supermarket chain, we will be preparing a meal from the city of the Seahawks opponent. Then at halftime we will throw our badly burned hands in the air and make hot dogs.

Trouble in Tahiti / Rita: Seattle Young Artists Program @ CHAC

The glorious fall sunsets have disappeared along with the mouldering husks of Halloween pumpkins, and according the weather report, we can all expect a long, cold, wet weekend. But this being the Northwest, that's never stopped us from getting out and about; here's the weekend plans of your intrepid Seattlest contributors:

(This fall we are combining our love of the football and our dream of learning to cook. On Sunday morning, following a trip to a local farmer’s market/major supermarket chain, we will be preparing a meal from the city of the Seahawks opponent. Then at halftime we will throw our badly burned hands in the air and make hot dogs.)

(This fall we are combining our love of the football and our dream of learning to cook. On Sunday morning, following a trip to a local farmer’s market/major supermarket chain, we will be preparing a meal from the city of the Seahawks opponent. Then at halftime we will throw our badly burned hands in the air and make hot dogs.)

(This fall we are combining our love of the football and our dream of learning to cook. On Sunday morning, following a trip to a local farmer’s market/major supermarket chain, we will be preparing a meal from the city of the Seahawks opponent. Then at halftime we will throw our badly burned hands in the air and make hot dogs.)

Tomorrow, the biggest, bestest band to ever emerge from Seattle—there, we said it—releases a new concert DVD. You can buy (or Netflix) Immagine in Cornice (Italian for "Picture in a Frame") and watch it in the privacy of your own condo, or—lucky us—catch it big-screen-style at the Metro.

So, yeah, there's been this Russian-Turkish style "urban spa" called Banya5 on Ninth for, like, three years now. It's kind of a giant community sauna, with a central oven providing both wet and dry heat, surrounded by a bunch of fresh- and salt-water pools. The guy who built it, Seattle-born real estate developer John Goodfellow, isn't even Russian; he got hooked on the concept in New Yawk City. You have to know where it is, because it's hard to see along the northbound arterial through the no-man's land connecting Lake Union with downtown.

Substitute restaurant reviewer Leslie Kelly has reached the end of her stint at the Post-Intelligencer and Managine Editor David McCumber (among many, many others) is breathing a huge sigh of relief. How'd this kid from Spokane end up in a big-city newsroom, anyway? Hsaio-Ching Chou, who signed off on the deal for Kelly to cover Rebeka Denn's "family leave," ain't around to answer, having gone off to PR-land. But Kelly's six-month tenure leaves a mound of unhappiness.