Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
(
www.wildginger.net
;
1401 3rd Ave; mains $15-28; 11am-3pm & 5-11pm Mon-Sat, 4-9pm Sun;
University St)
All around the Pacific Rim - via China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam
and Seattle, of course - is the wide-ranging theme at this highly popular downtown fu-
sion restaurant. The signature fragrant duck goes down nicely with a glass of Riesling.
The restaurant also provides food for the swanky Triple Door (
Click here
) club down-
stairs.
TASTE RESTAURANT
NORTHWEST
$$
( 206-903-5291;
www.tastesam.com
;
1300 1st Ave; mains $15-25; 11am-close, to 5pm Tue &
Sun; University St)
Inside the Seattle Art Museum, Taste changes its menu to honor
the gallery's various temporary exhibitions. British bangers and mash were doffing a
cap to Gainsborough on our last visit. The venue is popular among city workers for its
3pm-to-6pm happy hour, when red-eyed bankers wash down oysters with cocktails.
Aside from the rather chic sit-down space there's also a take-out counter.
VON'S 1000 SPIRITS
NORTHWEST, FUSION
$$
( 206-621-8667;
www.vons1000spirits.com
; 1225 1st Ave; frics $11-17; 11am-midnight Sun-
Thu, to 1am Fri & Sat; University St)
S
It's almost worth coming to this new place op-
posite Seattle Art Museum to read the footnotes on the menu; invaluable nuggets that
tell you who made the chocolate cake (the executive chef's mother), how Henry II of
France inspired modern French cooking, and what kind of grain was used to feed the
cows that made the meat that made the burgers.
Once you've deciphered all of this, try one of the de rigueur cocktails ($5 martinis!)
and plump for a frics - a sourdough French country pizza.
IL FORNAIO
ITALIAN
$$
( 206-264-0994;
www.ilfornaio.com
; 600 Pine St, No 132; pasta & pizza $15-17;
11:30am-10pm Sun-Thu, to 11pm Fri & Sat; ; Westlake)
Split over two levels (upstairs is
more formal), this is where to come for quick, hearty, relatively authentic Italian cu-
cina. The open kitchen puts on a good show, and the food (fairly standard Italian
dishes) comes with ample focaccia and a good kids menu. It abuts the Pacific mall. You
can enter via the mall or from a separate street-side entrance at ground level.
