Seattle: Staple & Fancy

 

On my last night in Seattle, we went to Staple & Fancy. I had heard from friends that I really should try one of Ethan Stowell’s restaurants. While I adored the name “How To Cook a Wolf,” we settled on going to Staple & Fancy since it was in Ballard where I was staying and it was also the newest one. Rumor has it Chef Ethan also cooks at this one the most.

Since it was restaurant week, Staple & Fancy was only doing that menu. For $28, we had three courses. The first course was a variety of antipasti. There was so much food!

The first three antipasti; rilette, deviled eggs and squid salad were great. I really loved the supple squid.

 

 

OMG. OMG. OMG. My mouth was on FIYAH. Every now and then one of the padron peppers was incredibly spicy. There was much cursing. Namely from me. I did try to eat as many as I could though but had to stop because I started to cry.

Then our server overheard us saying it was too bad one of our friends didn’t eat seafood. He immediately rushed to get her something else to eat. That was so kind and generous of them. I was secretly glad because I could tame the heat from the padron peppers with a piece of cheese.

Three of the four of us went with the pork loin. I was glad I wisely opted not to get the mackerel considering the seafood overload we had with the antipasti. My friend had the tagliatelle which she said was very good. I was in love with the pork loin. While I liked the hog confit I had the night before at Palace Kitchen, I really enjoyed the pork at Staple & Fancy.

The squash with the pork loin was some fancy stripe-y sort. We decided to call it zebra squash.

 

For dessert we shared the ricotta cheesecake, apple crisp and chocolate budino. All the desserts were quickly attacked. Although I took my customary three bites, I thought about eating more but alas, the sugar from all the cocktails I had during the day was catching up with me. It was fantastic though and I had to reassure our anxious server it was indeed good.

As it was, I was sharing the De La Louisiane (rye, Benedictine, pastis) cocktail and knew I was heading out for more.

I can’t wait to go back to Seattle and try other Ethan Stowell Restaurants. Anchovies and Olives looks neat. And I have heard many good things about Tavolata.

 

Staple & Fancy Mercantile

4739 Ballard Ave NW, Seattle, WA 98107 – (206) 789-1200