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Good Food
Good FoodConserving Mediterranean Culture on Lower Queen Anne
By Zachary D. Lyons
May 23, 2002 -- This being the Official Issue of Folklife, I thought I would write about a couple of restaurants in walking distance of Seattle Center. If you are anything like me, enjoying Folklife with 250,000 of your closest and dearest friends makes you weary, and a quiet, relaxing sit down meal away from the masses offers respite. (I know that's what I am going to do right after I watch my brother, Dana Lyons, play "Cows With Guns" at the Northwest Court Stage at 1:40 p.m. on Monday.)
Chef Francesco Bonbaci (left) with owner Roberto Davico of Nonna Maria. Zachary D. Lyons photo. |
Everything about this Italian Bistro is romantic--and delicious.
Roberto Davico, born and raised in Italy, met his wife, Oana, from Venezuela, in Paris. They moved to Seattle five years ago, and they began making their own pasta and selling it at Seattle's farmers markets in July, 1998. After two years, they opened this restaurant in Lower Queen Anne, using the recipes and experience Roberto had developed over many years of helping his grandmother prepare the Saturday family feast. The restaurant is even named after his grandmother. Roberto and Oana are simply one of the nicest, loveliest couples you could ever hope to meet, and they are living out that storybook American Dream right in front of our eyes.
When Nonna Maria opened in May of 2000, it was an Italian deli by day and a fine pasta joint by night. After a year, when they got their wine selling license, they decided to change the structure of the eatery to be fully a restaurant, cooking up grandma's traditional recipes, some Roberto originals, and a few dishes brought in by various staff. While the menu still features Roberto's terrific pastas dressed in various wonderful sauces, it also now includes some brilliant starters, excellent Risotti, and fine meat dishes.
Radicchio alla Griglia is a remarkable, hot antipasti dish, featuring pancetta-wrapped marinated radicchio. It will make you want to catch the next flight to Italy. Meanwhile, Vongole--Manila clams sauteed with prosciutto, garlic, parsley, bread crumbs and white wine--will make you forget about any other Manila clam dish in town.
Pasta is king at Nonna Maria (though Roberto will tell you he loves the T-Bone steak, Bisteca Fiorentina). Many other fine Italian restaurants in Seattle use Roberto's pasta. Linguini al Nero, made with squid ink linguini, comes lightly dressed in a creamy bay shrimp and asparagus sauce. I love this pasta, and shrimp suits it well.
Spinach and ricotta ravioli come bathed in a most wonderful porcini cream sauce in Pansotti Agli Spinaci. If other mushroom sauces have let you down, this dish will have you giddy with joy. And Tortelli Di Zucca is almost absurdly good. Delicate pumpkin filled pillows of pasta come dressed in nothing more than butter and sage--the embodiment of the virtues of keeping it simple.
Speaking of absurdly good, Nonna Maria's tiramisu could be the best in Seattle. Which left us completely dumbfounded to realize that the other dessert we tried, Crespelle al Caramello, was even better. Extraordinary eggs crepes are filled with warm caramel and glazed with sugar and chocolate sauce. Oh-my-gawd!!!
Nonna Maria offers a fine wine selection, and features live music Friday or Saturday nights. You can meet Roberto and Oana, and buy their fresh pastas, at the Columbia City, Lake City, University District and West Seattle farmers markets through October.
Nonna Maria, 530 1st Ave N, 378-0273, Lunch Monday - Friday, 11:30 a.m. - 2 p.m., Dinner Monday - Thursday, 5:30 - 10 p.m., Friday & Saturday, 5:30 - 11 p.m., $$-$$$
Kamal Aboualhosm, owner of Mediterranean Kitchen, shows off his food. Zachary D. Lyons photo. |
I love cultures which unabashedly eat with their fingers--like the Lebanese. It was an old Lebanese man who first taught me the proper way to eat hummous back when I moved to Seattle in the 1980s. "You tear off a piece of pita," he told me. "Then you scoop it through the hummous like this." It was a liberating lesson which stuck with me, as I encountered one culture after another which lacked the oppressive knife and fork obsession of the British.
Recently at Mediterranean Kitchen, I found myself educating a friend in the art of scooping up Chicken Shawarma and Falafel with a piece of pita, being sure to lick every bit of Lemon-Garlic Sauce off of my fingers. Mediterranean food is amongst the world's great comfort foods, and the Lebanese have mastered it.
Kamal Aboualhosm first opened Mediterranean Kitchen in 1981, a few blocks west of its current location, though he has been making Lebanese food professionally for some 35 years. Mediterranean Kitchen sits amongst a row of restaurants on Roy Street, most of which offer extensive vegan menus. A sign by the front door reads, "Large vegetarian menu, free of animal products." Some vegans might worry when their falafel arrives dressed with a creamy looking garlic sauce. But never fear--it is dairy free, and delicious.
For vegetarians, I suggest the Veggie Combo, as it offers a little of everything. The hummous is rich and nutty--"very Lebanesy," says Aboualhosm's nephew, Sam. Falafel is hearty and filling, the Stuffed Grape Leaves are brightly flavored and yummy, and deep-fried cauliflower is tasty. Those tart, purple things you'll be scarfing down are pickled turnips. And if lentil soup is on the day's menu, get it. The Lebanese do it best.
Meat-eaters will enjoy a true Lebanese delicacy, Shawarma, which is offered with lamb, beef, or chicken marinated in Marsala and red wine vinegar, spices and garlic. We were quite pleased with our chicken version. The Farmer's Dish (Bteckny) absolutely explodes with flavor. Chicken wings marinated in many spices--grandpa's secret recipe--for 24 hours, then charbroiled and topped with that spectacular lemon-garlic sauce, they boast that they have served millions. Given how good they are, I am not surprised. They are a genuine delight--a uniquely Lebanese dish about which you will rave.
Many dinnertime favorites are available for lunch, though the wings are not, as they take too long to cook. However, a nice plate of gyro meat is offered as a lunchtime special, on a bed of flavorful rice, and drizzled in lemon-garlic sauce. And try the baklawa (not to be confused with baklava) for dessert--the Lebanese version of the Mediterranean standard.
Mediterranean Kitchen, 366 Roy St, 285-6713, Lunch Monday - Friday, 11:30 a.m. - 2 p.m., Dinner Monday - Thursday, 4:30 - 9:30 p.m., Friday & Saturday 4:30 - 10:30 p.m., Sunday, 4 - 9:30 p.m. No Checks, $$.
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