Friday, August 6, 2010

la Spiga - Seattle, WA

la Spiga Osteria
1429 12th Avenue
Seattle, WA 98122
Website here.

My dad's friend highly recommended this place that makes its own noodles, so we went there on Wednesday, 8.4.10. Now I highly recommend this place! Everything tasted good (well, not the seafood-y one, but that's just because I don't like that seafoody/fishy flavor), and my dad pointed out that each dish had a unique taste. The quality of the ingredients was, of course, top-notch as well, and having good-quality ingredients tends to be the secret to excellent food no matter what you make or eat.


The table and menu:

The bread (Dad said it was like Italian naan...I said it was like a thick, bready tortilla). Both times they brought these out they were piping hot. I was craving olive oil, but these were pretty good on their own.



Below...
LEFT
: Gnocco Fritto e Involtini di Bresaola: "Bresaola served warm with robiola fresca and mascarpone, arugula, shaved fresh button mushrooms, lemon and fried Emilian flat bread"
RIGHT: Insalata Caprese: "Classic salad from the island of Capri; fresh mozzarella with sungold heirloom tomatoes, fresh basil and 'Capezzana' EVOO" (It also had a tiny bit of cayenne pepper)
--> These bright orange-y red tomatoes were the sweetest, most delicious tomatoes I've ever had, and I don't even like tomatoes all that much by themselves. The sauce and cheese were amazing too. MMMMM!!!


Tortelli di Spinaci alla Norcina: "Spinach and ricotta filled tortelli, sausage and cream sauce, fresh black Umbria truffle" (YUM...except the shaved mushroom things were kinda dry and weird to me, but that was just me being a very inexperienced truffle-eater):



If you (like me) don't like seafood-y flavors, you'll dislike this dish (Spaghetti Neri alla Chitarra con Frutti di Mare e Bottarga di Muggine: "Black chitarra spaghetti, seafood ragu, 'Pianogrillo' EVOO and shaved bottarga"). Bleah. It tastes like ocean-flavored noodles with every kind of seafood I don't like: crab, shrimp, oysters, etc. BUT I'm sure if you like those things, you'd like it. My parents and brother finished it off and enjoyed it. The noodles are black from squid ink.


The gnocchi (I think it was "basil and ricotta gnochetti, fresh Heirloom tomato sauce, cream") that wasn't too thick, too hard, or too soft!! I made it once on my own in Berkeley and apparently didn't make it right because I didn't like it and this was way good.



The Lasagne Verdi: "Layers of green lasagna noodles filled with ragu (meat and tomato sauce), bechamel and Parmigiano Reggiano" = Really good. Soo soft and tasty. I do have to say, though, that I like lasagna noodles when they're a little firmer than this, and the white beschamel on top tasted slightly like soap (my dad said that it does have a kind of floral taste to it). Otherwise, it was very good.

Tiramisu!! ($6.00) - The best my parents and I have ever had. My brother hadn't tried it before, but he said it was good.
"Il Mascarpone di Ida: Our house made tiramisu as made by Pietro's mother":

The dessert menu:

4 comments:

Catherina said...

Oh wow I didn't know you were in Seattle! How are you liking it? I was there last April and thought it was just wonderful =)...a potential grad school for me is up there.

All this food looks amazing! And I would definitely eat the black squid ink noodle dish lol. The gnocchi looked good too but I'm a little wary of it because I've had it where it seemed a little, I don't know, doughy? Closest adjective I can think of. I may not be the biggest tiramisu fan but it was presented beautifully...I'm more interested in the gelato I saw on the menu! haha

Hope you're having a great time!

Corriendo said...

i was there for almost a week just for fun w/ the fam. it was nice! driving and parking are kinda stressful, but the food places we tried were amazing (posting lots more...including pics from a food tour!), the people were interesting, and the area was beautiful. cool! if u end up in that area, u can check out the food places i photographed. hehe

yeahhh...gnocchi can be too doughy. the first time i tried it i didn't like it, but this dish was really good and not too tough or thick. haha how funny. i'm more of a tiramisu person than a gelato person. :)

thanks! i'm back home now, but it was fun.

Catherina said...

Next time I'm there, I'll definitely have to take a food tour. I did come across this gourmet chocolate place that had wonderful chocolates, beautiful packaging (I'm a sucker for beautiful boxes, bags, and bows lol), and dark hot chocolate =).
http://www.franschocolates.com/home.php

Also there was a fudge place in lower Queen Anne neighborhood - truly amazing and to die for. We were there a week and I went back three times lol

I have to say, despite my wariness about the gnocchi, the simple description of the dish and the sauce sounded great and has convinced me to try it again =)

Corriendo said...

oh yeah! i went inside fran's while waiting for the food tour to begin (it started at vital tea leaf right next to it). all i did was admire their products and eat a free sample. mmm!!

oh cool. food is so wonderful. haha!