Two Seattle establishments got mentions in GQ's year end Food round up, so I'd like to check them out next time I'm in town:
5. Anchovies & Olives, Seattle
The best empty restaurant I've ever seen. Anchovies & Olives stays open until midnight in a city where everybody is in bed by 10 p.m. I arrived an hour before closing time. I not only ate alone, I also drank alone—even the bar was vacant. The place, as you might expect, was dark, quiet, and still. I expected to encounter Edward Hopper painting a West Coast version of Nighthawks. All the same, chef de cuisine Charles Walpole was on the job, and his food was everything the ambience was not: bright, vibrant, and lively. So-called Soft Boiled Eggs, hard enough to pick up, the yolks gorgeously creamy, topped with house-smoked tuna. Whole fried baby hake presented on a platter like the one your mother saved from Hickory Farms. Wonderful pastas, some pristinely Italian, like bigoli (thick whole-wheat strands) with garlic, chilies, and artichokes; some exuberantly American, like gnocchi with chunks of swordfish, celery, escarole, and salsa verde. Finally, a real reason to stay sleepless in Seattle.
Quinn's also gets a mention as a great beer bar.
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