staple & fancy

s&f = t. well, i had been hearing about the hype surrounding staple & fancy. i had been using the online reservation system to score a much coveted dinner spot, but alas every week, all sold out or at unreasonable times such as 845 and onwards for dinner. so, i decided to call and voila! i got a reservation! i am not overly impressed by s&f. mind you, it isgoodand the ambiance is really urban but not in a loud sort of way. quiet trendy urban if you can imagine that. plus, on the other side is the walrus and c. but may i dare say that if you cannot get into s&f, just head to belltown and eat at tavolata, it is exactly the same! especially the pasta dishes. i did not find anything outstanding about this restaurant. it is good, yes, that is true, but outstanding, hmm... no - i would classify it as a very mathamatical ethan stowell formulated restaurant.

this was one of the best meals i have had in a long time.  my wife and i both ordered the tasting menu and were consistently wowed upon each course.  unlike altura, which is verygoodin its own, more artistic right, staple and fancy's tasting menu was more substantial and seemed more focused on the flavors of the food, itself.  the server (aaron) was a fantastic guide throughout the meal.  overall, a five-star experience.

superb, period.. eat at this little place in ballard and you may leave thinking you've just had one of the best meals of your life.

the menu is limited, and the establishment suggests you try the "chef’s choice fancy menu: a multi-course feast of seasonal dishes crafted by ethan just for your table. willing to put your dining experience in the hands of the chef? you will not be disappointed."

we'd strongly agree with that statement. everyone at the table must choose the option; there were four of us on our visit. the meal was broken up into four courses -- appetizers, pastas, proteins (meat, fish) and dessert. the appetizer course consisted of six or so items, including lightly fried oysters, a chick pea dish, sushi and much more. the pasta course contained a seafood dish in a light white wine sauce as well as a red sauced pasta dish with pork jowl. our protein course was a roasted pork dish and alaskan salmon, and our desserts included a cheesecake and a chocolate dish with house-made ice cream.

the appetizer course was outrageous. foods were creative, fresh, tasty and well portioned. the pasta dishes were outstanding as well, and the pork jowl -- which was slightly smoky and crispy -- was a delight. the pork and salmon "meat" course were well prepared, though perhaps not as unique and original as the rest of the meal.

service was professional. our wait staff was informed, friendly and knowledgeable, but never intrusive. the atmosphere is more contemporary than stuffy, but that's fine.

overall, the experience ranks among the best meals we have ever -- yes, ever -- experienced. in any city.

food was universally fresh, original and exciting. portions were not ridiculously skimpy. this is eclectic food that is alsogoodfood. it's not fancy for the sake of being fancy. it seems every effort adds to the overall goal of providing superb food -- a superb meal -- to the customer.

if you read our reviews, you'll see we don't say this lightly. if you enjoy fine dining, a visit to seattle is not complete without a trip to staple & fancy. forget the menu. just do the fancy menu and call it a day.

highly, highly recommended.

agree with just ok :-(. we were so excited to try s&fm based on the reviews and left feeling underwhelmed. we started with the smelt - heard it was amazing - not so much, just okay and if you're not into fried whole fishes pass on this one as it won't change your mind. for our entrees we had the ravioli and short rib with gnocchi. neither were very flavorful, not bad just kinda bland and the in-house pasta was so, so. it didn't melt in your mouth like reallygoodhome-made pasta should. the twogoodthings - our wine and the service was excellent. overall for what we spent here we could have spend the same or less and had a truly amazing meal somewhere else. what's even more disappointing is we had a similar lack-luster experience at tavolata - we were was really hoping s&fm would've have been different.

just ok. we did the chef's menu and i was prepared to be wowed but we just weren't. a few of the appetizers were great, a few were ok and a couple we just didn't really like at all. the pasta was very average. then for the main course we were served the mackerel. it wasgoodbut wasn't amazing by any means. the service was fine but they didn't seem over friendly or go out of their way to be nice. they just did the basics. i would not to the chef's menu again. it was a lot of money to pay for a mostly just ok meal. perhaps i would go again and try to find the items that we did like on the ala carte menu.

more ethan stowell. we went here on halloween night and were lucky enough to snag seats at the bar - otherwise the wait would have been a hour and a half. as recommended by the menu, we went with the chef's choice, which was $45 for 7 appetizers, 1 pasta, 1 protein, and dessert.

while everything was stellar, nothing was inventive or amazing. maybe it was because stowell wasn't cooking that night? if you've been to how to cook a wolf, olives and achovies, or tavolata there's nothing really new here.good- yes. inspiring - not really.

of the seven appetizers, we had 2 pate spreads on crostini - one fish, one pork liver? and then another pate with sweet/sour onions that was quite tastey. the hericot verts with parmesean were fresh and crisp. the two cured meats were both good, followed by a somewhat disappointing octopus with beans spanish style tapas that had mushy octopus. when we mentioned it to our server, he informed us that it was supposed to be that way. hmm -goodto know that's what they were going for, but not our preference for octopus. grilled somewhat spicey peppers in aoili rounded out the last appetizer - this was an interesting dish.

pasta - gnocchi in beef ragu;goodas usual, but better at tavolata. protein - beef sirloin, cooked perfectly with chantrelle mushrooms. and of course, we saved room for an amazing ricotta huckleberry cheesecake. this is probably the smoothest, creamist cheesecake that's not too heavy that you'll ever have.

not great, not even very good.. went to staple and fancy expecting agoodmeal since it appears to be so popular. right off the bat, we found that the service was slow and not pleasant or very helpful. we ordered the family style supper. some of the courses were interesting andgoodbut others were notgoodand the chicken entree even came to us undercooked. we complained but never received any response from the kitchen. needs improvement.

stunning food .... it was the first friday this much anticipated addition to ballard's burgeoning restaurant scene was open. we'd snagged a 9.45pm table and were excited just to be able to get in.

let's get a couple of little gripes out of the way. we had to wait at the hosts desk a little longer than was comfortable and, along the same lines, some of the service throughout the night was a little on the slow side.

but omg, the food more than made up for. my partner's mussel brodo was an appetizer worthy of being an entree in both taste and substance. the controne beans gave it substance and the jalapeno some heat ... a delicious combination.

the chanterelle mushrooms and zucchini were sublime, topped with a beautifully fried duck egg with a generous shaving of parmesan as well. had the kitchen closed down at this point i would have left happy.

as it was my partner's halibut entree and my grilled beef loin didn't disappoint at all. with beautiful grill marks but moist and cooked to perfection, the halibut was probably the best i've ever tasted. one suspected it was undercooked until the realization that just about every other restaurant must have been ever so slightly overcooking theirs!

the beef loin was similarly tasty, grilled to a succulent medium-rare and accompanied by dried tomatoes, tiny mushrooms and pearl onions.

sadly, the wonderful food andgoodwines left us with no room for dessert ... but there's always next time. the prices are so reasonable for suchgoodfood that the hard part will be resisting temptation to go there often. with wine available by the half-glass as well as the glass or bottle, it makes sense to take advantage of some great pairings.

we look forward to many more meals at staple & fancy in the weeks ahead ...