stoneburner's magic touch. we have eaten at stoneburner three times now since they opened and stopped in late another night for drinks. having tried more than half of the menu, here are a few of my initial impressions:
the pasta. stoneburner picked up a cafe juanita alum and it shows. the pasta is delicate with relatively uncomplicated preparations letting the pasta and ingredients shine. the carmelized cauliflower "bed sheet" ravioli with squash blossoms and parm was somewhere between alargeraviolo and a lasagne. the filling took me completely by surprise. we had it again on our second visit. also consider the little queens which were filled with spinach pesta, ricotta and preserved lemon. fusilli with sausage ragu (of course the sausage is made in house) was served with fava beans and pecorino. having pasta and white beans together is something i picked up in the last few years and if you haven't had it the pasta and starchiness of the fava beans make a very savory and satisfying combo.
the bar. erik carlson, who made waves at moshi moshi and now designs the cocktails for all of the maclise and weimann restaurants, is personally overseeing stoneburner at the moment (and yes i would put him up there with anu apte, dave nelson, jamie boudrea, jay keuhner, anna wallace, marley beard tomic, jim romdall and the rest). a combination of top classics and erik's creations -- all of the highest caliber -- with the all-the-rage barrel aged option can be counted on. and james lechner has put together a great wine list.
the front of the house. james and jason do a very solid job with their staff who are all well versed in the menu, the ingredients and who have been attentive and friendly on our visits. they have also brought in dawn smith from powerhouse cafe juanita (which has some of the best all around service on the planet) and i can tell you she was omnipresent -- unobtrusively paying attention to how guests were reacting to their food. a comment that something was salty brought her immediately in asking about a fix (it turns out the guest thought the food was perfectly savory).
the decor. james weimann and deming maclise are masters of concept and sourcing. in a million years you would never guess you were standing in a standard street level high ceilinged box space. the slightly different floor levels, areas of arched or boxed ceiling, architectural elements and great use of lighting, tile, glass and wood make the restaurant look like it has been there since the early days of ballard ave. they should have designed the hotel.
jason stoneburner. the chef is a humble food enthusiast who knows his cuisine and in my opinion has a great eye and taste for flavor combinations. keep in mind that he was a force behind how to cook a wolf and knows his italian food. and he is good at so many things, with a real strength in forcemeat. there were so many interesting surprises on the menus like the crispy cheese filled deep fried castelveltranos olives, the soft boiled egg with artichoke mayo and snacking peppers (which felt for some reason very roman to me), the thinnest (nearly translucent) crudo of grass fed beef with elephant garlic chips, a succulent and tender octopus salad with cucumber and gaeta olives, a salad of roasted broccolli with farro and leeks and a crazy white crispy crust pizza with thin sliced potatoes, morel mushrooms, spring onions and fonduta that was like the most luxuriant english muffin.
prices. reasonable. nothing on the menu over $25 and only twolargeplates are near that mark.largeplates are $14-$2. pizzas, $11-13. pastas $14. veg $8. small plates $13-15. greens and grain salads, $9-$16. snacks $2-$6.
i am excited to go back and eat there again. i think this is going to be a big hit.