stoneburner

we went tostoneburnerfor another dinner and found again an interesting and compelling set of flavors with every dish. they rely on grilled and hot-oven made food which yields rich tasting but not fatty foods. the grilled broccoli was accompanied with a delicious tahini and i would definitely order this again. even the ziti with sausage was surprisingly deep in flavor due to the flame oven finish. the chicken was covered in moroccon flavored spices, moist and delicious. attentive but not intrusive service. lots of people in the restaurant, set within the heart of the ballard neighborhood. you can't go wrong here - something for everyone. pizzas, fish, meats, small plates, large plates, even interesting desserts.

a perfect farmer's market brunch spot!. i've been tostoneburnerseveral times both for brunch and dinner. for dinner we sat at the bar and it was very fun to watch the kitchen work including their pasta chef who was hand rolling pasta. they have a great combination of a beautiful interior with a slightly hotel bar kind of feel that somehow continues to work in the neighborhood.

however, i think your best bet is brunch before our after the sunday farmer's market. they have beautiful french pressed coffee and fluffy omelettes. on a sunny day, get a seat in the open window and people watch the morning away.

it was great to finally get tostoneburnerfor the first time, and the nice brunch treatment means a desire to return for more. some of the egg dishes...

head tostoneburnerfor the outdoors cafe feel without actually having to sit in the sun (we live in seattle, so we'd melt).

a solid a++ experience. on a trip to the ballard sunday farmers market we stopped atstoneburnerfor a late brunch--which proved to be an inspired choice. we were seated next to the window--well, where the window would be when the glass doors fronting the restaurant were closed--but they were slid wide open and our booth was slightly elevated above and open to the street. it gave our meal a european ambiance which caused me to order a lovely glass of prosecco. for our meal we each had a hazelnut scone and each declared it to be the best scone we ever had (and the rhubarb jam spread made my day). to round it out we split two sizable vegetable orders: the roasted spiced heirloom carrots with sesame seeds and the roasted cauliflower with pistachios, chili oil and golden raisins. the creativity reflected in the flavors and appearance of these vegetables sets a very high bar. top this all off with excellent service and i now can't wait to return to see how creative they are with their dinner selections.

beautiful!. our fist visit tostoneburnerwas quite pleasant. the restaurant is beautifully decorated. the service was good and the food was good and the bottle of wine we had was excellent even though it was the most inexpensive bottle of red (sangiovese $35.00) on the wine list.
one thing you should know aboutstoneburneris that most everything on the menu is ala carte. you don't get any side items with your meal unless you order them separately.
my wife got the crispy half chicken entrée ($22.00). it came with a small dollop of mashed potato. a vegetable side would have cost eight dollars.
i got the spicy pasta with lamb shank ($18.00). it was quite good. the meat was a bit chewy but the dish tasted great.
we also shared a menu item called "burrata". it consisted of a large piece of mozzarella cheese on top of marinated greens. it was meant to be an appetizer but we had it for dessert.
the only small problem with the visit was this: they have one table atstoneburnerthat matches none of the other décor and the chairs look like those tubular metal chairs you sat it in school. we were early for our reservation and i don't understand why we couldn't get a window seat when no one else was in the place.
(pictures are posted of this visit to stoneburner.)

stoneburner's magic touch. we have eaten atstoneburnerthree 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.stoneburnerpicked 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 a large raviolo 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 overseeingstoneburnerat 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 two large plates are near that mark. large plates 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.