February 2021

Best Pasta Dishes at Local Italian Restaurants

Best Pasta Dishes at Local Italian Restaurants

Stunningly good pasta dishes run the gamut, from understated elegance to decadent and over the top.

Storied Italian women are said to sit on old stools set on cobblestone streets, rolling gnocchi off forks, pinching pasta into hankie shapes or cutting it into short tubes. Locally, pasta makers hand-cut fine, fresh pastas, too, and they are stunningly good. Our favorite local pasta dishes run the gamut, from understated elegance to decadent…

Handcrafted Noodles from Fremont's Soba Studio

Handcrafted Noodles from Fremont’s Soba Studio

The owner of Miyabi 45th in Wallingford makes Japanese teuchi soba the old-fashioned way.

There are no shortcuts at Mutsuko Soma’s Fremont soba studio. Here, in a tiny, sunny room, she makes the Japanese teuchi soba the way she learned at soba school in Japan, which she attended in 2008, after working at Seattle restaurants such as The Harvest Vine and Saito’s. First, she grinds her own Washington-grown buckwheat…

Huge Sale: Canopy Blue, Sway and Cake and More

Huge Sale: Canopy Blue, Sway and Cake and More

Head East to Kirkland’s Blue Luna (127 Lake St South) for a sale to beat all sales. Starting today, Thursday January 31 at 1 p.m. and running through Saturday, February 2 at 2 p.m., six designers and retailers, including Elizabeth Roberts, Canopy Blue, MB’s Finds, Sway and Cake, Blue Luna and Mandy Moon Vintage, will…

5 Superb Super Bowl Party Cocktails

5 Superb Super Bowl Party Cocktails

The Super Bowl won’t be as exciting as it should have been this year. (If things had just gone a little differently, this post would be all about drinks nicknamed “Russell” and “Marshawn”). Alas, there are still fun game day parties to be had. And to make them more fun, can the cheap beer and…

Hoorsenbuhs Trunk Show at Barneys

Hoorsenbuhs Trunk Show at Barneys

Barneys is hosting a Pre-Valentine’s Day Hoorsenbuhs trunk show on Saturday, February 2 from 12 to 6 p.m. In addition to their soon-to-be iconic Phantom Ring (I’m obsessed with the rose gold and black diamond version), the brand ambassador will have lots of special order items, like blingy diamond studs and leather cuff bracelets, on…

Goodwill Donates Piece to Burke Museum

Goodwill Donates Piece to Burke Museum

Those of us who love to treasure hunt at thrift shops often dream of finding a priceless score, either a long lost piece of art from an established master or a couture piece from a major designer—something that fits us perfectly or that we can sell for a huge return. Or, I guess donate to…

Nordstrom Partners with CFDA/Vogue for Fashion Fund Pop-Up

Nordstrom Partners with CFDA/Vogue for Fashion Fund Pop-Up

I was hit hard by a brutal cold this week, and the best thing to come out of it—aside from a newly found guilty TV pleasure in Nashville—I was able to catch up on The Fashion Fund*, a Hulu.com exclusive reality show that follows 10 finalists in the CFDA/Vogue contest of the same name, where…

Seamless in Seattle Designer is on Project Runway Season 11

Seamless in Seattle Designer is on Project Runway Season 11

Back in 2010 I was a judge for both the Art Institute of Seattle’s student fashion show and Seattle mag’s Seamless in Seattle emerging designer contest (details for the 2013 Seamless coming soon!) and Kent-based designer Cindy Marlatt was a winner at both of them for her flowing and ethereal creations. Another thing that made…

Spanish Retailer Zara Coming to Westlake Center

Spanish Retailer Zara Coming to Westlake Center

First it was H&M, then Topshop in Nordstrom, now Zara, the last holdout in the low-priced, high-trend, fashion forward European retail chains, is coming to Seattle. As reported by the PSBJ, Westlake Center is the future home of Zara, with an arrival date of early 2014, that may also coincide with a remodel of the…

Seattle Sniffs: Where Smart Noses Gather

Seattle Sniffs: Where Smart Noses Gather

Seattle is home to a blossoming group of sophisticated schnozzes.

Seattle has long been a hotbed of airplanes, coffee and technology, and now fragrance may be added to that illustrious list. Last summer, perfumer Christi Meshell created Seattle Sniffs, a community of more than 30 olfactory artisans who use oils in the pursuit of perfumery. Meshell, whose hand-blended House of Matriarch fragrance line is sold…

Cold Noodles Comfort

Cold Noodles Comfort

Discover the delights of cold noodles.

Legend has it that a female emperor in ancient China, suffering through a hot day, demanded her noodles be served cold instead of hot. It was her birthday that day, and thus began a tradition: Every birthday from that day forward she asked that her noodles be served cold. In modern-day Seattle, I think the…

Enthralling Cocktails at Golden Beetle

Enthralling Cocktails at Golden Beetle

Bar manager Andy McClellan's drinks have been grabbing attention lately.

Nestled in the old Market Street Grill space in Ballard, the almost 2-year-old Golden Beetle has garnered notice for the Eastern Mediterranean–inspired cuisine created by executive chef and owner Maria Hines (Tilth). But lately the cocktails from bar manager Andy McClellan (previously of Lola and Palace Kitchen) have been grabbing attention. Amiable Atmosphere, MenuTwinkling multicolored…