Hazelnut gelato is perfect on a fall day. The nuttiness makes you feel less guilty somehow, as if you are a wild child eating hazelnuts in the forest when really you are just having dessert for lunch.

This past Sunday I strolled through the Ballard farmer’s market and peaked in at D’Ambrosio Gelato. There are many gelato stands in Seattle these days, but most fail. Too icy. Too bland. Not creamy enough.
But I had heard about this place. They import their hazelnuts from Piedmont, their pistachios from Sicily, and they make fresh gelato every day.

I don’t know if it’s because of their imported nuts, but D’ambrosio hits it perfectly. Both the hazelnut and pistachio gelato had a subtlety lost in most american renditions–sweet, creamy, nutty, almost floral. As I wandered through the Ballard farmer’s market eating gelato and listening to hipster country folk playing the stand-up bass, I could almost pretend I was in Italy.

Get there early because apparently they tend to run out of pistachio. And that would be a shame.

D’Ambrosio Gelato

5339 Ballard Ave NW
Seattle, WA 98107
www.dambrosiogelato.com

(206) 327-9175

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Soft opening, but all seemed calm in the kitchen, with Molly Wizenberg (of Orangette fame) in a long apron and her husband Brandon Pettit slaving in front of the Italian-imported hand-built pizza oven.

Three words: Billy’s padron chiles. Like the best roasted green chiles from New Mexico. With a bit of Grana Padano, and an amazingly crisp yet tender charred crust. Cobe says, “best pizza ever.”

Official opening August 12th.

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Delancey

Ballard
1415 NW 70th St
Seattle, WA 98117
www.delanceyseattle.com

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After hearing from cakespy that Cupcake Royale had changed their recipe, I decided to give them a second chance. It was cobe’s birthday, after all. And he loves red velvet.

The word is that Jody Hall of Cupcake Royale was so distressed about reports of dry cupcakes that she brought in the heavy hitter—Sue McCown of Coco la ti da—to futz with the recipe. The whole story is in Rebekah Denn’s smartly written prose here.

The end result is that after batches and batches of cupcakes, they have something that can last the day without getting dry. I put this to the test, arriving at 5pm just in time for “cupcake happyhour”—6 for the price of 3. Dangerous when you are a little pregnant lady.

I am obsessed with chocolate these days, so I got 2 each of the triple chocolate, red velvet, and the new chocolate scorcher which features Theo‘s own ghost chili chocolate.

First off, definitely moister. In fact, really quite nice. I am a dense cake person, so I like my cake even moister than these were. A thicker crumb, if you will. But I would chalk that up to personal preference.

The flavors were charming. I loved the red velvet, with its touch of cinnamon sprinkles. The triple chocolate was almost too chocolatey, but to be fair I had it without milk—a rookie mistake. The chocolate scorcher had a buttery smooth frosting with just enough chili to give an edge.

I can safely say I would bring these cupcakes to a party. Especially since they look all pretty in their fancy box. Score one for research.

Next up: Yellow leaf and their infamous tomato soup cake

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Cupcake Royale
www.cupcakeroyale.com

Ballard

(206) 782-9557
2052 NW Market St
Seattle, WA 98107

West Seattle

(206) 932-2971
4556 California Ave SW
Seattle, WA 98116

Madrona

(206) 709-4497
1101 34th Ave
Seattle, WA 98122

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Plaka Estiatorio was full of life last Saturday.

It probably didn’t hurt that the table next to us contained the owner’s family eating, drinking, and socializing. At one point we looked up and found the owner facing us, camera in hand.

“Can I take your picture?” he asked, “for the website.”

We smiled for the photo and then he wandered around taking pictures of the rest of the guests. The waitstaff and chefs posed too. It was like a birth.

Plaka’s interior is homey, with artistically exposed bricks, photos of the old world, and a lot of wood. The lighting’s so bright it’s like a deli, but somehow it didn’t detract. It just made it feel that much more like a family place.

They’ve gone with a classic greek menu–lamb, octopus, grilled seafood, spanakopita, and greek salad. But there are some rarer greek specialties on there too, like grilled haloumi (a cheese that stands up well to the fire), loukaniko (greek sausage), and yigantes (slow braised beans).

A greek salad was the first to arrive and it blew us away, with peppers and cucumbers that tasted straight from the garden. Even the tomatoes weren’t half bad. It felt like summer, with a topping of feta and sharp olives.

Roasted beets had a rustic simplicity, just tender and with a whiff of garlic.
The beet greens served alongside were long-cooked and silky.

Lamb chops were good quality, but needed more flame, they were missing that crispy char. The vegetables that came with were a mastery of the slow braise—onions and celery with a meaty richness, tomatoes that were fall-apart tender.

We were most disappointed by the papousakia, roasted eggplants stuffed with lamb and covered with béchamel. It was more creamy than we expected and missing the punch of the lamb.

As we sat there watching the tables around us cavort and drink wine, we felt totally at home. It would be a great place for a family dinner, or for someone’s birthday. And it was fairly crowded, for a place that’s just opened. We’ll be back. Next time I’m trying some of that grilled seafood.

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Plaka Estiatorio
(206) 829-8934
5407 20th Ave NW
Seattle, WA 98107
www.plakaballard.com

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I used to live in Phinney and in the few years since I left it has sprouted. The little strip on 70th that used to house nothing more than a yoga studio now has a bar, a few cafes and this cute little place.

The pastry case is teeny in that perfect little french way. They have croissant and quiche and macarons in pastel colors and these perfect little canele, a pastry so rich it is rumored to stave off desire in nuns. We decided on spinach gouda quiche and a salty croissant (koenig? I didn’t quite catch the name).

The quiche was warm and creamy with gouda, the crust that perfect mix of crunch and substance. The croissant was sadly not warm, but it was light flaky and enrobed in a delicate salty caramel. Salt and sweet is a favorite taste combination for me.

This place is tiny though. There are 6 stools and a few chairs gracing the front. Not bad for a nibble, but it began to get crowded and we were still hungry so we decided we would do a little french bakery taste-off at Besalu.

Once you’ve started on pastries, it seems a shame to stop.

Besalu is just a few blocks away and usually has lines out the door. Luckily by the time we arrived it was near 1pm so we slipped in and even found a table.

The atmosphere at Besalu matched our mood. Peach colored walls, Billie Holiday on the stereo, tiled floors and the smell of pastry—the perfect place to wile away a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Sheela was excited by the well-stocked pastry shelves. Pear tart, apple danish, several quiches, croissant and cardamom pretzels, not to mention a beautiful checkerboard black and white cookie.

In the back a serious frenchman rolled pastry dough, his apron dusted in flour.

We felt we should do a head-to-head quiche comparison so went for the spinach, which proved a mistake as it was slightly overcooked and the crust almost tasted burnt. Sheela liked it better, declaring it more substantial, but I found it too solid. But then, I like my eggs a bit runny. I also missed the gouda.

I’ve had their quiche in the past and the crust is better when perfectly cooked. Perhaps we should have tried the leek.

A lemon tart had a rich custard but was so big it could’ve fed 10 frenchman. Perhaps it was meant as dessert for a crowd and we mistakenly shared it. We had no problem finishing it. The pate sucre was perfect.

The cardamom pretzel is Sheela’s favorite, a bit of savory with the sweet. Again it would have been better warm, but the light flaky pastry competed with that of Honore’.

In the end? They both win. On this day the pastries at Honore’ were slightly better, but the atmosphere at Besalu really won me over. Twist my arm, I might have to go back to both and compare again.

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Honore’
1413 NW 70th St
Seattle, WA 98117
(206) 706-4035

Besalu
5909 24th Ave NW
Seattle, WA 98107
(206) 789-1463

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