Barolo

Today's the last day of March's Dine Around Seattle, I wasn't quite ready to let go of March without one more lunch adventure. Luckily, it paid off this time.

I arrived at Barolo solo. I have to say my first impression wasn't exactly positive. The hostess was very attractive, but I'm not sure her sense of style is exactly fitting for a classy restaurant. She had an extreme low cut mini dress on with tights and cowboy boots. Maybe I'm too old fashioned, let's just say it was too much of a statement that I didn't know where to look.

The service started a little slow, but picked up quickly. I people watched as I sat enjoying the nice bread with toasty crust, served with olive oil and olive tapenade. There were many lunch groups having a good time, enjoying the wine by the glass, served in mini carafes. Pretty generous pours and a fun presentation, I must say!

For the appetizer, I debated between the lobster bisque and the buffalo carpaccio. The waiter readily pointed me towards Carpaccio di Bufalo con Finocchio - the Montana buffalo carpaccio topped with shaved fennel and microgreens tossed in vinaigrette. I found the fennel a little plain at first. But the sweetness of the fennel came to full bloom when eaten together with the salty carpaccio and red onions. It was lovely. My only complain was that I suspect it was plated a little early, as the edges of the meat were a little dry.

I'm normally a very indecisive person. It's true that I often take forever to decide when eating out, but I rarely ask for the waiter's recommendation. But today, I broke the record by not only asking him to decide my appetizer for me, but also my entree since I couldn't decide between the seafood risotto and the pheasant. He was right the Faggiano e Polenta con Fichi - the braised pheasant with polenta, onion and black figs - was a wonderful dish. The pheasant was perfectly tender, not gamy at all. The polenta was creamy. The tender roasted pearl onion was SO sweet, it could be eaten as a dessert. I'm not an onion person, so I couldn't believe that I finished it before everything else. The black figs were a lovely combination of sweet and sour in the balsamic vinegar reduction. As for the rest of the vegetables, the beet was nice and sweet, but the asparagus and carrot, while they were also fine, they were a little forgetable. When the dish came to the table, I thought the portion was too small. But it turned out to be perfect, I had just enough room to enjoy the dessert.

The dessert, Chocolate Tortino, was a molten chocolate cake, with a very moist almost oozy center. It sat on top of vanilla cream, drizzled with chocolate raspberry sauce, dusted with powdered sugar and decorated with a single raspberry. Mmm, yum! I was a little puzzled when the next table got a tortino served with the big end up like a cupcake. Was mine upside down? Oh, who cares! It was still scrumptious!

I walked out of the restaurant perfectly content. This must had been the best out of my 2010 March Dine Around Seattle experiences.

Barolo Ristorante
1940 Westlake Ave Metropolitan Tower (between 6th Ave & Virginia St), Seattle, WA 98101
(206)770-9000