Seattle - February 20, 2009

Pike and Brine

Anchovies & Olives Restaurant Opens

In the competition to become Athens’s patron deity, Athena bestows an olive tree (so wise). Poseidon, the mighty god of the sea, offers … a salt spring.

Anticlimactic, to say the least.

Chef Ethan Stowell (Union, etc.), wife Angela, and repeat biz partner Patric Gabre-Kidan would have knocked him out of the water. At their new venture, Anchovies & Olives, seafood is the key component of every dish.

A crudo list includes hamachi with blood oranges and fennel. Fresh pastas — spaghetti with sea urchin, squid ink conghilie with monkfish puttanesca — make perfect primos. Wine whiz Angela brings a sophisticated selection of mostly white Italian wines.

A 1,200-pound solid maple counter, open kitchen, and views of Capitol Hill through enormous windows create yet another stunning interior from the restaurateurs.

Let’s just say they’ve hit a Homer.

Anchovies & Olives, 1550 15th Avenue (206-838-8080 or anchoviesandolives.com).