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Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Chow New in Restaurants: Avila in Wallingford

Posted by Bethany Jean Clement on Wed, Nov 18, 2009 at 3:05 PM

Mark Fuller—chef/owner of awesome West Seattle restaurant Spring Hill—posts the menu of Avila to Twitter. (Prices aren't visible, unfortunately, but entrees range from $16 to $26; ingredients are local, etc.) In the kitchen there: his protegee Alex Pitts. (Fuller, in turn, came from the land of Tom Douglas.)

The Stranger's first reader-review of brand-new Avila:

Delicious, right out of the gate

We went to Avila earlier this week (its first). The room is low key with nice touches. We sat at the counter, with a view of the kitchen. Watched the chef and the owner scrutinize every dish that went out; presentation was, not surprisingly, spot on. Beet and bibb lettuce salads were super fresh and tasty. Entrees were elk (with ginerbread and squash - yum) and the best skirt steak my husband has ever had. Desserts were chocolate mouse and a mille feuille, the latter of which had at least 40 layers. Yum. Wine list is varied and affordable; recommendations were perfect with the food. We left happy and ready to return.

Posted by Did Someone Say Cake?

Comments (11) RSS

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What the F is "ginerbread"? Actually, don't tell me. I don't want to know.

Posted by Stuckus Painsley on November 18, 2009 at 3:07 PM

It sounds great, but I miss the (relatively) cheap sandwiches when it was called "Bella Cosa".

Prices are on their website. No lunch menu yet, but dinner entrees go to $31, not $26 as you state.

Posted by Fnarf

on November 18, 2009 at 3:11 PM

I'm going there tomorrow. Thanks for the timely review!

Posted by baconpussy on November 18, 2009 at 3:18 PM

id kill an elk for some elk right now.

Posted by derrickito on November 18, 2009 at 3:49 PM

I'm making a great chicken pahd thai tonight - total cost probably $2 - feeds three.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on November 18, 2009 at 4:03 PM

@5: Yes but we'd have to eat it with you, so bring on Avila!

Posted by baconpussy on November 18, 2009 at 4:09 PM

"Avila, a neighborhood restaurant done right."

hmmm, as opposed to all the OTHER neighborhood restaurants that are doing it wrong. Avila better make sure they are on point- on every level - every minute - otherwise, they run the risk of false advertising.

Now that I think about it - Tilth is a neighborhood restaurant. So is Spring Hill...

(what a ridiculous positioning statement)

Posted by mouthful on November 18, 2009 at 4:19 PM

Comment of the day right there, @6.

Posted by laterite on November 18, 2009 at 5:41 PM

Hey, how hard is it to go look on the Web site for prices? Entrees at dinner actually go up to $31. Nice reporting, Stranger!

Posted by Joe Sent Me on November 18, 2009 at 5:59 PM

"Did Someone Say Cake?" is the only food critic I trust.

Posted by ian on November 18, 2009 at 6:25 PM

Based on my experience at Cantinetta, the only obvious differences between a "neighborhood restaurant" and a destination restaurant seem to be the professionalism of the service and the slovenliness of the patrons. Why dress up to go to Belltown when you could pay just as much money to wear socks with sandals to dinner in Wallingford?

(This isn't a knock against Avila, just a knock against the idea of this sort of place calling itself a neighborhood restaurant. The joy of a doing business in a state with no tip credit for servers.)

Posted by Sean P. on November 18, 2009 at 11:48 PM