Now open in Ballard, right next to each other and probably both really good:

• Ethan Stowell's Staple & Fancy Mercantile (here is bountiful information from the redoubtable Roger Downey)

and

• Renee Erickson's the Walrus and the Carpenter (no ampersand because it's from the poem)

Menus after the jump.

Walrus Summer Sample Menu

OYSTERS with champagne mignonette, horseradish & lemon
bread & Butter 3
Utz potato chips 2
marinated olives 3
Bayley Hazen blue, Boat Street Pickled Raisins 6
Dinah’s Cheese & Boat Street Pickled Plums 6
Sunset Bay Chevre & Ballard Honey 6
grilled zucchini, walnuts, ricotta & basil 8
Billy's beefsteak tomatoes, vanilla salt, olive oil 9
serrano jamon, roasted apricots, almond & mint relish 12
house smoked trout, lentils with crème fraiche,
dill & pickled red onion 10
mussels with tarragon & cherry tomato 10
clams with fennel, pastis, parsley & cream 10
salade nicoise, olive oil poached local tuna 12
steak tartare, farm egg yolk & toast 12
pork crepinette, cucumber & romesco 12

Staple & Fancy Mercantile:

appetizers
composed salad of beets, soft boiled egg, watercress, avocado, radish 11
sweet cream ricotta with heirloom tomatoes, grilled bread 11
chanterelle mushrooms and zucchini with fried duck egg and
parmigiano reggiano 12
mussel brodo with controne beans, tomatoes, chilies 10

pasta
tagliarini lamb ragu, oregano, mint 16
sweet corn ravioli with speck and chanterelles 16
potato gnocchi, sweetbreads, baby turnips, gremolata 15

entrees
halibut with controne beans, olives, radish, purslane 22
grilled beef loin with fava beans, pearl onions, dried tomato, oregano 21
grilled chicken with braised greens, bacon and thigh meat 19
grilled mackeral with fried cauliflower, ham hock, sauce salmoriglio 18
veal breast with figs, mint, romano beans, feta 20

sides
rapini with garlic and chilies 6
mixed baby lettuces with vinaigrette 6
crispy polenta with spicy anchovy oil 6

a note on the menu
Thanks for joining us at Staple & Fancy
Mercantile. Please feel free to order as
much or as little food as you like. And, if
you would like to avoid the trouble of
ordering altogether, please feel free to
hand your menu back to your server and
let the kitchen prepare you a family style
supper served in four courses for $45 per
person. Participation by the entire table
is required. We would also like to inform
you that you really should do this.