You’re invited. Credit: Kelly O

Last Wednesday night at quarter to seven, only one table at
Cantinetta was unoccupied. (It wasn’t that great of a table, marooned
islandlike near the semiopen kitchen, but the people at Cantinetta are
pleased to show you to the bar to wait for a better one.) The din was
prodigious. The waitstaff bustled, and the owner clapped various
customer-friends on the back or outright embraced them as they came in
from the cold. A tableful of self-satisfied older men and attractive
women had more uproarious fun every passing minute, aided by round
after round of limoncello; two women alternately processed their
feelings and felt other feelings, occasionally screaming with laughter;
people on dates occupied romantic bubbles, untroubled. At the communal
table in the back, five people were engulfed by an improbable number of
wrapped and ribboned presents, stacks and piles of them.

Seattle doesn’t need another Italian restaurant. Good ones, both
old-school and new-authentic, are plentiful; the economy’s gone to hell
in a handbasket and shows no signs of returning. Cantinetta, open since
the beginning of January, is in a now-familiar
regional-Italian/handmade-pasta/local-and- seasonal-ingredients mode.
It’s obscurely located on a residential stretch of Wallingford Avenue
North in a former dentist’s office. Its interior is unoriginal if
perfectly executed rustic-chic: dark wood floors, heavy wood tables,
heavy-framed mirrors, warming candlelight. It’s indisputably too
loud—maybe something about the L-shaped room and big picture
windows (“What?” “What?”). But Seattle loves Cantinetta, and
rightly so.

The menu descriptions, with their spare but auspicious lists of
three or four ingredients, recall dishes available at several places
around town (and innumerable places in Italy). Current revival foods
are well represented (brussels sprouts, poached duck egg, braised
oxtail, agnolotti). What’s on the plate is just straight-up good. The
happiest-making thing I’ve had at Cantinetta (so far): a heap of stewy
rabbit cacciatore on a bed of polenta ($15). The rabbit had enough
spicy heat to round out the gaminess of the meat beautifully; the
polenta was so nice—not too buttery, just-right creamy—you
wanted to lie down on it. The portion: quite gigantic.

Cantinetta’s pastas have also proved to be delicious. The recent
tagliatelle ($15.50) was porcini infused, the incorporated mushroom
dust giving an earthy, savory weight to noodles that otherwise seemed
so thin as to be insubstantial. They were almost buried by a massive
quantity of sautéed foraged mushrooms. A whole clove of smashed,
roasty-sweet garlic was also found, and lots of fresh marjoram lent a
floral note (almost too strong but then again, just right). Vegetarians
beware: It also had the gift of unlisted bacon. Pappardelle with a
bright, winey Bolognese sauce ($16) was a very fine version and inhaled
accordingly. Gnocchini ($16) with the aforementioned braised oxtail, as
well as turnips and butternut squash, was not a favorite—all
textures were squishy, and the taste tended toward sweet—but it
was an above-average winter dish nonetheless.

In the nonlocal, nonseasonal category, an antipasto of a
sliced-and-fanned half avocado with grapefruit, oil-cured black olives,
and pickled chili ($6) was a marvel. The balance of nutty avocado
smoothness and citrus with vinegar, salt, and spice is exciting the way
finding an orange in your stocking must once have been. To get back to
basics (if basics turned fad), sautéed brussels sprouts ($8.50)
were not the mushy ones of yore, but crisp, served with the soft,
awesome richness of duck confit and shallot. And in the classics
category, mussels ($9) were creamy and bountiful, their puttanesca
broth savory without being oversalinated. A few whole anchovies made
extra-great bites, and the olive bits in the broth got spooned up
after.

Secondi courses—the rabbit cacciatore, a tasty Painted Hills
hanger steak with varying vegetable ($17), line-caught ivory salmon
with fennel/leeks/farotto ($17)—are good values for those
who are immune to the allure of pasta or who have heroic appetites. I
only made it to dessert once, and that was because the chocolate
torta ($8.50, above par) had to be ordered in advance.

The wine list is half Italian, half Washington, and all on the
expensive side—few bottles below $30, a number above $100. For
the less financially abled, Cantinetta considerately offers house wine
for $5.50 a glass. As far as service goes, the only problem encountered
was one glass of wine that got lost in the shuffle; otherwise it was
consistently kind, swift, and perfect for a party of a place.

Cantinetta’s chef, Brian Cartenuto, came out of nowhere: He answered
a Craigslist ad while working on a deluxe cruise ship in the
Mediterranean. Owner Trevor Greenwood (from Via Tribunali and, before
that, Queen City Grill) flew him over to cook for his family for
several days, to see how the match took. At Cantinetta, through a
couple interior pantry windows, you can see Cartenuto and his staff all
intent during rushes, then talking and laughing later on. They don’t
mess up and they have a good time, making the work of a hot, demanding
kitchen look both focused and fun. They’re lucky, and so’s the
city—especially Cantinetta’s neighbors. recommended

31 replies on “Newly Beloved”

  3. Just what I think — beloved! This is the best pasta in town and at a price you just can’t beat. My favorite is the black pepper pasta with a farm egg — yum yum!

  4. @kip and tracy, the stranger would never accept money for reviews, bethany only gives good reviews to the cool crowd in hope of acceptance.

  5. Overpriced??? WTF not only is this place the hottest restaurant to open, the value is great espically on the wine list. And God forbid someone get a good review from the stranger, but it is ok you can remain bitter

  6. there is not a writer at the Danger who would know a farm egg if you threw it at them

    @20.00 pasta dishes, what a deal … for the boom years

  7. There is nothing on the menu that is over twenty dollars… Since moving to Seattle I have noticed that you all love to blog and comment but so don’t have your facts before you type. Been here a fewtimes and not every meal is fablous, but every meal has been good and consistant… Which is hard to find here in the emerald city. So for the record nothing on tree menu is over 19 dollars! Boomer what?

  8. I love the ignorant comments from those who don’t operate restaurants and still presume to pass judgement on their prices – guess what? Foraged mushrooms @ $11, labor cost of making noodles, enormous costs of doing business with city, fire department, hood cleaning, etc. $.80 every time the dishwashing machine runs, laundry bills…. all so you can have a $16 dollar bowl of wild mushrooms and handpicked pasta, with your lazy ass. It’s a good deal – you should take it, or just shut up.

  9. $20 dollars for pasta…someone needs to actually go to this restaurant before they waste our time writing a blog. Unless you’re talking Olive Garden, this is the most affordable quality pasta in town. For comparison, and as one who refuses to completely let go of the boom years I’ve been to all of these places (recently I might add), check out the prices for a comparable portion of pasta at Spinasse, Tavolota, and How to Cook a Wolf (or if you want to really feel ripped off experience the portion size of their seafood or meat dishes). Long story short, Cantinetta isn’t perfect (but where is?), but the ambience is warm with a nice buzz, the staff is solid, and the food is very good (if not great). Best bang for the buck that I’ve found in Seattle in this category (food quality/ambience/overall experience). So I must respectfully disagree with the review of some of the bloggers above.

  12. I’ve eaten at via Tribunali and for that I won’t eat here. note to Via Tribunali: you didn’t reinvent pizza. stop taking yourself so seriously just cuz you named your little monster after a street in naples

  14. Jeebuz H. Christ on a crostini people, it’s a freaking sit-down restaurant! If you want cheap pasta, stay the fuck at home and open up a can of Chef Boy-Ar-Dee.

  15. I go to a little restaurant that a 5 star chef runs after retiring from his restaurant in Tokyo. He doesn’t charge more than $10 a plate.

    Then again sea urchin, saffron, crab, etc. isn’t cheap.

  18. Honestly anything over $9 is too much. Anyone trying to convince the masses in this economy of anything else is simply full of shit.

    I read above where fancy pants “conniseurs” of extra fixin’s on the pasta justifies the means to an end. Right. Take the fancy mushrooms, spices, and other fluff and shove it. Just put some cheese on it, add some simple common mushrooms, spices, or other cheeses and call it good!

    “foraged” mushrooms?? bwahhahahaha

    Aren’t they all foraged? What kind of fancy term can you think of next?

    Geesshhhh!

    Fucking get real!

    I now remember why we consistently opt for Thai instead of Italian pasta. I don’t need some fancy Italian sounding noodle name to justify milking an extra $8 dollars out of me…

    I’ll pass thanks!

  19. Uh, up here in Toronto, I’ve never seen a plate of pasta go for less than $12CAD unless you’re having spaghetti bolognese. $9USD? Are you eating at Denny’s?

    Typically most places charge between $14-18 (higher cost usually for mussels or shrimp). I can’t justify paying over $20 for a plate of pasta either, but some people are a little deluded about how low restaurant prices should go. The point of going out isn’t to save money.

  20. My partner and I live nearby and we went after reading this review. We were very impressed. Great, warm ambience to start with, and the server was fantastic–always there at the right time but not obtrusive, and very helpful. She came back from the kitchen to apologize that a dish she thought was vegetarian had some pork fat in the base and then offered several options that the kitchen could put together. I.e. not only did she bother to check, but she also got some other possibilities, all within a couple of minutes. My tagliatelle with a duck egg (I’m not the vegetarian!) was great, as was the partner’s risotto. I was initially surprised at the size of the portions, but I was happy to leave not over-stuffed and with nothing left on the plate, as it should be. Price? For a total of three glasses of wine, two starters and two mains we each paid $44. Last night at How to Cook a Wolf for the same plus two desserts we each paid $60, so I’d say pretty Cantinetta is reasonable, especially given the food, service and great space they’ve created.

  21. I love the comments, most of all the Bethany for blow comment, Everyone in this town knows her style is banging the Top Chefs. I heard the chef is actually a hack, at least that is what the word is one the street.

  22. $20 for good pasta is not at all outrageous. It’s just that most of us can’t afford it more than a few times a year right now. Hell, a friend of mine just took three of us out for dinner at a steak house and, including drinks, it was over $120. Could I afford that? No way in hell.

    But I’ll trade you my firstborn for a good Alfredo sometime. I’m sick of my own homemade Alfredo. It’s good, but you can only jazz it up so many ways.

  23. you would never guess the Great Depression is descending – chirp, chirp, chirp – many of the former boomers will be hard pressed to spend their food stamps on rice, beans and potatoes let alone five ravioli for 20.00 in th soh so nice nes eatery …

    get real

    Wendy’s will be your treat soon, my friends …. all this chatter about the over priced pasta place is so gauche entering a giant depression where hunger will stalk the working class

    Oh, I forgot, plastic world forever, Barbie and Ken are so happy today as they go the the new pasta joint and will only spend 65.00 for dinner … sure

  26. @IN THE KNOW: you mean she WANTS to be banged by wanna-be chefs. no self-respecting man would be caught dead with that limp-haired, sock-and-sandal-wearing, self-absorbed bitch.

  27. I don’t know, girlfriend. If you’ve seen one fancy Italian restaurant (if it’s in Italian, there ya go), you’ve seen them all. It’s like, tagliatelle… hmm, let’s pair it with foraged wild mushrooms. Me, I’m looking for an Italian joint, either of the New York classic variety (also woefully dwindling) — spaghetti and meatballs — or something of a SpeakEasy Cafe casualness, grazing snacks, lots of good crusty Italian bread (like Mia Roma), with slices of salami, eggplant, cheese, minestrone, bruschetta, bread and cheese, cheese and bread and sliced apples.

  28. Ate there on Saturday night, Cantinetta is a 1/2 block from my home. I am so pleased they opened in January; this restaurant is filling a huge foodie-hole on sofo Wallingford. Everything we ate was delicious, especially the pear tart. The crust is to die for.

  30. WTF does maligning a table of diners (self-satisfied older men, indeed) have to do with writing a credible restaurant review?

    I plan to visit this neighborhood place as soon as I can afford it. I won’t mind the prices if the food is great (how many other good places are much cheaper anyway?) The decor looks nice, I’ve heard good things about the food and a place where the chef likes his customers sounds nice to me.

    I figure that by the time I have a damn job and can go to Cantinetta they will have added some vegetarian and non-red meat items to the menu…If they haven’t, I’ll eat the mussels, drink the cheapest bottle of wine I can get, order dessert and have a memorable time.

    (FYI: A friend says Beppo’s is a cheap, fun, old style Seattle Italian joint with big cocktails and meatballs galore. My advice: go to both places, if you have enough money, and count your blessings that that Seattle has a plethora of Italian restaurants, plain and fancy, to choose from.)

  31. You people don’t know what you’re talking about — this restaurant is some of the highest quality Italian food and for an EXTREMELY REASONABLE price! Have any of you ever even worked in or, more importantly, owned your own restaurant? Do you understand the kind of labor and cost that goes into getting high quality, fresh, local ingredients and making things from scratch? You wouldn’t know good food if it bit you in the ass. Why don’t you go to the Olive Garden instead, where you can get soggy noodles tossed in pre-packaged, frozen sauce? You’ll even save a couple bucks! And I won’t have to look at your disgusting, unappreciative faces while I’m enjoying my dinner at Cantinetta. Leave the tasty food for more refined palates and go enjoy some Kraft Easy Mac you ignorant fucks.

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