Barolo Ristorante

The amazing restaurant, Barolo, is located in the Metropolitan Tower in downtown Seattle and is just one block from the Westin Hotel where we attended the 2014 International Food Bloggers Conference last weekend. While we were at the conference we met a really nice couple, Stacey and Tom Bender, founders of “10 Legs in the Kitchen” food blog. (I love that cute name they came up with for their website.) Since they are residents of the area, we had asked them if they knew of any great Italian restaurants and they said to us, “You have to try Barolo, it is the best Italian food in Seattle.” The good thing was it was a short walk from the Westin Hotel, so it was an easy option for us.

Sunday night after the Conference ended, we walked over to Barolo and found a very packed restaurant.  I approached the hostess stand to get a table and I heard those dreaded words, “Do you have a reservation?” At that moment, I thought this must be a pretty good place if you need a reservation late on a Sunday night. The hostess offered to seat us at the bar if we wanted and that was fine with us, since we were hungry and ready for food and cocktails after a jam-packed two and half days of workshops at the Conference.

We ordered the “Rigatoni al Ragú d’Angello,” which is rigatoni with organic leg of lamb ragú, parmiggiano and fresh herbs, and the “Gnocchi con Mozzarella Fresca” which is house-made gnocchi with fresh mozzarella, basil and fresh tomato sauce. Everything was great, but the lamb ragú really stood out for me. It was rich and well-seasoned, and I will definitely be trying to recreate this dish at home. I would recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for outstanding Italian cuisine in downtown Seattle.

Added note: The décor in the restaurant and bar was very upscale, modern and romantic, but there was very little light for good photography. I did manage, however, to take a picture with my Iphone using a technique I learned at the photography session at the Conference. It requires a flashlight, camera and aluminum foil. You shine a flashlight over the food from the side and reflect the light back with aluminum foil. Well, of course, I didn’t have a flashlight or aluminum foil with me. But we did have two Iphones, so I used the flashlight feature on one of the phones and tried to reflect it off the shiny purse of the woman seated next to us.  I must have gotten a little too close to her purse, because she moved it quickly before I could take the picture!  I think the photo turned out pretty good anyway considering it was taken with a cellphone.