Your Daily Dose of Food News, Events and Must-Read Miscellany

For those of you seeking a new place to dine Italiano – check out Cafe Lago in Montlake as it celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2015. As part of this year-long fete, the restaurant will be hosting monthly events which begin with guest Chef Arianna Garella on January 18th. She’ll serve up a polenta dinner in pop-up style for this one night only event. The $20/pp prix fixe menu will feature antipasti, followed by your choice of four polenta dishes (Brasato, Salsiccia in Umido, Concia, and a vegan Melanzane) and finish with dessert. Mangia!

The new year also brings sad news that Capitol Hill French Le Zinc has thrown it’s last party this NYE and has now shuttered. No word on if/when someone will open the restaurant-ready space but it shouldn’t take too long. Perhaps someone will have some success with French food in this town that isn’t bistro-style food (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

And more shuttering news – the venerable Hurricane Cafe, the diviest of dive bars, has closed. They’ve been open for nearly 100 years in one form or another and now it’s gone. Which gives us one more reason to dislike the Amazon expansion through what now seems like the entire northern portion of downtown. Yay progress…cue Bronx cheer.

And for more Capitol Hill food facts and fun memories check out this excellent summary of the year in review on the Capitol Hill Blog. While it seemed like every time we turned around there was another restaurant or bar opening on the hill, it appears that there was a slow-down in 2014 vs. the last three years. Hopefully this just means quality over quantity in what may very well be Seattle’s best social neighborhood.