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Eating Seattle: Nettletown

A friend of mine came to Seattle last week and didn’t have the greatest visit. In addition to being hit by a car, she had some disappointing food at one of those marquee places you hear about. I figured the least I could do was take her for some good eats at one of my favorite spots.

“You should write about where to eat in Seattle,” she said, over our drinks and awesome bar food at Poppy. So here it is: an incomplete and thoroughly opinionated list of my personal favorite restaurants. At least this is the start of it, Eating Seattle.

NETTLETOWN

What happens when a chef who co-founded a wild foraged foods company opens a restaurant? The answer is Nettletown, the small Eastlake restaurant Christina Choi opened in March. It’s only been a few months, but she’s won over most of my friends, even the picky ones. These days, everyone’s talking about Nettletown.

It was only a few weeks ago that I finally made it in to Nettletown for lunch. I regret that now, as I’ve wanted to go back there nearly every day since. I’d be delighted if Nettletown was down the street from me, because I want to eat there almost every day. It’s that sort of place.

Nettletown is small, intimate almost, and the menu feels that way too. The restaurants I love the most are those that have an opinion, a unique perspective. Christina Choi’s food is influenced by her background—Chinese and Swiss—and by her love of wild and Northwestern ingredients. This is food you won’t find anywhere else.

The knoepfli I ordered on my first visit—Swiss style spaetzle noodles—were pan fried with cabbage, leeks, herbs, and an egg on the top. The next time I came on a Sunday to try the fried rice, which is only offered on the weekend. It was hearty and comforting, with wild seabeans, sesame, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, slivers of duck, savory tofu, and topped with delicate chive blossoms (sounds like it might be a hippie dish, apart from the duck, but it’s anything but). My mother ordered a dish of roasted morel and porcini button mushrooms served on Indian spiced semolina and topped with a poached egg and fresh herbs.

The menu is ever changing, but it almost doesn’t matter what you order. The thing I love about Nettletown is that the food walks an amazing line: it’s comforting and yet unique. These are dishes, flavors, ingredients that you may not have experienced before, but they leave you feeling cared for and catered to. I don’t like cutting edge combinations that feel like the chef may have forgotten the eater in his rush to push the boundaries. That’s not the case here. Whether the food is wild or cultivated, whether its roots reach to Asia or Europe, it is presented lovingly, it tastes good, it takes you someplace new, it makes you feel warm and cozy.

And did I mention the housemade sparklers? These here are rhubarb and apple-ginger. There’s a huckleberry as well.

I almost hesitate to write about Nettletown, it’s the sort of place you want to tell only the people who will truly appreciate it. The restaurant is small, it’s only open (at this point) for lunch, it’s counter service only, it’s in a tiny strip mall (the original location of Sitka and Spruce, for those who know the Seattle dining scene), you bus your own dishes after your meal.

But look: great salads! In a town that doesn’t have many great salads (sorry, Seattle, but it’s true), Nettletown is an exception.

As soon as you walk in, you can tell that Nettletown is a passion project—a unique restaurant that brings together something very personal. This is food you won’t get elsewhere in Seattle—and certainly not out of the area. These days I want to take everyone I really like there. This is the flavor of the Northwest done well, I would tell them—done by someone who cares. The meal you order will most likely be brought to your table by Christina herself. Imagine Nettletown as an extension of her personal kitchen and dining room.

I just feel lucky that she’s letting the public in.

NETTLETOWN

2238 Eastlake Avenue East

Seattle WA 98102

Open: Tues-Fri, 11-3pm; Sat-Sun, 10-3pm.

Reservations for 6 or more

Tel: 206-588-3607

Twitter: @nettletown