Restaurant mayhem!

Been exploring some great Seattle spots the last two months and wanted to share our culinary finds!

Book Bindery: This place, tucked into Queen Anne, right near the Fremont Bridge, was supposed to open a while ago and finally made its debut. It's the brainchild of vinter Mike Almquist, who I profiled in an Examiner.com article a while back. The winery, which delightfully is also a "make your own" winery and distillery, is attached to this swanky little update on an actual old book bindery. The decor is sort of "chic 50's library/supper club" with wainscotted white wood walls, frosted glass doors and a long bar. It's small and you are best served getting reservations - even the bar fills up quickly with drinkers and diners.

The menu gloriously presents starters and main that are imaginative, yet feel artisinal, local and somehow a nice balance of casual and gourmet: sweetbreads, local greens, handmade cavatellli,pan-seared stiped bass....you get the idea. Here are some samples off the current manu, as they change is up a bit seasonally:

Duo of Pork: Roasted chop, cripsy belly, lacinato kale, white bean puree, maple-bourbon jus
Foie Gras terrine with poached quince, candied almonds and black cardamom financier
Hamachi crudo with avocado and watermelon radish

Prices range from $10-15 for starters and $24-36 for mains. Everything is a bit sharable as well.

If you go, duck into the wine tasting room next door, and sip Almquist's impressive collection of almost every Red imagineable. As mentioned, you can pay to barrel and bottle your own wine and spirits and I understand from the owner that many folks go in as a group or office activity. They will guide you on which grapes to use, aromas or bodies to seek and even which type of barrel to use to achieve the tastes you want. The reds are some of the most mature and balanced Washington wines we've had so far. We snagged some granache, mourvedre and even some lovely Cab Sav to bring home.

Smash Wine Bar and Bistro: There was some debate about this place, as the ambience is "eh" but the service and wine selections are interesting. They could use some brand help on their decor and music selections, but we gave it a solid 6-7 for taste, selection and experience. You can order flights, which we did - and discovered some lovely reds and even a nice Viognier. small plates ranged from duck and shitake spring rolls with soy sesame and sweet chili for $9, to Yukon Gold "pot tots" with creme fraiche, bacon and chives for $7to decontructed "build your own" crostini for $9. Larger plates, equally well shared, consisted of lamb chops, butternut quash ravioli and wild prawns, ranging from $15 - 25. They offer fabulous themed cheese flights and some lovely sweet treats (a sundae with sea salted caramel? mmmmm). Our expectations were low due to other feedback, but overall it was fairly solid and I have to say, they try very hard to offer a ggood food and wine experience.

Revel: New to Fremont, this is a gem that we lucked into getting dinner reservations with friends on New Years Eve. It's so new, their website is not even fully up yet. Taking over a bland catering space and transforming it into what I can only describe as "urban zen" this is the latest from the couple who runs Joule. Their site says it all: "Urban. Comfort. Asian. Street food. Pancake. Dumpling, Rice. Noodle." Rice bowls, spring rolls, inventive salads and amazing dipping sauces and acoutrements make this a delight to discover and sample. The food was delicious: simple, yet so unique in it's construction. We pretty much tried almost everything on the menu between the seven of us - and they even accomodated our vegan friends with some adjustments, which was awesome service. We had a lovely rioja with our meal that was to die for, as well as a nice barolo. Can't wait to go back here again.