Ethan Stowell's Sunday Suppers are Cooking with Gas

It seems like forever ago that Sunday Suppers were all the rage, and their popularity has definitely subsided since then. But recently, we've noticed them creeping back into the culinary community--and we welcome their return.

One of the latest entrants into the Sunday Supper arena is Ethan Stowell's Tavolata, and we've been meaning to catch up with it for what seems like ages. This past weekend was the sweet spot, since he had special guest Marissa Guggiana (Primal Cuts) in the house to talk about her latest book, Off the Menu.

One of the trio of restaurants (along with Spinasse and Cafe Juanita) where it makes sense to eat Italian for dinner in Seattle, Tavolata and its counterparts all feature house-made pastas of the quality and variety that we simply can't turn out in our home kitchens.

Stowell's operation has 70 pasta dyes so you never quite know what might be featured on the fresh sheet. But the fare is only part of the festivity. If you haven't dined at the Belltown spot, which is a lovely and spacious room in the tradition of the perfectly-lit culinary cathedrals that existed in days gone by on New York's Upper West Side, you should know that the room positively glows from front to back and side to side. Between the warm wood, exposed brick, and sea of candlelight, diners feel wonderfully welcome.

The weekend's dinner, in honor of Guggiana boasted two of our favorite pastas - the bigoli and gnocchi - dressed in a melange of anchovy, chili, gangritata and chanterelles with fried duck eggs, respectively. Stowell's house puts pasta out al dente with just the right amount of tooth to pay respect to the hand-crafted noodle.

The evening started with wine service and a delightful collection of antipasta including buffalo mozzarella, grilled sardines paired with fennel and salsa verde, swordfish crostini dressed with pickled onions, prosciutto di parma paired with fresh figs and for me the stunningly simple but spot on chickpea salad with celery, raisins and a whisper of lemon.

The room was packed (in a good way) with a decidely casual crowd of artists, writers, photographers, culinarians and old school Seattle captains of industry. We were seated with a Seattle native, a new to the city Seattle Community college hospitality student, and a former PNB dancer who's known Stowell since he was 15.

We mention the company because one of the downsides of family style dinners can be the company you must keep if you can't fill a large swath of the table yourself. This evening that wasn't a problem since everyone we were seated with was competent in adult conversation in a way we haven't experienced on the large scale in similiar situations. The whole room buzzed with what appeared to be real conversations amongst strangers who had one thing in common- they love Stowell and his team's food.

The evening came to a close after two and a half delicious and leisurely hours with a house made favorite of ours zeppole (addictive little spheres of dough) in chocolate sauce. All this for 35 bucks.

Hungry yet? You can find more information on Tavolata's Sunday Suppers here.