Serafina Osteria & Enoteca

Serafina Osteria & Enoteca
2043 Eastlake Ave East
Seattle, WA 98102
206.323.0807
http://www.serafinaseattle.com/



Sassy R had to try the calamari at Serafina after hearing how good they were from the guy at the Waterfront. It was around 9 p.m. after a long day's work. Sassy R met her "friend" in the lovely arbored back patio lit with white lights. It's a hidden garden paradise right off of busy Eastlake.

We ordered calamari, of course, with two campari and soda drinks on ice, and the oh-so-satisfying "plin" - one of my true loves. I fantasize about the plin at Serafina just a little too much. See, Sassy T and I had them last week, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about them since. They are delicate little handmade stuffed pasta pockets (angolotti), filled with braised pork shoulder, savoy cabbage and Reggiano. They are approximately the size of a small walnut. Smooth, rich, robust pasta with some umph, some texture, some chew - like your Italian or Eastern European grandma would make. These lovely little darlings are arranged in a shallow bowl in elegent butter chive sauce and can be ordered as an appetizer (small bowl, but plenty) or entree (big ol' bowl). The butter sauce is abundance and lovely for bread dipping. But the plin...oh the little plin. It is hard to eat these things slowly. They are so damned satisfying.

But this post was about the calamari. The calamari? Also good. Unlike calamari almost everywhere else in this town and on most appetizer menus in the US, these are sauteed, not deep fried. Garlic. Bread crumbs. Lemon. Salt. Parsley. A little red chili flakes. None of that overly chewy previously frozen texture. No fishy stench. Pretty great. Best in town? Not hard to accomplish, so yes, perche non?