June 2010 Archives

The Symphony can deactivate this mailbox: MaestroSearch@SeattleSymphony.org. They've named 36-year-old Ludovic Morlot to succeed Gerard Schwarz, who's been music director for the past 25 years.

Morlot, all of 36 years old. Morlot was in Seattle two months ago as a last-minute replacement for another guest conductor, Roberto Abbado, to rave reviews from critics and orchestra members alike. Born in Lyon and trained as a violinist, Morlot studied conducting in London. A frequent guest conductor in Europe and the US, he has been the resident music director of the esteemed Orchestre Natonal de Lyon and has served as an assistant conductor under James Levine at the Boston Symphony for several seasons.

Melinda Bargreen, writing in the Seattle Times of the most recent Seattle concert, called Morlot "buoyant, fast-moving and smiling," noting that he used a score but no baton. "Morlot's quick, snappy gestures and mercurial intensity seemed to energize the orchestra."

Morlot himself has a snappy website, www.ludovicmorlot.com, on which he quotes an SSO press release:

The international search is ongoing, and guest conductors both this season and next are under consideration. While the candidates for the position will remain confidential, the caliber and quality of guest conductors is sure to draw considerable attention to Seattle Symphony and its upcoming programs. Patrons are invited to share their comments and suggestions regarding the search by writing to maestrosearch@seattlesymphony.org.

Morlot assumes the title of "music director designate" this fall, at the beginning of the 2010-11 concert season, and will take on the mantle of music director a year later, when Schwartz moves up to "Conductor Laureate." Morlot will be signed to a six-year contract, his compensation was not announced. He will move from Lyon to Seattle with his wife and two daughters.

The elegant Italian version of ice cream, gelato originated in Sicily, where fruit ripens perfectly in the hot Mediterranean climate and ice from snow-capped Etna is readily available year-round. (There's no ice in the actual gelato, however; that would be a granita or a sorbet.) A Sicilian fisherman named Procopio invented a mechanical device in the 16th century to purée and freeze a mixture of fruit, milk and sugar; the machine was brought to France--along with other Italian foods and culinary practices--by Catherine de Medici. Nowadays, electric freezers have eliminated the need to climb the flanks of a volcano, but the technology of gelato-making is still specialized. Since it incorporates less air than conventional American ice cream, gelato is denser; it is also more delicate, because it is typically served "less frozen" than a tub of Ben & Jerry's, about the same temperature as "soft serve" ice cream but far more flavorful.

The fragile and refined nature of gelato requires its manufacture in small batches, ideally with fresh fruit purées. But, as the WSJ article explains, many chefs are opting for increasingly weird ingredients (i.e., parmesan cheese, beets).

Here in Seattle, the coming summer season (and it can't come soon enough) requires nothing more than a three-phase, 220-volt power plug for a professional-caliber Carpigiani gelato maker (technically called a batch freezer), and a dipping station to hold the gelato at a relatively warm 10 degrees. The leading sources in no particular order:

D'Ambrosio Gelateria Artigianale Seattle's newest gelato shop, on Ballard Avenue, is open until midnight on weekends. 5339 Ballard Ave. N.W., 206-327-9175

Gelatiamo A real Italian mamma, Maria Coasin, runs this downtown café at 3rd and Union (as well as a 16-flavor gelato case at the new Metropolitan Market in Kirkland).

Chocolate Box A relative newcomer, this shop across from the Market at 108 Pine St. offers a selection of house-made gelato to accompany or supplement chocolates, 206.443.3900

Bottega Italiana is a mini-chain whose first store was on First Avenue between Pike and Pine (1425 1st Avenue, Seattle -206-343-2000). Additional locations in Greenlake (409 N E 70th St., 206.524.4416) and in California. Up to 40 flavors.

Fainting Goat in Wallingford offers goat milk gelato from a Turkish couple (Yalcin and Sevim Ataman ). (206) 327-9459,

Procopio In the Pike Street Hillclimb, 1501 Western Ave., 206-622-4280,

Poco Carretto Holly Smith of Cafe Juanita started this mobile gelateria cart a couple of seasons ago and does a brisk business at neighborhood farmers markets. Six rotating flavors.

MEMO TO OUR FABULOUS TEAM PLAYERS:

Today is National Take Your Dog to Work Day. I hope you brought along several baggies, as we have pledged to keep the park across the street free of dog poop.

Next week, as you know, it's National Ride Your Horse to Work Week. Be sure to bring along several large baggies and a shovel.

The week after, it's National Bring Your Hamster to Work Day. If you can't bring a hamster, bring a carrot so we can take pictures. Baggies not required.

The following week it's National Let's Bring Goldfish and Pussycats to Work Day to Show that Natural Enemies Can Get Along. Goldfish at 8 AM, Pussycats at 9 AM. Event ends at 9:01.

Then we have National Bring A Houseplant to Work Day, National Bring a Mexican to Work Day (Seattle Weekly columnists only), National Ice Cream Sandwich Day, and National Read a Book at Work Day. Free pizza to participants.

Finally, we have National Cardboard Box Day, in which everyone takes their personal items home. [Date to be announced, but could come sooner than expected.]

--Addy ("Adrenaline") Powers, Director, Employee Empowerment

Retired Mariner Edgar Martinez, certified Seattle hero, has become a shill for mezcal, and his appearance Tuesday at a bottle-signing promotion raises numerous questions. Here's part of an admiring account on Seattlest.com:

Mezcal can only be certified if it comes from a few select states in Mexico, and the details of the distilling recipe are closely guarded secrets.

Enter Edgar. He is totally getting behind a new brand of mezcal called El Zacatecano. Produced in a little town called Huitzila, this brand has been made by the same family for nearly 100 years. Their Anejo just took the 'Best in Category' prize at the 2010 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, which is essentially the World Cup for booze, except that there are no draws, so in the end, you actually know which bottle is better. Intrigued? Us, too, as so often happens when someone talks about alcohol. We're even more excited by the fact that Edgar himself is going to be signing bottles of the stuff at the SoDo liquor store tomorrow, Tuesday, June 22nd from 4-6pm. Right! A bottle of the trendy new booze signed by Gar? Muy bueno, say we!

So while drinking is basically always going to be the new drinking, there is a world out there of new and exotic liquors to tantalize the taste buds. And if that tantalization comes signed by a guy who hit over 300 home runs for the home team, all the better.

This promotion raises several questions.

First, the whole Martinez and Mezcal business. What's a sports celebrity doing promoting liquor in the first place? Oh, that's right, Edgar's retired. Not an active player, so he's exempt from the ban on associating athletes with booze. (Next up, perhaps: Junior and Johnny Walker?) Turns out Edgar has an investment company with a stake in the Zacatecano brand, and he intends to use some of the proceeds to benefit the town of Huitzila. Still, it's a private, for-profit business venture.

Second, the use of state facilities (in this case, a state liquor store) to promote a private business. We put the question to Brian Smith, WSLCB's public-relations director. His reply, in full:

We provide in-store merchandising of all brands including displays, signs, and other promotional materials. We do not promote one brand at the expense of another.

Bottle signings happen when the opportunity presents itself. As you know, you need celebrity or high-demand product to attract customers to attend. The last bottle signing was by Dan Aykroyd last year when he promoted his Crystal Head vodka. The LCB provided a venue for the signing and allowed the in-store promotion.

Absolutely. Edgar has many adult fans in Seattle who will want to purchase a signed bottle. He is not signing baseball memorabilia. The signing is not promoted outside of our stores. There is no paid advertising. As was the case with Dan Aykroyd, we are providing a venue for the responsible sale of this product.

We receive no fees or otherwise extra payments for this event. Revenue could be potentially generated by extra sales of that particular product. The signing is limited to two hours.

Yes, it is good retailing to offer a service that many of our customer will want such as events and promotions. The Liquor Control Board always seeks to be a modern retailer and serve our customers while ensuring responsible sales.

Except that there was outside promotion, in the form of a press release from a Bellevue firm, William Ryan LLC, that normally does real estate development but is involved in this venture through its William Ryan Select subsidiary. To quote the opening sentences of the release:

Seattle Mariners legend Edgar Martinez will be making a special appearance at Liquor Store 101 in Sodo next Tuesday, June 22nd from 4-6pm to promote his latest business venture, a line of artisanal mezcal known as El Zacatecano. Edgar will be signing bottles of El Zacatecano for fans.

And the Liquor Board hopes that the taxes from incremental sales of Edgar-signed bottles (during a two-hour promotional event) will make the promotion worthwhile. Positive thinking from a "modern retailer," that. And understandable: the Liquor Board sold 1,400 bottles of Crystal Head vodka in the course of Dan Aykroyd's two appearances.

The Liquor Board walks a tight line even in the best of times, between "serving the public" and "responsible sales," between "regulating sales" and "generating tax revenues," between the advocates of free enterprise (who want the state out of the liquor business) and advocates of temperance (who see Satan in the liquor aisles of California supermarkets).

Costco has just wrapped up a signature campaign to put Initiative 1100 on the ballot in November, so every action by the Liquor Board is under scrutiny. A highly visible spirits promotion by a popular sports figure on public premises isn't going to help the Board's professed neutrality.

But it turns out that Edgar's two-hour promotional appearance at the SoDo store was the Liquor Board's idea, suggested when William Ryan presented the new product line to the Board. ("Would Edgar be open to a bottle-signing?") Tuesday night's expected sales: 600 bottles at over $50 apiece, or $30,000 in windfall revenue for state coffers, a good business deal for an agency that's fighting for its life.

Washington grows two-thirds of the nation's sweet cherries on 35,000 acres of orchards, many on the sunny hillsides of the picturesque Yakima Valley. The cherries hang in clusters, and once they're picked they have to be declustered. That's the job of a big machine (known to the staff as the cluster-unf**ker) at Sage Fruit Company on the valley floor in Wapato.

After the coolest spring on record, the six-week cherry season is finally getting underway, and the state's 2,500 cherry growers rely on packing houses like Sage to process the state's crop with computerized efficiency. A quarter gets exported (to China, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong) the rest goes to grocery stores around the country, promoted by the Washington State Fruit Commission (peaches, plums, nectarines, apricots...and cherries), a state agency funded by a levy on shipments.

Up on the slopes, new varieties are coming online, allowing (theoreticallyl) for 800 dwarf trees per acre compared to 250 conventional trees. This means higher yields: 7 tons to the acre is the new target. Marc Hanrahan, one of the most technologically advanced growers, farms 140 acres above Mabton, producing 600 tons of cherries. To polinate the trees, he rents beehives, two per acre at $38 per box, for a three-week period in early spring.

The current crop won't hit local stores until next week since air shipments to Asian markets have first dibs, although Safeway did have a $1.99 per pound special over the Father's Day weekend. (Early cherries often sell for three times that much.)

That packing line at Sage, by the way, can handle 20 tons of fruit an hour; there's 150 hardworking people on the floor every shift. It costs orchard owners at least 30 cents a pound to grow the cherries, and Sage charges them another 50 cents a pound to do all that cluster-cutting, sorting and packing, then adds more for shipping and marketing. (Those $1.99 cherries, breakeven at best.) There are gas-filled, temperature controlled warehouses that make it possible to store apples, to name just one fruit, for year-round sale. On the other hand, "Cherries are one of the few remaining item that have a true seasonality," says Robb Myers, a member of the Fruit Commission, "and that really helps with the consumer demand."

When I wrote a guidebook called Touring the Wine Country of Washington back in 1983, it covered every one of the state's 37 wineries. Some 25 years later, Steve Roberts's Wine Trails of Washington has entries for 228, but that's still fewer than half the bonded production facilities that the Feds count as "wineries." For more, see The Bottle Is Passed.

The industry's growth is astonishing: hundres of new wineries, thousands upon thousands of additional vineyard acres, and dozens of new grape varieties.

The Seattle Wine Awards, a competition open to all Washington and Oregon wineries, is now in its fifth year. Its founder and executive director, Christopher Chan (who is also wine & spirits director at the Rainier Club), assembled an impressive panel of 15 judges (sommeliers, retailers, writers, educators) who gave gold and double gold medals to dozens of wines but steered clear of naming a single, overall "best of show." (The Washington Wine Awards, a separate competition, named Barnard Griffin's 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon the state's outstanding wine.)

The remarkable story of the Seattle Wine Awards, on the other hand, was the surge to prominence of a relatively obscure grape variety, malbec.

Malbec has been grown in France for centuries. In the Bordeaux regon, it's usually the fourth grape in the blend (after cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and cabernet franc). In the Lot Valley of southwestern France, malbec (locally called auxerrois or cot) makes the "black wine" of Cahors. Transplanted to the high Mendoza desert of Argentina, malbec grapes develop a thicker skin to take advantage of the addtional sunlight and cooler growing conditions at elevations above 3,000 feet, which results in a wine with deeper color, plummy flavors and a smooth, almost velvety texture. In fact, malbec, over the past 20 years, has become Argentina's iconic wine, with many brands available in the mid-teen price range.

And here it is back in vogue again in eastern Washington's vineyards. No longer relegated to the task of rounding out a Bordeaux blend, malbecs are now grown on fewer than 1,000 acres but vinified and bottled by over three dozen wineries. Some are no doubt dull, but the award-winners that I tasted at the Seattle WIne Awards this weekend were stunning, especially the bottles released by Dusted Valley and Otis Kenyon. You need to spend $25 a bottle or so to get the full panoply of fruit flavors like boysenberry, black cherry, raspberry, and woody aromas like cedar, cinnamon and chocolate, not to mention the rich, heady notes of black pepper that wine lovers seek (and usually find most readily in wines made from syrah grapes). The malbecs from the 2007 vintage, reaching the shelves now, are simply stunning.

"2007 was a watershed year," says Chan.It wasthe best vintage in a decade for many of Washington's red varieties (cabernet sauvignon, merlot and syrah), but truly a breakout year for malbec.

The French brasserie in the Bravern, Artisanal, failed to open on Monday, a victim of Bellevue's apparent indifference to New York-style fine dining. The end came after just nine months of operation, and puts nearly 100 people out of work.

Ironically, Cornichon featured Artisanal's innovative cheese service just ten days ago. Now Terrance Brennan's name is added to the list of failed out-of-town chefs (Todd English, Jeremiah Tower, Wolfgang Puck, Roy Yamaguchi). The official word: "Artisanal's expansion to the West Coast encountered the country's worst economic climate in 75 years and the level of investment capital required to weather the downturn was not available."

Other expensive-to-build national restaurants in the center of Bellevue seem to be doing fine. Maggiano's Little Italy, for example, at street level across from Bellevue Square, runs like a charm. Locally owned independents like Palomino and Bradley & Mikel's Pearl, while not immune to the economic downturn, continue to flourish. The Heavy Restaurant Group has opened Purple, Barrio and (just this week) Lot No. 3 to good reviews and steady traffic. Seastar's John Howie added a steakhouse at the Bravern, across the hall from Artisanal.

So what happened to the brasserie? The Bravern's developer, Schnitzer West, had actively recruited Brennan, who had been eyeing Chicago for his first venture outside Manhattan. But costly as it is to build out a new space to exacting specifications, it's costlier still to run a top-tier operation. "Artisanal contributed greatly to The Bravern's grand opening success and developed a loyal following in the past nine months," according to Tom Woodworth, Schnitzer's senior investment director. "Unfortunately, there simply was not enough time or funding to sustain the business while it continued to build."

And Brennan's PR director, Gina Kamburowsky, told Cornichon by phone from New York this morning, "We felt we could no longer maintain the restaurant's high standards,"

What out-of-town operators fail to understand is that Seattle diners aren't impressed by national reputations, and that it's going to take a year or more of plugging away to gain acceptance. Brennan's backers didn't have that kind of cash, or that kind of patience. Said Brennan, in a written statement, "Unfortunately, the economic challenges we're facing nationally proved too difficult to overcome and we had to close our West Coast operations so that we could devote more attention to our New York restaurants."

It's never been easy to sell wine at retail, regardless of the economy, and now two of Belltown's fine wine shops--the only two, really--are going out of business. The Local Vine, at the corner of 2nd and Vine in the McGuire Building, is being forced out because the entire 26-story structure will be dismantled over the next 12 months. They're moving to Capitol Hill, but the shop that's only a block away at 2nd and Wall, Seattle Cellars, is just going to close the doors.

According to owner Scott Haugh (right), who bought the store from Dave Woods three years ago, "With the downturn in the economy in general, and the lackluster business climate in Belltown in particular, the momentum is not sufficient to carry on." The impending dismantling of the McGuire, with the prospect of dumpsters, street closings, noise and dust doesn't make for retail optimism, either.

Still, it's not all that bleak for wine retailers like Richard Kinssies, whose Seattle Wine Outlet business model doesn't require stocking a wine variety of labels, just stacks of well-priced case lots (along with a wine school and a wine bar). Kinssies just opened a third outlet (in Greenwood) and has plans for a fourth. "It's better to expand during a downturn," he says, "so that you're ready to business when the economy recovers."

Seattle's leading independent wine retailer, Esquin Cellars, is similarly optimistic. Says manager Alisha Gosline, "It's a bummer when any wine retailer closes, since we're all on the same team." But Esquin is nimble enough to buy large quantities when wineries or distributors go out of business or sell closeout lots, and they also sell a lot of wine online.

Michael Teer at Pike & Western, in the Market, puts it best: "Belltown's just a tough neighborhood for any business these days."

Krista McCorkle Davis, one of three fromagers at Artisanal Brasserie in Bellevue

Banish, immediately, any thoughts of blue-boxed Kraft, of gee-whiz products in spray cans or singularly sliced. Admit that you don't know--don't want to know--jack. "Cheesiest" here refers specifically to the 80-plus selections of artisanally produced wedges, rounds, balls, loaves, cakes, cones, pyramids, logs, bûches, crottins and tommes available at Artisanal, Terrance Brennan's bright and shiny New York-style French brasserie in downtown Bellevue. It is the sheer audacity of this cheese panoply (called "a regional treasure waiting to be discovered" by Seattle Metropolitan), and certainly unmatched locally, that we celebrate.

Arrayed opposite Artisanal's hostess stand, the 20-foot cheese display invites oohing and aahing. Do Whole Foods and Metropolitan Market have as many exotic cheeses? Perhaps. Do independent cheesemongers like Pat McCarthy's DeLaurenti, Dennis Nelson & Theresa Simpson's Cheese Cellar or Sheri LaVigne's new Calf & Kid on Capitol Hill? More, even. But they're not running a full-service, sit-down, white-tablecloth restaurant like this centerpiece of the new Bravern development.

Cheese making evolved as a means of transforming milk proteins (the essential nourishment of all mammalian species) into something more permanent and portable. It's not terribly convenient, after all, to travel with a herd of goats. What we call the "ripening" of cheese is in fact its destruction by mold.

The question, once you get past the basics, is why France (for instance) has so many distinctly different cheeses. The answer is in the diversity of molds. Much is written about terroir, the sense of place conveyed by cheese and wine, but terroir is not just what the cows or goats or ewes eat, it's also the naturally occurring bacteria in the cheese caves (or, for wine, the naturally occurring yeasts in the vineyards). For example, geotrichum candidum, which produces the unique ripening and flavor characteristics of one cheese from the volcanic Auvergne region in central France, St. Nectaire. Cheese, like wine, is alive, at least when it's unpasteurized. (Pasteurizing milk--heating it for 15 seconds at 161 degrees--kills the natural bacteria but strips the cheese of the very microbes that give it its unique character.)

And it's a chicken & egg conundrum for dairy farmers. They'd make more raw milk cheese if there were more outlets (and less fussy regulation); there'd be more points of sale if there were more demand. It's hard to be a stand-alone cheese monger competing against supermarkets; it's no easier for the cheese producers to drive hundreds of miles to a big-city farmers market and sell directly to consumers. But the system is slowly cranking up, with the commitment of restaurants playing an important role.

Some 15 years ago, you had to go to Europe for a cheese course; today, every New York restaurant serves cheese. At Artisanal in Bellevue, you can order any cheese à la carte, but the default is to opt for one of the themed cheese & wine flights. They're grouped by origin (French, Italian, Iberian, Northwest) by type (goat, mountain, cheddar, blue), by wine (sweet, sparkling, even beer). Three cheeses, $12.50. Add three wines, it's $28.50. You can saunter up to the display and point to the cheeses you want, you can peruse the menu and check off the boxes; you can ask for the fromager's advice. (One of the three fromagers on staff in Bellevue, Krista McCorkle Davis, spent four years helping her husband, Mike, run the highly respected 26 Brix restaurant in Walla Walla.) You can also add fruit or charcuterie (Prosciutto di Parma, Jamon Iberico, coppa, sopressata).

The fromagers preference is for the most local first, since it can be replenished quickly when it runs out. One favorite: Hillis Peak, a tangy, raw-milk goat cheese produced from the prizewinning herd of Nigerian dwarf goats at Pholia Farm outside Rogue River, Ore. It makes the centerpiece of a cheese-centric meal, it's a starter, it's a dessert course,

What happens to the leftover cheese? Some of it undoubtedly ends up in the fondue du jour or the Artisanal blend ($20 for two). But Brennan says there's less waste than you'd think; his staff buys judiciously and know how to sell the cheeses they bring in. Baskets, platters, catered events.

Brennan opened his first restaurant, Picholine, in 1993, introducing the traditional European cheese course to American diners. (In 2007, it was named America's outstanding restaurant by the James Beard Foundation.) In 2001 he opened Artisanal Bistro on Park Avenue in midtown Manhattan with a traditional brasserie menu and 150 wines by the glass. Two years later he founded Artisanal Premium Cheese, a separate affinage and distribution company with a 10,000-square-foot facility housing five cheese-ripening "caves," each with its own temperature, humidity and controlled airflow.

Brennan had set his sights on Chicago for his initial venture outside of New York, but the financing collapsed. Schnitzer West recruited him for the Bravern with what must have been highly favorable terms for a buildout and lease. In the end, he put in two adjacent spots, Artisanal Brasserie & Wine Bar, with 185 seats, room for 50 more at the bar, and direct access to the Bravern's tony second level plaza (Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Ferragamo) and a less formal, 70-seat pizzeria, The Artisanal Table, just past the concierge desk inside the residential lobby. Over 300 seats in all, an 90-employee operation that requires oversight visits, every month or so, from Brennan himself as well as his top New York managers. (The GM at Picholine, Jason Miller, is in charge of the wine program at all Brennan's restaurants; when he comes to Bellevue, he introduces himself modestly as the sommelier.)

For many Europeans, a brasserie needs to have some patina before it's taken seriously, and Artisanal--though it has all the right elements of decor, from the tiled floor to the brass rails, green leather banquettes, cane chairs, palm fronds (palm fronds?)--looks just a shade too bright and shiny. In the restaurant's earliest days, some of the staff wasn't up to speed; Seattle Weekly's Jonathan Kauffman famously skewered a server in the pizzeria who had only a rudimentary knowledge of the company's flagship products. (Granted, it was the pizzeria, not the main room, but Brennan was sorely miffed.) Yet it's the very lack of dents and scratches, not to mention its fashionista neighbors, that will likely make Artisanal attractive to eastside diners, who seem to prefer original to repurposed space (almost any place in Belltown, Fremont, Ballard or Capitol Hill)

Executive Chef Seisuke Kamimura appears comfortable with Artisanal's traditional brasserie offerings (foie gras, pot au feu, halibut with a lemon-parmesan foam, steak au poivre, rhubarb tart), all served wth the no-nonsense (but gracious) formality familiar to anyone who's been to La Coupole or Balzar in Paris. It's not haute cuisine, of course, but quite delightful, even if you wish the room were busier, noisier.

"We're still fine-tuning," Brennan admits. A soup & salad combo, grilled cheese sandwiches, more accessible menus. Even, heaven forfend, a happy hour. "We never had to do that in New York."

Meantime, should you be so disposed, the American Cheese Society is holding its annual conference in Seattle this summer. Agenda and guest registration details here.

Artisanal Brasserie & Wine Bar, in the Bravern, 11111 NE 8th, Bellevue, 425 372 2200   

The dining room of Flying Fish's new quarters, seen from the bar

Real estate agents are still telling their (scores of) would-be restaurant sellers that they have to drop asking prices even further to attract interest; it's a buyer's market, they all say.

(Hint: to see what kind of joint you're buying, check out the dumpsters in back. If they're empty, the restaurant isn't doiing any business. If they're full of cardboard boxes or styrofoam, the restaurant is cooking out of cans and freezer bags.)

The scavengers are prowling, making shamefully low offers to underwater owners. Most restaurants are bought on contract; the new owner makes a down payment, agrees to pay the balance over two or three years, pays upfront for all the remodeling, and assumes the lease. First six months are easy, if not euphoric; friends and family beat down the door. It's the next couple of years that are toughest. If there's no deep-pocket investor, all that startup overhead has to come out of cashflow. When customers don't come in, or spend less (because of ill-conceived promotions like happy hours), cash flow can't cover the payments.Family-owned restaurants keep tightening their belts, stop paying suppliers, start cutting payroll. And that's not a good thing; the restaurant industry is this state's largest private-sector employer.

But a few of the old pros (as well as the eager neophytes) have confidence that the corner has been turned, the economy's on the upswing, the time to strike is before the iron gets too hot. The point of this exercise isn't to dazzle you with our insider knowledge or to drop the names of celeb chefs. Rather, it's a commentary on the state of the restaurant biz. What are these people thinking, you wonder? Don't they know there's a recession?

And yet, and yet. The last time we saw such a surge was, what, only a year ago, so perhaps there's a cycle after all: the flowers tha bloom in the spring, tra la, etc. Hope springs eternal.

Opened within the past week or so:

D'Ambrosio Gelateria Artigianale at 5339 Ballard Ave NW (206-327-9175)

Heartwarming story here of a young man who leaves his native village in Italy, finds work (and success) as a wine rep for a big outfit in Seattle. That would be Marco d'Ambrosio. He doesn't forget his roots, though, and when he's saved a few bucks he sent for his dad, Enzo D'Ambrosio, who's an accomplished gelato maker, and put him in charge of production for the new gelateria. (He told MyBallard.com that the neighborhood reminded him of his hometown, Sulmona, in Abruzzo.) The gelato is remarkably flavorful (we especially liked the nocciolo, hazelnut), smooth and creamy. It's not ice cream, remember: gelato has a lower fat content and is served several degrees warmer than your basic Baskin-Robbins, so it tastes more intense.

The Noble Fir, at 5316 Ballard Ave NW

Rick Kelly worked for a decade at REI; his wife, Ellen, had a caeer as a lawyer. Now they've launched the concept of a neighborhood tavern that also serves as a community center for outdoorsy types; a tavern featuring trail guides, hiking maps and atlases for that next wilderness adventure. The food will be small plates (meats, cheeses, sandwiches chocolates) to complment the beer, wine and hard cider.

Chloé, in Laurelhurst, where Enotria once gurgled (and Union Bay Cafe before that). You've already seen Cornichon's writeup.

Luc, Thierry Rautureau's homage to his parents and to the tradition of neighborhood cafés.This, too, appeared here earlier

June, in Madrona where Cremant went flat. Owners are Vuong Loc and his wife Tricia, who also run Portage on Queen Anne. They also ran the Pig 'n' Whistle in Greenwood for a while, to mixed reviews; they sold it last year. 1423 34th Ave., 206 323 4000.

Reopened withih the past week:

Flying Fish, in new premises at the corner of Westlake & Thomas (206-728-8598).

Chef Chris Keff closed her long-running operation in Belltown at the beginning of May and moved swiftly into new quarters in South Lake Union, where she'll also have a takeout window ("On the Fly," opening in late summer) in addition to a simplified menu of small plates. Zack Foster heads up the kitchen crew, which turns out familiar items like Sister-in-Law Mussels alongside small plates like pecorino-topped cauliflower fritters.

Sitka & Spruce
Matt Dillon left Eastlake a couple of years ago to start The Corson Building. (Nettletown's in that space now.) But the Sitka & Spruce concept takes root once again, on Capitol Hill this time in the Melrose Project, an ambitious mix of high-quality, butcher-baker-sandwich maker shops at the bottom of the Pike-Pine corridor. 1531 Melrose Avenue.

Marjorie
Donna Moodie built a strong following in Belltown with the original Marjorie (named for her mom). When the building was sold, she went into a sort of hibernation, promising to open a new spot on Capitol Hill as soon as she found a space. Now she has and she did. The new Marjorie is in the Chloe, a newly opened apartment building at 14th & Union, and the foodies couldn't be happier. Running the kitchen is Kylen McCarthy, whose most recent kitchen was at Harvest Vine, just over the hill in Madison Valley.

And that doesn't count the newly remodeled Bisato, Scott Carsberg's reinvention of Lampreia as a cicchetti bar. Old news by now. Is it any good? Yup! You still get Carsberg's mticulous attention to every (tiny) dish.

And still to come

Sullivan's, the third attempt to create a lasting steak house relationship with Two Union Square, takes over the space that began as Union Square Grill and morphed fleetingly into American Cantina. It's a chain, as are virtually all steak houses (Metropolitan Grill's the exception).

Also coming to Capitol Hill in June: La Bete, in the Chez Gaudy space at 1802 Bellevue. The venture is spearheaded by two alums of Ethan Stowell's now-defunct Union, Tyler Moritz and Aleks Dimitridjevitch.

By late June, PaneVino on Capitol Hill, at 416 Broadway E., site of the former Cafe Zhivago. A venture of former Via Tribunali operations director Francesco Angiuli and a longtime friend from the Bay Area (where he owns several restaurants) Gianni Chiloiro. The menu will be Italian comfort food (panini at lunch, pasta.at dinner), and a full bar.