Description
Hidden away in an alley off First Ave. is one of Seattle's secret bastions of fine dining. Or perhaps just fine dressing. The baroque wooden chandeliers and ornate hand-painted ceramics that decorate this terrace-like restaurant bespeak money, the kind wielded by opera board chairs and Madrona mansion owners. For almost a quarter-century, Carmine Smeraldo has run his restaurant in the Italian manner, with gracious formality and properly trained waiters. Are dishes like his veal scaloppine and chicken breast stuffed with ricotta and spinach butter out of step with the hipper Italian-esque fare of Tavolata and Cafe Juanita? Perhaps. But doing justice to the classics, decade after decade, is what makes Smeraldo's restaurant so beloved by the members of Seattle's boardroom class.
