The Accessory: Dine Around Seattle

Yesterday, a friend and I had the pleasure of dining at Barolo Ristorante in South Lake Union for lunch. We took advantage of the Dine Around Seattle special - 3-course lunch for $15 and devoured the delectable goodness.

Barolo offers a mix of northern Italian dishes with a modern twist in presentation, while using natural, organic and local ingredients from the Pacific NW. (For your reference, here are the course options for Barolo's Dine Around Seattle menu.)

Upon seating, we were immediately served warm toasted bread with fresh rosemary and a kalamata olive spread. What a great way to start an Italian meal, and also, the service was fabulous! Our waiter was very attentive and super helpful when deciding what to order.

After going back and forth between dishes, I finally settled on the octopus to start, gnocchi for the entree and a cannoli to end on a sweet note. The dishes were beautiful and exquisite in color, texture and taste. The octopus was cooked perfectly... tender and soft, and I loved the spicy chickpeas as they added a kick to the flavor. Homemade gnocchi was a fabulous choice as the boar ragu seemed tastier than a simple beef ragu that I've had at other Italian places. Hearty, yet it provided a good balance for the starch component of the dish. Also, the gnocchi, itself, was fluffy and not too dense. Last but certainly not least, I was very pleased with the cannoli - made in true Italian fashion - with fresh ricotta cheese, whipped with a hint of vanilla fragrance, semi-sweet chocolate chips, wrapped in a flaky yet crisp shell and dusted with cocoa powder, chocolate shavings and powdered sugar. I also loved that the chef topped it off with two berries for a colorful appeal.

After the three courses, I'm more than happy to say that the meal was not heavy nor made me too full. Yet, it was a light, refreshing way to take a break in the middle of my busy day and enjoy a scrumptious bite. I'm sure I'll be paying Barolo another visit, soon.