The Room
Ethan Stowell opened Staple & Fancy on Ballard Avenue in 2010 — the Stowell-group's Ballard expression, dedicated to the proposition that the neighbourhood needed an Italian-American dining room with a chef's-tasting option. The dining room is intentionally restrained — exposed brick, a long bar at the front, banquettes along the eastern wall.
Eater Seattle has held Staple & Fancy on its top-twenty Ballard rankings every year of operation.
The Food
The four-course chef's tasting at $65 per person rotates with the kitchen's seasonal sourcing. The hand-rolled pasta programme, the wood-grilled secondi, and the seasonal-rotating Italian-American plates run as the menu's spine.
Wine programme runs Italian. Cocktails are aperitivi-led. Service is the Stowell-group standard.
Best Occasion Fit
First Date: The bar at Staple & Fancy is one of Ballard's most-reliable first-date seats. The chef's tasting is the conversational scaffolding, the wine programme is the second move.
Birthday: Birthdays at Staple & Fancy are warm, chef's-tasting-led, Ballard-Italian affairs the room handles with the practiced ease of a Stowell-group operation.
Team Dinner: The back of the dining room handles tables of eight to twelve — the family-style Italian-American format scales naturally.