insiderseattle
FREMONT – James Beard Award Winner, Chef Maria Hines will open her much-anticipated third restaurant, Agrodolce, in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood on Friday, Dec. 21. Agrodolce’s menu will focus on Southern Italy with an emphasis on Sicilian cuisine. It will follow in the footsteps of Maria’s other restaurants, Tilth and Golden Beetle, with highly esteemed organic certification from Oregon Tilth.
Agrodolce will initially be open for dinner only, with lunch, weekend brunch and nightly happy hour to follow in the coming months. The menu will rely on local products that are sustainable and organic. Maria will import a small portion of goods from Italy; products that can’t be produced in the Northwest but are essential to Italian food, such as sustainable olive oil and Sicilian pistachios and almonds.
The menu takes inspiration from Maria’s recent travels to Sicily where she visited markets, chefs, restaurants and sustainable food producers. The menu will focus largely on handmade pasta, which Maria has been producing for six years at her award-winning restaurant, Tilth, and has received noteworthy acknowledgements for. Agrodolce pasta specialties will include Ricotta Stuffed Fagottini with black truffle butter, marjoram and garlic; Spaghetti with Skagit River Ranch sugo, hot pepper and red wine; and handcut Tagliarini with Sicilian pistachio, sweet myrtle and pecorino.
Housemade burrata will star on the Agrodolce menu, served with cylindrical beets, citrus honey gastrique and mint. Other Sicilain inspirations from Maria’s trip will include Arancini with Skagit River Ranch beef, tomato and carnaroli rice; Bucatini with pine nuts, sardine, wild fennel and golden raisin; Rice Croquettes with citrus honey and vanilla bean; Lamb Meatballs with dried currants, grilled radicchio and onion marmalade; and for dessert, housemade Limoncello Sorbetto with lemon-thyme and candied fennel and Theo Chocolate Budino with pizzelle cookie, whipped cream and mint.
Tilth executive chef Jason Brzozowy will also take on the executive chef position at Agrodolce. He will assist Maria with executing her menu at Agrodolce and continue to create new menu items alongside Maria at Tilth.
The opening date of Agrodolce, Dec. 21, falls on the same date as the predicted end of the world according to the Mayan calendar. This cross-cultural timing coincides with the Fremont neighborhood’s mantra as “The Center of the Universe.” Agrodolce will embrace the date by opening its doors and offering a special end of the world pre-fix menu and party.
Agrodolce will reside in the space that has housed much-loved restaurants 35th StreetBistro and Still Life Cafe. The casual and welcoming 43-seat trattoria willkeep the longstanding indoor ficis tree, its soft lighting and colors, wall of large paned glass windows and outdoor patio. The additional 13-seat bar will feature Italian and Northwest wines and a cocktail list. As done at her two previous restaurants, Tilth and Golden Beetle, Maria’s hand will embrace the interior design accents for the entire restaurant.
Discover the sun-drenched cuisine of Southern Italy and Sicily at Agrodolce from award-winning chef Maria Hines. The causal and welcoming trattoria will feature Italy’s coastal cuisine and expertly created handmade pasta made with the finest organic and sustainable ingredients in the Pacific Northwest. Nestled in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood at 709 N. 35th Street, Agrodolce will be open for dinner Tuesday through Sunday from 5 p.m. to close beginning Dec. 21. Learn more about Agrodolce, its organic certification from Oregon Tilth and MariaHines’ other restaurants atwww.MariaHinesRestaurants.com, on Facebook at AgrodolceSeattle and follow Maria on Twitter at@mariahines.
Picture by US Consulate General, Naples.