Legendary - An Appropriate Descriptor

Last evening, we had a delightful dinner at venerable 26-year-old  Il Terrazzo Carmine in Pioneer Square with friends Mike Kunath and Kate Harrison.  Mike was our dinner host and Ken brought a bottle of legendary 1993 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon to share.  Proud and esteemed restaurant owner, Carmine Smeraldo, was there overseeing a very busy Saturday evening and in spite of that managed to find us a perfect table near the windows looking out into the charming courtyard.  See the photo of Mike and Carmine above.

Our palates were tickled with first a delicious starter of venison ravioli with an enchanting mushroom sauce, followed by an excellent Caesar salad, salad Caprese or sautéed spinach and garlic with lemon.  Ken and Mike ordered Carmine’s famous fall-off-the-bone Osso Bucco while Kate ordered the special risotto of the evening with artichoke hearts and I ordered the special pasta of the evening which was perfectly cooked al dente tagliatelle with a spicy Italian sausage sauce topped with fresh made ricotta cheese.  At the end of the evening, all of the truly amazing Quilceda Creek wine was gone, but both Osso Bucco bones made it home with us to share with Callie, the spoiled and favored Maltese dog that rules our home.

At the beginning of the evening, we toasted our dear friend, Dick Friel, who has left us too early with his passing a few days ago.  We each had such respect for Dick and shared stories of the many legendary impacts he has made in our community.  He was a master at recognizing and commenting on individuals during an auction and saying something special about each one that made each one of us sit up a little taller.  He will be terribly missed.

We ended the evening discussing our individual goals for 2010 (most centered around family and business) and upcoming travel adventure opportunities.  With the announcement of a recent archeological find of a few days ago, Mike looks forward to planning an adventure to see El Dorado, the legendary lost city of gold.  With respect to the entire experience at  Il Terrazzo Carmine last evening, we each felt we had discovered not the legendary lost city, but instead the gold standard in food and service at a legendary restaurant that luckily for us has not been lost.