****NOTE: This review was done prior to the Covid-19 outbreak. Of course, things are much different at the moment, but we hope things will get back to normal soon and hope you will continue to support these local businesses****
Sea Wolf Bakers
Recommended by: We have friends whose daughter shares the same daycare as our daughters. They were aware of our love of cinnamon rolls. They had recently visited Sea Wolf Bakers in Fremont and said we were the first people they thought of when they ordered the cinnamon roll. They said we had to try it. So we did.
Description on the Sea Wolf Baker’s website: Sea Wolf is a Seattle bakery opened in 2014 by brothers Jesse and Kit Schumann, two native Washingtonians. Following the practices of craftsmanship and local sourcing, Sea Wolf offers bread and pastry in a space that’s comfortable and welcoming to everyone.
Neighborhood/Type: Fremont
Address: 3621 Stone Way N Suite D, Seattle, WA 98103
What we ate/drank: Cinnamon Roll – $7
Comments: Ok, first things first. We already mentioned in our Cinnaholic post that we love cinnamon rolls so much, that during our wedding we did not have a wedding cake, we had a pile of cinnamon rolls from a bakery in Pike Place Market arranged into the shape of a wedding cake. My co-workers had two baby showers for us prior to both of our daughters being born. They main course was cinnamon rolls. Wherever we go, if we see a cinnamon roll on the menu, we will typically order it. There is nothing better than a cinnamon roll and a cup of espresso or coffee.
Sea Wolf Bakers opened their brick and mortar location in August of 2016 by two brothers, who according to their Kickstarter, really toiled into the wee hours to hone their skills and hustled from space to space to get their breads made. They are exceptional in all things a baker makes-breads of all types, baguette, rolls, croissants, muffins, even burger buns. And of course cinnamon rolls!
Sea Wolf Bakers is so good at their craft that they were a James Beard Award Semifinalist for Outstanding Baker in 2019. Surely, this is all you need to know about their quality. If you need any more evidence they apparently provide the bread for Renee Erickson’s restaurants, The Whale Wins, located across the street and The Walrus and Carpenter as well as previously reviewed Vif Wine | Coffee and Preserve and Gather.
Their cinnamon roll is a bit on the steep side at $7, but it is huge. Take a look at the picture of the cinnamon roll compared to our daughter’s hand. The cinnamon roll can be ordered with frosting on the side, but it honestly doesn’t need it. Most cinnamon rolls are soft and dense. The Sea Wolf Baker’s roll has a hard crunchy sugary glazed exterior and a soft doughy middle chalk full of raisins and cinnamon. The inside is almost like a croissant, flaky.
It reminds me of the cinnamon roll they serve at Storyville Coffee Co , which is a tiny little thing that can’t be shared, but it’s delicious and very similar with a crispy outside and soft inside. The main difference is that Sea Wolf Baker’s cinnamon roll is about 10 times bigger. It easily fed our family of four.
Sea Wolf Baker is located right next to Manolin and right down the street from a couple of our favorites, Stone Way Cafe and Joule. The bakery has an open layout so you can see them prepping and baking. It really looks like a commercial spot with a few tables for retail. There’s also a lot of outside seating. You can normally spot Sea Wolf Baker by looking for a line of people on weekend mornings.
Wholesale remains their bread and butter for the business, but luckily they’ve made their cinnamon rolls available to the public.
Summary: As we enjoyed the cinnamon roll out on the patio, we started to debate where this fits into the Seattle cinnamon roll landscape. This roll with its crunchy exterior and flaky croissant-like middle with raisins and perfectly gooey cinnamon is so unique compared to the normal icing topped cake-type cinnamon roll. There was a consensus, Sea Wolf Baker’s cinnamon roll is the best in Seattle. If you want to enjoy this treat. Just a warning, they run out quick so get there in the morning.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 4.25
Service: 4.50
Food/Drinks: 5.00
Bang for the Buck: 4.25
Overall: 4.50
Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is.
-
- Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
- Most locals know about it
- Locals “in the know” know about it
- Only those who live close by know about it.
- You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!
Related Articles:
****NOTE: This review was done prior to the Covid-19 outbreak. Of course, things are much different at the moment, but we hope things will get back to normal soon and hope you will continue to support these local businesses****
Via Tribulani
Recommended by: A local reader of the blog suggested Via Tribulani as an Italian alternative since we’ve talked about Il Corvo , Tavolata, Pasta Casalinga, Cantinetta and now Bizzarro Italian Cafe.
Description on the Via Tribulani’s website: Located in the bustling, trendy neighborhood of Capitol Hill, our first pizzeria has become a primary meeting spot for a variety of visitors. With an open patio that echoes conversations and laughter to the streets, cozy booths that make a dinner more welcoming and a buzzing bar that serves fantastic drinks, Capitol Hill’s location features unique and traditional Italian décor. With a private dining room that is romantic, yet comfortable for parties of up to 16, our first restaurant has everything one needs to feel at home.
Neighborhood/Type: Capitol Hill
Address: 913 E Pike St, Seattle, WA 98122
What we ate/drank: Carbonara Pizza – Fresh Mozzarella, organic egg, pancetta, extra virgin olive oil, Polpette Al Pomodoro – Veal Meatballs, pomodoro, grana Padano, Rigatoni Bolognese – Giuseppe Cocco rigatoni giganti pasta, house-made bolgnese, grana Padano, Lasagna Al Forno – House-made meat ragu, fresh ricotta, smoked mozzarella, parmigiano, Andrew Will Merlot
Comments: Much like Bizzarro Italian Cafe, “Via Trib” has been around for so long we almost take it for granted. They’ve been around since 2004 and currently have locations in Georgetown, Queen Anne and the one we most recently visited, Capitol Hill. They had a location in Fremont, but no longer.
Via Tribulani has pasta and antipasti, but their claim to fame is their Neopolitan pizza. And they take great pride in it. A snippet from their website:
We opened our first pizzeria in 2004 in the burgeoning Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. Months before we opened curious onlookers poked their heads in the former auto body shop, and outlandish rumors spread quickly throughout Seattle. One person saw a team of masons reportedly flown in from Naples to build a gargantuan wood-fired oven, someone heard that the bricks also came from Naples rich with Vesuvian ash, a reporter ran a story about a taxi driver leading our owner down a dark Neapolitan street to meet a talented pizzaiolo who was then whisked to an airport…
As it turns out almost all of the tall tales are true – on opening night people began lining up for the authentic Neapolitan pizza and since then our ovens have only gotten busier. Via Tribunali has been called “more authentic than the pizzerias of Naples,” and even though that is a flattering exaggeration, it is fair to say that our pizzerias have grown out of an almost unnatural passion for the food and wine of Southern Italy.
Via Tribulani even has a certificate from the Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana, which is an international organization officially established to give special designation to pizzerias who meet strict requirements that respect the tradition of the art of Neapolitan pizza making by the Italian government.
So here’s that special oven made of brick from Naples and assembled by masons flown in from Naples:
The oven is supposedly kept running 24/7 and is kept at 1,000 degrees, which allows the pizza to cook in just one minute. We’ll admit the pizzas are damn good. I personally like the thins crust and the ingredients are top notch. The price is a bit on steep side.
On this particular trip we also ordered the lasagna, rigatoni bolognese and veal meatballs. The lasagna and rigatoni were good, but nothing to write home about. We’ve been lucky enough to have had some great pastas in bolognese sauce at Il Corvo – Best Pasta in Seattle, Bizzarro Italian Cafe and even at Japanese restaurant Kokkaku. So when comparing Via Tribulani’s to the aforementioned restaurants, it falls short in our opinion.
On the other hand, the veal meatballs were a hit. Two baseball-sized meatballs in pomodoro sauce with grana Padano cheese sprinkled on top. I always wonder when I see meatballs of this size, how they get the meatball perfectly cooked all the way through.
The other interesting fact about Via Tribulani is that it was created by the same person who created Caffe Vita as mentioned our our Caffe Vita – Fremont post. And for a time the Caffe Vita in Pioneer Square had the same pizza oven in it. This same owner also a financial backer of Lil Woody’s, Hitchcock and Wandering Goose. Wow! What a diverse group of restaurants! This dude seems to have the magic touch.
Update:It seems that Caffe Vita was recently sold by the owner of Via Tribulani to the owners of Bastille, Poquitos, Stoneburner, and Rhein Haus.
In summary, the atmosphere at Via Tribulani -Capitol Hill is romantic, the pizza and meatballs were our favorites, the wine menu had a good variety of locals and Barolos. It’s a solid choice for those who don’t want only pasta or only pizza.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 4.50
Service: 4.50
Food/Drinks: 4.50
Bang for the Buck: 4.25
Overall: 4.35
Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is.
-
- Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
- Most locals know about it
- Locals “in the know” know about it
- Only those who live close by know about it.
- You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!
Servers recommendations to visit in the future: We’ve mentioned Cantinetta in a couple of our Dish of the Year blog posts, but have never reviewed it.
Related Articles:
****NOTE: This review was done prior to the Covid-19 outbreak. Of course, things are much different at the moment, but we hope things will get back to normal soon and hope you will continue to support these local businesses****
Caffe Fiore – Ballard
Description on Caffe Fiore’s website: We are grateful to have a business that can create a hub for the neighborhoods we operate in. Over time, each hub has created its own community and given our customers that “third place” that can make us feel more connected to our city and our neighbors. We encourage community interaction by providing community tables at all of our locations.
Neighborhood: Ballard
Address: 5405 Leary Ave NW, Seattle, WA 98107
Music Playing: Broken Finger Blues by Richard Swift
What we ate/drank: Doppio Macchiato, Drip coffee(Caffe Vita-Peru Rancho Sabancaya)
Comments: It’s been awhile since we’ve been here, but we do remember Caffe Fiore used to have a really nice patio that looked on an open lot that was used for vendors for the Ballard Farmer’s Market. You could relax out there and see the world go by as you enjoyed your coffee.
Fast forward to the present. Caffe Fiore still has a patio, but it looks straight into a concrete wall of a newly constructed building where once the open lot existed. Ahhh…. another casualty of Seattle’s insane growth these last few years.
Inside it’s just as we remembered it. Caffe Fiore is long and narrow and pretty dark due to the minimal lighting provided by Edison bulb lamps. The dark interior is also caused by the deep dark wood floors, tables and counters.
There is ornate steel work on the ceiling and woodwork on the walls. Of course they also have a Seattle coffee shop standard in an old building, exposed brick.
Most of the seating at Caffe Fiore are stools and high tables or counters. We happened to grab one of the few normal height tables, but if you intend to stay there awhile just be aware of the seating styles there.
I didn’t realize that Caffe Fiore is owned by Caffe Vita, but according to this Stranger article they are. That would explain why they were serving Caffe Vita coffee, when their website claims to have their own beans. They have limited pastry selection(similar to Vita) if you’re looking to have some food.
Caffe Fiore kinda has this romantic vibe to it-dark, warm lighting. There’s just something about Caffe Fiore(for us), that just doesn’t feel inviting. Perhaps it was the workers who seemed a bit robotic, the high hard seats throughout, the lack of sunlight in many areas of the café. We love Vita coffee so know issues there, but when in the Ballard neighborhood, we’ll opt for Bauhaus, Anchored Ship Coffee and Caffe Umbria.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: Ornate details
Atmosphere: 4.00
Service: 4.00
Food Options: 3.00
Overall: 3.70
Eavedropping Convo: None
Related:
****NOTE: This review was done prior to the Covid-19 outbreak. Of course, things are much different at the moment, but we hope things will get back to normal soon and hope you will continue to support these local businesses****
Caffe Migliore – Downtown
Description on Caffe Migliore’s website: We are an independent coffee roasting company and coffee shop. Coffee is fresh roasted weekly by owner and operator. Please visit us to enjoy a truly Italian coffee experience.
Neighborhood:Downtown
Address: 1215 4th Ave #100, Seattle, WA 98161
What we ate/drank: Doppio Espresso and Apple Filled Croissant
Comments: Caffe Migliore is centrally located in downtown Seattle. It’s closed on the weekends, so that gives you a pretty good indication who their main clientele is – people working in downtown during normal business hours. Caffe Migliore is centrally located, which makes it a great place to meet up for coffee if you have other friends who work in downtown. It’s also a ideal to meet up, because although it’s a very small space, there always seems to be space to sit. That’s because most people take their drinks to go back to their offices. So many times, especially in the morning, they’ll be a line out the door, but many seats available.
Caffe Magliore definitely gets lost in amongst the vast sea of Seattle coffee shops. We rarely think about it unless meeting another downtown working friend for a coffee meet up. They have outsourced pastries and their website states they have paninis for lunch from DeLaurenti in the Pike Place Market, although I’ve never had one here.
We didn’t know this, but they roast their own beans and I really do like their espresso, which I believe is an Italian Roast.
Not much else to report here. It’s a convenient downtown spot that is rarely packed that serves really good espresso with some food options.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: They make a damn good espresso.
Atmosphere: 4.00
Service: 4.50
Food Options: 4.25
Overall: 4.25
Eavedropping Convo: Two gals having a coffee at the table. One of them hears a woman with an Australian accent ordering a latte and then yells to a man, “Do you want a watah(water)?” One of the gals at the table turns to the other and says, “Oooooh. She has a Australian accent. So hot!”
Related:
- Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Seattle Coffee Shops
- Our New Seattle Coffee Shop Discoveries in 2019
- The Relationship Between Coffee and Cycling
- Our Seattle Coffee Shop Thoughts – Updated/Revisited 2020