****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****
Miss Cafe in Pike Place Market
Recommended by: While walking to pick up some take out from Pasta Casalinga, I noticed Miss Cafe and remembered a co-worker mentioned that they had “surfboard pizzas” there.
Description on the Miss Cafe’s website: We offer a home-style, Turkish food experience in the heart of Seattle. Our shop is filled with a variety of delicious Pide, delectable desserts and healthy platters. Our signature Turkish Pizzas are baked to perfection and topped with fresh ground beef and vegetables.
Neighborhood/Type: Downtown / Pike Place Market
Address: 1523 1st Ave, Seattle, WA 98101
What we ate/drank: Doner Meat & Cheese Pide
Comments: Pide (Pronounced Pee- Day) is a flat bread with toppings baked in an oven. Pide and its various varieties are wide spread throughout Turkey, but the only other place in Seattle besides Cafe Miss that we’re aware of that serves pide is Cafe Turko.
Traditional pide as well as the pide served at Miss Cafe is indeed shaped like a surfboard. The other difference from your normal pizza is there’s no tomato sauce.
I believe the location Miss Cafe is in, which is connected to Pike Place Market, used to be a Cajun restaurant. We ordered the Donor meat and cheese pide, which comes with beef and lamb gyro meat, mozzarella cheese and tomato. It comes with a squeeze bottle of tzatiki sauce. It went well with the pide, but honestly the pide was delicious without the sauce.
The decor is nothing fancy. It’s simple with some booth seating and some outdoor benches and tables
Besides various types of pide(Vegan, pepperoni, ground beef, chicken and more), they also have various salads, meatballs, kebab, and grilled chicken. There are a couple of other dishes that caught our eye that we’ll definitely try the next time we visit Miss Cafe. One is the Lahmacun which s a flatbread with ground beef and a mix of onion, garlic, green and red peppers, and tomato. The other was the Turkish Dumplings-spiced ground beef, onion with butter sauce and yogurt.
On this occasion we were only able to have a pide, but we’ll definitely be back to try some of their other dishes. It’s also another place we can take out of town visitors when visiting Pike Place Market along with Storyville Coffee Co , Alibi Room, White Horse Trading, Maxmillien, Radiator Whiskey, Country Dough, Chan, Le Pichet, Matt’s in the Market, The Pink Door.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 4.00
Service: 4.75
Food/Drinks: 4.50
Bang for the Buck: 4.50
Overall: 4.40
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: Cafe Turko
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Pasta Casalinga -The Secret Pasta Place in Pike Place Market
Recommended by: After proclaiming Il Corvo to have Seattle’s Best Pasta, a co-worker of mine let me in on a little secret of his. There was a place very similar to Il Corvo in Pike Place Market, but without the crowds. We had to check it out.
Description on the Pasta Casalinga’s website: Come experience traditional Italian pasta influenced by local Northwest flavors in the heart of the Pike Place Market in a warm and welcoming kitchen with Michela and Nathan.
Neighborhood/Type: Downtown / Pike Place Market
Address: 93 Pike St ste 201, Seattle, WA 98101
What we ate/drank: Tagliolini Con Salmon E Zucchine- Wild Coho Salmon, Zucchini, Capers, Sichuan Pepper and Mint – $13, Pappardelle Con Finferli E Salsiccia- Wild Local Chanterelle, Sausage, Pecorino & Thyme – $13, Lasagna Alla Bosaciola- Sausage, Sweet Peas, Mushrooms, Made-in-house Besciamella-$11
Comments: Pasta Casalinga opened in the Market’s Atrium in March of 2018. This spot used to be a wind-up toy store and then a biscuit company prior to Pasta Casalinga taking over the place. One co-owner was raised in Turin, Italy and learned how to cook from her mother and grandmothers. The other co-owner is a native Northwesterner with a passion for local foods. Add their super powers together and you’ve got hand crafted pasta combined with locally sourced ingredients.
We arrived at Pasta Casalinga at 11:30 for lunch and right after we ordered a line formed. It’s not as crazy crowded as Il Corvo, but Pasta Casalinga definitely has a following. Although the Pike Place Market is teeming with tourists, Pasta Casalinga is away from the main action of the market. We observed that most of the patrons are locals on their lunch. You order at the cashier, grab your utensils and napkins and wait for your name to be called. There aren’t any tables, just a long counter overlooking the atrium.
Similar to Il Corvo, there are three main pasta dishes served daily with a few other side dishes. Pasta Casalinga has three sourcing categories of pasta, ocean, farm and garden. Each dish changes as the in season ingredients also change, so there’s a constant rotation of dishes even though they serve only three a day.
Much like our trip to Il Corvo, we ordered three dishes.
- The ocean dish, Tagliolini Con Salmon E Zucchine- Wild Coho Salmon, Zucchini, Capers, Sichuan Pepper and Mint – $13.
- The farm dish, Pappardelle Con Finferli E Salsiccia- Wild Local Chanterelle, Sausage, Pecorino & Thyme – $13.
- The everyday Lasagna Alla Bosaciola- Sausage, Sweet Peas, Mushrooms, Made-in-house Besciamella-$11.
The salmon dish had ample chunks of salmon as you can see from the photo below. The sauce was very light so that tomatoes and peppers could shine through. The tagliolini pasta was perfect. The pappardelle was our favorite dish. Again they didn’t skimp on the chanterelle and sausage. The mushrooms and sausage mixed with the wide pappardelle and pecorino cheese was perfect. The lasagna was cream based full of sausage and sweet peas. I personally would have liked it a little more savory. It was a little on the sweet side.
One last dish I got was the Pasta Al Pomodoro, which was a dish that they offered through the Meal Pal service(which I’ll write about on a later post). Through the Meal Pal service with a promotion, I ended up getting this dish for $3.52!
Pasta Casalinga is open everyday except Monday from 11:00am to 6:00pm. They close at 5:00pm on Sundays. We both agreed that we still like Il Corvo the best. Their dishes are all under $10 while Pasta Casalinga’s dishes were between $11-$13. I’m sure the rent is higher in Pike Place Market than next to a Bail Bondsman near the court house in Pioneer Sq, where Il Corvo is located. That may explain the higher prices. Overall, we just enjoyed Il Corvo’s dishes better, but Pasta Casalinga is less crowded, convenient if you are hosting out-of-towners in the market and serves very tasty dishes. And who doesn’t enjoy daily freshly made pasta?
Just an fyi, Seattle Magazine disagreed with us and voted Pasta Casalinga Best of the Best Pasta in Seattle.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 4.50
Service: 5.00
Food/Drinks: 4.35
Bang for the Buck: 4.00
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!
Servers local recommendations to visit in the future: I went back to work after lunch at Pasta Casalinga and mentioned it to my co-workers. We talked about Pasta Casalinga and I mentioned some of my other favorites like Tavolata and Il Corvo A co-worker mentioned her favorite was Bizzarro Italian Café in Wallingford. We’d been there before, but it’s been so many years. A revisit is in order.
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