Ring in the New Year at one of our delicious restaurant clients and start 2012 off in a sublimely delicious fashion.

Spinasse and Artusi

This year is bound to be extra festive with New Year’s Eve falling on a Saturday! On Capitol Hill, both Spinasse and Artusi are offering special menus and wine flights to bid adieu to 2011 in delicious style.

Artusi

Spinasse is offering two delicious five-course menus from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., with optional wine flights. The 2011 menu is filled with classic guest favorites, and the 2012 menu looks to the future, featuring innovative dishes for a brand new year. $75 per person plus tax and gratuity with optional wine pairings at $35 and $50. Click for a reservation or call (206) 251-7673.

For a spirited evening join the team at Artusi from 5 p.m. to midnight for cocktails, a special three-course tasting menu, plus dessert, offered in addition to the regular menu, along with a flight of bubbles that will pair perfectly with the tasting menu but can also be enjoyed separately. $40 per person plus tax and gratuity, with optional sparkling wine flight for $30. No reservations, seating is first come, first serve.

Cafe Juanita

Cafe Juanita

Usher in 2012 at Cafe Juanita in Kirkland, where Chef Holly Smith is crafting a 7-course tasting menu alongside two exquisitely chosen wine pairings created by Sommelier Dawn Smith.

Dawn was recently named a finalist for Sunset magazine’s Western Wine Awards and boasts over 13 years of experience, including professional chef training and multiple Sommelier certifications. Her brilliant sense of food and wine pairing and extensive knowledge of wine serves to enhance the already stellar menu at this award-winning restaurant. Reservations are available until 10 p.m. Click for reservations or call 425-823-1505.

RN74

RN74

A favorite Seattle destination for wine lovers, RN74 is offering an early and late seating, with two menus certain to delight all the senses. The early seating features four courses, plus a supplemental cheese course, with such festive temptations as a Hamachi Crudo, studded with bright Cara Cara oranges, hearts of palm and Castelvetrano olives,  Ginger Glazed Black Cod with Matsutake dashi and a Grilled New York Strip Loin paired with a spinach soubric, black trumpet mushrooms and sauce Perigourdine.

The late seating also starts with the Hamachi Crudo, but adds Seared Nantucket Bay Scallops with parsnip puree and black winter truffles to the menu before the Black Cod and ending with the Grilled New York Strip Loin, this time with a sauce Bordelaise. End the meal (and the year) on a sweet note with a Chocolate Mille-Feuille, chestnut cremeux and Bourbon ice cream.

Reserve online or call 206-456-7474.

Congrats to Revel and Spinasse for making Seattle Met’s list of Seattle’s 25 top spots.  Reviewer Kathryn Robinson calls the restaurants on this list places where “food dazzles with invention and intention” and the “best of the best.”

Robinson declares Revel “The single best think to happen to Seattle dining in the last year” and a “minor urban miracle” with “impossibly inventive” food.

Spinasse’s food is “impeccably, consistently thrilling,” enthuses Robinson, warning “Careful who you come with. In this dim light behind these lace curtains, beneath these wrought-iron fixtures, romance will ensue.”

The November issue of Seattle Met will be on the shelves in late October.

Lindsay Borden

This August, Spinasse is celebrating their third year on Capitol Hill! In celebrations, Jason, Carrie and team will be preparing a different, four-course tasting menu that will showcase some favorite dishes from the past three years and offer up some adventurous new ones.

These special menus are available the weeks of August 7th, August 14th and August 21st and the cost is $50 per person + tax and gratuity. A special wine pairing option will be available. Check out the menus below, but don’t delay, make a reservation at (206) 251-7673 or at online here.

August 7, Week one:

Anchovies in bagnet vert / Chicories with marinated rabbit and balsamico / zucchini in carpione

Porcini ravioli with sage and pinenuts

Quail with fresh polenta, braised basil and chanterelles

Goat cheese mousse with cherries and cocoa nib

August 14, Week two:

Geoduck with lemon, cucumber and prosciutto di Parma / crespelle filled with ricotta and summer greens / baby beets with salsa tonnata and pickled peppers

Carrot caramelle with mint and cumin

Summer Capunet: Veal and pork stuffed squash blossoms

Roasted peaches in the style of Alba

August 21, Week Three:

Marinated clams with baby fennel / potato flan with bra cheese / radishes in bagna cauda

Risotto with shigoku oysters

Roasted lamb chops with Taggiasca Olives

Caramelized white chocolate bunet with nectarines

Local food blogger, Keren Brown’s, new book has just hit the shelves! The Food Lovers’ Guide to Seattle: Best Local Specialties, Markets, Recipes, Restaurants & Events is an essential guide to everything food-related in Seattle and the surrounding area and includes Gruman & Nicoll clients Cafe Juanita, Revel, Spinasse and Dine Around Seattle (the next cycle of which is in November).

Perfect for visitors and locals, this book is a must-have for serious foodies and is available in bookstores and online at Amazon.com.