Renton Restaurant Roundup
Twenty five years ago, if you'd asked me my favorite restaurants in the Seattle area, Gene's Ristorante in Renton, and Brad's Swingside Cafe in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood would always be at or near the top of the list. Both so good, unpretentious but inventive places, and primarily Italian. Gene's closed about sixteen years ago, and I was brokenhearted. I still dream about that antipasto. And that apple pie.
Often, when I'm brokenhearted that a restaurant I love has closed, the owners are not brokenhearted. They're very happy, relieved. Dancing a jig. Or the Kazatzka. Or in the case of Gene or Brad, the Tarantella. A couple of years after selling Gene's Ristorante, Gene started the still thriving Red House in Renton(which has on the menu the lasagna from Gene's), and had his fingers in a number of other restaurants ranging from Smoking Monkey Pizza, to Papaya Vietnamese in the Renton Landing, to Red Papaya Alehouse in Seattle, to Blossom Vegetarian Bistro in Renton. Most recently, his fingers are completely out of all his other restaurants, and he can be seen more often at the Red House, which was and is still great.
The quirky, one of a kind Swingside cafe closed about two years ago, after a twenty five year run. It was totally my kind of place. Tiny,( 12 tables, maybe?) idiosyncratic( Italian, sure, but if he felt like making Gumbo, or a Lebanese chicken dish, or something Tunisian, you'd be wise to order it). Plus Brad's love for a couple of things were plenty evident in the restaurant: Jazz and baseball, with large framed photos of John Coltrane and Roberto Clemente, if I remember correctly( Get it? Swingside?). Brad lived upstairs, above the restaurant.
So I was rather shocked a month or so ago when I read that Brad Inserra is now doing some cooking and recipe developing at Gene's Red House, here in Renton. I don't know how often he's there, or to what extent he's involved, but Gene and Brad have a lot in common,(both odd ducks, about the same age, from the same part of the US(Brad's from the Pittsburgh PA area, Gene from Sandusky Ohio), and thoughtful, intelligent fellows who know their way around a kitchen, So I shouldn't be that surprised .
In any event, the Red House now has a Happy Hour, with food and drink specials, and they're also now serving weekend brunch.
Red House , 410 Burnett Avenue S, Renton , 425-226-2666
Meanwhile, a place co-founded by Gene, Smoking Monkey Pizza, now owned by Sean and Ping Bullock, is doubling in size, with the new large room on the verge of opening. Smoking Monkey is easily one of the top ten pizza places in the Seattle area, and their crust is very hard to beat. Wood fired, but a little thicker than Neapolitan , it's pretty damned near perfect. Everything there is great quality, with insanely great fried cauliflower, and in house made gelato. When the new room opens, they will be serving a buffet lunch. Too bad they know me and my eating capacity too well: I've been told I'm not welcome at the buffet. Maybe I'll sneak in wearing a dress and a wig. Do I have to shave to fool them?
Smoking Monkey, 613 S. 3rd St, Renton, 425-291-7560
In the news a couple of weeks ago was the report of a possible Norovirus outbreak among people who ate at Renton's La Hacienda on April 21st, and the place was closed by the health department.
It's kind of misleading. Just because the four or five people who
came up with norovirus symptoms who ate at La Hacienda on the same day, does not mean that it was picked up at La Hacienda. There are a lot of variables. When they announced the closure, on April 27th, they also cited La Hacienda for a couple of violations. But you have to look at their history, which is available on the King County website. It's not at all unusual, or a bad thing, for the County's kitchen inspector, to find a few things wrong. I look at these things for fun( I know. This is how he has fun?)I haven't seen one restaurant who get a perfect score inspection after inspection after inspection. It appears that the restaurants with the lowest (best)scores over time, they often have five, or ten, or fifteen points against them per inspection. A lot of restaurants get much higher scores(worse) with total points in the forty, fifty, sixty, and one hundred range. There used to be an buffet place in the Renton Highlands that I was curious about. Seemed like every time I looked online to see the score of their most recent inspection, they were in the eighty to one hundred range, and were closed a couple of times for things like rodent and insect infestation, and meat kept at room temperature. Eww. So I restrained myself and stayed away, despite my curiosity. I'll try almost anything, but those consistently large number of health department violations left me little squeamish.
La Hacienda is on the opposite end of the spectrum. For as far back as they have records available online, La Hacienda is consistently zero to ten points. Consistently among the very cleanest/safest , always one of the lowest scores. I've eaten there probably fifty times over the years, never felt ill, and always found the place to be pretty good: large portions of pretty good to good food, a comfortable, friendly space, consistently great service, and nice employees and ownership. The place reopened the next day. I am not afraid to eat there, absolutely love their pico de gallo salsa, and will always find something on the menu that tastes good.
Santa Fe La Hacienda
811 S. 3rd St, Renton, 425-228-0882
Often, when I'm brokenhearted that a restaurant I love has closed, the owners are not brokenhearted. They're very happy, relieved. Dancing a jig. Or the Kazatzka. Or in the case of Gene or Brad, the Tarantella. A couple of years after selling Gene's Ristorante, Gene started the still thriving Red House in Renton(which has on the menu the lasagna from Gene's), and had his fingers in a number of other restaurants ranging from Smoking Monkey Pizza, to Papaya Vietnamese in the Renton Landing, to Red Papaya Alehouse in Seattle, to Blossom Vegetarian Bistro in Renton. Most recently, his fingers are completely out of all his other restaurants, and he can be seen more often at the Red House, which was and is still great.
The quirky, one of a kind Swingside cafe closed about two years ago, after a twenty five year run. It was totally my kind of place. Tiny,( 12 tables, maybe?) idiosyncratic( Italian, sure, but if he felt like making Gumbo, or a Lebanese chicken dish, or something Tunisian, you'd be wise to order it). Plus Brad's love for a couple of things were plenty evident in the restaurant: Jazz and baseball, with large framed photos of John Coltrane and Roberto Clemente, if I remember correctly( Get it? Swingside?). Brad lived upstairs, above the restaurant.
So I was rather shocked a month or so ago when I read that Brad Inserra is now doing some cooking and recipe developing at Gene's Red House, here in Renton. I don't know how often he's there, or to what extent he's involved, but Gene and Brad have a lot in common,(both odd ducks, about the same age, from the same part of the US(Brad's from the Pittsburgh PA area, Gene from Sandusky Ohio), and thoughtful, intelligent fellows who know their way around a kitchen, So I shouldn't be that surprised .
In any event, the Red House now has a Happy Hour, with food and drink specials, and they're also now serving weekend brunch.
Red House , 410 Burnett Avenue S, Renton , 425-226-2666
Meanwhile, a place co-founded by Gene, Smoking Monkey Pizza, now owned by Sean and Ping Bullock, is doubling in size, with the new large room on the verge of opening. Smoking Monkey is easily one of the top ten pizza places in the Seattle area, and their crust is very hard to beat. Wood fired, but a little thicker than Neapolitan , it's pretty damned near perfect. Everything there is great quality, with insanely great fried cauliflower, and in house made gelato. When the new room opens, they will be serving a buffet lunch. Too bad they know me and my eating capacity too well: I've been told I'm not welcome at the buffet. Maybe I'll sneak in wearing a dress and a wig. Do I have to shave to fool them?
Smoking Monkey, 613 S. 3rd St, Renton, 425-291-7560
In the news a couple of weeks ago was the report of a possible Norovirus outbreak among people who ate at Renton's La Hacienda on April 21st, and the place was closed by the health department.
It's kind of misleading. Just because the four or five people who
came up with norovirus symptoms who ate at La Hacienda on the same day, does not mean that it was picked up at La Hacienda. There are a lot of variables. When they announced the closure, on April 27th, they also cited La Hacienda for a couple of violations. But you have to look at their history, which is available on the King County website. It's not at all unusual, or a bad thing, for the County's kitchen inspector, to find a few things wrong. I look at these things for fun( I know. This is how he has fun?)I haven't seen one restaurant who get a perfect score inspection after inspection after inspection. It appears that the restaurants with the lowest (best)scores over time, they often have five, or ten, or fifteen points against them per inspection. A lot of restaurants get much higher scores(worse) with total points in the forty, fifty, sixty, and one hundred range. There used to be an buffet place in the Renton Highlands that I was curious about. Seemed like every time I looked online to see the score of their most recent inspection, they were in the eighty to one hundred range, and were closed a couple of times for things like rodent and insect infestation, and meat kept at room temperature. Eww. So I restrained myself and stayed away, despite my curiosity. I'll try almost anything, but those consistently large number of health department violations left me little squeamish.
La Hacienda is on the opposite end of the spectrum. For as far back as they have records available online, La Hacienda is consistently zero to ten points. Consistently among the very cleanest/safest , always one of the lowest scores. I've eaten there probably fifty times over the years, never felt ill, and always found the place to be pretty good: large portions of pretty good to good food, a comfortable, friendly space, consistently great service, and nice employees and ownership. The place reopened the next day. I am not afraid to eat there, absolutely love their pico de gallo salsa, and will always find something on the menu that tastes good.
Santa Fe La Hacienda
811 S. 3rd St, Renton, 425-228-0882
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