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The London Plane

The London Plane: a New Opening in Pioneer Square.
It has a beautiful interior, not so much because of the decoration itself but because it is in the middle of a retail store that sells creative arrangements of flowers, pastries, cheese, canned and tinned food…
I had lunch at the bar, where a choice of newspapers are made available to you.
I had a large salad (chicories, cucumber, chickpeas, avocado, with tahine herbs dressing) that was very fresh. The Rhubarb Galette (tarte à la rhubarbe) was tasty but a little bit too sweet. They do not serve espresso but a very good drip coffee from their neighbor Caffè Umbria.
I’ll go back and give it a second chance because I really enjoyed having lunch in such a pleasant place and the owners are the same people in charge of Sitka & Spruce and Bar Sajor, two restaurants that I really like.

—  The London Plane 300 & 322 Occidental Ave. S

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Lunch at The Whale Wins

At the moment, one of my definite favorite restaurants is The Whale Wins in Wallingford/Fremont.
Chef Renee Erickson (also behind Walrus and Carpenter in Ballard) mixes her amazing talent with many European influences (England, France, Italy, and Spain). 
I went with two friends, and we shared several plates:
First, two tartines on very good bread. One with sardines, curried tomato paste, and shaved fennel and another with herring rillettes and pickled shallots.
Then we tried roasted clams with sausage, spring onion and sumac. I love sumac’s flavor.
We also had warm lentils, swiss chard, spinach, cilantro, orange and tahine.
And the desserts… oh my!
We had Peychaud Bitter frozen sabayon with citrus and meringue. And finally, something that was recommended to us by our waitress was butter roasted zucchini bread with crème fraîche. She was right, it was delightful!

They offer a long list of wines from Italy and France. Among the French ones some we usually don’t find in Seattle (Janières, Apremont, Saumur Domaine Filliatreau…).

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Boat Street Café

It is almost Summer! The Boat Street Cafe is a very nice hidden spot with a charming patio. The food is nice and the service friendly.
It is in walking distance of the Seattle Art Museum Olympic Sculpture Park. You should consider it if you are in this area.

Boat Street Café 3131 Western Avenue #301