Category: Blog

Mussels: Always a Strong Choice

When it comes to shellfish, the mussel is always a good option. Not only is it one of the world’s more sustainable forms of seafood, but it is also a rich and delicious source of many important vitamins and minerals. When you eat mussels, you’re getting lean protein, iron, vitamin C, folate, phosphorus, and several valuable B vitamins. Of particular note is the vitamin B12, selenium, and manganese, all of which are particularly strong in the humble mussel. A three-ounce serving of mussels gives you more than your daily recommended requirement of all three of these.

There are plenty of good reasons to eat mussels, and our Italian restaurant in Bothell offers you even more. Come and try mussels the Italian way in our cozze, served with Penn Cove mussels, cherry tomatoes, and a saffron-white wine broth!

The Tortellini Story

At Amaro Bistro’s Italian restaurant in Bothell, you can order up the Italian pasta favorite known as tortellini off of our lunch and dinner menus. This delicious four cheese stuffed noodle is served with butternut squash cream, pancetta, sage, romano, and pinenuts.

The invention of tortellini is hard to pin down. However, there is a legend that it was first created as a tribute to the goddess Venus. According to the story, Venus and Jupiter had agreed to meet at an inn for a romantic rendezvous. As the goddess awaited her lover in one of the inn’s rooms, the innkeeper gazed upon her through the keyhole. He could only make out her bellybutton, but was so overcome by its beauty that he went to the kitchen to replicate it as a pasta.

Pepperoni vs. Peperoni

At our Bothell Italian restaurant, you can enjoy a classic pepperoni pizza off of our list of real, wood stone fired pizzas. This is a favorite choice for many, representing a classic form of Italian food for Americans from coast to coast. However, did you realize that “pepperoni pizza” is technically not Italian?

In truth, pepperoni is an Italian American invention that is largely known outside of Italy. If you go to a restaurant in Italy, you may see something called “peperoni pizza” on the menu. If you order this, you will receive a pizza covered with bell peppers. In some places that are more accustomed to getting foreign tourists, you may be able to find a more familiar pepperoni pizza; the trick is to look out for the third “P” in the name. When you want a pepperoni pizza in Italy, your best bet is to ask for a pizza with salami.

The Seattle Times: Amaro Bistro

Amaro Bistro: A suburban offshoot of venerable IL Bistro

amaro-bistro-cioppino
The cioppino at Amaro Bistro features a zesty tomato broth stocked with clams, mussels, bits of salmon and squid, and a Dungeness crab quarter. (Greg Gilbert/The Seattle Times)

The sister restaurant of Seattle stalwart Il Bistro brings polished service and familiar Italian fare to the Eastside.
By Providence Cicero
Special to The Seattle Times

“Chances are good that many who proposed decades ago over rack of lamb at 40-year-old Pike Place Market mainstay Il Bistro, or assuaged a broken heart at the bar of that amber-lit grotto, are now raising kids in the suburbs, maybe even welcoming grandkids. Amaro Bistro, the Eastside sister spot, is for them.

You’ll find this lively Italian restaurant and bar anchoring a corner of Six Oaks, a new residential/retail complex in Bothell, where a building boom is under way. Amaro’s owner is Bothell resident Nick Wiltz, who 10 years ago bought Il Bistro.

Amaro’s atmosphere couldn’t be more different from its Seattle sibling. It’s bright and boisterous with windows in both bar and dining room that can fold open to connect with planned sidewalk seating. The waiters wear neckties and vests (about half are from Il Bistro; most are as professional as they look), but the atmosphere is informal. A small chef’s counter abuts the open kitchen. No cloths cover the dark-stained oak tables. Brand logos of the namesake Italian spirit decorate the walls; prominent among them is Amaro Montenegro, a component of the excellent house negroni.

Amaro’s dinner menu mimics Il Bistro’s almost exactly. Executive chef Nathan Luoma cooked for nearly a decade at Il Bistro, time enough to have mastered the signature dishes: cioppino, lasagna, gnocchi and, of course, rack of lamb. With a few cavils, I enjoyed them all.
Carving the six-rib rack of lamb, presented in two pieces, was awkward work with a dull knife. One side was a little more medium, the other a little more rare; together they averaged out to the medium-rare I would have requested, had I been asked. If $42 for the dish strikes you as downtown pricing, consider that it’s a princely portion, adequate for two, accompanied by haricots verts and carrots (severely undercooked) and savory wedges of polenta with a golden brown Parmesan cheese crust that make ideal sponges for the sauce — marinara thinned with a red wine reduction.

Gorgeous grilled king salmon was also generously sized and divided in two, one piece rare, the other rarer. My advice: Make sure you specify the degree of doneness you prefer. A touch of lemon on the fish balanced the luxuriousness of its companions: thyme-flecked melted leeks and a potato gratin.

A mirror positioned above the kitchen pass through, cooking-school-style, reflects plates waiting for pickup. Cioppino grabs attention. A Dungeness crab quarter rises from a zesty tomato broth stocked with clams, mussels, bits of salmon, and rings and tiny tentacles of squid.

Lasagna is another head-turner, a stately stack of noodles layered with herbed ricotta and mozzarella, under a tsunami of lusty red sauce thick with ground veal and lamb. Light, lovely gnocchi were also flooded with tomato-basil sauce…”

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE >

Washington Wine Month

March is Washington Wine Month!

To celebrate we invite you to compare a Washington varietal against the classic Italian version.

This week’s feature:

Sangiovese
Novelty Hill Sangiovese Stillwater Creek Vineyard by Januik, WA
vs
Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva
4 oz of ea for $12

Have some fun and pair the wines with this weeks Chef’s Special:
Pan Roasted Pork Tenderloin
Sauteed Yukon Potatoes, Pearl Onions, Romano Bechamel,
Roasted Grape-Thyme Gastrique
$23

wine-month

Raving for Ravioli

Ravioli is one of Italy’s big success stories. All the world over, people eat this iconic stuffed pasta in a wide variety of forms. It is common to find ravioli stuffed with meat, seafood, ricotta, and vegetarian options. At our Bothell Italian restaurant, you can enjoy this classic favorite in the form of our ravioli di funghi, stuffed with wild mushrooms and seasonal mushrooms.

The story of ravioli goes back to medieval Italy. Its name comes from from an Italian word that means “to stuff”, based on the way that the pasta is prepared. The earliest known record of this dish comes from Francesco de Marco, an Italian merchant from the 14th century. In the same century, mention of the dish appeared in English manuscripts, showing that ravioli had made its way throughout Europe early on. Today, it is one of Italy’s best known traditional dishes. Come and enjoy a plate at Amaro Bistro tonight!

A Brief History of Lasagna

Everybody knows lasagna. If you’re a fan of this Italian favorite, you can find it on the dinner menu at our Bothell Italian restaurant. We make our lasagne with veal, lamb, and authentic Italian cheeses imported all the way from Italy. But just how much do you know about this classic pasta dish?

The lasagna recipe we know and love comes to us from the Emilia Romagna region in the north of Italy. Its name is based on the ancient Greek word “lasana”, which means “unleavened bread”. Judging by the earliest known written record of lasagna, the dish dates back at least as far as the thirteenth century. Early versions of the dish did not use the tomatoes that are so quintessentially associated with it today, as the South American fruit hadn’t made its way to Europe yet. Today, however, many different ingredients are used in lasagne, including many varieties of cheeses, meats, and vegetables.

Try Some Tiramisu!

If you’re a fan of tiramisu, then you’ll love Amaro Bistro. Our Bothell Italian restaurant serves up our tiramisu with the delightful bouquet of flavors that you come to expect from this widely-loved dessert. After a meal of quality Italian-style cuisine, finish the evening in style with custard, ladyfingers, and chocolate.

The word “tiramisu” is derived from an Italian term for “pick me up”. The history of the dish is somewhat mysterious, as nobody knows exactly where it originally came from. Some place its invention all the way back in the time of the Renaissance, and some think it took place as recently as 1971. Whenever its inception may have been, it did not appear in cookbooks until the 1980’s, when it was on the rise as the most popular dessert in Europe and the United States. If you’ve never tried this phenomenon, come in for a taste of tiramisu at Amaro Bistro this Valentine’s Day!

Valentine’s Day in Italy

Italy is often celebrated for its strong sense of romance, and this sense comes out all the more strongly during the Valentine’s Day celebration. Similar to our own celebrations, this is a time for Italian lovers to dine out and exchange gifts, as well as a big time for popping the big question. Traditionally, it was believed that the first man seen by an unmarried girl on Valentine’s Day would represent the man they would marry within the year; young maidens used to wake up early on the day to people-watch by their windows for this very purpose.

When you’re looking for a place to share Valentine’s Day with your own special someone, consider Amaro Bistro. Our Italian restaurant in Bothell has assembled a special Valentine’s Day menu for the 13th and the 14th, so come and celebrate in proper Italian style!

The Biscotti Story

When you want a proper dessert to follow after a real Italian meal, you can’t go wrong with the classic taste of biscotti at our Italian restaurant in Bothell. Biscotti, or the “twice-baked” cookie, comes in the form of a dry and crunchy biscuit cut into distinctive, diagonal bars. They are often eaten as a dipping cookie, paired with coffee, cappuccino, spumoni, gelato, or even certain Italian dessert wines.

The biscotti first made its way to us across the Atlantic with Christopher Columbus himself. The dry nature of the cookie gives it a shelf life of as much as four months, which made it a great choice for the sailors during an oceanic voyage. It wasn’t widely embraced in the United States until the later years of the twentieth century, when coffee shops arose in popularity. Coffee aficionados took to the dipping cookie, and the rest of the country shortly followed suit. Today, it’s a very popular treat in both Italy and abroad!