All week long Amaro Bistro will be donating $1 from every Negroni we sell to the ASPCA, to prevent cruelty to animals.
So stop by this week and enjoy a delicious Negroni made from our namesake Amaro, the Amaro Montenegro, and help the lives of our furry friends!
The artichoke is a big part of dining traditions in Italy and much of the Mediterranean area. In fact, the ancient Greeks had a story about how this curious vegetable first came about. As is the case with a lot of Greek myths, it involves one of the gods falling in love with a mortal.
As the myth goes, Zeus became infatuated with a beautiful woman by the name of Cynara. He elevated her to the level of godhood so that he could take her to Mount Olympus. Unfortunately, Cynara was unsatisfied with the life of a god, and often snuck back down the mountain to visit her family. When he found out, Zeus was so infuriated that he turned her into the world’s first artichoke plant.
At our Italian restaurant in Bothell, you can enjoy artichoke in the form of our ravioli di carciofo, our pollo pizza, and our grilled flat bread. Try one tonight at Amaro Bistro!
Do you like to drink a cup of coffee with your meal? Our Bothell Italian restaurant proudly serves Cafe Vita Coffee for your enjoyment. Such brews are a great complement to many Italian meals.
The Italians have strict customs when it comes to drinking coffee. Firstly, for most Italians, coffee means espresso. They will generally drink it as part of breakfast or during an afternoon break, but never during a large meal. At lunch and dinner, you might find that coffee is prohibited at the dining table. Further, while many people in the United States are used to enjoying their coffee as they leisurely walk down the street, Italians frown on drinking coffee on the move. Sit down, relax, and savor your brew the Italian way!
When it comes to seafood, halibut is always a strong choice. At our Italian restaurant in Bothell, you can enjoy this classic flatfish in several forms. If you haven’t tried it before, it has a gentle, mild taste that pairs well with a lot of Italian dishes.
Halibut comes with all of the benefits that you may expect find in most seafood, including crucial omega-3 fatty acids and lean protein. On top of this, halibut has a lot of additional impressive nutrients to offer. It is one of the world’s best sources of magnesium, which is important in fostering the flow of blood through your body. It is also a rich source of vitamin B6, vitamin B12, niacin, potassium, selenium, and folic acid. Getting plenty of this fish in your diet decreases your chances of heart disease, strokes, and even certain types of cancer.
Do you enjoy snacking on a quality Italian bread while you wait for your main course? At our Bothell Italian restaurant, you can precede your meal with one of our bruschetta al pomodoros off of our antipasti menu. This is a long-time favorite Italian appetizer that is sure to appeal to the entire table.
The word “bruschetta” is derived from the Italian bruscare, which means “to roast over coals”. The word describes not a specific type of bread, but rather a certain way that bread is prepared. It is usually made with Tuscan bread, like the variety you can find at Amaro Bistro, though it is also made with other types of Italian or French bread. The bread is toasted and seasoned with garlic and olive oil, along with any of a broad assortment of additional ingredients. We serve ours with roma tomatoes and organic basil, offering our diners a tantilizing preamble to any meal!
For a lot of people, nothing says Italian food like a quality piece of pizza. However, most of their experience with pizza comes from New York, Chicago, and other distinctly American locales. They therefore don’t know what to expect from a real, authentic Italian restaurant when they order a pizza. Will the pizza be the same as what they’re used to? Will they be able to eat it in a way that won’t look foolish to the Italian locals? Our Bothell Italian restaurant has the answers.
The good news is that there is really not a whole lot to worry about when it comes to authentic Italian pizza. Though we in America are mostly accustomed to the image of the European people eating their food with a knife and fork, Italians make an exception for their pizza. The only major difference you’re likely to notice is that your pizza will often come to you uncut; when dining at an Italian pizzeria, simply cut your own pie into quarters, pick up a quarter, fold it lengthwise, and enjoy.
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!
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.
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 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…”