April | 2012 | sugarsandphotography

“Eating is an art worthy to rank with the other methods by which man chooses to escape from reality”
“How To Cook a Wolf”
MFK Fisher

This past Wednesday, my sister Jo Anne and I went to How to Cook a Wolf, an Ethan Stowell restaurant, located in Upper Queen Anne. Neither of us had ever been before and were so excited; even looking forward to it several days ahead of time!

We started by getting there early for cocktails (naturally) and we were seated at our table to enjoy our cocktails instead of the bar area, since it was early enough and the full crowd had not gotten there yet. The restaurant was smaller than I had anticipated (I purposefully hadn’t seen any pictures for the restaurant, to get the full experience for myself first), and I ended up liking that very much, for the more intimate evening it provided. The stone and wood accents also contribute beautifully. The warmth of the wolf den: created beautifully.

We then proceeded to have delicious appetizers, a beet salad for me and a wonderful green salad for Jo Anne, and then our main entrées. I had the Strozzapretti pasta with beef bolognese, and topped with mint and parmesan cheese. Jo Anne had the pork shoulder over some kind of delicious white beans (I don’t remember what kind they were- not cannellini or fava- but they were sooo tasty so who cares!). For dessert we both had the panna cotta with strawberries, almonds, and balsalmic. It was so flippin good!

I had also been to another Ethan Stowell restaurant that I had been meaning to go to the week before (Staple & Fancy) and I have a few comments about the food and Mr. Stowell’s restaurants.

First, I absolutely love the environment he creates at his restaurants. When I go out to dinner, I want it to be an experience. I want to look forward to going, to enjoy the surroundings, to not be rushed through drinks and/or dinner, and to leave knowing without a doubt that I will be back. And not just one time, but many times at that. Too often, especially nowadays it seems, restaurants try to hurry you through so they can turn the table. My sister and I were at How to Cook a Wolf for 3 hours, so you can see we weren’t rushed! The staff at both restaurants was very friendly and extremely professional. Their timing was always perfect and I appreciate that.

Secondly, the food. OMG the food. Amazing. Flavorful. Simple yet Creative. Can’t think of much more to say other than: go have some of his food.

I enjoyed my experience so much at HTCAW that I am still thinking about it: 4 days later. Now THAT’S a good restaurant! I even went out and bought the book on which the restaurant is named; written by MFK Fisher. I am currently on the chapter entitled “How Not to Boil and Egg”, and I will be blogging on the book at a later time.
Ethan Stowell truly knows what he’s doing and he does it amazingly well. I look forward to going back to both restaurants, and can’t wait to try the next one on my list: Anchovies and Olives!