the first.

to start what i hope is a very long and enticing adventure with seattle food, i ventured mere blocks from my house to Hudson. having only stopped in for their amazing local beer selection, i'd decided it was time to try what the gastropub had to offer. [if you're not familiar with a gastropub...read here...it may just be my favorite type of food!]

my partner in crime for the evening, the lovely J, and I approached on foot with empty tummies and we were not disappointed!

i grappled with enjoying a more traditional pub meal [house-made beet and kale veggie burger with salad] but landed on the ricotta gnocchi. with red wine mushroom ragout, toasted pine nuts, and a shaved brussel sprout salad to top, i really couldn't turn it down. it arrived much smaller than i had anticipated, but when i bit into the first gnocchi, i saw it was brilliant portioning. much more would have been too filling. although, i found my dish to be void of pinenuts (!) the shaved sprouts were a great compliment to heavy gnocchi, and my favorite mushrooms (enoki-the kind with the little heads and long stems) were in full force with some shiitakes in the sauce. all in all, there were definitely no leftovers to take home.

J's dish was the pasta pancetta, with wide noodles, salumi pancetta, foraged mushrooms, spinach, walnuts, and a ridiculously rich cream sauce. all this was spiked with some parmesiano-reggiano. there was a clean plate on her end as well.

the star of the night, as is usual with me, was the dessert. banana beignets with a freaking ridiculous dulce de leche sauce on top. in J's words, it was with great restraint that we didn't pick up the plate and lick it.