My Favorite Spot for Italian in Seattle!

Posted by TheTripChick from Seattle on 9/29/07

There's a reason Brad's Swingside Cafe is consistently rated the top Italian in Seattle. Great for me, they're right in the neighborhood! We enjoy dinner at Brad's a couple of times a month, and while on occasion I will try one of their specials, I am completely in love with two of their standard pasta entrees: the Bolognese and the Aglio Olio. The Bolognese is served over farfalle and features a gorgeous, seductive classic Bolognese sauce highlighted with wild boar and venison. The addition of these rather exotic meats adds a wonderful depth to the sauce that just makes you want to dive in and wallow in it. The Aglio Olio is a Brad's specialty and takes a hodge-podge of ingredients such as garlic, olive oil, crushed red pepper, and hazelnuts and masterfully incorporates them all into a one-of-a-kind sauce that will make your taste-buds sing! Served over linguine, you can't go wrong with this dish. Most entrees are good not only for dinner but for lunch the next day - make sure you don't fill up on bread before dinner hits the table! The wine list is a little small but very good and reasonably priced. The restaurant is housed in an old house, and thus has all the requisite charm. The main dining area is charmingly cramped, and can get a little loud on weekend evenings...but the food makes it entirely worth a little noise. There is also a smaller back room which has been transformed into an underwater grotto - the space is smaller and quieter, but they need to change the current very-uncomfortable wood folding chairs. We love coming to Brad's, and will continue to do so because the food is truly amazing.