San Fermo

San Fermo Restaurant Review:

Tucked into the rare house on commercial Ballard Avenue, and serving food on Grandma-style china, it seems San Fermo should be dishing up giant pots of Sunday sauce on meatballs. But looks can be deceiving, and the menu subverts the home-style setting with elegant, refined cuisine. Vitello tonnato shares space on the appetizer lineup with an antipasto board highlighting grilled octopus, and the mains feature racks of lamb and pheasant cacciatore. In between, the secret star shines: the pastas. Dig into ramp pesto over agnolotti, speckled with hazelnuts, mafaldine alla carbonara, and a trotter ragù that heaps pig feet on noodles. Come dessert, both the affogato and olive oil cake taste like summer, and fit in perfectly on the side porch (heated in spring for Seattleite comfort). The wine list, predictably Italian for the most part, is brief and affordable, but doesn’t supply any stunners, and beer lovers may be disappointed. Cocktails and spirits are a drinker’s best friend here.