Amberjack at The Old Sage Tops Providence Cicero's Year's Best Dishes in Seattle. Seattle Times Restaurant Critic's Annual Round-Up.

"Providence Cicero recalls the year’s most remarkable restaurant tastes and trends, from memorable to audacious:

'Restaurants were smokin’ this year — everything from tofu to pig head. Chefs were also fired up, frittering around and in a pickle. You might say some had an “offal” good time. So did I.

Where there’s smoke
At The Old Sage, almost everything on the menu is smoked. Particularly magical was amberjack. Arranged with tiny radishes and their greens, mustard seed and black garlic, the fish is presented in a cloud of hickory smoke trapped under a glass dome.'

The list is here.  Thank you for including The Old Sage's dish, Providence.

Seattle Times Restaurant Critic Providence Cicero Reviews McCracken and Tough's New Restaurant The Old Sage: Four Star Food

Today's Times has our review.  Cicero writes, "Ooh-and-aah your way through plate after astonishing plate on McCracken and Tough’s tightly focused smoke-and-malt-inspired menu of meat, fish, vegetables and grains..."  After dining with us, in our "handsome, broody bar" she calls herself a "fangirl".  We're honored.

Happy Hour daily until 7pm and all night Sundays.

"Happy Hour roster: that’s where I found cured salmon pastrami with horseradish pudding and pumpernickel crumbles ($6), as well as ham-and-rhubarb-stuffed cherry bomb peppers with frizzled shallots and fresh herbs ($4).

At Happy Hour you’ll also find half-price versions of some items from the main menu, among them a divine hot-from-the-oven puff of flat bread, dusted with caraway, fennel pollen and sea salt ($4). Drink specials included $7 bourbon, rye or scotch Manhattans, complex and well-constructed. Tip your glass to teetotaling pioneer Arthur Denny, whose visage graces the wall. That old sage may look askance at this Old Sage, but I’m a fangirl."

Thank you Providence and the Seattle Times.

Seattle Met's Kathryn Robinson Puts the Roasted & Raw Gourds on Our Menu on Her Year's Best Dish List

Thank you to Kathryn for including us on this list of delicious dishes to try in Seattle.  Read the article on "The Fifty Best Things I Ate and Drank" for some great ideas around town.

Of our gourds, she wrote, "The Old Sage: Roasted and Raw Gourds. Precious can ... mean a gorgeously composed plate of roasted and raw gourds, where smoky roasted squash, curled cuke slices, and chunks of compressed watermelon come masterfully accented with mint leaves, dollops of yogurt, and Calabrian chili. A beautiful dish in every sense of the word. 1410 12th Ave, Capitol Hill, 206-557-7430; theoldsageseattle.com". Photo of the dish is by Olivia Brent for Seattle Met.

The Holly Thistle Cocktail at The Old Sage. Angela Kimber's Scotch-spiked Drink Splashes the Pages of Imbibe Magazine

Imbibe magazine's November/December issue has a wonderful article on holiday cocktails. Angela's scotch-spiked Holly Thistle led the story with the gorgeous photo above. Visit us in November at The Old Sage to try one, or to make one at home here is Angela's recipe:

Holly Thistle

Seattle bartender Angela Kimber built this scotch-spiked drink around the perfect holiday evening with friends and family, huddled together in front of a roaring fire. “The fire is keeping you toasty, so the drink should be cold,” says Kimber. Beer adds the perfect finishing touch for a cocktail that’s pure cold comfort.

1½ oz. single-malt scotch

¼ oz. Bénédictine

½ oz. fino sherry

4 drops cinnamon tincture

2 oz. red ale

Tools: mixing glass, strainer

Glass: coupe

Pour the scotch, Bénédictine, sherry and cinnamon tincture into a mixing glass. Add ice and stir until chilled. Strain into a chilled coupe and top with the red ale. Serve.

Cinnamon Tincture

2 oz. cinnamon sticks

1 cup high-proof vodka

Combine the cinnamon and vodka in a glass container. Cover and let sit for at least three days, shaking the jar each day. Strain into a bottle before using.

Angela Kimber, The Old Sage, Seattle

TIP: Though she prefers an Islay single-malt for this recipe, Kimber says that any single-malt will work. “A Highland scotch, for example, will bring out more fruit and spice. Whichever region you choose will bring out a different element of the cocktail,” she says.

Scotch Dinner at The Old Sage in Seattle October 17

Daily Candy Calls The Old Sage "A Wise Choice"

Thanks to Daily Candy for featuring us today!

Naomi Bishop's First Look at The Old Sage for Serious Eats. "It's All About the Scotch" She Reports

This First Look story on Serious Eats digs into the bar side of things at The Old Sage. She writes, "Nobody else was paying much attention to Scotch, they say, when asked why they chose the spirit as a focus for the new spot. "Smoked meats and malts," the sign proclaims over the door of this sibling to Tavern Law, Spur, and the Coterie Room, succinctly getting to the heart of the mater. The smoked meat here is not the charcuterie or barbecue being offered elsewhere, though, they're quick to point out. Instead, they're serving lavender-smoked pork cheeks and pine-smoked foie gras. The malt part comes from 13 beer taps and the single malt Scotches that dominate the main wall of the bar."

Click the link to read the entire story. Thank you Naomi and Serious Eats.

Look Inside The Old Sage: Eater Seattle Story

Julien Perry visited us and what did she learn? Her story's here, which says, "What you need to know: The Old Sage, owned by Dana Tough and Brian McCracken (Spur, Coterie Room, Tavern Law), is not a barbecue or charcuterie joint — it's smoked meats; you can expect to pay a little less than what you'd spend on dinner at Spur; there are banquettes, lots of communal tables and bar seats; The Old Sage is open daily from 5 pm to close; the menu is heavy on smoked meats and vegetables, the focus being on both; as the photo gallery suggests, the place is most stunning in the evening, when the dark interior is set off by flickering candles, dim lighting, and a fireplace." Be sure to click the link above to read Perry's article where she also offers "a menu cheat-sheet to help you maneuver your inaugural visit" with notes and comments on what you'll taste. Photo by Eater.

Five Reasons to Get Excited about The Old Sage: by Seattle Met magazine

Allecia Vermillion's article on The Old Sage? Here's the outline: the Meats, the Malts, the Familiar Face Behind the Bar, Tons of Tiny Touches and Hello there's a Spray Paint Portrait of Arthur Denny! Vermillion reports that, "food and drink get equal billing here, even moreso than at any of their other establishments. Which is saying something." Click the link above to read about the menus and what our team had to say. Photo by Seattle Met.

Counting Down: The Old Sage on Seattle Met magazine's "Bar and Restaurant Opening We Await" List

Thanks to Seattle Met's Allecia Vermillion for including us on this list.  She wrote, "Chefs Dana Tough and Brian McCracken's next spot, a few doors down from Tavern Law, will be all about Old World-style smoked meats, wood-fired plates, and whiskey. It should open in the former Local Vine space in the first few months of 2013."

To read the entire list of what to watch for, read the article here.

The Capitol Hill Times Shares Tidbits about The Old Sage from Chefs Brian McCracken and Dana Tough (nominated by Food & Wine as THE PEOPLE'S BEST NEW CHEF)

Reporter Ashley Roe ran a story in today's paper: "Old Sage to bring restaurant-wise duo’s second venue to 12th Ave".  She reports, "“Since Sage means wise man, there’s been a lot of inspiration from both of our grandfathers,” Tough said. “We both look up to them as wise old men.”

Still about five weeks out from opening, the ambiance of the 85-seater will have a mixed feel between Tavern Law and their first gastropub, Spur, in Belltown.

“The space itself will have a loungey cabin feel with an urban twist,” McCracken said. “But the huge back bar is a major focal point to the design.”"

About Chef McCracken and Tough's food there she wrote, "The star of the menu, the meats, will all be cooked in a wood fire oven to get a high temperature caramelization.

“Each meat is going to be prepared with old world techniques, that aren’t trendy but have stuck around for years,” Tough said. “It will have a slight modern approach too, making it a good mix of the two concepts.”

The smoked meats are said to not be the typical smoked items like barbeque or pastrami that people are typically familiar with.

Tough talked in detail about a lightly cured and smoked Hamachi dish, which will be on the menu.
“Hamachi is a really delicate fish, but ours ends up with a texture and aroma similar to ham,” Tough said. “We’re smoking the Hamachi with hickory, which brings out the American country ham flavor.”

A focus on seasonal vegetables and bread made to order will round out the food menu."

And what's to drink once The Old Sage opens? "McCracken and Tough have slated the The Old Sage as a malt whiskey and beer-centric bar, with American single malts and local beers as the highlights."

Read the entire story about what's next from these two chefs who have been nominated this week as THE PEOPLE'S BEST NEW CHEF from Food & Wine magazine.

Nancy Leson Reports on Brunchlandia- Seattle Times Story on Seattle's Brunch Spots

Nancy Leson called to ask where we go to brunch when we're not at work. "(W)here do these chefs head on a busman’s weekend? It turns out even the new mavens of gastro-brunch are not immune to the pull of the traditional.

Fuller’s always on the lookout for a great eggs Benedict. For that he heads to Tom Douglas’ Lola.

So does Dana Tough of the Coterie Room (where, speaking of eggs Benedict, you should not miss the smoked Dungeness crab with bacon hollandaise, perched on a perfect potato patty).

His business partner Brian McCracken prefers the Georgian in the Fairmont Olympic. (Fancy!)

“There’s not too many places in Seattle to get that kind of elegance,” says McCracken, who helps himself to pastries at the jewel-box dining room’s brunch buffet.

So, will the dynamic duo serve brunch at their new place, The Old Sage, when it opens this spring next to their popular Pike/Pine boozery Tavern Law? “We’re debating about that,” says Tough. “Café Presse is hard to compete with,” cracks McCracken."

The article is a great one. Read it here.  And thank you Nancy for the nod to our Eggs Benedict at The Coterie Room.

We're Invited to Talk with Providence Cicero and Terry Jaymes on Let's Eat

We enjoyed chatting with with Terry Jaymes and Providence Cicero on their Let's Eat radio show.  You can listen to their show here. It was a lot of fun talking about the process of how we come up with menus, the spaces and inspirations for how we've created our restaurants from Spur and Tavern Law to The Coterie Room and soon The Old Sage.  Getting past the egos... how Seattle's Wild West history always plays a role... even what our favorite fast food spots are. 

Listen in to hear what we'll be smoking at The Old Sage.

Capitol Hill Times Reports on What's Happening a Few Doors Up from Tavern Law

"The Old Sage Ready to Waft onto 12th Avenue": reports the Capitol Hill Seattle Blog in this story.