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.