Dustin Ronspies’ Art of the Table, one of Wallingford’s many unique chef-owned and operated restaurants, re-opens in its new location at 3801 Stone Way N, a stone’s throw from its old digs, tonight, Friday April 7th:
Chef Dustin worked closely with local designer Christine Chaney to create a beautiful, new space that echoes Dustin’s approach to cooking. Inspired by Dustin’s “freshly picked” approach to ingredients, Christine designed usable spaces, like wine storage and lighting,to mirror the natural shapes of branches, trees and vines. Longtime Art of the Table fans will recognize elements that were brought over from the old space, like the intricate stained glass, and the detailed wood banquettes. The interior woodwork by Aubrey Renovations has brought those shapes to life.
The expansion gives them over three times the number of seats (from 24 to 75).
Dustin’s menu continues to feature the hyperlocal, “farm to table” style so popular in the Pacific Northwest (or, as they describe their seafood provider, Taylor Shellfish, “larvae to table”), with entries such as “herb and gin cured weathervane scallop”, “pleasant view farms seared [humane] foie gras”, and “cocoa rubbed smoked beef tongue”. The new menu offers a la carte options, but they continue to feature their “tasting menu”:
which we offer every day and exclusively on Fridays and Saturdays, with ala carte options being offered Wed, Thur, Sun. Keep in mind, that while we can accomodate some severe allergies, we do not offer gluten free, lactose free, vegetarian or vegan versions of the tasting menu. If you or anyone in your party have any dietary concerns, please let us know, and we’ll let you know.
Little known fact: Dustin Ronspies’ brother, Derek Ronspies, owns the “nose to tail, farm to table” restaurant Le Petit Cochon in the heart of Fremont. I imagine that there wasn’t much Kraft Mac & Cheese consumed in the Ronspies household growing up.
Jordan- you should fix this article I think. To eat at this place is to subsidize the most gratuitous torture of animals possible- foie gras. It’s just grotesque that a place like this can exist in a supposedly enlightened city like Seattle. It’s either ignorance on your part or just sad that you’ve chose to write a puff piece about this nightmare in our midst. The owners and diners at this restaurant should be tied down and force fed until their livers are 10 times normal size, then slaughtered.
Art of The Table gets their foie gras from Pleasant View Duck Farm, which reports in detail on why their preparation of foie gras is humane: http://edibleseattle.com/ducking-under-the-radar/. If you’d like to follow up with them and verify or refute these claims, I’d love to see what you come up with.
They claim the birds are happy being caged and having tubes pushed down their throats and being force fed until they can’t walk. Abusive behavior has always been excused this way- the victims like it. Since you linked a puff piece, here’s the peta piece on the practice:
http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/factory-farming/ducks-geese/foie-gras/
A more balanced view is here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foie_gras_controversy
Don’t forget the “someone else does something else that’s worse” excuse!
Yawn. Sounds like another uber-hipster joint. As Samuel Goldwyn said, include me out.
Ack. You sound like a judgemental, bitter old hippy. As Pete Seeger said, “That we learned power to the people and the power to know / From Teacher Uncle Ho!”
I’ve been going to AoTT since about a month after it opened in its old, very small location. Now that it has moved, it is far larger and the design is brillient. Went there Sunday night and, while the look is way different, and it is much busier without that small intimate location, the feel of care, good service, and excellent food is the same. I especially like the open main kitchen and prep kitchen so you can see how Dustin and crew make your meal. They ain’t just slingin’ hash. I am sorry that the thread has gotten off to nothing but complaints and bomb throwing to this point; hopefully others will actually go there and comment on AoTT, not pet peeves.
When touring the kitchen, did Dustin show you how the geese are caged and force fed? Sorry, I guess animal torture is a pet peeve, unlike important things like how the main kitchen is open now.
Jesus. You people.