Perché No Pasta & Vino

Part 2

In part 1, David and Lily shared their history, including the opening of their first restaurant located on Queen Anne and their second location near Green Lake.

In 2009, three years after opening the Green Lake location, an electrical fire started in the kitchen. The restaurant was closed for 4-1/2 months and there was a great deal of smoke damage. "It was an awful time. We thought we had lost everything we'd worked for. Neighbors wanted to help, but it was too dangerous to let them in; we just asked that they return when we opened. When we did, we were packed! They were so supportive," recalls David.

Sons Christopher and Alex grew up in the restaurants. David would strap Christopher to his back while cooking. From the time they were 6, they worked in the restaurant. "By 10-11, they had great knife skills," laughs David. Christopher started cooking competitively at 17, and represented Washington state in the national culinary program for three consecutive years. He graduated college, majoring in business and marketing, and has gone on to cook at world class restaurants including 3 Michelin star Chef Guy Savoy's Singapore restaurant and Waku Ghin, ranked 50^th in the world and 9^th in Asia. After six years of working in Asia, he married Kristy Campbell, a director of photography, in Singapore. The couple has recently moved to New York City where Chris cooks at 1 Michelin star restaurant NoMad in Manhattan. From the time the kids were young, David and Lily traveled with them all over the world. Alex still has the travel bug: he returned four months ago after spending a year in Singapore modeling and backpacking throughout southeast Asia, then cooking in Melbourne and working in the hotel industry in Australia for eight months.

Lily, Alex, and David

Both sons returned when David got tennis elbow. Christopher and his wife came from Singapore, then left for New York. Alex is in the kitchen daily. "I love to experience cultures and traditions," explains Alex. "It's been great to travel now before I've settled down. I just turned 25 and am still not sure what I want to do. I was raised in the family business, but haven't wanted to do just one thing. I want to be good at it all. It's important to help my parents now and being here will help me better myself. We'll see where it goes. I look back on what I thought of as boring wine tours with my family and have an appreciation of what we did and the knowledge I have because of it. I have a deep respect for what my parents have accomplished."

Lily and David have always been a mom and pop restaurant creating complex-flavored food from scratch. They grow tomatoes and herbs on the roof of the restaurant, and have a garden at home where they grow arugula and other produce. David's charcuterie hangs on the walls and columns of the restaurant. They make their own pasta, 21 types. "We consider ourselves more of a bistro now, less fine dining. We call ourselves 'pasta and vino' because we have a lot of wine: 22 by the glass, and over 300 bottles." They have a full bar as well.

Every two years, they return to Italy and find non-tourist spots to eat. "If it's small, the owner and chef are there, there may be no menus, and everyone is yelling, that's where we want to be," laughs David. "We eat and bond with the owner/chef. Then we exchange recipes. They like that our recipes are very authentic and want to share more with us. It can be frustrating when people here don't want to try something new. Sometimes we change a recipe for the local palate, but we want people to take a chance and build their taste buds. I always say that if you don't like it, just drink more wine!"

In the last few years, their customers have included Indonesian students. "They love the black spaghetti with sardines. But they'll ask if I can do something different, so I trained myself and talked to an aunt in Malaysia to create Malaysian dishes for them. It was an instant hit and we did Malaysian night once a month for over three years. Recently, we went to Jamaica. The people were friendly and the food was great." Alex laughs. "Now it will probably be Jamaican night instead of Malaysian night. And I love the food of southeast Asia. We've done durian fried rice with eggs, chili, Spam, durian and fish sauce. Durian can be an acquired taste, but this is very popular when we make it."

Outdoor seating is available. At some point, they'd like to create a greenhouse feel so it can be used more than a few months a year. As you enter the restaurant, the first person you see is Lily greeting you, with a wide-open kitchen behind her. There are tables downstairs as well as on the second floor, an open balcony, overlooking the bar and kitchen. Each corner of the balcony holds a round table, and at one end, there is an intimate table for two tucked into a curve of the wall. In the middle of the balcony is a walkway that widens to hold a piano, added after the fire. "The shape of the area is like a grand piano," explains David. "For special events, we have live music, opera. And high school music students play almost every night." Their private dining room is decorated to resemble their Queen Anne restaurant.

While the dream has been realized, there is more to do: cooking classes, food education, recipes to exchange, travel to be enjoyed. "We built the restaurant for the kids' future, and we'll see what happens with that," says David. In the meantime, with Alex back in the kitchen and David and Lily creating the homey feeling, guests can enjoy some seriously good Italian food (and maybe a little Malaysian or Jamaican on occasion).

Perché No pasta & vino
1319 N 49^th St
Seattle, WA 98103
206-547-0222

www.perchenopastaandvino.com

Food photos courtesy of Perche No

Click here to read part 1

Connie Adams/February 2016