Restaurant review: Cafe Vignole

This is my favorite new restaurant which just so happens to be around the corner.

Everything we've ordered from here has been awesome: pizza, halibut in lemon and caper sauce, spaghetti with meat sauce, crab ravioli with saffron sauce, ribs braised in olives and rosemary over polenta, an amazing portobello mushroom appetizer, caesar salad, black eye pea cake, flourless chocolate cake, bread pudding...

But wait, there's more. Not only is the food incredible, but the servings are huge at not unreasonable prices (most $10-$15). The owner Sandro and all of the employees are friendly and truly want to make sure you enjoy your meal. And they usually have live jazz on Fridays! It is THE quintessential neighborhood restaurant, just improbably located in the Rainier Beach neighborhood.

Ever since we moved here from Connecticut, we've searched for good pizza. Pagliacci, Stellar's, Piecora, even the hallowed Tutta Bella - they're all good in their own way. But Cafe Vignole's humble pie is anything but. It has soul. It's the best in all Seattle.

Check this place out before it gets discovered by national foodies and becomes full of itself. You'll love it, I promise.

MYOM (Make Your Own Magnet)

I've been anticipating the arrival of my donation goodie bag from the Obama folks -- which allegedly contains a bitchen round car magnet -- but got tired of waiting, so I decided to make my own signs. It's great the Obama website has media downloads. I did a bit of tweaking to make this official-looking sign, which got uploaded to Vistaprint and arrived this week.

And the signs are grabbing attention already! Seattleites, despite their reputation, are most certainly not reserved when they feel passionately about something. People have yelled "Obama!" to me as I drive by. When parked or idled, I've been asked, "Where did you get your sign?" I've already given one away to a fellow Costco shopper, and got another inquiry from a pedestrian today while waiting for a light. This sure was a nice change from when I used to smoke and get a loud, public scolding from complete strangers.

In fact, I was so enthused about the response I created another magnet, this one a portrait orientation. But folks, it's getting really late to put up signage. If you want one of these, please let me know and I'll order some more. They are about $9 apiece, and measure 17.3" x 11.25". Better yet, leave a comment with your email address and I'll send you the PDF so you can make your own signs.