Oh, Seattle, am I the last to know about this terrific place? I stumbled upon the blog for Il Corvo Pasta a few weeks ago, right in time to add it to the list of places I wanted to take K while she was here. It’s technically not a restaurant, not even a food truck, but a menu board within Procopio Gelateria on the Pike Market Hill Climb at 1501 Western Ave. (That’s next door to World Spice, if you’re keeping track.) If you’re not looking for lunch, you might pass right by, and that would be such a shame. But… if you are a perceptive little monkey, you might walk by the gelateria and realize that you smell garlic and vegetables and sauce fixin’ stuff that aren’t regular gelato-related smells, and you might walk into the store and down to the end of the counter to investigate, and if you do that you might notice a dry-erase board advertising three pasta dishes, and then you have won. Ding ding ding! Perceptiveness has led you to one of the best lunches in all of Seattle.
Every weekday, chef Mike Easton makes three kinds of pasta from scratch and chooses fresh meats, cheeses and vegetables from Pike Place to pair with his creations. The menu changes daily (which makes me panic about missing something spectacular) and is reasonably priced: my sister and I shared two bowls of pasta and a bowl of olives for less than $20. We tried whole wheat bigoli with mushroom ragout and farfalle with pancetta, brussel sprouts, chili oil and lemon zest; we changed our minds over and over during the course of the meal about which one we liked more. They were both so good. No, no, you don’t understand– they were so good. Groaning, smiling, wanting to lick your bowl in public good. I would eat here every day if I was close enough, and the prospect of that much pasta consumption makes me slightly dizzy and relieved that distance is my excuse for not going daily. But I can’t wait to go back. Il Corvo is open weekdays from 11-3 and you really need to find a way to get there. You can subscribe to the blog for updates about the pastas of the day, but be careful! You may start inventing reasons to run down to the Market at lunchtime. Bravo, Mike Easton!