While I was out in the Seattle area earlier this year, I literally fell in love with the suburb of Burien, located just about 13 miles south of downtown Seattle and about a 10 minute drive from SeaTac International Airport. There were great little bars, shops and restaurants all through the downtown area of Burien. It immediately became one of my favorite little towns to travel to. One place that I tried one evening came highly recommended by the bartender at the hotel I was staying at - Piacere Trattoria. On a Friday evening, I drove to Piacere Trattoria to have dinner.
Michele Godina grew up in the small town of Recco, Italy, not far from Genoa along the Ligurian Sea in the northwest part of the country. Recco is famous for gifting the culinary world two things - focaccia bread (primarily focaccia with cheese), and pesto. As a teenager, Michele Godina got interested in cooking while working in the kitchen at his mother's restaurant using recipes that had been handed down for generations in their family.
When Godina was old enough, he attended culinary school during the day, then worked in the restaurant's kitchen at night. After graduating from culinary school, Godina was invited to join the kitchen staff at a new Caffé Milano along Miami's South Beach. Godina was there for five years before he was asked to join friends of his from Italy who were chefs in restaurants in Peru.
Godina made it back to the U.S. to work at restaurants in Las Vegas. After moving to Seattle to work in a restaurant there, he met a young lady by the name of Jeannette Bastidas and the two soon married. Michele and Jeannette started on an odyssey that took them from Seattle, to Washington D.C., to the San Francisco area, then to the Houston area in early 2021 before an opportunity to buy a small restaurant in the Seattle area came about later that year.
Pictured right - Michele Godina. Photo courtesy Piacere Trattoria Facebook Page.
In 2015, Frank Genzele, his wife Sue, and Genzele's cousin Frank Yellam, Jr. opened a small bistro in downtown Burien called Frankie's B-Town Bistro. Genzele was the owner of Frank's Quality Produce at the famous Pike Place Market in Seattle, while Frank Yellam, Jr. was the proprietor Frankie Boy Produce that his father Frank, Sr. started in 1955. Both Genzele and Yellam grew up in Burien and wanted to become part of the burgeoning food scene in Olde Burien. Frank and Sue eventually bought out Frank Yellam, Jr., then in 2021 they decided to sell their restaurant.
The Genzele's found a willing buyer in the Godina's who were keen to move back to the Seattle area. Frankie's B-Town Bistro closed on February 19th, 2021 and the Godinas took over two days later. It took about six weeks for the changeover and on April 1, 2021 (no foolin'!) Piacere Trattoria opened their doors. Piacere is the Italian word for "pleasure" and that's what Michele Godina wanted his patrons to have on each visit to his small restaurant.
It was around 7:30 when I walked into Piacere Trattoria. I found a parking space on the street just a couple spots down from the restaurant. (see map) The hostess stand was unoccupied as the hostess was out front with people eating on the small sidewalk out in front of the restaurant. It was a small dining room with a tile floor and faux candelabras hanging from the ceiling. The open kitchen was in the back corner of the restaurant. Michele Godina had come out from the kitchen to check with people at some of the tables in the restaurant. He came up to the stand and asked how many. "Just myself," I told him. He grabbed a menu and led me to a small two-seat table in the far back corner. As I turned to sit down facing the restaurant, I noticed a small bar at the front of the establishment.
I asked Michele if I could eat at the bar and somewhat flabbergasted - but in a good way - he said, "Sure! Absolutely!" He led me back up to the bar and I took a seat on right end of the bar which had blue LED rope lights underneath. A flat screen television on the back wall of the bar in front of me was playing a loop of scenes from Italy. In the background, some excellent music from Italian-based artists S-Tone, Inc. (Stefano Tirone), Simona Molinari, Augusta Trebeschi, and the group Marchio Bossa played during my visit.
My server that evening was a young lady by the name of Mary. She was pleasant and efficient all during the time I was there. I got a bottle of Peroni beer to start off with while I looked over the menu. Later in the evening, I got a house chianti to go along with my meal.
Looking around the menu, I found a pretty interesting mix of items. Starters on the menu included calamari, mussels in a white wine sauce, bite-size veal meatballs with a house-made marinara sauce, and a trio of bruschetta one with a traditional garlic and tomato-basil, one topped with smoked salmon, and one topped with a peperonata sauce and hummus. Quite honestly, I seriously thought about getting the grilled octopus with a black olive sauce and the beef carpaccio for my meal that evening.
Main items on the menu included a braised lamb shank; grilled prawns, calamari and scallops served over a bed of sautéed arugula and spinach; and Caciucco - a Tuscan-style stew with prawns, scallops, mussels, clams, calamari and cod in a light, yet spicy tomato broth. Pasta dishes included a seafood risotto; gnocchi with braised beef; and a pork rigatoni in a vodka tomato sauce. They also had oven-fired pizza on the menu. There were a lot of great things on the menu and I was having trouble figuring out what to order.
After I ordered my main dish, I got a mixed salad to start out. It featured fresh mixed greens with sliced cherry tomatoes and cucumbers, a sliced avocado quarter, focaccia croutons, and shaved grand padano cheese. It was finished with a balsamic vinaigrette. It was an outstanding salad and a great start to the meal.
I went with the tagliatelle pasta with a bolognese sauce. The ground beef and pork in a tomato cream ragu was simply outstanding. I've been on a bolognese kick over the past few months - even making my own at home. But this was some of the best bolognese that I've ever had. The bolognese stuck to the wide-cut tagliatelle noodles. It was a one of those meals where I was truly sad when I took my last bite.
After I finished my dinner, Mary came around with the dessert menu. They had favorites of mine like tiramisu, and cannoli stuffed with ricotta cheese with candied orange slices and chocolate chips. The Italian-style cream-filled donut with a warm blueberry compote on the side also got my attention. But my new favorite Italian dessert - affogato - was on the menu. I had to have one of those.
Affogato consists of vanilla gelato topped with espresso. Additions such as whipped cream - as shown in the picture on the gelato - and either a shot of amaretto or the Italian brandy grappa can be mixed in. I went with the amaretto. With everything in the skinny glass mug, when I poured in the espresso, then the amaretto, it all almost went over the top. I had to eat down some of the creamy gelato before I could finish putting more of the amaretto on the top.
A couple days later, I had lunch at a taqueria next to Piacere Trattoria. I parked in almost the same spot I was in during my visit to the restaurant, and as I was walking past Piacere Trattoria, Michele Godina was out front getting the patio tables ready for the evening opening. I stopped and mentioned that I was in a couple nights previously and I had to tell him that his bolognese sauce was some of the best I had ever had. And it was! Everything about my meal at Piacrere Trattoria was excellent - the food, the ambiance, the service. This was one of those memorable meals that I'm certain I'll never forget.
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