La Dolce Vita
It's where Duke's Chowder House used to be.
"If you look outside you can see he used to paint the sidewalks blue and you can kind of see where they made him cut it back. I think he got in some trouble," says Chris.
And don't confuse this La Dolce Vita with the Italian dessert shop that closed last year on Upper Queen Anne. Chris says it would have been nice to know that place existed before he opened up!
"I never obviously ventured up to the top of the hill!"
In fact, the shop closed just before Chris opened last May, causing a little confusion for his guests. "On opening night, I invited a bunch of family and friends and everyone was calling me, 'we're out in front of your place," Chris said. "You didn't last very long.'"
Third time's a charm for this 28-year-old, who worked at Cucina! Cucina! on Lake Union and Andiamo in Bellevue before opening his own Italian restaurant.
"I live downtown and I'd want to go out to eat on my nights off so I'd go around and try to find Italian food around the Queen Anne area," says Chris. "I love Picatta sauce, couldn't find a good Picatta sauce."
Manning the kitchen at La Dolce Vita is Chef Noe Ruiz who Chris brought with him from Andiamo.
"When we opened, people didn't come in because I didn't do a lot of advertising," Chirs says. "So, there were nights when I'd have one or two tables in here and I'm going home thinking 'Gosh. Is this going to work?' "
But it did work. Chris has managed to draw a loyal following just from word-of-mouth alone (a hearty menu doesn't hurt, either!).
"Our raviolis are all homemade. We have Vitello Involtini - that's veal wrapped around fresh mozzarella and stuffed with risotto with proscuitto wrapped around the outside. Some Gnocchi Gorgonzola and vegetables which is really good. We always run a fresh fish. I'm from Anchorage, Alaska and so I won't run anything but fresh fish."
Chris says at the end of the day, it's really his customers that make it such a Good Life.
"They fell like they've contributed to help this work, which every single one of them have. And so, I think there's almost a feeling of ownership for them as well."
At the end of this month, Chris will be building a patio out front of La Dolce Vita that'll give customers a view of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains.
Sweet!
Places Chris likes to Go Eat!: Crush, Moxie, Restaurant Zoe, Bricco Wine Bar (new on upper Queen Anne).
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