Lauded Seattle Chef Reopens His Celebrated Italian Restaurant in Pioneer Square

James Beard Award-winning chef Scott Carsberg opened his Pioneer Square restaurant Bisato earlier this month. Carsberg previously operated Bisato, an Italian small plates restaurant, in Belltown, but he closed that down in 2012. Now the celebrated chef is back at it, this time at 84 Yesler Way, the former home of Trattoria Mitchelli.

Fans of the original Bisato will recognize hold-over dishes like the beet blini with gravlax salmon and crème fraîche. Other Venice-inspired plates could make appearances: prawns with squid ink pasta, marinated sardines and shaved fennel, and folded pasta with octopus puttanesca. Carsberg will likely source Northwest ingredients like steelhead and Dungeness crab, too.

Carsberg first opened his restaurant as a fine-dining enterprise called Lampreia. In 2010, he transformed it into the more affordable Bisato. All told, his run in Belltown lasted 20 years, and earned him a slew of accolades. In addition to a 2006 Best Chef: Northwest James Beard Award for Lampreia, Bisato was named one of the 50 Best Emerging Italian Restaurants in the world by Restaurant Magazine, the same publication that propelled Noma and chef Rene Redzepi to their current renown.

• Scott Carsberg’s Bisato Will Close Permanently October 14 [ESEA]
• Bisato [Facebook]
• Bisato [Official]
• All Coverage of Bisato [ESEA]
• James Beard Award-Winning Chef Resurfaces After Six-Year Hiatus [ESEA]