Alki is finally getting its new pasta destination. Il Nido — the highly anticipated new Italian restaurant in West Seattle from James Beard Award-nominated chef Mike Easton — announced this week that it is opening May 21 and taking reservations. Easton will offer dinner five nights a week in a renovated century-old log house called the Alki Homestead, with views of Alki Beach from the back patio. The Italian menu will feature plenty of seasonal produce and handmade pastas, just like the star chef’s popular and critically-acclaimed lunch-only spot in Pioneer Square, Il Corvo. Dishes might include a summertime squid-ink pasta and lighter, Sicilian-inspired fare, while winter could skew to richer dishes from Northern Italy, like stuffed pasta.
As for the design, Easton revealed earlier this year that there will be seating for 64 people inside (with additional seating for 20 in a new outdoor patio), vertical grain fir floors, a log mantle, and a wine wall that visitors will see right when they first walk in. Since then, he’s been keeping interested parties apprised of his progress on a regular basis through Instagram (on both his personal account and Il Nido’s), from the signage to the construction of the aforementioned wall to the menu testing.
Those Instagram posts show subtle modern touches that complement the Alki Homestead’s old school, log cabin vibe, while the food previews fall in line with what’s been promised in terms of produce and pasta. Now customers will finally get to sample the real deal.
