West Seattle’s Celebrated Italian Destination Il Nido Now Offers Take Home Pasta Dinners

After staying dormant for the past couple of weeks during Washington’s stay at home order, West Seattle’s Italian destination Il Nido is open again for some takeout offerings. Currently, the James Beard Award-nominated restaurant from chef Mike Easton has an online store where diners can order a rotating menu of fresh pastas and ready-made sauces to cook at home, along with bottles of wine (pickup is Tuesday through Friday). According to the restaurant’s website, proceeds will go directly to a fund to help support employees who have been temporarily laid off.

Right now, this is the only way to get Easton’s popular pastas. His lunch-only spot in Pioneer Square, Il Corvo, is currently closed until further notice after a short attempt at takeout. As other restaurants in Seattle have discovered, pivoting to takeout and delivery due to COVID-19 measures can be fraught with complications — and many who started out adjusting their business plans have decided to simply close down fully, at least temporarily.

But now it seems Easton has found a way to bring the pastas from both locations back in some form, with house-made shells, cresti di gallo, tagliatelle, and more available for pickup. This turns the nearly-year-old restaurant at the Alki Homestead into a specialty pantry and bottleshop of sorts — and the chef has even embraced the virtual world, offering a Minecraft “tour” of the historic building, via Instagram.

• Il Nido Take Home Dinners [Official]
• Il Nido [Instagram]
• Il Corvo [Instagram]
• How Coronavirus Has Impacted the Seattle Food World [ESEA]