Ethan Stowell Restaurants

Neighborhood growth

Growth comes in many forms and Ethan Stowell is hitting most of them: growing the number of restaurants and neighborhoods involved, growing from lessons learned in business and life, travel experiences, aging/maturing, and growing a family.

Angela and Ethan Stowell

Ethan Stowell Restaurants (ESR) has a basic concept: don't make people come to you, go to them. So restaurants appear in various neighborhoods: Capitol Hill, Queen Anne, Ballard, Belltown. His first restaurant, Union, was French-influenced fine dining downtown. It was successful financially, but when the recession hit, he had a decision to make. "We had Union for eight years. When Union slowed down, we had already started the shift to neighborhoods with Tavolata in 2007. Downtown, your guests are often tourists, and you never see them again. You're not cultivating friends or building relationships. I find I prefer the more friendly, customer-focused approach. So instead of putting money into improvements at Union, we expanded to other neighborhoods. Tavolata was designed to be a late night pasta joint, a place for neighbors and restaurant people. We saw a big gap in the market. At the time, people looked down on pasta, even cooks. But it went crazy, just bonkers busy. I spent a lot of time there and found I really enjoyed it."

In November 2007, How to Cook a Wolf opened on top of Queen Anne. It also went 'bonkers busy,' with people lining up outside before opening each day. Those who arrived five minutes after opening were told they couldn't get in. "Eventually we started taking reservations. Queen Anne neighbors would tell me they'd tried to come numerous times but could never get in, so they gave up. Taking reservations is something we did for the neighborhood. Wolf is very neighborhood driven."

In February 2009, Anchovies & Olives arrived on Capitol Hill (photo). "This is one restaurant people will travel to that's not primarily a neighborhood spot. I think it's because of the broad variety of seafood we offer. It's our most upscale, fine dining spot, geared more toward foodies. Not everyone wants oysters on the half shell or raw tuna, so it's a smaller market. That's one of the reasons we opened Bar Cotto right next door in February this year. Having the two there creates efficiencies. Seafood costs are not going down, so we needed to find a way to be more efficient in order to keep prices at a level that our customers want to pay." Bar Cotto is a Parma-style salumeria and cocktail bar that is more casual and less expensive than A&O.

Ethan made the decision to close Union in 2010, and moved the entire staff to Ballard to open Staple & Fancy (photo) in August. The name refers to the a la carte staple menu items and the 'fancy' chef's choice tasting menu. "The tasting menu makes this location one that people make a point to come to; we keep the price on the tasting menu very reasonable."

Rione XIII brings Roman classics to Capitol Hill. Opened in August 2012, it was followed closely by Bar Cotto. "When I first started cooking, I'd make pasta at home for me or friends and family. It was probably never good at all. I'd been to Italy, but decided that if I was getting into Italian food, I'd better learn more about the culture. (Wife and business partner) Angela and I go a few times a year and really enjoy it. I like the style of service and gravitate more toward northern Italy. People are very friendly and food is more refined and protein-centric. Part of the enjoyment is family-style meals. I'd always done small plate, multi-course, and this takes a weight off my shoulders. I don't have to worry so much about presentation. With both Rione and Bar Cotto, it's not that it isn't done in Seattle, it just doesn't exist in an upscale environment." They've slowed down on travel lately as they have a six-month old son, Adrian.

Grubb Brothers was created to look into fast casual foods. Grubb's first concept is Ballard Pizza Company which opened in April of 2012, offering slices and whole pies, and a place for neighbors and families to hang out. "The idea was to create something inexpensive, but that meets the same quality standards we have everywhere. We're going to watch it for a few years and see what happens. We've opened enough places, we thought it would be similar, but it's a totally different model." Ethan and business partner Kaela Farrington (formerly of DeLaurenti) started Lagana Foods in 2010 with their line of bronze-cut pasta.

Although Ethan does have an affinity to things Italian, ESR won't always be Italian-influenced. "Our concepts are based around a region or type of food. We just get ideas and it takes month upon month to mentally flush out the idea. Sometimes ideas come from travels, or we'll see a restaurant that we think is cool or fun that doesn't exist here. I always have stuff on my mind and I'm a diligent note-taker. If I see something interesting, I'll jot it down. I've had one idea for 5-6 years now, but the right place hasn't come up. Of course, it all has to make financial sense. Someone's neck is always on the line."

Experience and maturity play a part in how ESR operates. "As a young chef, words like 'customer service' and 'customer focus' weren't in my vocabulary. Now we message that all time--to each other, staff, customers. Our goal is to make our customers happy. We want to know if we've done something wrong, at the time it happens. Talking about customer service isn't as cool as tattoos or beef tongue, but we don't feel we have anything to prove now. We offer high quality and prices our customers want to pay. We're proud of what we do, and don't forget why we do what we do. Going to a restaurant should be fun."

Connie Adams/May 2013