Christmas Eve Lunch at Cinque Terre

For lunch on Christmas Eve we dined at Cinque Terre in downtown Seattle. This Italian restaurant is owned by three brothers who grew up on the Italian Riveria. The food they serve is from that region with a focus on the local seafood, artisan pizzas, and wonderful house-made pastas. Cinque Terre is a beautiful area located on the Riveria and means "five lands", and consists of five villages. A place on my bucket list for sure. The restaurant's modern interior is a gorgeous one and I even climbed the stairs to their upstairs loft, for private parties, for some photos from above. 

We were served complimentary bread that our boys devoured. There was even a fresh side of marinara for dipping. My husband and I each started with one of their yummy sounding cocktails. I chose a Prickly Pear Spritz. It had Sipsmith London dry gin, pear puree, lime, and soda. And his drink was the Riviera with aged Cruzan, Amaretto di Saronno, pineapple, and peach puree. Both drinks were colorful and bright, and both pretty strong.  

We decided to share three dishes and have them family style. We selected their Chef Salad which had bib lettuce and pears. Then we had the Salumi Board which was full to the max of several kinds of salami. Lastly, we had the Gnocchi with Veal and Beef. The pasta was served piping hot and the meat was really tender and flavorful. We shared a Manhattan and it arrived to the table looking good enough to drink and even had two cherries, which we love. 

We decided to go big or go home and ordered some dessert. It was Christmas Eve after all and we wanted to indulge. We chose the Profiteroles with a Caramel Gelato and a dark chocolate sauce. The serving was small for the four of us, but was just enough for a few bites of sweetness to end our meal.