FOOD MATTERS | BeachHouse not so beachy-keen

Did you catch that glorious weekend of sunshine? It seemed everyone in Madison Park (not to mention interlopers from other neighborhoods) was spilling out of the cafés along East Madison Street. Dogs were tied to planters, sidewalk tables were adorned with mimosas and servers were bringing forth plates of salmon sliders and crab omelets. 

At the lake end of the street, the patio at BeachHouse (1927 43rd Ave. E.) provided several empty tables, while the inside of the place was empty. An offer of a bloody Mary with Pearl vodka and house-made mix stood atop the drinks menu. 

“Or you could have our signature bloody Mary,” pitched the server. “It’s garnished with eggs and bacon, for $10.” 

Well, the “regular” was $8, so my dining companion and I ordered one of each. Was the difference — a wedge of hard-boiled egg and a scrawny scrap of bacon — worth $2? Nah. 

And the house Mary mix was blander than what you get on an airplane. 

What’s more, as it turned out when the check arrived, the “signature” Mary was actually priced at $12, supposedly made with super-premium vodka — worst up-sell ever. 

The “original” Kirkland BeachHouse (formerly the smoke-filled Foghorn) was as unassuming as its name implies. The Madison Park edition replaced the upscale Madison Park Conservatory, where Cormac Mahoney had run the kitchen and won a Best New Chef award from Food & Wine in 2012. (He helped open the revamped Canterbury Ale House in Capitol Hill two years later, then dropped out of sight.) 

In the meantime, Ricky Eng took over the space, which also has an upstairs bar and balcony, where the lakefront view isn’t obstructed by parked cars. 

I’ve enjoyed the wedge salad at BeachHouse, as well as the paella and the fried chicken dinner. The eggs Benedict “Florentine” on that recent Sunday afternoon was perfectly OK, but the fish part of the fish-‘n’-chips strongly resembled something you’d pass up in the freezer case. 

The real strong suit of the restaurant is its location overlooking the lake. 

Adapting to the neighborhood

Farther up the hill, a modest Italian spot named Aglio e Olio (2743 E. Madison St.) is settling in nicely. The location is terrible: a former Pizza Hut takeout spot next to the dry cleaner on Martin Luther King Jr. Way, but hey, Italians don’t stand on ceremony as long as the food is good and the hospitality is genuine. 

The owners are business partners Luigi DeNunzio and Tricia Harte, with Harte essentially running the kitchen, while Luigi continues to look after his existing restaurants in Pioneer Square. 

The menu is pretty straightforward (antipasti, salads, baked pasta, spaghetti carbonara, cannelloni stuffed with lamb, sautéed clams, a rotisserie-cooked pork loin). Harte will also tailor a multi-course dinner (“Italian Table”) to your budget. 

Aglio e Olio translates as “garlic and oil,” a traditional dressing for pasta when you’ve literally got nothing else. Cucina povera, the Italians call it — “poor people’s cooking.” 

The first word we had was that there would be no pizza, but that is no longer the case. What we have are four “cast-iron” pizzas: asparagus and prosciutto; pork sausage and peppers; spinach and broccoli; and a traditional margherita. 

There’s a happy hour, too, but a lot of the place — especially the signage — has the feeling of being improvised. 

Another PCC in store

Chances are you’ll be reading more about this in other parts of this paper, but there’s a bit of good news to offset the departure of City People’s Garden Store (2939 E. Madison St.): The site will become home to a new PCC Natural Market. Groundbreaking for the 25,000-square-foot market should take place early next year and open by 2018. 

Also in the works are 75 units of housing and space for an as-yet-undetermined retail operation. 

PCC has 10 stores in the Seattle area (another opening this summer); they’re all cooperatives, the largest consumer-owned natural-food coop in the country with more than 50,000 members. But nonmembers can shop there, too.

RONALD HOLDEN is a local restaurant writer whose next book, “Forking Seattle,” comes out this summer. To comment on this column, write to MPTimes@nwlink.com.