A good meal should take you away from the world and put you right in the moment of living. Each bite should be Zen, carrying away the stresses and nurturing the belly and the soul.

In Italian, Adesso means "now - in the moment." In Olympia, Adesso means "an atmospheric restaurant that will take you to that moment."

In a chat with owner and chef Rudy Viggiano, just his description of one of his signature dishes, Chippino, makes me feel in the moment. He describes the origins of the dish, and I can almost picture myself down on the wharfs in San Francisco, where the now-famous spicy fish stew was created in the early 1900s. After a long day on the job, Italian and Portuguese fisherman would throw the catch of the day in a pot, usually crab, clams, shrimp, scallop, squid, mussels and fish. Add tomato, wine, spice and voila! - a fresh and tasty stew.

Lucky for us, it's 2013 and we don't have to fish our asses off to enjoy a fresh and authentic Chippino. We can just go down to Adesso and Chef Viggiano will cook it up.

And even luckier for us, it's still Olympia Restaurant Week, and we can go to Adesso for a three-course dinner for $25, with or with out the Chippino. Delicious appetizers, a classic Chicken Marsala and Chef Viggiano's signature dessert, Tiramasu, are on the menu. Served southern Italian style with custard over the ladyfinger and served in a martini glass, the Tiramasu is a customer favorite. 

Bon Appetit!

ADESSO, LUNCH 11:30 A.M. TO 2 P.M. TUESDAY-FRIDAY, DINNER 5 P.M. TO CLOSE MONDAY-FRIDAY AND 4 P.M. TO CLOSE SATURDAY-SUNDAY, OLYMPIA RESTAURANT WEEK THROUGH THURSDAY, 109 LEGION WAY SW, OLYMPIA, 360.705.2529.

LINK: Olympia Restaurant Week Reservation Center

LINK: Olympia Restaurant Week Menu Guide

Indecision is a tough personal trait to possess as the second leg of Olympia Restaurant Week kicks off today. Today through Thursday, the vacillators, waverers and second-guessers will have to strain their brains to pin down which meal deals are right for them.

As they say in biz speak, if you fail to plan, then you plan to fail. Don't succumb to indecision; spend a moment strategizing your personal approach to the wonders of Olympia Restaurant Week. Check out the list of restaurants; or flip through the menus. Ten Thurston County restaurants will be serving up special $25 three-course dinners, with some eateries offering a three-course lunch menu for $15.

Should you try a new place you've always wanted to visit but somehow never made it there? Ever been to Pellegrino's or Dockside Bistro?

Another useful strategy is to use your Olympia Restaurant Week visits to support longtime favorites; just ask legions of Mercato, Budd Bay Café and Swing Wine Bar devotees.

You might dispense with the restaurant and let the food itself call to you. Mercato is making an amazing bread pudding, Ricardo's is serving Pork Filet Mignon, Adesso has Chippino, and Oly Rock Fish has a Lamb & Pistachio Ragu with your name on it.

Intrigued? You should be. Olympia Restaurant Week is the perfect time to explore new restaurants, support local businesses and best of all, enjoy great food and a night on the town for much less than it would normally cost. Budget-minded diners are able to sample some of the best cuisine the area has to offer. Whatever your Restaurant Week strategy, don't forget to make reservations, if possible - it works out better for everyone.

Follow the Olympia Restaurant Week blog for updates. Also visit the Olympia Restaurant Week Facebook and follow @OlympiaRestWeek on Twitter.

LINK: Fancy Olympia Restaurant Week 2013 Menu Guide

A glance at Budd Bay Cafe's menu choices for Olympia Restaurant Week suggest the waterfront business of nearly 25 years chose to play it safe and offer classics like Seared Salmon, Rosemary Chicken Breast and Marinated Flank Steak.

But a closer look reveals the salmon is actually with wasabi cream and soy glaze, and is served with the delicate balance of jasmine rice.

"We definitely wanted to put salmon on the menu. We prepare it six or seven different ways," explains Pam Oates, manager. "And this is our most popular salmon dish. It's very well received."

And the chicken isn't just seared with rosemary; there is also shiitake mushrooms, artichokes and sun-dried tomatoes in a zesty wine sauce, served with a side of Yukon gold mashers.

"We chose this because it's like comfort food," says Oates. 

Having a beef choice rounded out the menu, she adds.

The appetizer and dessert menus seem consistent with seafood/steakhouse fare, offering Crab Cake, Chowder or Caesar Salad for appetizer choice or Creme Brulee, Cheesecake or Chocolate Lava Cake for dessert. 

Olympia Restaurant Week runs now through April 18 — Sunday-Thursday - participating restaurants offer three-course lunch and/or dinner menus for $15 and $25, respectively.

BUDD BAY CAFE, 6:30 A.M. TO 9 P.M. MONDAY-SATURDAY, 9:30 A.M. TO 9 P.M. SUNDAY, OLYMPIA RESTAURANT WEEK SUNDAY-THURSDAY, 525 COLUMBIA ST. NW, OLYMPIA, 360.357.6963

LINK: Olympia Restaurant Week Reservation Center

LINK: Olympia Restaurant Week Menu Guide

With lunch and dinner both on the menu for Olympia Restaurant Week, it's a good thing by "Week" we mean 10 days. You will need that long to sample all the goods Thurston County has to offer.

Designed to give customers a well-rounded taste of some of Olympia's finer restaurant's menus, Olympia Restaurant Week offers three-course lunch and dinner menus at $15 and $25, respectively. The promotion runs now through April 18, Sunday-Thursday.

At Trago Mexican Kitchen in Olympia's Westfield Capital Mall, it's tough to choose between the lunch and dinner menu. Both offer three choices for appetizer, entree and dessert.

Will it be the lunch menu's traditional Taco Plate, featuring two traditional style tacos on soft flavorful corn tortillas with black beans and gourmet white rice? Or the dinner menu's Chipotle Lime Chicken, chicken breast served barbeque style from marinade of chipotle and lime, served with mashed potatoes and veggies?

Read more...

Some of Thurston County's best restaurants, establishments that define the art of the county's cuisine, are participating in the inaugural Olympia Restaurant Week. Ten unique Thurston County eateries will offer special prix-fixe menus with dishes sure to impress all types of palates. The special menus will dinner options - and a free lunch options - priced at $25 and $15, respectively, for three courses - with many options per course.

The Weekly Volcano constructed a nifty Olympia Restaurant Week flipbook of the menus. Click here to flip.

South Sounders: Get ready to celebrate Thurston County's unique fine dining scene. Following in suit with its neighbors to the north, the inaugural Olympia Restaurant Week is happening April 7-18, Sundays-Thursdays. Ten Thurston County restaurants will be serving up special $25 three-course dinners, with some eateries offering a three-course lunch menu for $15.

Intrigued? You should be. Olympia Restaurant Week is the perfect time to explore new restaurants, support local businesses and best of all, enjoy great food and a night on the town for much less than it would normally cost. Budget-minded diners are able to sample some of the best cuisine the area has to offer.

Participating restaurants include Adesso, Budd Bay Café, Dockside Bistro & Wine Bar, Mercato Ristorante, Oly Rockfish Grill, Pellegrino's Italian Kitchen, Ramblin Jack's, Ricardo's Restaurant, Swing Wine Bar and Cafe and Trago Mexican Kitchen.  

Read my full feature on Olympia Restaurant Week in the Weekly Volcano's Restaurant section.

LINK: Fancy Olympia Restaurant Week 2013 Menu Guide

For ambiance, it's hard to beat Swing in Olympia. It's located in a cute bungalow perched above Capitol Lake. The wine list includes a balance of local choices with international ones, and the menu is large with a definite ritzy air to it. Entrees can be ordered as small plates, which is a nice touch. Wednesdays bring live music.

Swing was voted "Best Creative Cocktails" and "Best Wine Selection" by Weekly Volcano readers in the 2013 Best of Olympia. The Weekly Volcano named it "Best Seat to View Capitol Lake."

Swing Wine Bar & Cafe is one of 10 restaurants participating in Olympia Restaurant Week, which means it will offer three courses for $25, Sunday-Thursday April 7-18.

To reserve your space at Swing during Olympia Restaurant Week, call 360.357.9464.

Below is Swing Wine Bar & Cafe's Olympia Restaurant Week menu.

Most people desire food prepared at a locally owned restaurant where the proprietors had some role in creating what they're hawking. At a barbecue place, you should be able to smell the smoke and picture the manager toiling over the coals in a sweaty, stained wife-beater. At a French restaurant, the host should be so snotty that you want to punch him in the mouth, even though he'll probably surrender before you can. And at an authentic Italian joint (not one named for the infamous Olive Garden crime family), the owner should be from Italy - but also know that you're in for a hell of a meal, just because the ownership so damn passionate about the food. Pellegrino's Italian Kitchen is one of those joints.

Owner Sam Pellegrino is 100 percent Sicilian from the town of Palermo. Although semi-retired, his big personally is always there - whether in the photographs leading up the stairs, Italian dishes passed through generations of Pellegrino's or via his daughter and house manager, Jennifer Pellegrino.

Pellegrino's is one of 10 restaurants participating in Olympia Restaurant Week, which means it will offer three courses for $25, Sunday-Thursday April 7-18.

To reserve your space at Pellegrino's during Olympia Restaurant Week, call 360.709.9020.

Below is Pellegrino's Italian Kitchen's Olympia Restaurant Week menu. The cozy Italian joint in Tumwater offers more than the required three options per course, including a Tour of Italy entree.

There's something appealing about viewing the cut of meat before it arrives on your plate, especially when you're dealing with prime cuts of Wagyu beef and dry-aged, marbled slabs of steak. Ricardo's Restaurant in Lacey, which underwent a transformation a few years ago when they started focusing less on pasta and more on meat. The Bone "in" Fillet, one of the chef's favorites, will leave carnivores wiping tears of joy from their eyes and if that's not enough, the delicate Maytag Blue salad with just enough dressing and the ideal amount of pistachios will definitely complete the picture perfect meal. Read the Weekly Volcano's review of Ricardo's here. You'll read why Ricardo's was no doubt voted Best Steak in the 2013 Best of Olympia issue.

However, this is Olympia Restaurant Week, which is about three courses for $25 — a chance to dine at Ricardo's for much less than you normally would be allowed. Nice.

To reserve your space at Ricardo's Restaurant during Olympia Restaurant Week, call 360.413.9995

Below is Ricardo's Olympia restaurant week menu.

CELEBRATION OF THURSTON COUNTY'S CULINARY SCENE >>>

Ten restaurants are now accepting reservations for Olympia Restaurant Week, which will take the greater Olympia culinary scene by storm mid-April, 2013. The two-week foodie event held April 7-18, Sunday-Thursday, allows diners to experience the variety of Thurston County's restaurants at a fraction of the normal cost. In addition to their regular menus, participating restaurants will offer pre-selected three-course dinner menus - with three options per course - for $25 per person not including alcoholic beverages, tax and gratuity. Selected restaurants will also offer three-course lunch menus for $15 not including tax and gratuity.

During Olympia Restaurant Week, locals and visitors alike may dine their way through Lacey, Olympia and Tumwater, socializing over delicacies from Adesso, Budd Bay Café, Dockside Bistro & Wine Bar, Mercato Ristorante, Oly Rockfish Grill, Pellegrino's Italian Kitchen, Ramblin Jack's, Ricardo's Restaurant, Swing Wine Bar and Cafe and Trago Mexican Kitchen.

The list of participating restaurants, along with sample menus, restaurant descriptions and updates, can be found below.

The public can follow comments about Olympia Restaurant Week on Facebook as well as Twitter using hashtag #OlyRestWeek.

Diners can enjoy Olympia Restaurant Week at the following restaurants (*offers lunch option too)

LINK: Fancy Olympia Restaurant Week 2013 Menu Guide

Adesso

109 Legion Way SW, Olympia
360.705.2529
Website
Olympia Restaurant Week $25 3-Course Dinner Menu

Budd Bay Cafe

525 Columbia St. NW, Olympia
360.357.6963
Website
Olympia Restaurant Week $25 3-Course Dinner Menu 

Dockside Bistro & Wine Bar

501 Columbia St. NW, Olympia
360.956.1928
Website
Olympia Restaurant Week $25 3-Course Dinner Menu (coming soon)

Mercato Ristorante*

111 Market St. NE, Olympia
360.528.3663
Website
Olympia Restaurant Week $15 3-Course Lunch Menu
Olympia Restaurant Week $25 3-Course Dinner Menu 

Oly Rockfish Grill

700 4th Ave. E., Olympia
360.753.5700
Website
Olympia Restaurant Week $25 3-Course Dinner Menu 

Pellegrino's Italian Kitchen

205 Cleveland Ave. SE, Tumwater
360.709.9020
Website
Olympia Restaurant Week $25 3-Course Dinner Menu 

Ramblin Jack's*

520 4th Ave. E., Olympia
360.754.8909
Website
Olympia Restaurant Week $15 3-Course Lunch Menu
Olympia Restaurant Week $25 3-Course Dinner Menu 

Ricardo's Restaurant

5211 Lacey Blvd. SE, Lacey
360.413.9995
Website
Olympia Restaurant Week $25 3-Course Dinner Menu 

Swing Wine Bar and Café

825 Columbia St. SW, Olympia
360.357.9464
Website
Olympia Restaurant Week $25 3-Course Dinner Menu 

Trago Mexican Kitchen*

625 Black Lake Blvd. SW, Olympia
360.338.0515
Website
Olympia Restaurant Week $15 3-Course Lunch Menu
Olympia Restaurant Week $25 3-Course Dinner Menu