There's a Benedictine church called San Fermo Maggiore in Verona, on the banks of the Adige, 75 miles west of Venice, been there for centuries. Remember that name.
Meantime, a pair of wood-frame, carpenter-built cabins that had stood in the International District since the 1880s were saved from demolition in 1975 and moved to the newly created Ballard Avenue Landmark District. Originally serving as professional offices, they've now been reconfigured as a 50-seat Italian restaurant and renamed San Fermo (at 5341 Ballard Avenue NW). The owners, Jeff Ofelt, Tim Baker, Wade Weigel, and Scott Shapiro all have restaurant experience, and are putting it to good use, starting with the innovative design.
What a welcome change from the anonymous, steel & concrete industrial décor we've seen almost everywhere for the past couple of years. San Fermo has a distinctly retro, small-town feel, with tables along a broad side porch, wood floors and white-washed walls inside, dishes and staples on exposed shelves.
At lunch, the choices are written on a window next to the kitchen: a couple of pastas, a couple of salads, a chicken dish. A glass of wine (excellent pinot grigio from northern Italy) costs more than the maltagliati with osso buco ragù. And what a privilege, you think, to sit here in the warm spring air, surrounded by signs that the hostess, the cooks, the servers all want you to be happy.
Until now, if you wanted an authentic Italian country lunch, you had to go to Volterra, which has a delightful garden in front of an old house a block away (5411 Ballard Ave. NW). Portions are probably bigger, but so's the check.
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