Seattle's First Restaurant Week is Coming...Sort of

For a foodie like me, Restaurant Week is a thing of legend.  I've heard of it happening in major cities all over the country, it always sounds amazing and, well, completely delicious.  Culinary heavyweights like Aureole and Le Cirque in NYC serve five-star meals for a mere $25. To someone with the restaurant appetite of a millionaire, on a non-profit income, its akin to food porn.

Sure we have dining discount months like Dine Around Seattle, which is wonderful in its own right, but word on the street is many of the local five star restaurants won't participate because it's a grueling work load with little payback. So imagine my delight when I heard Seattle too, would be getting a Restaurant Week with over 100 restaurants participating - hurrah! I've got my How to Cook a Wolf and Canlis reservations made.

Unfortunately, while scanning the list of 91 Seattle establishments (there are many more on the Eastside as well) I found only one restaurant included from the entire northeast section of Seattle; only one! Northeast Seattle's proud (and lonely) participant is Divine (7918 Roosevelt Way).

Tucked into the quiet Maple Leaf neighborhood, Divine, hasn't received a whole lot of press and seems like a somewhat obscure choice. I, shamefully, haven't been to this fine restaurant but the Seattle PI's Rebekah Denn had this to say:

Entrees breaking the $25 barrier seven miles north of downtown? We left dinner visits with lighter wallets than expected, but we didn't regret it when that cash went toward the best rack of lamb we've eaten in some time ($27). It was rare and juicy, crusted in herbs, the bones begging to be licked clean, but served in a refined way with delicately modified tzatziki and greaseless puffs of potato croquette. Not everything is expensive, either. Mezzes run $3 to $10, including generous bowls of traditional spreads such as skordalia and eggplant dip. Brunch is reasonably priced and worth springing out of bed to wait in line; it's a bonus that you probably can just be seated on arrival.

With a review like that, Divine definitely seems a must try; especially with a knockout menu lined up for Restaurant Week. But I still have to wonder, where are all of the other worthy NE Seattle restaurants? How about Pair, Jak's Grill, Gaudi, Sand Point Grill, Mamma Melina, or Salvatore's for a few suggestions.  I realize the bulk of Seattle's upscale dining is, and always will be, in the center of town but that doesn't mean there aren't people who don't want to try out a few places in their own neck of the woods.

NE Seattleites - what restaurants would you like to see added to the Restaurant Week list?