Fusion On Harbor Steps -- Bombore's Creations Are Ethnically Specific - If Uncommon

Feb 18, 1996

John Hinterberger

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# # # $$ Bombore, 89 University St. (the Harbor Steps). Lunch ($5 to $14) 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Dinner ($7 to $17) 5 to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Closed Sundays. Wine, beer, sake. Major credit cards (no checks). No smoking. Reservations (for six or more): 624-8233. ----------------------------------------------------------------- IF YOU LOOK UP Bombore in the dictionary, you won't find it.

If, on the other hand, you look up the Harbor Steps from Western Avenue to First Avenue, you will see it: a bright little self-described bistro with a strange name, a series of geometric, swirl-painted patterns on a polished concrete floor framed by an occasional electric lime-green wall.

The bistro-trattoria look is expanded by the Italian custom of metal-topped tables, in this case soft, glowing copper. Some Asian decorative accents, and a scattering of potted bamboo conveys the multinational theme.

Bombore is the culinary creation of Shinya Asami, a Japanese chef who opened his hillside Seattle restaurant in late November of last year after migrating from an earlier enterprise, Shambala in Santa Monica. He and his wife, Linda, have been in Seattle two years, most of it spent looking for a restaurant location. Asami also worked as a chef - making curries - at Shamiana, the popular Indian restaurant in the Houghton neighborhood of Kirkland.

He calls what he does fusion cuisine, a term (and a trendy practice) increasingly employed here, almost to the point where local fusion sometimes drifts off into multi-ethnic confusion. Asami's assembled definitions, however, are quite ethnically specific - if uncommon.

Asami combines Japanese, Italian and East Indian cooking - three very divergent disciplines - and manages (for the most part) to bring it - or them - off. Which is to say, he actually brings them together: artfully, colorfully and tastefully.

If nothing else, Bombore is the only place in Seattle where you are likely to find Penne Arrabbiata with Tofu ($9.25), Rigatoni with Mixed Seafood in a Spicy Indian Yogurt Curry ($13.50), Tofu Napolitano ($4.25; be still Mama Melina) or White Fish Carpaccio with Asian Pesto Vinaigrette ($6.95 as a starter).

All of this may sound more capricious than valid, more novel than substantive - but it is sincerely constructed and it works.

I may have glanced nervously at the shredded dried nori (seaweed) sprinkled over my Farfalle with Prawns in an Asian Pesto Sauce ($11.25), but the prawns were fresh and tender, the farfalle (bow-tie pasta) were properly al dente, and the Asian pesto was untroubled by its hint of sesame. In fact it was lovely.

According to the waitress, Bombore got its name from Asami's little girl, who was unable to pronounce her favorite Italian pasta dish, con Vongole (with clams).

Shinya Asami was born and raised in Japan, discovered Italian food, and later traveled extensively to India. "They were my three favorite foods," he explained. Rather than choose from between them, he created flavor mosaics with selected bits and bites from all of them.

The Baked Samosas ($6.95) is a good starting point. A light, delicate batter coats a combination of a mixed vegetable curry, turkey and tofu-spinach. Alongside is a small bowl of homemade mango chutney.

Steamed Vegetables ($4.25) come with three attention-grabbing dipping sauces: an apple-chili, a sweet miso and kochunaise (a soy-based mayo).

Another appetizer, Sauteed Calamari ($4.95), looks straightforward Italian. About a dozen ringlets and tentacle clusters of baby squid are immersed in a spicy, deep red Puttanesca sauce. But instead of the customary olive oil, red-pepper flakes and capers, the sauce glistens with a deft touch of sesame oil. There is a bottle of extra virgin olive oil on the table, however, for those who are either cross-culturally confused or choose to mix and unmatch.

Curry du Bombore (prices vary, but around $7 at lunch; $11 evenings) is a kind of white-bowl, blue-plate special. Recently, during a gray, gloomy lunch hour, with pedestrians and rain sheets pelting the Harbor Steps, the daily special was a steamy pork curry. In a chopped tomato base, tender cubes of pork (a couple of them could have been more judiciously trimmed) floated in a thick broth laced with spices and plump raisins.

There was no one dominant flavor, simply a harmonious mix of what seemed like all of the botanicals of south and southeast Asia: coriander, cumin, a freshly blended garam masala, cayenne, mace, garlic, ginger, fennel, cilantro and a lingering afterthought of cinnamon.

It was the kind of curry that continued to reveal itself - and I didn't stop the revelations until the plate was clean (not a modest task). In addition to the curry was a mound of steamed, medium-grain Asian brown rice. Each grain distinct: nutty and tender, yet slightly firm, like a perfect risotto. The grains were flecked with minced chives and textured with sliced, toasted hazelnuts.

Between the rice and the curry was a brilliant border of red cabbage, while another quadrant was occupied by a generous wild-greens salad, with an Asian-style vinaigrette, framed by tomatoes, cucumber slices and curls of radicchio.

All of the main course servings are presented on over-sized plates or in large white bowls, almost the size of serving platters. And they are filled. You won't go away hungry.

Salads are popular at lunch, and they, too, are imposing. They range in price from $2.75 for Mixed Field Greens (intended as a first course or side dish) to $7.25 for a sumptuous Asian Chicken Salad with Fusion Vinaigrette made with garlic, ginger and cilantro. A particularly pretty plate is the Grilled Eggplant and Field Greens Salad at $6.95.

A couple of soups follow on the menu. Miso Soup with Wakame Seaweed, Tofu and Scallions ($1.50 for a cup; $3.25 for a bowl-sized portion) is always on the menu. The Soup du Bombore varies daily.

You have a choice of main course rices, all organically grown: Curry Flavored Fried Rice with Chicken ($5.95), Fried Brown Rice with Mixed Vegetables ($5.75), Fried Brown Rice with garlic, scallions and cilantro ($5.25) of plain steamed rice, white or brown ($1.25 small or $2.45 large). Rice is included with the price of curries.

After curries, the rest of the menu is divided into pastas and "Other Favorites." Despite their cross-ethnic variations, the Italian pastas are well-handled but I must admit to a certain uncertainty when faced with cubes of tofu nestled in my Penne Arrabbiata.

Desserts change frequently, and you may have difficulty finding room for any of it, but the house cheesecake has an almost souffle-like lightness and is enhanced with a chocolate and maple syrup saucing that is irresistible.

John Hinterberger's restaurant and food columns appear in The Seattle Times in Sunday's Pacific Magazine and Thursday's Tempo. Tom Reese is a Times photographer.