Ciao Bella says hello to new look

Like so many Italian restaurants, Ciao Bella Ristorante (5133 25th Ave. N.E., Seattle; 206-524-6989) is beloved by its neighbors — folks who've been flocking to this unpretentious little Southern Italian favorite for a dozen years. But late last summer arson destroyed the cozy stucco house near University Village, leaving devotees — and brothers Gino and Michele Borriello — temporarily "homeless."

That void was filled early this month when a rebuilt Ciao Bella rose from the ashes with a new upscale effect (fancy lighting fixtures! linen tablecloths! a shiny new grand piano!). And though the menu's been expanded, former fans will find the same delicious mozzarella-heavy pizzas and generous pastas that have long had customers groaning into their spumoni (in a good way).

"There's one thing I have always been very famous for," says Gino — who opened and has long since sold several restaurants, including Ciao Italia (in Edmonds), the late Ciao Bella Too (on Roosevelt Way), and Isabella Ristorante (downtown): "My dishes are gigantic. I don't want people leaving with an empty stomach."

Uh, fat chance. Especially if you attempt to knock back a plate of fettuccine Bolognese ($11.95), whose wine- and vegetable-enhanced meat sauce, thick with rough-ground beef and pork, help ensure that one dish could feed a family of three. Especially when paired with one of a half-dozen appetizers or a salad, which is no longer a freebie-with-entrée.

Regular customers have been warmly welcomed back by the Borriellos and their staff, and can expect to find serious physical differences. Their beloved warm-weather patio, for instance, is presently enclosed as an as-yet-unfinished dining area. Explaining why that room sits prettily painted but vacant, its windows papered-over, the floor a concrete slab, Gino says he's waiting for permits from the city to allow him to build a romance-inducing fireplace in the middle of the room. The room's fate (patio or enclosure?) will be determined by the authorities.

Ciao Bella serves dinner Sunday through Thursday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., and on Friday and Saturday (when a jazz pianist tickles the ivories) from 5 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.

Let your keyboard do the walking

Here in Seattle we have the good fortune to be able to find exceptional foodstuffs at every turn: at a growing number of specialty shops, farmers markets and impressively well-stocked supermarkets. While I'm far more inclined to stop at one of those to stock my fridge and larder, I can certainly appreciate what the Internet has brought to the table — literally and figuratively. Though I live for the visual and tactile wonders of food shopping, I'm not above turning to the Web to track down edibles unavailable hereabouts, giving them as gifts to myself and to others.

I've let my keyboard do the walking to join the Bacon of the Month Club at www.gratefulpalate.com; get my hands on Lou Malnati's Chicago-style pizza at www.loumalnatis.com; and indulge my husband's passion for bitter orange marmalade, originally bought directly from its maker at the Union Square Greenmarket in NYC, now shipped to my home via www.bethsfarmkitchen.com.

Of course, when it comes to eating globally while Internet-shopping locally, there's no better site to turn to than www.chefshop.com. ChefShop, a 4-year-old Seattle-based company, recently relocated its "World Headquarters" — and its fun-to-browse retail shop — from a badly trafficked Elliott Avenue warehouse to a larger, more convenient location in the burgeoning South Lake Union neighborhood (305 Ninth Ave. N.; 206-286-9988).

Stopping in for a peek last week, I took a tour with company co-founder, food maven and radio personality Mauny Kaseburg, who has also recently relocated, to sunny Sonoma, Calif. Mauny was on hand to celebrate the move at a grand opening party held last Thursday evening, as was New York Times food columnist and cookbook author Marian Burros, here to sign and promote her new book "Cooking for Comfort" (Simon & Schuster, $24). The book is now among the cookbooks, kitchenware and other gourmet goodies available at ChefShop's brick-and-mortar outlet.

The store is a veritable show-and-tell of some 1,000 carefully procured food-related products. In addition to such local favorites as Tom Douglas' spice rubs and jars of Mustapha's Moroccan capers, the room's abloom with a changing roster of taste treats. Here you'll find fragrant first-pressed oils, a fleet of aged balsamicos and a dozen different brands of fleur de sel. Ogle and inspect tubs of French goose fat, dried Italian cuttlefish ink pasta, Damson jam from Yorkshire and tins of Spanish bonito.

The shop — now with plenty of parking and easily accessible via I-5 and Aurora Avenue — is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Nancy Leson: 206-464-8838 or nleson@seattletimes.com. More columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists.