Santa Fe Café to exit Ravenna

Twenty years ago, Steve, Greg and Pam Gibbons opened Ravenna's Santa Fe Café (2255 N.E. 65th St., Seattle; 206-524-7736), introducing Seattle to the flavors of New Mexico. Six years later, they brought us its Phinney Ridge sibling, and that's where I got my first taste of the Gibbonses' garlic flan and that scorching green chile sauce that took delicate local tongues by storm.

Deep in the recesses of my food-focused brain live memories of Santa Fe's short-lived Sunday brunches, where warm bread made with blue cornmeal proved the perfect accompaniment to red-chile beer: the hair-of-the-dog that bit me after Saturday night's youthful transgressions.

When it closes at the end of this month, the Ravenna branch of Santa Fe Café will be but a memory, too.

Call it downsizing. Call it consolidation, but call before Sept. 1 if you'd like to get in one last meal at the original shop, which serves lunch Tuesday through Friday and dinner daily through Aug. 31.

But do look at the bright side, says Greg Gibbons: The Santa Fe Café on Phinney Ridge (5910 Phinney Ave. N., Seattle; 206-783-9755) is very much alive and will continue to serve dinner daily, perhaps even adding lunch service sometime next year. (What? No brunch?)

"This (closure) was a hard thing to do, but we're trying to make it as positive as possible," says Gibbons, who spends his days in the Phinney cafe's kitchen pursuing his culinary art and nights working at home pursuing the fine arts. (Psst: Those are his paintings on the walls at the Phinney cafe.)

"We're still enjoying what we do," Gibbons says. "The Ravenna closure is a strategic move on our part to stay alive and provide Seattle with what we've been giving them for years — for as long as they'll have us."

Speaking of strategic moves, peripatetic chef Bo Lohasawat Kline has opened what she calls "a restaurant within a restaurant" — the Noodle Bar at Typhoon! (1400 Western Ave., Seattle 206-262-9797). This is the latest addition to her mini Thai-restaurant empire, whose other branches reside in Redmond (at Bella Botega Center, 8936 161st Ave. N.E., Redmond; 425-558-7666) and in Portland.

Those of us who knew the Noodle Bar at Typhoon! as the satay bar at the original Wild Ginger might be interested to know that the grill's no longer the thing. So, gather 'round, slurpers, and open wide at what was once the city's best-loved meeting-and-eating place. The Noodle Bar, open daily throughout the day and into the night features a separate noodle-oriented menu rife with soups and stir-fries ($7.95-$8.95/lunch; $8.95-$9.95/dinner).

It may also be the only menu in town that comes with a multiple-choice test. To wit: In addition to the likes of Chiengmai noodles, drunken soba with minced chicken, and stir-fried glass noodles, you may "custom-make" a dish by answering the following questions:

Step 1) "What do you feel like having today?": BBQ Pork, Roast Duck, Seafood (yen-ta-fo).

Step 2) "What kind of noodles do you like?": Thin Rice Noodles, Wide Rice Noodles, Egg Noodles, Vegetable Noodles.

Step 3) "Would you like noodles with broth or without?": With, Without, Need recommendation.

Step 4) "How would you like your noodles?": Spicy, Medium, Mild, Chef's Choice.

See you there. I'll be the one with my face in a bowl of Roast Duck with Wide Rice Noodles in broth, spiced Chef's Choice.

Nancy Leson: 206-464-8838 or nleson@seattletimes.com.