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Founded in January 2009, PubliCola is a blog about Seattle written by journalists who are dedicated to non-partisan, original daily reporting that prioritizes a balanced approach to news. Started by longtime local editor and award-winning reporter Josh Feit, PubliCola is the first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol.

PubliCola was off and running. In June 2009, PubliCola hired another award-winning journalist, super-sourced Seattle city hall reporter Erica C. Barnett.

People were afraid that blogging would change journalism. Instead, we believe journalism can change blogging. Twenty-first century journalism may look and feel different, and yes Erica isn't afraid to get cranky, but we're committed to making sure online news still delivers independent, reliable, even-keeled coverage. And most of all, we're committed to making sure the coverage sparks honest civic debate.

Bringing you cola for the people, PubliCola is named after Publius Valerius PubliCola, the alias for the authors of the Federalist Papers—the original bloggers.

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The first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol and Seattle city hall, PubliCola has been called a “must-read” by the Seattle Post Intelligencer and a hot “New Media Mover and Shaker” by Seattle Magazine—which also cited our own Erica C. Barnett as the city's No. 1 news nerd.

Look No Further: Seattle’s Best Dining Deal

Arts & Culture   March 28, 2010 at 3:48 pm Angela Garbes

I’m quite sure I have found the city’s best dining deal. I eat out more often than I’d like, so it’s difficult to describe the joy and satisfaction of finding a place where I only need to shell out a small amount of my hard-earned money and receive insanely good food worth so much more in return.

First, a confession: When Anchovies & Olives opened on the ground floor of an ugly new building just a few blocks from my house (at 15th and Pine), I was annoyed. I grumpily wondered aloud if Seattle really needed another Ethan Stowell restaurant. Selfishly, I was also concerned about the disappearance of on-street parking at the hands of smug, upper-class foodies. My boyfriend and I made a point of “forgetting” the restaurant’s name, walking by and gesturing towards “Artichokes & Ostriches” or “Asshole & Ornery.”

My feelings have changed.

Photograph: Geoffrey Smith

The food at Anchovies & Olives is undeniably great. And while A&O is too pricey for us to have dinner there often, it’s now my favorite neighborhood restaurant. Why? Because they’ve created incentives for local residents to drop in casually for a drink and some snacks. (Also, service is off the chain.) Case in point: Their twice-daily Power Hour, featuring $1 oysters (and we’re talking good oysters—Totten Virginicas, Kusshis, Kumamotos), $2 Peronis, and $5 wine and prosecco.

BUT IT GETS BETTER. Right now during late night Power Hour on Friday and Saturday nights, A&O is offering $5 “Chef’s Choice” specials. Five bucks gets you a plate of whatever the hell the kitchen wants to make you, and believe me, you want to be picking up whatever they are throwing down. Such as:

• Smoked mackerel over a salad of fennel, peas, chickpeas, and red currants. ($5!)

• Fried skate “riblets” (scrumptious long pieces of tender cartilage with plenty of meat to suck and pick off) with celery, pine nuts, onion mostarda, and chilis. ($5!)

• Saffron risotto with geoduck and sorrel. ($5!)

This is a genius idea: It’s a chance for the kitchen to use up stuff that need to be used up ASAP and and test out newly arrived seasonal ingredients. But more important, it’s fun: The chefs get to play, the diners get to be surprised and delighted.

Anchovies & Olives Power Hour is offered twice daily, from 5 – 6 pm and 10 -11 pm, and goes until 12 am on Friday and Saturday.




  • seattlejew

    A&O?

    Angela seems to me t have a bad case of The Pretentions.

    Maybe a bad pun will make my point? This place is more for sel satisfied swells than for palate pleasing smells.

    The clientelle is clearly pleased with itself. The staff in unctuous to regulars and condescending to those of us who still dress as if we lived in Seattle.

    The food is pretty much as described by Angela .. comfort food for those trying to prove they have good taste. The night we went, after being irritated by the waiters' excessive attention to regulars, we found nothing really special to eat. The menu does tend to things like skates ribs and pigeon toes, usually flavored with olive oil. I found myself wishing for something as simple as putansca or even the great cacciatores of my childhood in Boston's North End..

    Just because it combines unlikely ingredients does not make a dish into an ouevre.

    crossposted to the SeattleJew Blog.

  • patience lost

    Look, I'm no fan of Angela's column: “…service is off the chain.” Could you try an be any less descriptive, Angela?

    But really SJ, “The clientelle is clearly pleased with itself.” Who give a shit? I'll give you credit for one thing, it takes balls to call attention to the pretension of others while posting as THE Seattle Jew.