ristrettos. the restaurant. my new house.

Ristrettos coffee & wine is the the happening place in Maple Valley. Monday, October 10th was the Grand Opening. Curtis & Michelle Lang are the proud owners of a stunning "hot spot" called Ristrettos. Curtis is the visionary and dreamer. Michelle is the organizer and planner and director. And their trusted sidekick, my hubby, is their 'mastermind' behind the menu. Joe and his Uncle Curtis have been talking about the launch of a restaurant for years now. At every family function, Uncle Curtis aka Biddy would say, "C'mon Joe lets do something, we gotta open something..." As most of you know food & presentation are Joey's passion. A talent, a gift. Joe has been spending hundreds of hours on this launch (no I am not exaggerating!) It has been an instant success. And the city of Maple Valley is thankful to the Langs for opening this place. "We needed something like this," is the quote of the week of the patrons of Ristrettos.

The restaurant. This is what I call it. Technically it is a coffee & wine bar serving everything from your favorite drink of choice to a delicious bottle of wine and everything in between. The in between is your bakery items for breakfast, which includes a panini made with nutella and marshmallow fluff, yes it is delicious with a rich smooth cup of joe. Side note: my drink of choice at the moment mine is the ever-classic m-o-c-h-a. When trying a new coffee place, I always see how the mocha is first, then on to other coffee drinks depending on my mood. My second drink of choice is a hot americano with steamed breve, and two pumps of coconut (thank you to my sister in law who turned me on to this!). Then you head into lunch & dinner at the restaurant, your options are panini sandwiches and salads, and a various selection of small plates. And then you choose your beverage, will you go with beer and wines, and special bottled non-alcoholic drinks? I recommend the red flight, especially the Layer Cake, oh yum. It is quite the place, and because my hubby is the 'mastermind' behind the menu, and is spending all his days and nights there training and executing the food, I have deemed it the restaurant.



My new house. This is what Enzo calls Ristrettos. Yesterday he and my mom, his Nonni were praying together, and she asked him what he wanted to pray for. He said my new house. And after much conversation, about 3 minutes of trying to figure out what he was talking about, he said, "we go and see daddy," We finally figured it out! He wanted to pray for his new house, Ristrettos. So they did. And then he wanted to go there, so for the third night this week, we got to see Daddy working and eat his yummy food.

It has been a very busy 11 days around here. We got back from vacation on the night of October 1st and the next day Joe went to Ristrettos and it seems has not come back! He is living out his passion, his dream. And I believe this is Joe's practice, or his minor league, only to prepare him for the big leagues, one day having his own place...

Love, T

p.s thank you Andrea for the pictures.