Valentine's Day Guide

Modest yet stylish corner storefront, where the air is heavily scented with cumin and cardamom. Carnivores show up for grilled marinated meats over basmati rice. Neighborhood vegetarians hanker for eggplant borani and delicate, ravioli-like ashak.

Tamarind Tree, while embracing all comers, clearly has its landsmen at heart. They come to sip lemongrass martinis or sweet and salty sodas and bask in the papaya-colored glow of great food at bargain prices. The long, annotated menu stars such familiar dishes as pho and salad rolls along with the more exotic: pickled bon bon salad and turmeric coconut rice cake, dill-strewn Thang Long yellow fish and housemade padania-leaf ice cream. Bo 7 mon is a carnivore's dream: seven courses of beef priced at less than $20 for two. Open daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Habesha captivates with its attractive room adorned with native art and basketry, intriguing food, intoxicating smells and gracious service. All contribute to a sensual, satisfying dining experience. Open for lunch and dinner.

Send your five senses on a trip to Tangier, minus the jet lag and the hefty price tag. Diners sit on sofas and hassocks at low brass tables in a room that feels like a plush, upholstered tent. A la carte entrees range from $12.50 for couscous to $16 for a salmon tagine or feast on a five-course meal for just $25 each. Start with vibrant salads or b'stilla, delicate phyllo pastry stuffed with chicken, almonds and egg and dusted with cinnamon and powdered sugar. Notable entrees include lamb with prunes, Cornish hen with preserved lemon and olives, and chicken with apricots. Do as the Moroccans do and scoop up morsels of food with your fingers and bread, or ask for a fork. Quaff mint tea or a bottle of Moroccan wine. Belly dancers entertain Thursdays through Saturdays. Reviewed 7/15/05. Open for dinner.

A cozy bar and lounge, private-dining suite and jazz soundtrack help bring to mind a neighborhood bistro. Expect fine-dining touches like linen napery, elegant tableware, top-shelf booze and a temperature-controlled wine room, as well as specialties like Bai Pai Noodles, tea-smoked salmon and Mussaman curry lamb chops. Open for lunch and dinner.

The food at this rustic trattoria woos -- and wows -- with straightforward charm. Bracing antipasti are followed by handmade pastas moistened with broth, butter or simple meat ragus. Roasted vegetables, meat and game are unencumbered by heavy sauces. Piedmont wines are a perfect match. Communal tables foster a convivial atmosphere. Open for dinner daily.

I double-dog-dare you to kick back at this Belltown funhouse, where you can belly up to the bar for a dog snack and some suds, joining the plethora of punk rockers and pinball wizards who know a great hangout when they hang there. Named to honor owner Martha Manwaring's wiener dog, Shorty, and her favorite hometown hot dog, the Coney, Shorty's Coney Island never comes up short in the good-times department. Order at the diner-style counter, then grab a booth whose tabletop is a vintage pinball machine. The hard-core grab a pint of Pabst ($2), then retreat to the dark recesses of Pinball Cove. Shorty's proudly sells organic frozen entrees microwaved for your pleasure ($3.25-$6.75), but I suggest letting your appetite go to the dogs. Particularly if it's a Chili Cheese Bigtop ($4), a snappy tube of Vienna Beef whose chili wins big for its heat-and-meat quotient. The Chicago-style dog ($3) is a serviceable selection, but my paws-down winner is the Spicy Pepper Cheese Dog ($3.25), the cheese-steak lover's answer to a hot dog (thanks to a hefty hit of Mama Lil's peppers and a full complement of melted "cheese dribble").

Fine-dining aficionados tired of loud, trendy hipster haunts should revisit Philip Mihalski's gracious Green Lake restaurant. The setting is gracious, the staff fluent in their roles, and Mihalski's tantalizing contemporary American menu offers food — from venison to calf's liver to wild arctic char — prepared with nuance and verve.

Swashbuckling comfort food draws a well-dressed clientele to this elegant, art-filled dining room and lounge. Wild mushrooms fill pastry and flavor fresh pasta; osso buco is made with pork shank; halibut is sauced with pesto; and crispy garlic chicken is a perennial fave. Lunch served weekdays; dinner daily. Bar menu available.

The honky-tonk seaside setting sets just the right mood for the sassy Cajun seafood boils that are the specialty here. Heaps of crawdads, shrimp, lobster or crab come slathered in a fragrant red stew of herbs and spices. Gumbo, jambalaya and fried seafood platters are also worth a try.

The best of the upscale vegan dishes -- the tempeh burger, collard greens, fried okra and Mama Africa salad -- deftly combine smoke, heat and sassy Cajun/Jamaican spice. Candles, flowers and elegant glassware (for vegan wine and beer) soften the setting.

La Spiga's new digs make it less an osteria than an Oh!-steria. Once a homey little hangout known for piadina, fresh pasta and other specialties of Emilia-Romagna, it now resembles a chic chalet at a hip ski resort, with a patio, a view of Seattle's cityscape and some big-time bar action. Treat yourself to pasta fresca (gnocchi, tortelli, lasagna, tagliatelle), wild boar, ripe formaggi and vino from a vast library of Italian labels.

Felix and Sarah Penn, the talented pair behind Pair, dish up respectful riffs on American classics at this romantic homage to East Coast oyster houses of yore. Standouts include deviled eggs, oysters Rockefeller, lobster rolls, steaks, pasta and a terrific pork chop.

The Italian repertoire is familiar, but regulars are drawn just as much by the romantic setting, the ministrations of an engaging staff and the sheer force of the owner's personality. Sharing a salad and pasta will keep the price down, but spaghetti pescatore and bistecca Romana are splurge-worthy. End with terrific tiramisu. Open for dinner; closed Sunday.

You may have already tried Cupcake Royale's colorful cupcakes, but their retail cafes in Madrona and Ballard also serve superb panini sandwiches, like an exemplary turkey with pesto, Swiss cheese, Mama Lil's peppers and lightly wilted spinach. The irresistible cupcakes come in chocolate and vanilla with a variety of frostings (the chocolate with mint frosting is a winner), and seasonal cupcakes are introduced regularly. Good loose-leaf tea service, too.

This Big Easy-inspired brasserie tilts toward excess: seven different eggs Benedict at breakfast plus crawfish étouffée, beignets and pain perdu; po'boys and other sandwiches at lunch augment a roster that includes most of the soups, salads, charcuterie, meats and seafood served at dinner when prime steaks are also featured. Breakfast, lunch, dinner daily.

Chain restaurants everywhere attempt to remind us why we loved those Old Scuola spaghetti houses. But now, thanks to Perché, we have something so much better. This is the happy home of housemade pastas (from gnocchi to gemelli, capellini to squid-ink fettucine), deliciously and judiciously sauced, plus a wide world of wines: 300 by the bottle, 50 by the glass. Bargain hunters take heed. When you find yourself considering a second visit in a week, there's only one answer: "Perché no?" (Why not?) Open for lunch and dinner.

Recital hall seats 540.