Providence Cicero

Edmonds, Seattle

Freelance Writer and Editor at Freelance

Writer, eater, mom. Former Seattle Times restaurant critic. Loves books, cats, restaurants, the PNW & my family, not necessarily in that order.

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Articles

More than mementos: Cherished recipes offer clues to the past

1 week ago | seattletimes.com | Providence Cicero

CYNTHIA NIMS describes herself as “a keeper of things.” Among them are her mother’s recipes, stored in a tattered accordion file held together by packing tape and a prayer. It’s so fragile that when Nims gingerly fishes out a yellowed scrap of newsprint from one of its pockets, she fears the whole file might collapse.
Methow Valley’s Casia Lodge & Ranch is a haven of quiet hospitality and outstanding food

3 weeks ago | seattletimes.com | Providence Cicero

DEBORAH FRIEND WILSON is up on her high horse every day. Literally. His name is Buddy, a handsome chestnut Belgian Percheron gelding who quickly became the leader of the pack in the stable at Casia Lodge & Ranch, where Debbie and her husband, the James Beard Award-winning chef Jason Wilson, are the managing partners. The tiny town of Twisp (population 1,000, give or take), like the Methow Valley generally, has a strong community of growers, artists, artisans and outdoor enthusiasts.
The owners of this Seattle sandwich shop are still chasing their passion(s)

Jan 19, 2025 | seattletimes.com | Providence Cicero

AVERY AND ASHLEY HARDIN, the owners of Layers Green Lake, the sandwich shop featured in this week’s Korean Reuben sandwich smackdown, have a meet-cute/getting-to-know-each-other backstory worthy of a romcom. In 2011, Ashley was a professional photographer in Santa Barbara, Calif., when she got an assignment to “shoot the new chef” (Avery!) at a local cafe. They hit it off. The first time she cooked a meal for him, she went all out.
A Seattle sandwich shop and a TikTok star reimagine the Reuben two ways

Jan 14, 2025 | seattletimes.com | Providence Cicero

WHEN OWEN HAN’S cookbook “Stacked: The Art of the Perfect Sandwich” hit stores this fall, I had never heard of him. Now I’m among his 2 million-plus followers on Instagram (more than 4 million on TikTok) hooked on his snappy, crisply edited cooking videos. Unlike some social media food influencers, the 26-year-old Milan-born USC grad has real kitchen cred and a compelling backstory. His cooking is informed by his Italian nonna and Ma Han, his Chinese grandmother.
Learn about Washington wines at Surrell’s monthly Tasting Tuesday events

Nov 3, 2024 | seattletimes.com | Providence Cicero

Editor’s note: Pacific NW magazine’s weekly Backstory provides a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the writer’s process or an extra tidbit that accompanies our cover story. This week’s cover story features the restaurant Surrell, which offers Washington wines — and only Washington wines. TO LEARN MORE about Washington’s skin-contact wines, I dropped into one of Surrell’s “Tasting Tuesdays,” held on the first Tuesday of each month.
Washington wines - and only Washington wines - are on the menu at Surrell

Nov 2, 2024 | seattletimes.com | Providence Cicero

OSCAR PRINCE NORMALLY waits tables at Surrell, but tonight he is seated at one of the restaurant’s glossy four-tops in the cozy book-lined dining room, along with a dozen or so customers who have signed up to attend “Tasting Tuesday,” a monthly event at the Madison Valley restaurant. Prince moved to Seattle from Wisconsin, by way of Boise, specifically to learn more about wine. He landed in a good spot.
Young chefs and restaurateurs are bringing new energy to a tiny Whidbey town

Sep 24, 2024 | seattletimes.com | Providence Cicero

WHIDBEY ISLAND’S ENTIRE population would just about fill the stands at Lumen Field. Dotted with small towns and crisscrossed with roads named after farming families that go back generations, South Whidbey historically has been a place where people maintain vacation homes they eventually retire to. But empirical evidence suggests that, as more people can work remotely, the demographics are skewing younger.
This Green Lake restaurant closed so its owners can salvage their orchards

Jul 16, 2024 | seattletimes.com | Providence Cicero

THE RESTAURANT BUSINESS can be a bowl of cherries, or it can be the pits. In the case of Eight Row, it’s been a little of both. In one sense, it’s a tale as old as restaurants: When the rent goes up, the business often shuts down. But the reasons that Eight Row announced a hiatus beginning this month are more complicated than that. The owners are temporarily sacrificing the family restaurant to salvage the family orchards.
This special Mother’s Day recipe holds memories and must-have zucchini

May 7, 2024 | seattletimes.com | Providence Cicero

A YEAR AGO, on the Friday before Mother’s Day, my mother fell in her kitchen. The reason was mundane: She had bent over to wipe up some spilled milk from the floor, lost her balance and toppled over, breaking her femur near the hip. She was able to summon help by pressing the button on the in-case-of-emergency lavalier that she finally had agreed to wear after her 90th birthday. At 92, Rosemary Cicero remained stubbornly independent.
Make the Brunch Potatoes chef Mitch Mayers misses the most from Sawyer

Mar 26, 2024 | seattletimes.com | Providence Cicero

“IF A FELLOW really likes potatoes, he must be a pretty decent sort of fellow,” Winnie the Pooh’s pal Rabbit observes in “The House at Pooh Corner.” That is certainly true of Mitch Mayers. The former chef/owner of Sawyer, Mayers is only slightly exaggerating when he says, “I love fried potatoes more than anything in life.” He loves his family even more, which he proved unequivocally when he shuttered his dream restaurant in October 2022 so he could be more present in his children’s lives.