Accolades
"Best of Redmond" - Redmond Reporter, 2017
"#1 Gluten Free Menu" (Certificate of Excellence), TripAdvisor, 2017
"Top 20 Best Italian Western WA", Evening Magazine - 2010, 2015
"Talk of the Town" Winner - 2011, 2012
“Best Italian Restaurant” (2nd Place Winner) – Citysearch 2009
“Top 10 Italian Restaurants” – Citysearch 2006, 2007
“Best Italian on the Eastside” Winner – Citysearch 2005
"#1 Gluten Free Menu" (Certificate of Excellence), TripAdvisor, 2017
"Top 20 Best Italian Western WA", Evening Magazine - 2010, 2015
"Talk of the Town" Winner - 2011, 2012
“Best Italian Restaurant” (2nd Place Winner) – Citysearch 2009
“Top 10 Italian Restaurants” – Citysearch 2006, 2007
“Best Italian on the Eastside” Winner – Citysearch 2005
Italo-Polo Pasta
Sages is not your average neighborhood Italian restaurant. It's opened by a Polish chef, and if the seasonal, rustic Italian menu doesn't make your mouth water to the point of flooding, there's something wrong with you. Sages offers tastier-than-ever dishes such as the spicy shrimp tower, their signature stuffed chicken, pan-seared salmon, and of course huge, stomach-groaning portions of ravioli and homemade gnocchi. The pasta dish interestingly dubbed the "Wife's Favorite"- a rich, slightly sour, pink-sauced penne pasta with shitake mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, basil and topped with grilled chicken is a must try. Better take that award-winning tiramisu in a to-go box. ~ By: Meiwa Chen, "Not For Tourists" |
“Food, atmosphere and service was exceptional. We will go back over and over again”
~ Jan McDonald, Restaurant Row
“This place is worth finding! Tucked away off the beaten track lies one of the best places
to dine I have been to in a long time”
~ Hally R., Citysearch
“The food is always wonderful”
~ A Food Enthusiast, Restaurants at Amazon.com
“It’s so nice to have a high quality restaurant in our neighborhood - No more treks
to Seattle to satisfy quality dining experiences”
~ C P Brydges, Yelp
“Warm setting, satisfying food is the wisdom of Sages.
There’s an elegant simplicity to the food that matches the simple elegance of the setting”
~ Seattle Times Restaurant Critic, Providence Cicero
“We are long time Eastsiders and always trek to Seattle to find great little places to eat.
Well, no more! Sages is now one of our Eastside Favorites”
~ Dinerate.com
“Lick the Plate Good and a Local Treasure”
~ Sara Rowe, Citysearch
“Perfect! Eat here once and crave it forever”
~ Cellartastings.com (Restaurant Guide)
“The only thing better than the elegant ambience and comfortable atmosphere was the delicious food”
~ Edalbey, CuisineNet.com
“Towns Best”
~ DineSite.com
~ Jan McDonald, Restaurant Row
“This place is worth finding! Tucked away off the beaten track lies one of the best places
to dine I have been to in a long time”
~ Hally R., Citysearch
“The food is always wonderful”
~ A Food Enthusiast, Restaurants at Amazon.com
“It’s so nice to have a high quality restaurant in our neighborhood - No more treks
to Seattle to satisfy quality dining experiences”
~ C P Brydges, Yelp
“Warm setting, satisfying food is the wisdom of Sages.
There’s an elegant simplicity to the food that matches the simple elegance of the setting”
~ Seattle Times Restaurant Critic, Providence Cicero
“We are long time Eastsiders and always trek to Seattle to find great little places to eat.
Well, no more! Sages is now one of our Eastside Favorites”
~ Dinerate.com
“Lick the Plate Good and a Local Treasure”
~ Sara Rowe, Citysearch
“Perfect! Eat here once and crave it forever”
~ Cellartastings.com (Restaurant Guide)
“The only thing better than the elegant ambience and comfortable atmosphere was the delicious food”
~ Edalbey, CuisineNet.com
“Towns Best”
~ DineSite.com
Sages Serves Up "Comfort Food" with Pizazz!
By Sue Kidd, Journal Reporter – Eastside Journal
By Sue Kidd, Journal Reporter – Eastside Journal
Bart Kuliczkowski learned early in his career that he could take one of two paths as a chef. He could spend most of his career clocking 60-hour work weeks while someone else profited from his kitchen talents. Or, he could sink his savings and a lot of his own hard work into a restaurant of his own.
He, some may say, smartly chose the latter. His restaurant, Sages, opened in January 2001 in Redmond. Bart came to the United States from Poland at the age of 14 in 1986. Not speaking a word of English, he took a job at Tosoni’s in Bellevue. Chef and owner Walter Welcher became a surrogate father to Bart — showing him everything from the basics of pasta to driving a car.
After Bart graduated from Interlake High, Welcher nudged his apprentice into the South Seattle College culinary arts program.
The program is a respected local training ground for a number of rising Seattle area chefs. Bart graduated in 1992. His resume highlights have since included the Bellevue Hyatt Regency and a very long stint as head chef at Ristorante Paradiso in downtown Kirkland.
A longtime and faithful Eastsider, Bart and wife Jerri began scouting for locations for their new restaurant. They had come up with the name Sages — after the herb — long before the restaurant was even a reality. They considered Kirkland, but fell in love with their Redmond location and opened in January. With Bart in the kitchen and Jerri tackling the business and front of house, the duo have created a casually elegant restaurant with rustic-style Italian food with a Continental flair. That’s a mouthful of a description, but his food is difficult to categorize.
The food is what he likes to eat himself — handmade and simple rustic food. It may seem a contradiction of the very nature of rustic food, but his presentations sometimes come with an artistic flair, such as a zig-zag of a thick, balsamic reduction sauce on the rim of a pasta bowl or a towering pile of shrimp on an herb-strewn plate. Still, the food is more Italian comfort than fussy upscale by any means. It’s homey food artfully displayed. Bart approaches his work with a touch of humor. He includes on his pasta menu ”Wife’s Favorite,” a tribute to Jerri, who is a big fan of her husband’s penne pasta with shiitake mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, garlic and basil in a marinara cream sauce that Bart cheekily calls ”pink sauce”. The pinkish-orangey pasta dish is loaded with garlic and basil and topped with a grilled chicken breast. I see why his wife likes it so much. That’s the kind of comfort food that is easy to get used to.
The same ”pink sauce” showed up with the jumbo chicken ravioli, which were puffs of fresh pasta wrapped round a mixture of chicken and ricotta cheese. Sundried tomatoes added a nice, chewy texture to the pasta pillows. Bart says Jerri also enjoys the lemon herb chicken with basil, cilantro and dill, but something that was too tempting not to order was Bart’s special chicken stuffed with spinach and goat cheese and covered with a sweet mushroom marsala wine sauce.
For starters, do consider the Greek salad, the recipe Bart extracted from his travels to Greece. A spicy jumbo shrimp tower, doused with red pepper flakes and garlic, was indeed a tower of a half dozen plump prawns bathed in a white wine sauce.
To end the meal, a small group of sweets lovers will dive into the sampler. It seems made for sampling, no matter the tastes of the group. The dish comes with a wedge of lemon cheesecake, a dense slice of "chocolate lovers delight" with a drizzle of raspberry sauce and a square of tiramisu made with lady fingers soaked in a coffee flavored liqueur and layers of rich cream.
Interestingly enough, with 24 hours notice, Sages has a specialty dessert of chocolate fondue with an array of fresh fruit at $9 per person. Just remember to call ahead.
Sue dines anonymously at the Journal’s expense and rates restaurants on food quality, value, service and presentation.
