The boyfriend and I went to One Pot yesterday. This roaming restaurant seems to be the Pacific Northwest trend of the moment. My only fear of its future is that it either a) gets too trendy and thus becomes b) snobby.

You pay $40 to meet new people, drink too much and eat amongst strangers while people sing and movies play. Or at least that’s what we did last night.  

It’s all done at a secret location every time. The food is different every time. The people are different every time. The theme (or topic of conversation) is different every time.

It’s not a restaurant. It’s an experience. And it was pretty interesting.

Supposedly the chef, Justin Neidermeyer, is some accomplished pasta ninja. The people across the table from us told me that he spent some time in Italy and that famous chef types have referred to him as a pasta-making virtuoso.  

So is it bad to say that I thought my noodles were way too oily? Because they were. I couldn’t even eat it all.

But if you want to take a dip in the oil pool, then you’re in luck. You can find Justin and his pasta (where he also makes squid ink pasta, which was also too oily for me) at the Ballard Market on Sundays. And word around the street is that he’s opening his very own restaurant sometime soon.

Besides the pasta, everything else was pretty darn good. The sausage and veggies. Perfect. The flat bread pizza. Yummy and not at all overwhelming. The dessert. Simple little cookies. The entertainment. 20 something guy and girl hipster type lounge duo. The wine. BYOB, and every one did. The people. We got 2 phone numbers, the boyfriend ran into someone from his hometown in New York and I was this close to asking the guy wearing a Utilikilt what he actually puts in all those pockets.

All in all, the dinner wasn’t the most amazing meal I’ve had. But we weren’t really expecting Kobe steaks (ok, I was a little). For $40 each, we had a good time. We met people we never would’ve met before, which is pretty hard to do in Seattle. And the entertainment and mystique was well worth the money my boyfriend spent.

So if I was a teacher, and I wish I was right now so I could have a Spring Break, then I think I’d give this new trendy not a restaurant experience a very oily B+