Ernest Loves Agnes now open in Capitol Hill

The first thing everyone asks about this new Italian restaurant in the former Kingfish Cafe digs is…”What does the name mean?” It’s actually painfully romantic. Ernest Loves Agnes (600-602 19th Ave E.) is a reference to Ernest Hemingway’s first love, Red Cross nurse Agnes von Kurowsky, whom he fell in love with at the age of 18 after being injured on the Italian front in 1918. She was 26.

In a sense, Ernest Loves Agnes is the older woman in the Guild Seattle restaurant group. Up until now, owners Jason LaJeunesse, David Meinert and Joey Burgess have focused on diners and pubs. (They own Lost Lake Cafe & Lounge, and The Comet, among other establishments). With Ernest Loves Agnes, Guild Seattle takes a foray into Italian fine dining.

Twenty-seven-year-old executive chef Mac Elliott Jarvis (Smith, Lola) spent a year perfecting pastas and charcuterie at Capische in Maui. Her sous chef, Tia Hawkley, 26, worked at Skillet in addition to Osteria La Spiga. Together, they spent six months crafting the menu, which is heavy on handmade pasta, pizzas and clever starters.

Must orders include wild mushroom toast; meatballs with garlic marinara; handmade pappardelle with pancetta bolognese; and pizzas that could wind up as stars of Pike/Pine. As LaJeunesse explains it, they set out to make the best pizza possible without a wood-fired oven, tapping pizza master Anthony Falco from Roberta’s in Brooklyn to help create the fluffy, honey-kissed dough. Every pie has intention, according to Elliott Jarvis. I’ve heard the pesto pizza with prosciutto cotto rainbow chard is killer.

Elliott Jarvis says that the food tastes how the restaurant looks. I like that. It has a distinctly feminine vibe, down to the photographs by Coco Foto that were taken during the photographer’s recent trip to Hemingway’s house in Cuba.

Ernest Loves Agnes is open from 3 p.m. to 1 a.m. Monday through Friday; and 8 a.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.