By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
There are plenty of foodies in Seattle’s Black community who are always on the lookout for great dishes prepared by Black chefs. One of the more unexpected finds in that search for Black culinary excellence is Osteria la Spiga, where executive chef and co-owner Sabrina Tinsley has spent more than 25 years bringing the food traditions of Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region to Seattle.
Raised in Alaska, Tinsley’s path to restaurant ownership took her through France, Austria and eventually Italy. She met her husband and La Spiga co-founder, Pietro Borghesi, in Salzburg, Austria, before the couple moved to Italy, where they lived for five years and operated businesses together.
“I spent some time in France, a year in Salzburg, Austria, and that’s where I met my husband to be, who’s Italian,” said Tinsley. “We lived in Italy for five years and had businesses there, so that was kind of the start of my business career. I’ve always had a passion for eating and then later a passion for cooking. [After living in Italy], I just wanted to come back home stateside, so we opened a full-scale restaurant after that.”
When it came time to decide where they would build that restaurant, Seattle emerged as the place where both could see themselves putting down roots.
“My sister had moved here from Alaska,” said Tinsley. “We came and did a grand tour of the United States, all the different places that I had lived, and we both agreed that if we were going to move back, Seattle was the only place that we would put down roots.”
The couple opened Osteria la Spiga in October 1998, building the restaurant around the cuisine of Emilia-Romagna, the northern Italian region where Borghesi is from and where Tinsley developed a deep appreciation for the food and traditions that would eventually shape her cooking in Seattle.
“The food is inspired by the region of Emilia-Romagna, famous for Parmesan cheese, prosciutto di Parma and balsamic vinegar. It’s really considered the culinary cradle of the world, so we focus our cuisine around that region, and it’s probably the apex of comfort food,” said Tinsley. “We do handmade pastas and classic shared appetizers that encourage community and sharing. People leave happy and pleasantly full.”
Those traditions can be found throughout La Spiga’s menu.
Among its popular dishes is Pesca Arrosto, featuring a roasted local peach with fresh burrata cheese, prosciutto and gnocco fritto, the fried bread puffs of Emilia-Romagna. Tagliatelle al Burro di Tartufo pairs handmade tagliatelle with white Alba truffle butter, while Lasagne Verdi layers spinach lasagna noodles with ragù Bolognese, béchamel and Parmigiano Reggiano.
As the restaurant transitions into its fall menu, diners can also find Tortelli di Zucca, stuffed with butternut squash and house-made fruit mostarda and served with Sangiovese vellutata, along with Maiale al Latte, milk-braised pork cheek medallions with butternut squash vellutata and sautéed escarole.
For Tinsley, those dishes remain closely connected to her role in the kitchen. Although La Spiga has grown considerably from its beginnings, she continues to oversee the recipes and seasonal direction of the menu.
“I’m really just executive chef at this point,” said Tinsley. “I write all the recipes, I teach and train for all the recipes, I come up with the seasonal menus, 100% yes, I do all that.”
As the restaurant grew, it eventually moved from its original smaller space on Broadway to a much larger location on 12th Avenue. The restaurant now occupies approximately 6,000 square feet in a converted former automotive space, with high wooden beams, steel elements and large glass panels that can open the dining room during warmer weather.
In 2022, Tinsley and Borghesi expanded the business with La Dispensa, an adjoining marketplace where customers can purchase items including house-made pasta, cured meats, cheeses and other culinary products.
Beyond her work at La Spiga, Tinsley has also focused on mentorship and advocacy within the restaurant industry, mentoring emerging culinary professionals, hosting guest chefs and supporting efforts to increase diversity in the field.
As La Spiga grew, Tinsley’s role remained largely behind the scenes. For many years, customers experienced her cooking without necessarily knowing much about the chef behind it.
“For the first many, many years of La Spiga I was just stuck in the kitchen, so I didn’t really have a presence at La Spiga,” said Tinsley. “But once I started coming out of the kitchen and being more visible publicly, people were very pleasantly surprised.”
As Tinsley became more visible outside the kitchen, she also began hearing directly from Black diners who wanted to support Black-owned businesses.
Tama Smith, who first came to know Tinsley as a customer and later became a friend, said Tinsley’s background is part of what makes La Spiga distinctive.
“Chef and owner Sabrina Tinsley has created an Italian gem in the heart of Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, Osteria la Spiga,” said Smith. “The food is centered around a region in Northern Italy that is dear to Sabrina, and that has been interpreted through her lens as a Black chef.”
Smith points in particular to Tinsley’s lasagna, one of the restaurant’s longtime favorites.
“If you’re looking to take home a meal or cater a party, you must include Sabrina’s renowned lasagna in your order,” said Smith.
For Tinsley, becoming more visible has brought another reward: hearing from Black customers who want to intentionally support Black-owned businesses like hers.
“I hear a lot of Black folks really wanting to support Black-owned businesses,” said Tinsley. “I personally have just felt so much love and support from the community, just share the love, spread the word.”
Osteria la Spiga is a participating restaurant in the Pack the House campaign, a 10-week community initiative presented by The Seattle Medium, the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, Byrd Barr Place and the Central Area Collaborative to encourage the community to intentionally support local Black-owned restaurants. For more information about the campaign, participating restaurants and weekly schedule, visit PackTheHouseSeattle.com.
