Altura

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

In Italian, altura means a great height — or, conversely, a profound depth. Both senses of the word apply to what Chef/Proprietor Nathan Lockwood has built at 617 Broadway East in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood since opening in 2011.

The Philosophy Behind the Kitchen

Altura's premise is straightforward and uncompromising: gather the best ingredients available, and let them lead. "If you gather the best ingredients you can find, you're going to end up with the best result on the plate — and the best product tends to be a local product," Lockwood says. That conviction drives relationships with local foragers, fishermen, farmers, and producers, and has led Lockwood to cultivate two gardens where the kitchen grows herbs, vegetables, edible flowers, and novelties like kiwi berries.

The result is a seasonal tasting menu that changes daily, rooted in the ingredient-driven principles of Italian cooking but shaped equally by French technique and the Japanese culinary tradition of reflecting time and place through cuisine. Each evening begins with a series of stuzzichini — small Italian-style bites — before moving into a succession of plated courses. Dishes are described when served, and a printed menu is offered at the end of the meal. Plan for roughly three hours at the table.

Nathan Lockwood's Road to Capitol Hill

Lockwood's path to fine dining started, improbably, as a dishwasher at a scratch kitchen during college. Culinary school followed, then a formative stint at San Francisco's Acquerello under chef Suzette Gresham and sommelier Giancarlo Patterlini, where he developed a deep understanding of Northern Italian pasta. Work at Hubert Keller's Fleur de Lys came next, and during those years Acquerello earned its first Michelin star — at the time the only Italian restaurant west of Chicago to receive that recognition. A head chef role in rural west Marin brought the garden into the center of his cooking, a thread that runs directly through everything at Altura today.

In 2011, Lockwood and his wife Rebecca opened Altura in the same Capitol Hill neighborhood where they first met. The room was designed deliberately without walls, drawing guests into full view of the kitchen. Chefs and service staff work in tandem, and the counter seats at the chef's pass are an open invitation to ask about sources, processes, and tradition. That openness earned Altura recognition from Gambero Rosso, one of Italy's most respected food guides — a fitting acknowledgment for a restaurant so genuinely shaped by Italian culinary values.

What to Expect

The seasonal tasting menu is priced at $175 per person. All guests are seated simultaneously and share the same progression of courses — a format that rewards arriving on time. Most dietary restrictions can be accommodated with 48 hours' notice, though garlic, eggs, and butter are integral to the kitchen's work. A curated wine and beverage program, overseen by Sommelier John Fisher, accompanies the menu.

For those who want the same ingredient-driven approach in a more flexible format, Lockwood's sister restaurant Carrello operates across the street, offering à la carte and family-style coursed dinners.