Five years would be a great run for a restaurant. This year, La Spiga will mark 26 years serving the sturdy cuisine of Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region, first at its original location near Broadway and Union then, since 2006, on 12th Avenue. Chef-owner Sabrina Tinsley relocated to Seattle from Italy with her husband, Pietro Borghesi, in 1998. The plan: join her sister Sachia in opening an osteria that specializes in piadina. These flatbread sandwiches were the heart of the business the couple had owned back in the central Italian town of Macerata. But in Seattle, pasta followed soon after.

Today, diners often associate La Spiga’s striking dining room with plates of tagliatelle with white alba truffle butter or pappardelle with braised rabbit. Piadinas still sprinkle the appetizer menu, and these days, Sabrina and Pietro are the restaurant’s sole owners (Sachia went on to run Peyrassol Cafe in Renton). La Spiga boasts some impressive longevity, but Tinsley's been busy making moves, like a new market and a Future of Diversity program to support young chefs of color. 

Here's Sabrina's story in her own words. It all began with an outdoorsy childhood in Alaska and a chance meeting in a Swiss cafe... 

I was born in Ketchikan and grew up mostly in Fairbanks. We had a large kitchen garden and my mom raised livestock—we really got to live that farm-to-table experience. My parents loved entertaining; we hosted many famous guests in our home, Dizzy Gillespie, for example. And Chris Calloway, daughter of Cab Calloway. My dad loved jazz.

After college, I moved over to France, then found a job in Salzburg, Austria, teaching English to kindergartners. I was also at an international boarding school, as a resident advisor and the librarian. I was hanging out in a cafe one evening, waiting for my bus back to the boarding school. A group of Italians walked in, making a big commotion. One of them was my future husband, Pietro Borghesi.

After a year of back-and-forth, I moved down to Italy. He was working for a high-quality gelato production facility. One of their new lines was a frozen yogurt product. Eventually we opened our own frozen yogurt shop in [the town of] Civitanova Marche. To counterbalance that, we opened a piadina shop. We lived in Italy for five years and we were ready for a move. Pietro and I took a grand tour of the United States in 1995. We moved back to partner with my sister who was opening La Spiga. We came back in 1998 and we opened in October.

She found the space. We actually had the whole restaurant built out in Italy and shipped over in a container. That was the old space—the one on Broadway and Union. Today the staples are the same. The person that made the sauces and the lasagna and the noodles 24 years ago is still the same person. We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel, just really trying to represent the cuisine of Emilia-Romagna. Just over a year ago, I opened up a concept called La Dispensa. We’re open for lunch hours, but you can also pick up items—lasagna, all of our breads, cured meats, cheeses. The idea is to build that concept out and be available in more neighborhoods.

We received a grant last year to move our work forward [with the restaurant’s Future of Diversity program.] It feels so different when you’re the only minority in the room with a white public. It’s different than being in a room with all minorities, people of color. I had an epiphany when we were attending a workshop at Quillisascut Farm that was designed for chefs of color. I noticed, even myself, feeling more comfortable and being able to speak my mind—I was speaking up and I never had. I was always very, very timid. I didn’t want to, I don’t know, be judged or whatever. Some of my colleagues and friends had that same epiphany. At the beginning of the pandemic, we were trying to brainstorm how to highlight and showcase chefs of color and this was the best idea I had.

This year we’ll host events for chefs, like workshops. Probably next year we’ll start offering programs again, like dinners and guest chef programs for the public. It’s also about holding space. You gather and network and enjoy each other’s company. We get so little of that.