At Café Campagne, squid is simply sautéed in olive oil with capers, parsley, garlic and lemon.

Hazan was not unaware that Americans were squeamish about squid, but she coaxed us gently, and provided reassuringly simple instructions: "If you are open-minded about experimenting with food," she said, "you will be well rewarded by the taste of squid." Among the trio of recipes offered was a deceptively simple formula for Calamari Fritti, or "Fried Squid."

Even if the other squid dishes did not exactly sweep the country, we certainly embraced fried calamari with enthusiasm. By the end of the decade, Hazan had become an icon and fried squid had become a staple on Italian menus, at least in swank, metropolitan areas.

John Sarich, culinary director for Stimson Lane Vineyards, as well known in the Northwest for his cooking show and his cookbooks as for his affiliation with the parent company of Chateau Ste. Michelle, watched the emergence of calamari as a menu staple from a stove-side view.

From Café Campagne The oil and seasonings in which the calamari is cooked make a good dipping sauce for bread, so be sure to serve plenty of crusty French bread with this dish.

(For each serving) 4 1/2 ounces calamari, cleaned and cut into 1/4-inch rings 3 tablespoons olive oil 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh garlic 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley 1 tablespoon capers 1 tablespoon lemon juice, or to taste Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste 1. Rinse the calamari and leave it to drain on paper towels. 2. In a sauté pan over high heat, warm the olive oil with the garlic, parsley and capers. When the mixture is sizzling and beginning to fry in earnest, toss in the drained calamari. 3. Cook 20 to 30 seconds, or just until the calamari is firm and white. Add a splash of lemon juice and a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper. 4. Taste to correct seasoning and serve hot with bread for dipping. Note: Some recipes call for calamari to be cooked very quickly and other recipes ask the cook to slowly simmer the squid for a long period of time. What's going on? When it's flash-cooked in hot oil, calamari gets tender almost instantly. But it stays tender at high heat for only a moment; any over-cooking and it grows rubbery. Slow simmering makes it tender again. So recipes for stewed calamari or stuffed squid often suggest cooking the squid slowly for an hour or even longer. Print friendly version.

"I moved back to Seattle from San Francisco in 1978," says Sarich, "and I don't think anybody outside of Chinatown was eating squid in Seattle." But he had seen calamari selling like French fries in the crowded bars and restaurants along San Francisco's North Beach, and he had a hunch Seattle was ready for it, too. So, in 1980, when Jim Malevitsis hired Sarich to run the kitchen at Adriatica, the late, great Mediterranean restaurant overlooking Lake Union, calamari featured prominently on the menu. "We brought it in fresh," recalls Sarich, "and cleaned it ourselves. I remember it was 29 cents a pound, and Jimmy and I were thinking, this is really going to help food costs.

"At first, I couldn't figure out how to get the crust, but I fooled around and got it right."

After the squid was cleaned and cut, Sarich kept it in ice water and got it "really cold." Then he mixed flour, salt, white pepper and paprika, heated up some peanut oil, and tossed the cold calamari first in the flour, then in the oil. "I fried it very quickly," says Sarich. "By the time the foam settled on the oil, the calamari was ready."

Anyone who enjoyed calamari at the old Adriatica can remember the perfect balance of crisp crust and tender white meat; chances are they can also remember the garlicky dip that came with it. To this day, almost every Seattle chef I know makes some variation on that dish.

One of the best variations on Calamari Fritti is made by Philip Mihalski, chef-proprietor of Nell's restaurant on Green Lake. Named for Mihalski's old boss, Saleh Judah, who ran Saleh al Lago at the same location, "Saleh's Calamari" on Nell's menu starts out with a dusting of flour and lands in a pan with hot olive oil, but it's sautéed, not deep-fried. Crushed garlic, parsley, paprika, salt and pepper are tossed in, and the dish is finished with a side of parsley salad and some fried capers.

In a similar spin, Chef Daisley Gordon at Café Campagne has also ventured away from the typical fried fare. With no breading whatsoever, Gordon's squid is simply sautéed in olive oil with garlic, parsley, capers and lemon. It is clean, light and refreshing in its simplicity.

Lately, a new crop of cookbooks is pushing the boundaries on where we might go next with this versatile cephalopod. Two recent collections of Thai recipes, "Dancing Shrimp" by Kasma Loha-Unchit and "Cracking the Coconut" by Su-Mei Yu, include tempting formulas for stir-fried squid that will send cooks scrambling through their cupboards to find that old wok. Spicy Southern-Style Stir-Fried Squid from "Dancing Shrimp" is so full of fragrant ingredients that the aroma practically rises off the page as you read the recipe. And while it takes a little more time and calls for some serious shopping, Yu's "Stir-Fried Squid with Roasted Chilies in Oil" proves worth the effort.

These days, the idea of John Travolta in a jumpsuit is considerably more frightening than eating calamari, and a new generation of diners, completely at ease with squid, might be ready to venture forward.

Greg Atkinson, Canlis executive chef, is the author of "The Northwest Essentials Cookbook" (1999) from Sasquatch Books. Barry Wong is a Pacific Northwest magazine staff photographer.