The Final Eating Information to the Greatest Meals in Seattle

Seattle is nestled in one of the crucial stunning areas of North America, with Lake Washington to the east and Puget Sound to the West. On clear days, you possibly can look west to see the Olympic Mountains and east to the Cascades. The metro space is house to immigrant communities from throughout Asia in addition to Mexico, Ethopia, and Somalia; there’s additionally a considerable Indigenous inhabitants right here. The cultural and ethnic range mixed with the wide selection of native components makes the world a fertile floor for eating places.

Pandemic lockdowns are within the rearview mirror, and although companies are nonetheless scuffling with labor shortages and rising prices, inventive cooks and homeowners have opened a wave of thrilling eating places in 2024. Here’s a information to the town’s ever-changing eating scene.

Native meals guidelines

Washington is an agriculturally wealthy state, and Seattle eating places profit from an abundance of close by farms, fruit orchards, fisheries, shellfish farms, ranches, and wineries. However the metropolis is most well-known for its seafood. Salmon is such part of the world’s culinary identification that previously, Sea-Tac Airport actually rolled out a pink carpet for the primary Copper River salmon of the season to reach from Alaska. Shellfish is a Seattle staple, with many locations serving oysters plucked out of the chilly, nutrient-rich waters of the Puget Sound and surrounding waterways. One native delicacy-bordering-on-novelty is the standard geoduck (pronounced “gooey duck”), an infinite clam that generally catches newcomers off guard as a result of it appears like a penis.

Seattle options many nice cuisines however is probably recognized finest for its Asian eating places. Town has a wealthy Japanese meals scene and is house to world-class sushi masters — most notably Shiro Kashiba — and sustainable sushi pioneers like Taichi Kitamura. Pho is ubiquitous round city, and teriyaki — that sticky-sweet Japanese-American dish — is a Seattle specialty, popularized by Toshihiro Kasahara at Toshi’s Teriyaki Restaurant within the Seventies. The Chinese language restaurant scene is diversifying to incorporate extra regional cuisines like Szechuan.

However maybe the most popular delicacies in Seattle proper now’s Filipino. Although Filipino folks have lived right here because the nineteenth century, and Pike Place establishment Oriental Mart can attest to the longtime affect of Filipino delicacies, up to now half-decade there’s been an explosion of progressive eating places, like Melissa Miranda’s Musang and Aaron Verzosa and Amber Manuguid’s Archipelago. There are additionally a bevy of buzzy however extra informal Filipino-influenced spots, just like the Hen Provide, Moto Pizza, Hood Well-known Bake Store, and Ludi’s Restaurant.

Eater publishes loads of maps detailing the highest locations and issues to eat and drink in Seattle. Listed below are just a few of our hottest guides that will help you get began:

New Eating places: This record adjustments month-to-month and contains eating places which have opened or reopened within the final six months. Proper now, notable new spots embody the creative new Vietnamese restaurant Ramie, the Afro-Caribbean joint Lenox, and Familyfriend, a no-reservations Guamanian restaurant in Beacon Hill that’s grow to be well-known for its smashburgers.

Important Eating places: If it’s good to slender down the quarterly information to Seattle’s 38 standout eating locations even additional, you may begin off at at Off Alley, a 14-seat restaurant in a renovated brick alleyway in Columbia Metropolis, with its hyper-seasonal French-inflected small plates, wonderful pure wines, and punk rock soundtrack. For one thing extra informal, head to Un Bien in Ballard, which is a neighborhood favourite due to its unbelievable Caribbean sandwiches. Renee Erickson’s Sea Creatures restaurant group has come to outline PNW delicacies up to now couple of a long time, and her oyster bar the Walrus and the Carpenter is a must-visit. And you’ll’t overlook about Communion, the soul meals restaurant within the Central District from chef Kristi Brown.

Suzi Pratt/Eater Seattle

Bakeries: One underrated side of Washington State’s agricultural prowess is the high-quality wheat that’s grown right here and the top-notch flour that comes from native sources. That flour has fueled an abundance of inventive bakeries, a few of which straddle the road between bakery, espresso store, and restaurant, like Saint Bread within the College District. Some draw on Scandinavian baking traditions, like Ballad’s Larsen’s Bakery, whereas others are Asian-influenced, just like the ID’s Fuji Bakery. Essentially the most hyped bakery within the metropolis (and the one with the longest traces) in the meanwhile could also be Ben’s Bread on Phinney Ridge; its namesake co-owner, Ben Campbell, was just lately a James Beard Award semifinalist.

Bars: Seattle’s bar scene is marked by numerous dive bars, elegant craft cocktail lounges, and every thing in between. Standouts embody James Beard–nominated Rob Roy; Canon, which options the nation’s largest spirits record; and Zig Zag Café, a Pike Place Market bar and restaurant the place the Final Phrase, a domestically well-known cocktail, was reintroduced to the world by bartender Murray Stenson. Seattle additionally boasts wine bars and bottle retailers galore, like La Dive, a playful Capitol Hill hub for pure wine (now with an Uptown location). Final yr Seattle received its first nonalcoholic bottle store, Cheeky and Dry, reflecting the rising reputation of nonalcoholic drinks.

Breweries: There’s been an thrilling proliferation of breweries all through Seattle lately, however Holy Mountain, with its consistently altering menu of off-beat, barrel-aged beers, is a must-visit. Cloudburst, simply north of Pike Place Market, is a masterful maker of award-winning IPAs. Many breweries, too, have grow to be hosts for the superb meals pop-ups which have thrived in Seattle these days, notably Ballard’s Truthful Isle Brewing. A comparatively new entrant, Venture 9 Brewing in Maple Leaf, has drawn approval for its big selection of beer types; it additionally hosts the Seattle outpost of Portland-founded sandwich truck Sammich.

Espresso: Seattle’s espresso retailers run the gamut from lived-in hangouts which were there for many years to modern new-wave espresso spots targeted on lighter roasts and extra various taste profiles. Just lately, a younger technology of espresso lovers has introduced renewed appreciation for Vietnamese-style phin-brewed espresso, which yow will discover at locations like Hiya Em and Phin within the Worldwide District, Coffeeholic Home in Columbia Metropolis, and Aroom in Fremont. Latin American espresso drinks are beginning to enter the fray with espresso retailers in Ballard and Beacon Hill tapping Mexican and Cuban traditions and Pike Place Market’s Maíz serving cafe de olla. Bubble tea can be ubiquitous, and yow will discover some wonderful choices at Greenwood’s Hangry Panda or the College District location of Taiwanese chain Don’t Yell At Me. (The U District runneth over with bubble tea.)

Views: You may’t assist however discover the glowing surroundings in and round this fetching metropolis, however some eating places boast notably beautiful views. Ferry throughout Elliott Bay to dine on Hawaiian-Korean creations at Marination Ma Kai or nab an Adirondack chair on the north finish of Lake Union for Mediterranean-inspired fare with a skyline view at Westward. And following the pandemic lockdown period — when eating places needed to pivot away from indoor eating — outside seating is extra prevalent than it’s been up to now. Listed below are the heated and coated spots to hunt out throughout cold-weather days.

A couple of Seattle neighborhoods to know

These are the important thing areas of the town each self-proclaimed meals lover has to survey — full with what to eat and drink in every.

Capitol Hill

Capitol Hill is Seattle’s traditionally LGBTQ neighborhood and a nightlife hub. Although it’s contending with gentrification, it’s nonetheless house to many colourful queer companies. It’s additionally one in all Seattle’s finest eating neighborhoods. See a few of the most interesting choices in our neighborhood information. For Mexican, don’t miss Carmelo’s Tacos; for Laotian, see Taurus Ox, which serves sausages aromatic with lemongrass and satisfying pork jowl smash burgers (the burgers received so widespread Taurus Ox now has a burger-only restaurant, Ox Burger). Eric and Sophie Banh’s Ba Bar and Monsoon are perennial favorites for top-notch pho, super-crispy imperial rolls, and Chinese language-influenced haute Vietnamese delicacies.

Chinatown-Worldwide District

The Chinatown-Worldwide District (additionally recognized by shortened names just like the CID, the Worldwide District, or the ID) is house to Chinatown, Japantown, Filipino City, and Little Saigon, in addition to too many unbelievable eating places to call right here. See our neighborhood eating information for tons of nice choices. Scorching Pot King attracts followers for its very good Hunan-style Chinese language meals, the dishes loaded with sharp pickled chile peppers. Gan Bei is an ideal late-night hangout for beer, Chinese language fried rooster, and sausage clay pots, whereas Saigon Vietnam Deli is a good spot for a fast banh mi. The Thai restaurant E-Jae Pak Mor grew to become well-known final yr for its dumplings with paper-thin pores and skin. Don’t overlook Tai Tung, Seattle’s oldest Chinese language restaurant, based in 1935. However for a lot of locals the highest motive to go to the CID is the large Asian grocery store Uwajimaya, which sells an enormous array of merchandise and likewise has loads of scorching meals counters and a meals court docket.

Ballard

As soon as a rough-and-tumble Scandinavian fishing village, Ballard within the twenty first century has grow to be startlingly hip. The neighborhood — mapped out to your eating comfort right here — straddles the road between fashionable improvement and the preservation of its early historical past. There’s a lot value consuming right here, together with wood-fired pizza perfectionist Delancey and Lebanese restaurant Cafe Munir. You may also work up an urge for food whereas perusing the instances of meat at widespread butcher store Beast and Cleaver, which takes care in sourcing its cuts from sustainable ranches; it additionally serves meaty dishes at night time when the store turns right into a tasting menu restaurant (good luck getting a reservation). The neighborhood additionally has its personal brewery district the place over a dozen brewers are inside strolling district, together with Reuben’s, Stoup, and City Household.

Georgetown

Georgetown has a historical past of grit and brick, however has additionally grow to be a thriving culinary and cultural vacation spot over latest years, fostering a neighborhood character that attracts in guests from throughout city. You could find decadent slices of muffins at Deep Sea Sugar and Salt, fantastic vegan sandwiches on the divey Georgetown Liquor Firm, and complicated six-course prix fixe meals on the Corson Constructing. Don’t overlook concerning the beer — the breweries right here, together with Georgetown Brewing with its local-favorite Manny’s Pale Ale and Machine Home Brewery with its British-inspired cask ales, are among the many finest within the metropolis.

Fremont

Often called a neighborhood thriving with inventive spirit (and an enormous troll beneath a bridge), Fremont is simply north of Lake Union, to the east of Ballard. A couple of standouts among the many robust choice listed below are chef Mutsuko Soma’s soba vacation spot, Kamonegi, the Korean lunch bowl spot Made in Home; and Native Tide, the place folks line up for the succulent crab rolls specifically. James Beard Award-winning cooks Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi run the kitchen at Joule, recognized for its kalbi quick ribs, native pickled greens, and a recent tackle Korean delicacies.

West Seattle

West Seattle’s eating scene and the picturesque Alki Seashore are equally spectacular. You’ll discover unbelievable pizza at Supreme, creative dinners from hyper-local components at Driftwood, and top-notch smoked meats at Woman Jaye, which additionally boasts a terrific yard patio. Seafood followers ought to take a look at Mashiko for sushi that emphasizes sustainability; these recovering from an extended night time can eat breakfast (or get some hair of the canine) with a aspect of killer soundtrack at Simple Avenue Data & Cafe.

Different neighborhood guides:

Central District, U District, Tacoma, and Seattle-Tacoma Worldwide Airport.

Observe the Information

Eater Seattle updates a number of instances each weekday with breaking information tales (restaurant openings, closings, and so forth.), options, guides, and extra. Listed below are just a few methods to remain within the loop:

• Control the Eater Seattle homepage. New tales will all the time present up close to the highest and stream down towards the underside of the web page as they become old, whereas necessary latest tales will keep pinned proper on the prime. Additionally, take a look at our guardian web site, Eater.com, for nationwide and worldwide meals information.
• Subscribe to the publication, which works out 5 instances every week and contains hyperlinks to all the location’s tales in addition to content material from different Eater websites.
• Like us on Fb and comply with us on X and Instagram for updates on new tales and extra all through the day.

Get in Contact

Have questions not answered right here? Need to ship in a tip or a criticism or simply say good day? Listed below are some methods to get in contact with the Eater Seattle workers:
• E-mail us at seattle@eater.com.
• Ship us a tip, which will be nameless in the event you select, at our tipline.
• Work together with us on Fb, X, or Instagram.