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In this seemingly post-pandemic world, cruise ships once again dock at our shores and visitors flood Pike Place Market, queueing up at the first Starbucks and crowding around the airborne salmon at Pike Place Fish. What should local food lovers recommend to travelers if they only have a few days to spend in this city?

Our local restaurant scene has emerged from the pandemic changed in ways that have challenged it financially, but also creatively, so much so that what is quintessential in Seattle speaks to the perseverance and creativity of small food businesses, dishes that reflect the diverse makeup of our city’s population, and creative utilization of our local resources.

 

1. Ayako and Family Plum Jam on Toast

Ayako and Family was born from the great friendship between the late jam maker Ayako Gordon and farmer Katsumi Taki at Mair Farm-Taki. Today, Gordon’s daughter Alessandra continues her family’s legacy of offering jewel-toned fruit jams highlighting the bright, sun-kissed flavors of varietal plums grown on Taki’s farm. You can order the housemade shokupan at their Ballard and University District farmers market stand, freshly toasted, brushed with butter, and topped with a healthy smear of Ayako’s jam.

University District and Ballard

 

2. Salted Caramel Ash at Frankie & Jo’s

In 2011, Seattle’s star chocolatier and pastry maven Autumn Martin and longtime restaurant industry guru Kari Brunson teamed up to build an ice cream shop offering ice cream that is not only vegan, but gluten free, soy free, and free of gums and stabilizers. At Frankie & Jo’s, you not only won’t miss the dairy, you’ll be floored by the flavors and options available. The dark-as-night Salty Caramel Ash flavored with dry-burned caramel blended with activated charcoal and sea salt will catch your eye. Its savory-sweet flavors are a perfect reflection of Seattle diners’ intrepid spirit.

Capitol Hill and University District

 

3. Rainier Mountain Fresh Gin

The brewery that produced Seattle’s everyday beer now has its own gin. In 2020, Rainier Beer announced the release of its Mountain Fresh Gin. Though Rainier Beer is no longer brewed in Seattle, its Mountain Fresh Gin is. Specifically, it is distilled at Capitol Hill’s OOLA Distillery and infused with huckleberry, juniper, and spruce flavors. The MO? To produce a light gin to sip that plays well with other flavors, is great for making cocktails, or to enjoy with tonic and ice. You can request it at local restaurants and bars, or pick up a bottle at a nearby market or liquor store.

Various locations throughout Seattle

 

4. Olympia Oysters at Taylor Shellfish Farms

While Washington is known for its oysters, many people are surprised to hear that most locally harvested oysters are variations of Japanese Pacific oysters. The small, unassuming Olympia is Washington’s only native oyster and was deemed during the Gold Rush era to be as valuable as gold. With the growth of other industries like logging and pulp mills, the Olympia oyster population dwindled in the early 20th century. Thanks to massive efforts by local scientists and shellfish hatcheries, Olympias are making a steady comeback. Its small appearance hides a big umami flavor of dried shiitake with an iron, mineral finish.

Queen Anne, Capitol Hill and Pioneer Square

 

5. The Cookie at Metropolitan Market

It is not often that a grocery store cookie can make waves in the local food scene, but The Cookie, as it’s known at Metropolitan Market, was painstakingly developed with the goal of breaking the chocolate chip cookie mold. Founder Terry Halverson and team aimed to create a cookie that had all the aspects of a chocolate chip cookie to appease its fans, chewy and tender, crunchy and sweet. Also very chocolaty. The resulting cookie with two types of Belgian chocolate, crunchy walnuts, and a sprinkling of sea salt has Seattle locals looking forward to grocery runs.

Available at all Metropolitan Market locations

 

6. Moscow Mule at Rachel’s Ginger Beer

For a while, it seemed like Moscow Mules were having a moment. In Seattle, the RGB Moscow Mule is a permanent fixture thanks to Rachel Marshall of Rachel’s Ginger Beer. The late Marshall pioneered her ginger beer empire, including RGB locations, Montana Bar and Nacho Borracho, inspired by the idea to bring this spicy, zesty, non-alcoholic brew to Seattle. At the RGB’S flagship store in Pike Place Market, Moscow Mules come in assorted flavors, but the classic Mule is the one where the original flavors of Marshall’s ginger beer shine.

Pike Place, Capitol Hill, Belltown and University District

 

 

7. Beef Curry Okazu Pan at Umami Kushi

Thanks to Umami Kushi chef-owner Harold Fields, okazu pans are not only a beloved Japanese street food, but have also gained popularity in Seattle. Okazu pans are panko-crusted Japanese buns with savory fillings; the beef curry is a classic. Fields makes the bread bun and filling by hand, and crafts wild new flavors like the Caribbean Jerk Chicken or the Chicken Adobo. You can find his okazu pans at special events around Seattle. He also offers online orders and pick-ups from their production kitchen in Rainier Beach.

Rainier Beach

 

 

8. Crab Sub at Seattle Fish Guys

Seattle’s known for its seafood so it’s only natural that its seafood markets would have some great offerings from crab to oysters and ahi tuna. At Seattle Fish Guys, the offerings are not only plentiful, but seasonal, with dishes, desserts, and condiments that are reflective of the Asian American owners’ tastes and the community it supports. At Seattle Fish Guys, you can get sashimi, poke, and even long-anticipated seasonal items like local spot prawns. Its fully loaded crab sub combines Seattle’s love of a good sandwich with the region’s coveted Dungeness crab for one heck of a decadent meal from a rather unassuming place.

Central District

 

9. Asparagus Tamales at Los Hernández Tamales

Los Hernández Tamales in Union Gap, Washington, is a success story born from an immigrant journey. Owner Felipe Hernández emigrated from Mexico and was a farm worker and worked at a department store before deciding to open Los Hernández Tamales touting his family recipe. His connection to neighboring farms and farm workers led him to create the asparagus tamale, available during Washington’s asparagus season between April and June. The unique offering led to higher demands for tamales outside of the traditional holiday season and its popularity earned the family-owned and -operated restaurant a James Beard American Classics Award in 2018.

Yakima

 

10. Cafe Nico at Espresso Vivace

When Espresso Vivace closed its sidewalk bar in April, crowds of regulars from across the city came to enjoy one last sidewalk espresso from the business considered the top of its game in artisanal espresso and coffee preparation despite the fact that Espresso Vivace has a larger flagship shop on the same street just a stone’s throw away. The sentiment for Vivace’s sidewalk bar could not be matched, but thanks to its Capitol Hill flagship cafe and South Lake Union location, we can still enjoy its Cafe Nico with its dense frothy foam, light cinnamon and orange aroma, and renowned, expertly-pulled espresso.

Capitol Hill and South Lake Union

 

11. Onion Cookie at Salmonberry Goods

Yes, it’s another cookie, one that celebrates Washington’s sweet Walla Walla onions.

Okay, hear me out.

Seattle natives David Rothstein and Alex Johnstone started Salmonberry Goods with a deep belief in celebrating Northwest farmers and produce. During the pandemic, the dynamic duo assembled hundreds of CSA subscriptions to help local farmers weather the difficult period of dwindling restaurant sales and shuttered farmers markets. Their baked goods are an extension of that ethos using local single-origin flours, herbs from their own garden, Stokesberry Sustainable farm eggs, and their old cultivated sourdough. The Onion Cookie is the oddest, but most memorable of the bunch, with caramelized Walla Wallas from Kirsop or Alvarez Farms and a hint of cinnamon for a chewy, moist vegan cookie that is inexplicably delicious. You can try their baked goods at the University District and Ballard Farmers Markets with weekly deliveries of online orders available through their website.

Ballard and University District

 

12. Salmon Sinigang at Oriental Mart

Seattle’s Filipino community has been making waves nationally with music from the Blue Scholars and a community feature on PBS TV travel show No Passport Required. Many can point to Oriental Mart, a 50-year-old Filipino walk-up counter, as being one of the originals. Decades later, Oriental Mart still serves popular Filipino dishes like chicken adobo, dinuguan, and pancit. Sinigang is a sour tamarind soup that uses pork or seafood. Oriental Mart’s salmon sinigang with tomatoes and mustard greens is a menu mainstay served just a mere couple of feet from Pike Place Fish, where more salmon is thrown.

Pike Place Market

 

13. Homage to Teriyaki at Canlis

Canlis welcomed its current Chef Aisha Ibrahim to the helm in 2021 after an extensive search of candidates from across the globe. After a year of pandemic shifting from versatile to-go options to burger pop-ups and online classes, Ibrahim was able to make her mark on the historic restaurant’s menu with nods to local Filipino flavors and her time at Japanese kaiseki restaurants. Her recent homage to the city’s most acclaimed dish, teriyaki, is a teriyaki mushroom brushed with a glaze made of rich soy sauce, mirin, spruce tips in sugar, and sake, and served with pickled fiddlehead ferns and rice.

Queen Anne

 

14. Blue Corn Mush at ʔálʔal Cafe

ʔálʔal Cafe is a cafe with a mission to share Indigenous foods and showcase ingredients from Indigenous growers. Its name, pronounced “ahl ahl,” means “home” in Lushootseed, and its blue corn mush is one of the homiest dishes. ʔálʔal’s Blue Corn Mush is a porridge of Navajo blue corn meal and juniper ash topped with wojape, a Dakóta berry sauce. The dish can be served sweet or savory, and holds great significance in Native cultures. It serves as an important source of calcium and other minerals with the addition of juniper ash, which jumpstarts nixtamalization, a process that aids in corn’s digestibility and improves its nutritional value. The cafe shares its name with the housing project above it, which provides low income housing and social services to the local Native community.

Pioneer Square

 

15. Phở Trộn at Phở Bắc Súp Shop

In the 1970s, Washington state welcomed about 30,000 Vietnamese refugees and developed infrastructure to help them find jobs and places to live. This was the beginning of a ripple effect that brought incredible mainstays to Seattle’s food scene. While the city is well saturated with traditional beef pho, Phở Bắc Súp Shop’s Phở Trộn is a novel offering, a dry noodle salad of wide turmeric noodles, a choice of protein, herbs, and its house sauce. It is a refreshing option during the short Seattle summers, but its lightly sweet and tangy sauce makes it one of the restaurant’s most popular dishes even in the coldest times of winter.

International District

 

Tiffany Ran is a writer and the chef behind food pop-up, Babalio Taiwanese. Much of her food exploration includes jumping between catering, restaurants, and the pop-up world. You’ll find her writing featured in Vice Munchies, Lucky Peach, Goldthread, JoySauce, Northwest Asian Weekly, and more. She is the proud dog mom of a chow chow named Ponky Bear.