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Check out dining critic Chelsea Lin’s dishes of the year before reading the rest of our 2017 Year in Review package.

BEST OF ’17 FOOD

Ube Everything

The initial local popularity of ube—a brilliant purple yam used primarily in Asian sweets—could be attributed to how fab it looks run through a filter on Instagram. But the staying power should be credited to ube’s delicious, if subtle, flavor.

Perhaps the most popular use is still in Hood Famous Bakeshop’s now famous ube cheesecake, but we liked it even better in the Ballard shop’s collaboration with Central District Ice Cream Company; the shop created a violet-hued ube flavor last August, swirling in chunks of Hood’s ube cheesecake.

BEST OF ’17 BEVERAGES

Our favorite beverages of the year ran the gamut from hippie to kitschy.

Rosé
We’ve been living #roseallday (at least through the summer months) for the past few years, but 2017’s prevalence of frosé—a rosé slushy—pushed this irresistible blush wine right over the edge.

Kombucha
Ultra–Pacific Northwest cliché, maybe, but kombucha is quickly replacing nitro cold brew as our favorite (non-beer) beverage on tap. 

Tiki
Seattleites have finally found a new use for an umbrella: perched in a vintage tiki mug with plenty of rum. 

New England IPA
This hazy brew lacks the bitterness some folks find unappealing in an IPA, and instead brims with tons of fruity, juicy, citrus hop character.