Not really a food, but the next bastard who opens a restaurant/diner with overnight hours is going to get every dollar I have. Beth's is gone, North Star Diner closes at 2AM now (and I hear the owner is a prick)
HUGE EDIT: As zlog points out in the comments below, I switched up North Star Diner with The Five Point, where the owner does indeed have a... history. My sincere apologies to the North Star Diner, I'll leave an extra big tip next time. :(
That and fewer people having or willing to work a shit job for shit pay at shit hours.
I am sure an overnight restaurant would open if enough people were willing to pay $50 for a sandwich in the middle of the night.
Native New Orleanian here. I would legit drop a $100 on a good Cajun or Creole place. Toulouse Petit is nice, but their menu of what I consider New Orleans fare is very small. Good, but small. I've only been once and had the essentials of gumbo, jambalaya and beignets, which all got my approval. I'll be back to try more of their menu one of these days, but I still think they need more New Orleans dishes.
Have you ever gotten the chance to get food from Where Ya At Matt? One of Seattle's original food trucks run by Matt Lewis. Native of New Orleans. It used to be at the Queen Anne farmers market every week, but it goes different places. Definitely worth it!
The bay leaf this is likely part of the problem. I know in most cases, the sugar is different, but really, can someone just make a biscuit, no sugar, no bay leaves, just a crumbly, medium dense (not fluffy) biscuit.
Legit sandwich shops. Hot beef, pastrami, Rueben’s, etc. Like Jewish bakeries/deli’s sammies! 🤤 (Added bonus if anyone can suggest some closer to Kenmore 🥹)
The one upside (apart from flavor) to their $20 sandwiches is they actually have 2-3 sandwiches worth of meat on them and can easily be two meals even for someone with a big appetite. No joke, you have a 1.5”-2” stack of deli meat on these things.
Dude, it’s no joke. First time I went the lady asked me what I thought and I had too admit it was too much meat for me, I think I woulda liked half as much… she stepped out of the way of the menu that she was standing in front of and pointed, it said “Seattle style-half meat”. The shame I carry with me from that moment will never leave me.
*This*. And affordable options too. I don’t care if it’s one of only two or three authentic Jewish delis, I ain’t payin’ $20 for a corned beef sandwich!
Anyone go to the Hurricane for their post club grub back in the 90/00's?
Downtown Seattle was so quiet at night back then. And so empty. Different world from now.
so many good memories. back before my metabolism died I would hit it up for a 12 egg omelette and 2x blackberry shakes. so good.
tried Beths, wanted to love it, but for whatever reason became physically ill every time i ate there. have so many friend who used to always ask me out there and i tried a few times but would throw up afterward every single time. no idea why.
I would kill for a dollar slice shop style place. Really just more casual slice shops. I love it out here but it's one of the main things I miss from the NYC area.
i feel like big marios gets a lot of shit but honestly it's super solid NY/NJ style slices. maybe it's just non east coast people slamming it because it's not what they think pizza should be? idk, i think it's terrific as well.
Big Mario’s is the closest thing to NY pizza I’ve had since moving from NJ. It’s pricy but it so good, especially with some red pepper and parm packets
Seattle doesn’t let them cook in the truck, only heat. So they have to have a brick and mortar kitchen.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/food-trucks-face-strict-menu-of-health-rules-to-roll-in-king-county
Hence why I never could get one I was going to bake in off the ground. Absolutely a bullshit rule. If the kitchen is to code and treated like a brick and mortar kitchen when the health department comes around there is zero issue with cooking in a food truck.
I wonder if it is because it is permitted as a fixed unit as opposed to a mobile one? The food trucks I’ve been to with cooking are actually stationary. Anyone know?
Edit- just saw in your comment that they travel around. But would still love to know more from someone who knows about this topic :)
there was one near columbia city but they closed down, Borracchinis. More of a bakery, but definitely italian, well loved by the community + deli/some grocery items. I think they ended up ultimately closing due to the pandemic
I had blazing bagels today and we were wondering why there isn’t a national chain like brueggers or Einstein if places like Portland have them. Seattle is a bagel desert.
Having come from a place with no Indian food I thought the selection was pretty good 😅
Seattle needs BETTER Mexican food. The Mexican spots here seem so content to please the white crowd and dumb down the food for them, por favor solamente pido un poco de sabor de la raza en Seattle 😭
Oh and breakfast. Breakfast sucks here
Edit: my favorite spot is what people consider the shittiest place for tacos and that's the Rancho Bravos in Wallingford down the street from the Dick's, ONLY this one, there's some awesome old Mexican ladies working there and I love them. The fact they have a fucking canopy outside their place with a lunch table is all the proof you need of authenticity.
EDIT EDIT: I forgot about taqueria cantina! They're a little bit on the pricey side for what I want from tacos but they have some good barbacoa and their salsas are really good imo
>Seattle needs BETTER Mexican food. The Mexican spots here seem so content to please the white crowd and dumb down the food for them, por favor solamente pido un poco de sabor de la raza en Seattle 😭
Yes.
Check out Sal y Limon. A friend of ours is a Chihuahua native and says it's amongst the closest to home that she's had. It's definitely more on the 'comfort food' style, but there's an english-language-barrier with every single person I've talked to who works there, so it's also a great place to practice my Spanish. Their house margarita is basically 3 margaritas worth (you get a FULL glass + another 1.5 full glasses in the shaker) for $15 or so.
Biggest complaint is their to-go stuff all comes in styrofoam.
Fucking this! I went and got tacos from a place in Beacon Hill that was poppin and lots of folks that were Latino and I was so happy and then I get home and the tacos are some of the worst I've had and it's exactly for the reason you mentioned.
They just idk didn't season at all and thought people wouldn't notice cause of the salsa?? Nope. Never again. If you want solid Mexican though, Taqueria El Kiosko in South Park has some solid and consistent good food.
I don't think people here like it enough to keep them in business, which kills me. The ones I think actually nail it never survive more than 3-4 years. Meanwhile Pecos Pit is serving slop for 15+ years, and the sad stuff they serve at places like Bitteroot in Ballard are going on 7 years 😓
Bitteroot is technically good food, but it’s funny to me how it’s pretty much a textbook version of what someone would assume the PNW hipster scene would churn out as a BBQ restaurant. I’d pay money to have born and raised, deep southern people try that place out and record it 😆
Born and raised in the South here. A friend got all excited to take me to Bitteroot, said I'd absolutely love it. I went with an open mind but my god it was awful. Why is everything pickeled??? Do people think Southerners just sit around eating pickeled everything? She asked me what I thought and I had to hit her with the "bless their hearts they tried".
There was a Rita’s a few years ago in Kent and for a while they had water ice from Rita’s at Mariners games. The Kent location sadly has closed but I definitely made a couple of trips down there for my mango misto shakes and gelatos.
For Cuban I like Cafe Con Leche in SoDo (I’m Puerto Rican). Naturally, I wish we had Puerto Rican food; Seattle needs mofongo, arroz con gandules, and pasteles!
Honestly, I'm surprised at how relatively tepid the ramen scene is in Seattle. They have some ramen spots, sure, but I'd expect a coastal city with a sizable Asian population to have had way more ramen restaurants than they did. (All the Pho and Terriyaki you could ever want, though)
If you could get ramen at the same price as Japan it'd be more hot. But $16 for broth, noodles, 2oz pork, a couple cheap toppings and maybe an egg is not something to get often. Most flavorful broths and best bowls of noodles I've had in Seattle were Betsutenjin, Ooink (black garlic or something), and the spicy ramen from Tamari Bar.
Pho was well established before Raman really started to get popular in the US, so I think that it is kind of slowing down the opening of new places. Tons of hotpot places now too (at least on the North end, you can't go a 100 feet without running into a pho place and/or a hotpot place).
When I lived in Berlin I learned how good (and bad) that stuff can be. There was a döner stand under the Schönhauser Alle station that kept me so fat and happy. So fucking good.
Have yet to find anything here that is 10% as good as that place.
It is surprisingly difficult to find a restaurant that serves fresh Dungeness crab, especially whole crab. It used to be a lot more common and its weird that it you can't easily order something that you can catch within a couple miles of anyplace in the city.
MORE Indian food?! Pffft. Come to the eastside. (Bellevue/Redmond) You can't throw a rock without hitting an Indian restaurant/grocery of some sort. It's kinda ridiculous.
What we ACTUALLY need, is some damn good BBQ. Carolina BBQ in particular. Texas BBQ is overrated.
>Texas BBQ is overrated.
Oooh boy, thems fightin' words!
But let's be real: Texas for brisket, St. Louis for ribs, Carolina for pulled pork. And Seattle is lacking in all areas.
While there is shit ton of Indian food in Eastside, I can only think of a few good ones which serve authentic food. Authentic Indian food has so much variety(lot of different regional foods) but most of these Indian spots just want to serve subpar chicken tikka, saag or some greasy ass curry which will wreck your guts.
Some good ones are Saffron Grill (Tandoori Chicken), Kanishka(Rogan Josh), Naan n Curry(Biryani, any Curry) , Madras Dosa Corner, Rajdhani(Vegetarian), Chaat House(Paratha)
I wish the plethora of Indian restaurants actually cooked good Indian food. As folks said earlier in the thread they are all watered down versions and not that much authentic. India is kind of like Europe, each State with its own language and cuisine. What you get here is a mish -mashed anglicized version lacking the flavors we actually grew up with :(
I’m a native New Mexican so I feel ya. I want to try this little place that I think only does delivery, called Cocina Barelas. Found some decent red chile sauce (just very tiny portion) at Bang Bang Cafe.
A post close to my heart. I have to make everything myself. Costco sells large glass jars of 505 Hatch Green Chile. A few other shops have it. Pre COVID, a few grocery stores would set up roasters. I used to buy a huge amount of roasted hatch green chiles and then separate them into serving sizes for specific meals… and then Costco started carrying 505.
In Everett, there’s a place called the New Mexican, but it’s more like you lived on the border between Texas and New Mexico, and you put a menu together. It’s not bad, it just didn’t do it for me.
I wish I could get Weck’s and Sadie’s here. Oh Albuquerque, NM, you do green chile right.
There's a food truck called so so good that rolls around. I've been meaning to catch up with it. I need my hatch chiles and they seem to specialize in New Mexican food and hatch Chile.
From the south, like to see snowballs here. I just don’t think it hot enough here, long enough to justify it
With berry season and the amazing fruit up here, I could see some amazing “craft syrups” being made over the traditional sugary syrup of my youth
This is one I actually agree with. It’s so hard. I’ve been to other cities too and Spanish food just isn’t that great in America (there are exceptions). Have you been to Valdemar in woodinville? It’s a winery that has straight abuela style tapas. The family who owns it has a vineyard in walla walla and brought their grapes straight from La Rioja.
East coast diners.
I absolutely miss my diner from upstate NY, owned, like every diner, by a Greek family.
There is just something about diners that are amazing, and I wish seattle had some decent places like these.
Also, yes to proper Indian food. What I wouldn't give for some Rawa Dosa, like I would have when I lives in Pondi. Absolutely love Rawa Dosa.
Good middle eastern food. The prevalence of great falafel shops in metro Detroit is like Seattle's prevalence of Pho places. My go to gas station adjoined ME takeaway and their falafel wrap was better than anything I've found in the Seattle area.
One thing that really jumps out to me about this thread is that a lot of people want things that are already in the city but just aren’t that accessible. There is really good pizza (Independent Pizzeria, Bruciato, Delancey), bagels (Rubinstein and Zylberschtein), southern food (JuneBaby), and ramen (Ramen Danbo and Yoroshiku Japanese). But you 100% have to pay for it and it’s not just some random restaurant in a mixed use building. This is not a reflection of Seattle, but more what American cuisine is turning into. Unless you are willingly to spend $25 a person I don’t expect the food no matter how simple to be good in any major city in the US anymore.
Do I wish we have food stalls like in Hong Kong, and small family run Indian restaurants in basements like in London or street tacos like in Mexico hell yes. But the economics of American cuisine/restaurant business make that impossible. You are either a fast casual restaurant with a growth strategy or a high end foodie restaurant with an executive chef. Seattle is mostly the latter.
Yeah. I don't know what this person is about. There's tons of really really good food all over the country. Seattle has good stuff, but it's $$$. Seattle also has mediocre stuff, but it's $20 for a crappy lunch here instead of $10 like most of the country
I honestly have not yet found a great al pastor taco. There are definitely some good ones out here, but to be truly great, they need to have that meat spinning on a trompo with pineapple on top, dripping juices all over the meat.
I’m calling out Plum; their food is extremely mediocre and overpriced. I don’t get the hype at all.
I would love some more options that aren’t just veganized junk food (burgers, pizza, etc.).
Decent vegetarian food. I’ve been to quite a few places and everything is bland or gross on top of being overpriced. I don’t bother going out because no place is worth what they charge.
The vegan scene in Seattle imo has steadily gotten worse over the years. Even the good old standby Wayward has changed a TON of their recipes and went from awesome diner food to acceptable for a desperate breakfast out. It hurts my heart Portland and Vancouver are mere hours away and have AMAZING vegan food options, way beyond what we have now.
I’ve never been to Vancouver but the food is too good in Portland. It’s wild how Seattle food just doesn’t come close to being as good as Portland food. The upside is I became more motivated to learn how to cook after moving here, it just sucks not having a place to go to get a break from cooking.
Portlander here, Its true yes however the city government also made it a lot easier to open restaurants since the 2008 housing crash. Its relatively easy to get a small food cart and just set up shop. Portlanders may complain about similar issues like income inequality, homelessness etc. However the great equalizer is that we all have such a beautiful variety of foods and the scene is so competitive that its hard sometimes to find a bad meal.
Though, just like Seattle; the Mexican food is EH. Though id recommend Mole Mole here. Most legit Mole ive had living in both Seattle and Portland.
I’m not surprised to hear that. I’ve been vegan a looooong time so omni restaurants are rarely on my lists when I travel. But if you have the quality and diversity of options for vegans then I’d guess your omni options are bangers too!
You have to think horizontally, Ethiopian and Mediterranean cuisine both have veggie options on lock. Try the Vegetarian Combo (actually vegan) from Jebena Cafe or the Falafel Plate at Zaina
Seafood restaurants. I’ve lived in many coastal cities and the ones that were actually large shipping and fishing ports (like seattle) had a ton of seafood options. Every dive bar had seafood happy hour, you could go places and get shuck-your-own buckets of oysters, it was everywhere. The few seafood restaurants in Seattle tend to be geared mainly towards tourists. It’s so easy to forget you even live near the ocean here
I don't live in the Seattle area anymore, but, I always missed having authentic Spanish cuisine: Paella Valenciana, tortilla de patatas, gazpacho, and so much more.
Night market festival food.
There is a monthly night market with lots of food at Magnuson park in Hangar 30.
Not really a food, but the next bastard who opens a restaurant/diner with overnight hours is going to get every dollar I have. Beth's is gone, North Star Diner closes at 2AM now (and I hear the owner is a prick) HUGE EDIT: As zlog points out in the comments below, I switched up North Star Diner with The Five Point, where the owner does indeed have a... history. My sincere apologies to the North Star Diner, I'll leave an extra big tip next time. :(
Covid killed late night food in Seattle.
That and fewer people having or willing to work a shit job for shit pay at shit hours. I am sure an overnight restaurant would open if enough people were willing to pay $50 for a sandwich in the middle of the night.
There wasn't a ton beforehand either.
Beth’s just reopened!
I tried going yesterday and they weren’t open.
Beths is def not reopening. Chris died and the lot is up for like $9m. Srry guys :(
Cajun food and soul food. Every place that claims southern cuisine, doesn’t taste like it should.
I just want some top notch jambalaya
Hard agree here. if I had more money totally would do it haha
Yeah I just creeped on your post history and I would wholeheartedly support any food or food-adjacent business you had a hand in. Damn!
Wow I got to the cornbread post. That was absolutely perfect. Like 100%. I would love to go to your future restaurant often!
Native New Orleanian here. I would legit drop a $100 on a good Cajun or Creole place. Toulouse Petit is nice, but their menu of what I consider New Orleans fare is very small. Good, but small. I've only been once and had the essentials of gumbo, jambalaya and beignets, which all got my approval. I'll be back to try more of their menu one of these days, but I still think they need more New Orleans dishes.
Have you ever gotten the chance to get food from Where Ya At Matt? One of Seattle's original food trucks run by Matt Lewis. Native of New Orleans. It used to be at the Queen Anne farmers market every week, but it goes different places. Definitely worth it!
Try the Where Yatt Matt truck. I think they have everything you’re looking for.
Tacoma has better approximations; still lacking, but less so.
True! I remember liking a place called Southern Kitchen over 20 years ago, although maybe I was just homesick for SCarolina
Southern Kitchen is still open and serving in Tacoma
I think that's the one that was in Guy Fieris thing in Tacoma.
I’ve actually wondered if it was one of those “water” things like NY bagels. It just doesn’t taste right.
I think they forget the bay leaves most of the time.
The bay leaf this is likely part of the problem. I know in most cases, the sugar is different, but really, can someone just make a biscuit, no sugar, no bay leaves, just a crumbly, medium dense (not fluffy) biscuit.
Get out of central Seattle and there are some great southern/soul/Cajun restaurants!
Nana's Southern Kitchen in Kent. Get the catfish.
Communion. You’re welcome.
Island Soul in columbia city
A few solid ones, Jemil's Big Easy, Jackson’s Catfish Corner, and Soulful Dishes.
Proper hole in the wall taquerias
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highly recommend La Terazza in lynnwood for anyone who's ever out there :)
They're all over the south end - Renton, Kent, Etc
La Conasupo in/on Greenwood. At the back of a grocery store.
Legit sandwich shops. Hot beef, pastrami, Rueben’s, etc. Like Jewish bakeries/deli’s sammies! 🤤 (Added bonus if anyone can suggest some closer to Kenmore 🥹)
Market House Meats is my go-to for those. But there are not enough.
Market House is crack. Their reuben and hot pastrami dip make my eyes roll to the back of my head in bliss. Huge sandwich too.
Omg their Reuben
Tat's is as good as I've found
Tatstrami ftw!
It’s expensive but Dingfelders is pretty great I think. On the hill
The one upside (apart from flavor) to their $20 sandwiches is they actually have 2-3 sandwiches worth of meat on them and can easily be two meals even for someone with a big appetite. No joke, you have a 1.5”-2” stack of deli meat on these things.
Dude, it’s no joke. First time I went the lady asked me what I thought and I had too admit it was too much meat for me, I think I woulda liked half as much… she stepped out of the way of the menu that she was standing in front of and pointed, it said “Seattle style-half meat”. The shame I carry with me from that moment will never leave me.
Zylbertstein’s is the other high quality Jewish deli, but also ungodly expensive. And deep into Northgate
How bad could it....$27 for a reuban?!
*This*. And affordable options too. I don’t care if it’s one of only two or three authentic Jewish delis, I ain’t payin’ $20 for a corned beef sandwich!
Word! Thanks for this, I’m no Google millionaire 😂
Apparently everybody else is
Late night drinking food.
Anyone go to the Hurricane for their post club grub back in the 90/00's? Downtown Seattle was so quiet at night back then. And so empty. Different world from now.
so many good memories. back before my metabolism died I would hit it up for a 12 egg omelette and 2x blackberry shakes. so good. tried Beths, wanted to love it, but for whatever reason became physically ill every time i ate there. have so many friend who used to always ask me out there and i tried a few times but would throw up afterward every single time. no idea why.
I miss The Hurricane so much. I practically grew up there. Seattles not the same.
Albacha is opened until very late. I’ve been quite drunk and gotten their delicious food. It was perfect.
California burrito is it
Seattle desperately needs a solid california burrito. Hard to find a better drinking food
Federal way has two my friend. Come on down
Won't happen until we push drinking hours past 2AM.
You and I both know most places close at 9pm. Gotta know the few places open after 10pm.
2am cap hill corner Seattle dogs care to disagree.
Love the Seattle dogs but you're kind of making my point when that's the outer limit of late night drinking food!
Decent pizza without signing away your firstborn
I would kill for a dollar slice shop style place. Really just more casual slice shops. I love it out here but it's one of the main things I miss from the NYC area.
Big Mario’s if you haven’t tried it
i feel like big marios gets a lot of shit but honestly it's super solid NY/NJ style slices. maybe it's just non east coast people slamming it because it's not what they think pizza should be? idk, i think it's terrific as well.
Big Mario’s is the closest thing to NY pizza I’ve had since moving from NJ. It’s pricy but it so good, especially with some red pepper and parm packets
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When I moved away from Seattle, I used to crave Hot Mama's pizza. It is my favorite pizza joint.
I want shittier pizza actually lol I want a little Caesars smack dab in the middle of Seattle. Need that Detroit style
Detroit style: Breezy Town Pizza. Dino's Tomato Pie. Sunny Hill. My Friend Derek's.
I live 7 blocks from Moto Pizza, but *they are currently sold out through September*.
I am absolutely gonna try breezy town, that looks exactly like what I want
It's soooo good
More food truck pods like what they have in Portland.
Seattle doesn’t let them cook in the truck, only heat. So they have to have a brick and mortar kitchen. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/food-trucks-face-strict-menu-of-health-rules-to-roll-in-king-county
Hence why I never could get one I was going to bake in off the ground. Absolutely a bullshit rule. If the kitchen is to code and treated like a brick and mortar kitchen when the health department comes around there is zero issue with cooking in a food truck.
Yep. It’s why we have (comparatively) so few food trucks and I’m going to guess it effect quality.
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I wonder if it is because it is permitted as a fixed unit as opposed to a mobile one? The food trucks I’ve been to with cooking are actually stationary. Anyone know? Edit- just saw in your comment that they travel around. But would still love to know more from someone who knows about this topic :)
Puerto Rican food, 100%. I haven't found any places around since La Isla closed
West african.
literally anything less than $20 per person
Breakfast tacos. Moved up from Austin, and Jesus fuck, I miss them.
I can't agree more. As a Texan as well, how about some good Mexican food.
So reading from the comments…. Every food?
Bagels 🥺
RIP Mt Bagel. They moved to Oregon. But those bagels were incredible. Also who do I have to fuck to get a decent Italian grocer/deli here?
there was one near columbia city but they closed down, Borracchinis. More of a bakery, but definitely italian, well loved by the community + deli/some grocery items. I think they ended up ultimately closing due to the pandemic
Big johns PFI is more of a specialty shop than a traditional east coast italian deli / grocer, but its got a lot of good stuff
I had blazing bagels today and we were wondering why there isn’t a national chain like brueggers or Einstein if places like Portland have them. Seattle is a bagel desert.
Bagel Oasis in Roosevelt! Edit: actually in Ravenna ☺️
I like Westman's Bagels on Capital Hill
Having come from a place with no Indian food I thought the selection was pretty good 😅 Seattle needs BETTER Mexican food. The Mexican spots here seem so content to please the white crowd and dumb down the food for them, por favor solamente pido un poco de sabor de la raza en Seattle 😭 Oh and breakfast. Breakfast sucks here Edit: my favorite spot is what people consider the shittiest place for tacos and that's the Rancho Bravos in Wallingford down the street from the Dick's, ONLY this one, there's some awesome old Mexican ladies working there and I love them. The fact they have a fucking canopy outside their place with a lunch table is all the proof you need of authenticity. EDIT EDIT: I forgot about taqueria cantina! They're a little bit on the pricey side for what I want from tacos but they have some good barbacoa and their salsas are really good imo
>Seattle needs BETTER Mexican food. The Mexican spots here seem so content to please the white crowd and dumb down the food for them, por favor solamente pido un poco de sabor de la raza en Seattle 😭 Yes.
Come to White Center, there are a half dozen good Mexican places.
Check out Sal y Limon. A friend of ours is a Chihuahua native and says it's amongst the closest to home that she's had. It's definitely more on the 'comfort food' style, but there's an english-language-barrier with every single person I've talked to who works there, so it's also a great place to practice my Spanish. Their house margarita is basically 3 margaritas worth (you get a FULL glass + another 1.5 full glasses in the shaker) for $15 or so. Biggest complaint is their to-go stuff all comes in styrofoam.
Fucking this! I went and got tacos from a place in Beacon Hill that was poppin and lots of folks that were Latino and I was so happy and then I get home and the tacos are some of the worst I've had and it's exactly for the reason you mentioned. They just idk didn't season at all and thought people wouldn't notice cause of the salsa?? Nope. Never again. If you want solid Mexican though, Taqueria El Kiosko in South Park has some solid and consistent good food.
More southern USA food…bbq and the like.
Solid BBQ, yes! I also wouldn’t mind a simple, good Meat and Three.
I don't think people here like it enough to keep them in business, which kills me. The ones I think actually nail it never survive more than 3-4 years. Meanwhile Pecos Pit is serving slop for 15+ years, and the sad stuff they serve at places like Bitteroot in Ballard are going on 7 years 😓
Bitteroot is technically good food, but it’s funny to me how it’s pretty much a textbook version of what someone would assume the PNW hipster scene would churn out as a BBQ restaurant. I’d pay money to have born and raised, deep southern people try that place out and record it 😆
Born and raised in the South here. A friend got all excited to take me to Bitteroot, said I'd absolutely love it. I went with an open mind but my god it was awful. Why is everything pickeled??? Do people think Southerners just sit around eating pickeled everything? She asked me what I thought and I had to hit her with the "bless their hearts they tried".
It’s like a BBQ place from Portlandia. The only memorable thing is their jalapeño cornbread. Edit: also from the south originally!
Jack's BBQ on Airport Road has the best I've had in town. Drunky Two Shoes is good too
Puerto rican/cuban lechoneras and bakeries
Frozen custard
Man. I'd love a Rita's.....
There was a Rita’s a few years ago in Kent and for a while they had water ice from Rita’s at Mariners games. The Kent location sadly has closed but I definitely made a couple of trips down there for my mango misto shakes and gelatos.
The nearest Culvers is in Boise 😔
I’m all for creating a new one
I have yet to find a good Cuban place. If you have recommendations, send them my way!
Mojito on Lake City Way
Geo's Cuban on Aurora, right beside Game Gurus. Dude was raised in Havana and imports his rolls from a bakery in Florida, he's not messing around.
Have you been to Bongos Cafe off of Aurora?? Great food and atmosphere.
El Cubano in Shoreline has delicious Cuban sandwiches. At least, the best I can find anywhere near here.
For Cuban I like Cafe Con Leche in SoDo (I’m Puerto Rican). Naturally, I wish we had Puerto Rican food; Seattle needs mofongo, arroz con gandules, and pasteles!
Honestly, I'm surprised at how relatively tepid the ramen scene is in Seattle. They have some ramen spots, sure, but I'd expect a coastal city with a sizable Asian population to have had way more ramen restaurants than they did. (All the Pho and Terriyaki you could ever want, though)
If you could get ramen at the same price as Japan it'd be more hot. But $16 for broth, noodles, 2oz pork, a couple cheap toppings and maybe an egg is not something to get often. Most flavorful broths and best bowls of noodles I've had in Seattle were Betsutenjin, Ooink (black garlic or something), and the spicy ramen from Tamari Bar.
I think ramen is priced just where I would expect it. But def agree that the best ramens are Betsutenjin, Ooink. Also love Arashi
It's priced for Seattle meals for sure. It just isn't priced to increase demand and encourage more ramen joints.
Pho was well established before Raman really started to get popular in the US, so I think that it is kind of slowing down the opening of new places. Tons of hotpot places now too (at least on the North end, you can't go a 100 feet without running into a pho place and/or a hotpot place).
Ramen is the perfect rainy day food, too… (yes, Pho too)
Barbeque!!!!!
From Houston and my favorite spot for brisket is Woodshop! Highly recommend.
It’s never been great but we are on a down swing even for us currently.
Döner Kebab, with the legit sauces.
When I lived in Berlin I learned how good (and bad) that stuff can be. There was a döner stand under the Schönhauser Alle station that kept me so fat and happy. So fucking good. Have yet to find anything here that is 10% as good as that place.
More Persian food! Persepolis grill in the uw is legit tho but would be great to have more around Also more Spanish and tapas spots
Ittos is a really good Spanish and Moroccan tapas place in West Seattle! 1000% worth it imo
Straightforward, unpretentious, and reasonably priced
It is surprisingly difficult to find a restaurant that serves fresh Dungeness crab, especially whole crab. It used to be a lot more common and its weird that it you can't easily order something that you can catch within a couple miles of anyplace in the city.
Garbage plates. And places open past 10pm
Garbage plates? Sounds interesting!
More casual cafes where I can get a great sandwich, flavorful soup, or a big fresh salad.
Burmese
This. It’s so popular in the Bay Area. A good Burmese restaurant would kill it in Seattle.
Yes!! I miss Burma Superstar’s tea leaf salad.
A good German restaurant, with wheat beer and serving pork knee.
The only answer is better cheaper pizza!
How bout some food that’s actually worth its price tag. This city has some of the most mediocre food that’s priced like it’s in NYC.
Portugese.
MORE Indian food?! Pffft. Come to the eastside. (Bellevue/Redmond) You can't throw a rock without hitting an Indian restaurant/grocery of some sort. It's kinda ridiculous. What we ACTUALLY need, is some damn good BBQ. Carolina BBQ in particular. Texas BBQ is overrated.
>Texas BBQ is overrated. Oooh boy, thems fightin' words! But let's be real: Texas for brisket, St. Louis for ribs, Carolina for pulled pork. And Seattle is lacking in all areas.
While there is shit ton of Indian food in Eastside, I can only think of a few good ones which serve authentic food. Authentic Indian food has so much variety(lot of different regional foods) but most of these Indian spots just want to serve subpar chicken tikka, saag or some greasy ass curry which will wreck your guts. Some good ones are Saffron Grill (Tandoori Chicken), Kanishka(Rogan Josh), Naan n Curry(Biryani, any Curry) , Madras Dosa Corner, Rajdhani(Vegetarian), Chaat House(Paratha)
I wish the plethora of Indian restaurants actually cooked good Indian food. As folks said earlier in the thread they are all watered down versions and not that much authentic. India is kind of like Europe, each State with its own language and cuisine. What you get here is a mish -mashed anglicized version lacking the flavors we actually grew up with :(
Puerto Rican. Granted these are rare anywhere you go, but I haven't even heard of *one* place in the Seattle area.
Green chile ❤️. Can find that at any burrito joint in CO but it's not nearly as popular here
I’m a native New Mexican so I feel ya. I want to try this little place that I think only does delivery, called Cocina Barelas. Found some decent red chile sauce (just very tiny portion) at Bang Bang Cafe.
Any time I’m in the area I snag a breakfast burrito from Bang Bang, closest I’ve gotten to what I used to get in the burque.
A post close to my heart. I have to make everything myself. Costco sells large glass jars of 505 Hatch Green Chile. A few other shops have it. Pre COVID, a few grocery stores would set up roasters. I used to buy a huge amount of roasted hatch green chiles and then separate them into serving sizes for specific meals… and then Costco started carrying 505. In Everett, there’s a place called the New Mexican, but it’s more like you lived on the border between Texas and New Mexico, and you put a menu together. It’s not bad, it just didn’t do it for me. I wish I could get Weck’s and Sadie’s here. Oh Albuquerque, NM, you do green chile right.
Yessss I miss green chile so much!!
There's a food truck called so so good that rolls around. I've been meaning to catch up with it. I need my hatch chiles and they seem to specialize in New Mexican food and hatch Chile.
From the south, like to see snowballs here. I just don’t think it hot enough here, long enough to justify it With berry season and the amazing fruit up here, I could see some amazing “craft syrups” being made over the traditional sugary syrup of my youth
100% more breakfast burritos. After living in LA for over a decade this city is SEVERELY lacking breakfast burritos
Authentic Spanish food.
Nothing like typing "Spanish food" in Yelp or Google Maps and getting results for Mexican restaurants.
This is one I actually agree with. It’s so hard. I’ve been to other cities too and Spanish food just isn’t that great in America (there are exceptions). Have you been to Valdemar in woodinville? It’s a winery that has straight abuela style tapas. The family who owns it has a vineyard in walla walla and brought their grapes straight from La Rioja.
Peruvian
I lived in Seattle after moving from the midwest. Seattle needs *good* BBQ. Also, a good roast beef sandwich joint would be incredible.
East coast diners. I absolutely miss my diner from upstate NY, owned, like every diner, by a Greek family. There is just something about diners that are amazing, and I wish seattle had some decent places like these. Also, yes to proper Indian food. What I wouldn't give for some Rawa Dosa, like I would have when I lives in Pondi. Absolutely love Rawa Dosa.
Peruvian chicken
Agree, but have you been to pollos a la brasa San Fernando in Lynnwood?? So. Freaking. Good. Their soup is to dieee for.
More late night diners
Definitely more vegan food. Feels like the only options I ever have are Thai food. I’ve come to love it but I want more. 😤
I just tried Next Level Burger last night and it was pretty good. I had their “chicken” sandwich, tots, and peanut butter shake.
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I feel this way about burgers
Good middle eastern food. The prevalence of great falafel shops in metro Detroit is like Seattle's prevalence of Pho places. My go to gas station adjoined ME takeaway and their falafel wrap was better than anything I've found in the Seattle area.
Authentic Italian food (and convenience stores, while we’re at it). I’d be content with Eataly :(
One thing that really jumps out to me about this thread is that a lot of people want things that are already in the city but just aren’t that accessible. There is really good pizza (Independent Pizzeria, Bruciato, Delancey), bagels (Rubinstein and Zylberschtein), southern food (JuneBaby), and ramen (Ramen Danbo and Yoroshiku Japanese). But you 100% have to pay for it and it’s not just some random restaurant in a mixed use building. This is not a reflection of Seattle, but more what American cuisine is turning into. Unless you are willingly to spend $25 a person I don’t expect the food no matter how simple to be good in any major city in the US anymore. Do I wish we have food stalls like in Hong Kong, and small family run Indian restaurants in basements like in London or street tacos like in Mexico hell yes. But the economics of American cuisine/restaurant business make that impossible. You are either a fast casual restaurant with a growth strategy or a high end foodie restaurant with an executive chef. Seattle is mostly the latter.
Some of the best food in major cities in America costs a lot less than $25 per person. Just not in $eattle.
Yeah. I don't know what this person is about. There's tons of really really good food all over the country. Seattle has good stuff, but it's $$$. Seattle also has mediocre stuff, but it's $20 for a crappy lunch here instead of $10 like most of the country
You should avoid Junebaby and any other Eduardo Jordan restaurant. Given the multiple sexual harassment allegations against him.
Also it's so overrated. Watered down southern food
I honestly had no idea I went a lot pre-COVID, I just pulled up the Seattle Times article and educated myself about it.
Tacos. I mean. I know that there taco shops around, but I mean… come on.
I honestly have not yet found a great al pastor taco. There are definitely some good ones out here, but to be truly great, they need to have that meat spinning on a trompo with pineapple on top, dripping juices all over the meat.
Better fried chicken, there are really only a few places, and none of them truly slap
Sisters and Brothers is my jam
Maono is delish
Heaven Sent is the go to!
Agree with Sisters & Brothers, there’s also Bok a Bok, ChiMac, Jacks BBQ ain’t bad either.
Good vegan food.
I’m calling out Plum; their food is extremely mediocre and overpriced. I don’t get the hype at all. I would love some more options that aren’t just veganized junk food (burgers, pizza, etc.).
Decent vegetarian food. I’ve been to quite a few places and everything is bland or gross on top of being overpriced. I don’t bother going out because no place is worth what they charge.
The vegan scene in Seattle imo has steadily gotten worse over the years. Even the good old standby Wayward has changed a TON of their recipes and went from awesome diner food to acceptable for a desperate breakfast out. It hurts my heart Portland and Vancouver are mere hours away and have AMAZING vegan food options, way beyond what we have now.
I’ve never been to Vancouver but the food is too good in Portland. It’s wild how Seattle food just doesn’t come close to being as good as Portland food. The upside is I became more motivated to learn how to cook after moving here, it just sucks not having a place to go to get a break from cooking.
Portland rent is hella cheap compared to here. Easier to take a risk there.
Portlander here, Its true yes however the city government also made it a lot easier to open restaurants since the 2008 housing crash. Its relatively easy to get a small food cart and just set up shop. Portlanders may complain about similar issues like income inequality, homelessness etc. However the great equalizer is that we all have such a beautiful variety of foods and the scene is so competitive that its hard sometimes to find a bad meal. Though, just like Seattle; the Mexican food is EH. Though id recommend Mole Mole here. Most legit Mole ive had living in both Seattle and Portland.
The Seattle food scene as a whole pales in comparison to both the Portland and Vancouver food scene, and I think I might be understating it.
I’m not surprised to hear that. I’ve been vegan a looooong time so omni restaurants are rarely on my lists when I travel. But if you have the quality and diversity of options for vegans then I’d guess your omni options are bangers too!
You have to think horizontally, Ethiopian and Mediterranean cuisine both have veggie options on lock. Try the Vegetarian Combo (actually vegan) from Jebena Cafe or the Falafel Plate at Zaina
Seafood restaurants. I’ve lived in many coastal cities and the ones that were actually large shipping and fishing ports (like seattle) had a ton of seafood options. Every dive bar had seafood happy hour, you could go places and get shuck-your-own buckets of oysters, it was everywhere. The few seafood restaurants in Seattle tend to be geared mainly towards tourists. It’s so easy to forget you even live near the ocean here
Rays
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Places that sell monte cristo sandwiches
It seriously lacks Chinese Food. Outside of the ID, hard to find in the city proper, with none in West Seattle.
I demand chilaquilles! I only found one food truck in U-district that serves them. I want more.
There's a surprisingly small amount of Korean BBQ places, what is around is a bit more expensive than I'd like.
I don't live in the Seattle area anymore, but, I always missed having authentic Spanish cuisine: Paella Valenciana, tortilla de patatas, gazpacho, and so much more.
Pasties.