The best neighbourhood restaurants in Seattle
Seattle is comprised of neighbourhood villages, each touting boutiques, farmers’ markets and, most recently, many of the city’s best restaurants. One doesn’t have to venture out of downtown to discover excellent local flavours, but these neighbourhood restaurants in Seattle are worth the ride.
Ethan Stowell Restaurants, Ballard
The transformation of Old Ballard Avenue from auto parts arcades and marine supply companies to Seattle’s quaintest row of boutiques, curio shops and indie restaurants has titillated locals since the Ballard Farmers’ Market took the block over on Sundays more than a decade ago. Chef and culinary visionary, Ethan Stowell continues to colonize the brick and mortar landscape, adding the Bramling Cross gastropub (grilled Hangar steak) Staple & Fancy (wood grilled whole fish) and the Ballard Pizza Co., home to the best pies in town.
Cascina Spinasse, Capitol Hill
Capitol Hill remains Seattle’s “Grown Up” neighbourhood, complete with numerous live performance clubs and teeming sidewalks into the wee hours. There are always entertainments to be found here. However, should you choose to forego the Pine-Pike Corridor revelry, Cascina Spinasse offers an old world escape from the cacophony. The pasta is made nightly in a gallery setting, the ambience is tight and talkative, and the food, well, you’ll still be talking about the polpette di Coniglio (rabbit meatballs) three weeks after you try it.
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Eve's crab noodle
© Alan Abastro
Ethan Stowell Restaurants, Ballard
The transformation of Old Ballard Avenue from auto parts arcades and marine supply companies to Seattle’s quaintest row of boutiques, curio shops and indie restaurants has titillated locals since the Ballard Farmers’ Market took the block over on Sundays more than a decade ago. Chef and culinary visionary, Ethan Stowell continues to colonize the brick and mortar landscape, adding the Bramling Cross gastropub (grilled Hangar steak) Staple & Fancy (wood grilled whole fish) and the Ballard Pizza Co., home to the best pies in town.
Cascina Spinasse, Capitol Hill
Capitol Hill remains Seattle’s “Grown Up” neighbourhood, complete with numerous live performance clubs and teeming sidewalks into the wee hours. There are always entertainments to be found here. However, should you choose to forego the Pine-Pike Corridor revelry, Cascina Spinasse offers an old world escape from the cacophony. The pasta is made nightly in a gallery setting, the ambience is tight and talkative, and the food, well, you’ll still be talking about the polpette di Coniglio (rabbit meatballs) three weeks after you try it.
Ethan Stowell's Bramlin Cross
© Geoffrey Smith
Bar Del Corso, Beacon Hill
No list of neighbourhood restaurants in Seattle would be complete without a pizza place, but Bar del Corso is hardly your local dough slinger. Set in the somewhat out-of-the-way environs of Beacon Hill, Bel Del Corso offers homemade sausages for its corno di capra and funghi pizzas. The Romana and Margherita feature authentic buffalo mozzarella and, in case your cheese palate remains unsatisfied, soft-ripened cow, sheep and goat’s milk cheeses are also available.
The London Plane, Pioneer Square
What to do with Pioneer Square? Seattle’s original neighbourhood hasn’t kept pace with the “skid row turned hip destination” transformations in Vancouver’s Gastown or Portland’s Pearl District. Enter Matt Dillon, who’s Sitka & Spruce launched Seattle’s (and America’s?) farm-to-table movement. Dillon has resettled Pioneer Square with the London Plane, a gorgeous corner purveying fresh flowers, curated mercantile and fabulous foods such as naturally leavened sourdough breads to complement poached albacore.
Pair, Ravenna
30th Avenue is hardly a country lane, but you can’t help listening for cowbells and bleating lambs when you step into Pair; as bucolic an ambience as you’ll find among Seattle’s romantic kitchens. The menu is anything but mom & pop however, unless your grandma was serving Cascadia arctic char bruschetta, Maitake mushroom risotto and Pont-l'Évêque cheese. The farm tables and chairs suggest a simple dinner feasting on courses that are anything but.
Kisaku, Greenlake
Like Japan, the best Seattle sushi can be found in simple rooms with the freshest fish. Kisaku ventured into the hard-to-please Greenlake neighbourhood over ten years ago and thrived where many predecessors had failed. Diners will find daily specials that tempt one to stray from the familiar favourites. The Greenlake Roll features fresh salmon, and yellowtail anchors the Wallingford Roll, but mostly locals count on Kisaku for freshness and friendliness in a typically Northwest laidback atmosphere.
Matt’s in The Market, Downtown
There’s no need to panic should you find yourself sequestered downtown. Look no further than Matt’s in the Market, as in Pike Place Market, as in the most popular tourist destination in town. Located on the second floor, far from the fish-flinging crowd, Matt’s provides a simple list of entrées – steamed mussels and clams are a local favourite – as well as a series of sandwiches prepared from freshly caught steelhead trout, catfish and tuna. You can always ask Robbie, one of the city’s storied bartenders, to cast your selection for you. The view of Puget Sound and the bustling Market through the lead-paned floor-to-ceiling windows is as good as it gets in a city known for great views.
Written by Crai Bower
