Holiday Gift Guide 2015: Favorites for Seattle Food Lovers

It’s the classic gift-giving conundrum: what do you get for the person who already eats everything? Here’s a guide to some of our city's finest shops and businesses offering specialty goods, innovative cooking gear and classes, and all around just delicious indulgences that anyone with good taste will adore.

The authentic pho spot, Pho Bac, has been serving up steamy bowls of the Vietnamese classic in Seattle since 1982. Head to the Denny triangle location for an inexpensive Bahn Mi and pick up their holiday Vietnamese Coffee Gift Pack outfitted with the French drip vessel and glass, Pho Bac coffee blend, and a can of sweetened condensed milk.

Bean Box is a mail order company offering packages for the coffee nerd in your life. Give them a monthly subscription to The Ultimate Coffee Gift ($60 for 3 months), a box filled with beans from four Seattle roasters, like Herkimer and VIta, along with tasting notes and brewing tips.

Did you miss out on getting your grown-up advent calendar filled with booze? Well, some might say it’s too late, but others see that as a fun way get caught up real quick. Heritage Distillery in Gig Harbor still has their mini-bottle calendars available with flavored vodkas, gin, and whiskey for order. Double plus: they’re on sale for $60, down from $75.

Our local, James Beard award-winning web-based cooking school, ChefSteps, has been working on innovative technologies to make molecular gastronomy more accessible to the home cook. And with their recent launch of a new sous vide tool called Joule, they’re nailing it. The product won’t ship until May, but would seriously impress the food science aficionado on your list. Also, check out the premium class offerings for a fun experience-style gift.

Head to one of the five Molly Moon’s locations and pick up jars of homemade toppings to spruce up any ice cream night. Choose from Molly’s favorite sprinkles, sweet and salty cocoa sprinkles, or dark hot fudge. Might as well grab a scoop of one of the seasonal specials while you’re there too.

The website Ethnic Seattle is offering unique packages showcasing local businesses. The Essential Spring Roll Package gift set from Huong Binh Vietnamese restaurant comes with all the ingredients, a recipe card for the dish, and 10 percent off the next time you dine at the spot in Little Saigon. Or if you want to introduce someone to authentic Ethiopian coffee, check out the coffee making experience, which includes a serving tray, cups, Ethiopian coffee beans, a roasting pot, and coffee maker from Amy’s Merkato in the Central District.

E. Smith Mercantile carries loads of local products, like Hot Cakes caramel and smoked chocolate chips; specialty housemade E. Smith spiced popcorn, bitters, and salts; and Distillery Provisions whiskey barrel and gin pickles. Think of all the great stocking stuffers. Also, a very good excuse to check out the back bar for a specialty cocktail.

Sugarpill Apothecary on Capitol Hill carries a bunch of fun, local products for the pantry and home, and it’s one of only two shops that retails Urban Bee honey, a honey company collecting from hives around the Seattle area neighborhoods. You can’t get more local than that.

It’s still hard to beat Beecher’s Cheese selections, and a gift box of their handcrafted cheeses might be just the trick. The World’s Best Mac and Cheese package has everything you need to make that Pike Place favorite cheesy dish at home.

Sun Liquor’s Aged Eggnog will be available by the bottle at Total Wine and More locations in the area starting on December 12th at 3pm. If you want to taste this holiday classic by the glass, it will only be available at the Sun Liquor locations on December 24th starting at 5 p.m. and the 25th after 7 p.m.

Cooking classes at Tom Douglas’s Hot Stove Society sell out quickly, but if you’re looking ahead into the new year, it could be a nice gift for the person who loves to learn new techniques in the kitchen. Anything from mastering poaching, to baking the triple coconut cream pie, or a three-part charcuterie lesson are on the table.

And there's Knack, which allows you to package gifts by choosing from thousands of unique items from local, independent designers and producers, virtually put them into a selected beautiful vessel, and click ship or pick them up. It works great with food and beverage products too.