Ballard Restaurant Owners Pick City's Best Underrated Restaurant

Seattle is home to a lot of restaurants, and among them are hidden gems some Seattleites just aren't unearthing. To help guide us to these potential discoveries, we've enlisted some of our city's many food luminaries to share with us their under the radar recommendations for a weekly feature dubbed Dining Confidential.

Volterra owners Michelle Quisenberry and chef Don Curtiss have seen a lot of restaurants come and go in the 10 years since they've opened their Ballard Avenue Italian restaurant. Not far from their home base, a "fairly new barbecue gem on Leary Way" gets their vote for one of Seattle's best under-the-radar restaurants.

Drunky's Two Shoe BBQ is a fairly new barbecue gem on Leary Way. We crave the smoky pork ribs and the chicken.  It’s a really fun and eclectic spot. There is so much to look at from their chainsaw chandelier, taxidermy & other collectibles.  However, the big sunny patio is the best place to sit. The owners, Nate and Valerie, are great.

If you want to try a little bit of everything, order the Drunken Feast. We always take home a whole chicken.  They brine it for three days, wrap in caul fat and smoke. Delicious. Michelle also loves their slushy Paloma cocktail.