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Seattle’s Eater Awards Winners 2017

The restaurants, chefs, and bars that made the city run wild this year

Junebaby, Seattle’s Restaurant of the Year for 2017.

After nearly a week of intensive reader voting, today we announce the winners of the 8th annual Eater Awards, celebrating the chefs and restaurants that made the largest impact on all 24 Eater cities over the past 12 months.

Here now are the establishments — from Southern restaurants and cocktail bars to soba spots and dumpling dens — that have taken the Seattle food world by storm. Thank you to everyone who voted last week, and congratulations to the winners of the readers’ choice and editors’ choice awards. Read on to learn more about this year’s best of the best. Editor’s Choice winners will receive an illustrious tomato can trophy via FedEx, along with a full feature on Eater in the coming year.


Restaurant of the Year

Junebaby, Ravenna

Eater Awards 2017 Restaurant of the Year winner, Junebaby.

It’s amazing but true: Junebaby, chef-owner Edouardo Jordan’s highly personal exploration of his heritage, is “America’s next great Southern restaurant,” according to Eater’s roving food critic, Bill Addison. (Addison even gave Junebaby Eater’s national Best New Restaurant award this year.)

From the salad of “swamp cabbage” (hearts of palm) and pickled strawberry to the chitterlings to the painterly rendition of “The Scourged Back,” a photo taken in 1863 of the scarred back of an enslaved man named Gordon, the elements of this restaurant tell a powerful tale of race, family, and class. Thankfully, a hefty encyclopedia of Southern terms helps Seattle diners better prepare for the culinary and history lessons that await them in Ravenna. This revolutionary restaurant is a worthy follow-up to eclectic Salare, which netted Jordan Chef of the Year in 2015.

Restaurant of the Year Readers’ Choice Winner: Junebaby


Chef of the Year

Mutsuko Soma: Kamonegi, Wallingford

Eater Awards 2017 Chef of the Year winner, Mutsuko Soma, at her Wallingford restaurant, Kamonegi.
Suzi Pratt

Talk about a comeback: Soma stepped away from her lauded career at Miyabi 45th for maternity leave, then dabbled with pop-ups before launching her own Wallingford restaurant, Kamonegi, in October. It’s one of the few in the country to showcase handmade soba noodles, for which Soma even grinds the buckwheat in-house. She utilizes a delicate process she honed in Japan, making minute adjustments based on weather and temperature. The noodles are complemented by seasonal tempura, and each plate is prepared artfully. It’s not hard to imagine the James Beard committee taking notice come awards season.

Chef of the Year Readers’ Choice Winner: Mutsuko Soma, Kamonegi


Bar of the Year

Alchemy, West Seattle

Eater Awards 2017 Bar of the Year winner, Alchemy in West Seattle.

Move over, Capitol Hill and Belltown: Suddenly, West Seattle finds itself at the forefront of Seattle cocktail culture. In a moody space that captures the feeling that some dark science could be afoot, Alchemy’s bartenders combine seasonal ingredients in showy arrangements that are every bit as adventurous and substantial as they are flashy.

Bar of the Year Readers’ Choice Winner: Navy Strength


Design of the Year

Pintxo, Belltown

Eater Awards 2017 Design of the Year winner, Pintxo in Belltown.

When Pintxo, Belltown’s Spanish tapas restaurant, relocated to bigger digs in the neighborhood, its space became a gorgeous complement to the kitchen’s bright, visually appealing dishes. Bathed in an amber light, the restaurant has several features that put it atop the list of the city’s smartest restaurant designs: Walls are adorned with impressive paintings; bundles of herbs hang from the ceiling; and a massive stained glass installation looms, backlit, above the bar, providing one hell of a focal point for the restaurant.

Design of the Year Readers’ Choice Winner: The Lakehouse


Restaurant Expansion of the Year

Dough Zone Dumpling House, International District

Eater Awards 2017 Restaurant Expansion of the Year winner, Dough Zone Dumpling House in the International District.

For its fifth location, Dough Zone finally crossed from the Eastside to Seattle proper. And thank goodness: For anyone who hasn’t made the trek to the other four restaurants in places like Issaquah and Bellevue, now it’s easier than ever to find out what makes this affordable local chainlet so special. The sleekest, most modern outpost yet even serves alcohol with its famous xiao long bao, or soup dumplings, and crispy-yet-juicy pan-fried pork buns, called Q-Bao here. With better food and shorter lines than international sensation Din Tai Fung, Dough Zone is a local treasure.

Restaurant Expansion of the Year Readers’ Choice Winner: Ba Bar

Pintxo

2219 4th Ave, Seattle, WA 98121 (206) 441-4042 Visit Website

Navy Strength

2505 2nd Avenue, , WA 98121 (206) 420-7043 Visit Website

The Lakehouse

10455 NE 5th Place, Bellevue, WA 98004 (425) 454-7076 Visit Website

Kamonegi

1054 North 39th Street, , WA 98103 (206) 632-0185 Visit Website

Dough Zone Dumpling House (Bellevue Original)

15920 NE 8th St Ste 3, Bellevue, WA 98008 (425) 641-5555 Visit Website

Alchemy

28-30 Saint George's Walk, , England CR0 1YJ 020 8667 1670

Ba Bar

500 Terry Avenue North, , WA 98109 (206) 623-2711 Visit Website

Dough Zone Dumpling House (CID)

504 5th Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104 (206) 285-9999 Visit Website

JuneBaby

2122 Northeast 65th Street, , WA 98115 (206) 257-4470 Visit Website