Seattle Dining Authorities Reveal Their Favorite Meals of 2018

As is tradition, Eater closes out the year by surveying local food writers on various restaurant-related topics. Readers, please feel free to chime in with your own thoughts in the comments section below.

What was your best restaurant meal of 2018?

Jill Lightner, food writer:

The Comfort Zone. I can’t talk about the mac and cheese without staring longingly off into the distance. It deserves a sonnet or at least Barry White singing to it.

Chelsea Lin, dining/lifestyle editor, Seattle Magazine:

This isn’t really fair because it didn’t happen in Seattle, but I had a meal in Rome this spring that changed my life. I hardly ever order pasta out — it’s one of the few things I can make decently at home — but that plate of tomato sauce and pasta was such a testament to simple ingredients done well.

Allecia Vermillion, deputy editor, Seattle Met:

Dinner at Aelder on Orcas Island. Tasting menus forever and always.

Jackie Varriano, freelance writer:

Tied for a dinner this summer at Bateau that was so good I could’ve sat there all night long gnawing on a beef bone and a more recent dinner I had at Sawyer. Give me that cheesy bread with ‘nduja, the oxtail nachos, and that rotisserie porchetta all day.

Rosin Saez, associate food and drink editor, Seattle Met:

Archipelago. While it only just opened this month, Aaron Verzosa’s had years’ worth of ideas, inspiration, history percolating…and it shows.

Providence Cicero, food critic, The Seattle Times:

Dinner at Tilth, because I was off the clock and a dear friend was treating me for my birthday. I hadn’t been there in way too long and its standards have not slipped. It truly is one of Seattle’s “essential” restaurants, as my colleague, Bethany Jean Clement, noted in her recent Pacific NW Magazine cover story.

Naomi Tomky, food writer:

In the world? The restaurant without a name next to Bosforo in Mexico City. In the greater Seattle area, Ursa Minor on Lopez. Seriously, get out there.