What Were the Best Meals Seattle Food Writers Ate This Year?

As is tradition, Eater closes out the year by surveying local writers and editors on various restaurant-related topics. Come back each day this week for more feedback from the experts, and check out all of Eater Seattle’s Year in Eater coverage over the years.

What was your best restaurant meal of 2022?

Meg van Huygen, food writer

Communion on my birthday, followed by Kachka (Portland) the very next day. Neck-bone stew and herring under a fur coat respectively. The sole meuniere and the pork-chard caillettes in caul fat at Marmite (from chef Bruce Naftaly, perhaps better known for Le Gourmand back in the day) were a contender as well.

Corinne Whiting, travel/lifestyle writer and copyeditor

Sushi by Scratch, where our 17-course omakase meal was a true theatrical experience I won’t soon forget.

Aimee Rizzo, editor, the Infatuation Seattle

Beast and Cleaver’s “Wine Bar” nights consistently impressed me across multiple visits — why not take a butcher shop and fill it with a diverse bottle selection to serve after-hours alongside chops, links, and steaks? But my favorite meal there involved their pork adobo, rich with braised-all-day tenderness and an ideal punch of tangy sauce, all plopped on a sheet of crispy rice to catch the drippings. Naturally, a smash burger was my side dish, and for dessert, there was a roasted corn custard topped with toasty coconut and a heavy hand of flaky salt that added crunch while zapping summer corn flavors to life.

Gabe Guarente, senior editor, SEAtoday

Loved Kricket Club in Ravenna from chef Preeti Agarwal. You can make a whole satisfying meal just from the “bread bar” on the menu (I recommend the hara bhara kulcha), but there was also a rockfish ceviche that was dynamite — and the tiffin boxes are always delightful.

Jay Friedman, contributor, Eater Seattle

Fancy meals are a dime (well, more like thousands of dimes) a dozen these days, so my response may come as a surprise: Rise & Shine Bakery, in Edmonds. Owner Mai Tran pours her heart and soul into creating homestyle Vietnamese dishes like banh mi chao. And regardless of how busy her shop is, she serves it all with a warm smile.

Sabra Boyd, journalist

Black cod with tomatoes sounds like a humble dish. But when Harry’s featured this special in November, the rich buttery flavor balanced effortlessly with the tomatoes’ bright acidity. Sablefish is an unforgiving ingredient easily ruined with too much handling –– like a deep-sea bread that risks being over-kneaded with distracted hands in a busy kitchen. It is a fussy fish that demands pastry levels of precision and attention. And yet, tender layers flaked away beneath the smoky-seared scales. How this was achieved without sous vide is pure alchemy. I am ruined. I may never eat fish again.