Sunset Hill landed this stellar pizzeria in 2020, focused on both Detroit-style square and 12-inch round pies served from a Wood Stone hearth oven. Options include the Gobb Shoppe, made with wild herb raclette, asparagus, and nettles, and the Death By Stereo, pizza topped with confit garlic, Nardello peppers, sprouted broccoli, and stracchino cheese. The smash burgers are sensational as well, topped with frizzled onions (don’t forget about the waffle fries). And the seasonal spritzes make for a refreshing cocktail best enjoyed on the comfortable back patio.

This Ballard restaurant’s food, with influences from owner Rajah Gargour’s Lebanese background, is a vegetarian’s dream. The small plates of lentils ground with roasted garlic, house labneh, and sweet pears in savory tahini always impress, and Sundays at the restaurant mean an elaborate chef’s choice meal that’s sure to impress. The dining room — separated into two areas connected by large archways in the white wall — reopened last year. Patrons should check Instagram for seasonal items that keep the menu vibrant.

A rare fine-dining establishment in a generally casual neighborhood, Copine serves a mix of American, Italian, and French fare in its three-course prix fixe dinners and a la carte bar menu. Recent tasting menu selections include raw hamachi with red Fresno chilis and cucumber, agnolotti pasta filled with morels and preserved Meyer lemons, and bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin. The bar serves wine with snacks like grilled lamb tenders with cucumber yogurt, buttermilk biscuit pork sliders, and truffle popcorn. Copine is one of celebrity chef Shota Nakajima’s favorite restaurants in Seattle.

This small Thai noodle spot, a sister restaurant to Pestle Rock next door, serves some of the best pad see ew in the city and a selection of noodle soups with locally sourced meat. Diners can build their own noodle bowls (the clear broth soup with a pork patty and thin rice noodles is a restorative option), or choose dishes like guay jab, rolled rice noodles with pork spare ribs, tofu, and a hard boiled egg in a five-spice broth fragrant with star anise. 

Pestle Rock features Thai food from the Isan region of the country, which is known for dishes packed with fresh herbs and chili peppers and drenched in lime juice. Highlights include the crispy fried chicken wings, an excellent kao soi, and a Dungeness crab fried rice. Quality preparations also make deft use of local ingredients, such as the grilled wild boar collar served with lime juice, toasted rice, and lots of chili pepper.

The menu at this popular Ballard restaurant is minimal and lighter than one might see at more traditional Italian joints, and changes daily. Recent standouts include a chicory salad with persimmon and pomegranate molasses and a decadent saffron spaghetti bolognese with pork and veal. There’s also an outdoor deck and expanded sidewalk seating.

This all-day cafe, brunch spot, and bar on Ballard Avenue features a Mediterranean-inspired indoor space replete with white tile and sky-blue arches. Brunch-goers line up outside the door on weekends to get a seat in a greenhouse-like space to the side of the building decorated with palm fronds, or to sip champagne around a coveted table inside with a propane fire. The menu features sandwiches with smoked meats, hummus with house-made pita and za’atar, and a satisfying gluten free pancake made with steel cut oats and apple butter. At night, the back bar serves well-balanced, creative cocktails.

The Ballard outpost of Uttam Mukherjee and Aakanksha Sinha’s Indian street food business, which started as a farmer’s market stall and has a Capitol Hill location, serves kathi rolls made with roti wrapped around piles of paneer, potato, spicy chicken, and juicy lamb kebabs, whose rich flavors pair perfectly with a tangy mango lassi. Spice Waala also recently started serving soft-serve ice cream with Indian-inspired flavors like rose-cardamom and pistachio-cardamom.

Set in a beautiful brick building on NW Market Street with an airy dining room and leafy patio, this neighborhood bistro serves creative dishes like radishes with salmon roe and creme fraiche, Manila clams in cider broth, and pork chops with fermented greens. The business also has a wine club and a small cafe called Red Arrow Coffee in the backyard.

After almost 20 years of working in Seattle-area restaurants, Chef Rhabbie Coquia is finally cooking the dishes he grew up eating in Manila at his new Ballard restaurant. Inside Bunsoy, diners sip cocktails with Southeast Asian flavors like calamansi, pandan, ube, tamarind, and various tropical fruits at a long bar surrounded by palms in pots or snack on appetizers like pork lumpia, musubi made with house-made spam, and isaw (Filipino grilled meat on sticks). Entrees include brisket bulalo (stew), lechon porchetta with pork liver sauce, and a duck confit adobo, a dish which shows off Coquia’s French culinary training. Half or whole Dungeness crabs — sourced locally along with most of the other ingredients used in the restaurant — are served with a balaw sauce (fermented shrimp and coconut butter) and strewn with fresh herbs.

This Ballard bar and kitchen is led by Elisabeth Kenyon, previously of Manolin, who crafts an assortment of Sri Lankan and South Indian snacks like egg rolls stuffed with lamb and potato curry, tomato, and curry leaf, and yogurt-marinated spiced fried chicken. The cocktail menu includes South Asian ingredients like toasted coriander seeds, turmeric, and tamarind date chutney. The bar won a James Beard award for best design for restaurants with under 75 seats in 2020, and Kenyon was nominated for a separate James Beard Award for her cooking in 2022.

It’s only fitting that Cookie’s Country Chicken has found a home in Ballard, a neighborhood with strong nautical ties. Owner Brian Chandler spent 10 years in the maritime industry, including a stint spent perfecting his fried chicken recipe while feeding oil industry crews in Louisiana. Chandler started Cookie’s as a pop-up, having a consistent spot in Pioneer Square. The new Ballard location includes more menu offerings, with sides like mashed potatoes with gravy, mac and cheese, and collard greens.

This new coffeeshop on Leary Ave brought Mexican coffee culture to Ballard in February 2022 with drinks like dark chocolate habanero mochas, Valencia mochas, and mochas made with stone-ground Mexican chocolate. Valentina’s also serves a variety of pastries and fresh-squeezed orange juice, another staple in Mexican breakfasts. The cafe is owned by David Orozco, who also owns the next-door Asadero restaurant, part of the Asadero steakhouse mini chain. Perhaps due to its location off of Ballard’s main strip, or because its overshadowed by the next-door restaurant, the cafe is normally mostly empty and is a good spot for remote work.