Ono, named for Oahu-born owner Steven Ono, is a seafood lover’s dream in Edmonds, offering possibly the highest-quality poke in the Seattle area on a menu that rotates depending on what’s fresh. Just as importantly, the restaurant uses a light hand with flavorings so you don’t lose the flavor of the fish itself, whether you’re eating salmon dressed with ponzu or a spicy ahi bowl.

Pinehurst’s Jewish deli and bakery is a versatile comfort-food spot every neighborhood needs. Owner Josh Grunig, formerly of Grand Central Bakery, offers a bounty of baked goods, including whole cakes, sourdough loaves, croissants, and challah, as well as some of the best bagels in Seattle. The covered patio, surrounded by planters, is a great place to can slurp matzo ball soup or eat what Grunig calls his “big, ridiculous sandwiches,” piles of house-smoked pastrami and corned beef between slices of rye bread or bagel halves. You can also order the smoked meat, and other Jewish deli staples like whitefish and chopped liver, by the pound, and the shop’s delivery service covers most of the Seattle area.

Kirkland’s Northern Italian fine dining mainstay offers several excellent seasonal tasting menus, including pescatarian, vegetarian, and vegan options. Chef Holly Smith’s omnivorous tasting menus include dishes like Anderson Valley lamb chops with turnip gratin, while a vegan tasting menu features meat-free marvels like green garlic soup with fava bean toast.

Owner Rajah Gargour’s Lebanese background informs the food at this intimate Ballard restaurant, which is particularly friendly to vegetarians with its many plant-based meze. The small plates of lentils ground with roasted garlic, house labneh, and sweet pears in savory tahini always impress, and the chef’s choice (or “Rajah roulette,” as the restaurant has called it) dinner on Sunday makes for one of the city’s best dining experiences, brimming with uncommon and seasonal dishes.

London native Kevin Smith has built a cult following over the last few years for Beast and Cleaver, turning the Ballard spot into one of the city’s top destinations for carnivores. During the day, the business is simply an excellent whole-animal butcher shop serving house-made sausages and pates, local and imported steaks, and chicken, duck, and pork products, with plenty of expert recommendations for what to do with unusual cuts. But at night, the celebration of meat continues: On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the place becomes a casual wine bar serving wine with charcuterie and small plates, and on the weekends, it’s an exclusive tasting-menu restaurant under the moniker the Peasant, which serves dishes like koji-aged beef and duck confit with Yorkshire pudding waffles.

From a farmers market favorite to a permanent tamale window near Green Lake, this popular Mexican spot from founders Osbaldo Hernandez and Dennis Ramey (with Hernandez’s parents helping run the operation) serves half-pound tamales packed with rich flavors. The salsa roja pork and the salsa verde chicken versions are as dreamy as you’d expect but don’t miss out on vegan and vegetarian options too, including tamales filled with sweet potato and mole and salsa roja and jackfruit. Everything comes with pickled onions and carrots and goes great with house-made agua de horchata. You can even stock up on bags of frozen tamales to steam at home.

Among Seattle’s many neighborhood Thai restaurants, Ballard’s Pestle Rock stands out for using only local meat in its dishes and for staying laser-focused on Isan (Northeast) Thai cuisine. The flavors here are bold and unadulterated, with bright lemongrass and spicy chile enlivening the house-made sausage and funky, earthy shrimp paste covering the green beans and caramelized pork belly in the tua phad kapee. There’s no wrong pick from the list of “tossed” dishes, which come with lime juice and toasted rice powder, though the pork larb and nam tok (grilled wild boar collar) are particularly memorable. Try the wings at next-door sibling Sen Noodle Bar too.

James Beard Award-winning chef Renee Erickson has had a major hand in the evolution of Seattle’s dining scene, and her Sea Creatures restaurant group owns many of Seattle’s top restaurants, from steakhouse Bateau to Westward on Lake Union. But Erickson has never let her original Ballard bar slip. The Walrus and the Carpenter serves several varieties of Washington oysters, seafood dishes like raw albacore tuna with Meyer lemon sauce and blood oranges, and snacks like beef tartare, beef shank terrine, and plates of sliced cheese, along with a long wine list and a thoughtful cocktail menu. The dining room is bright and airy, and the heated, covered patio sparkles with string lights. Be warned that you can’t make reservations at this perennial favorite; on the upside, this is one of the few Seattle-area date-night restaurants open on Mondays.

A growing number of excellent independent pizzerias in Seattle represent pizza nerds’ obsessive quests for the perfect pie, all a little different but often built on a base of local grains and seasonal toppings. Fremont’s Lupo stands out for its chewy, blistered sourdough pies with powerful but perfectly balanced flavors, like the burrata and soppressata pizza topped with sharp Calabrian chile peppers, hot honey, and grand cheese. Lupo also has a full bar and a solid list of natural wines. For a more casual experience with the same attention to the craft, check out the owners’ new sibling, Stevie’s Famous, in Burien.

Star chef Mutsuko Soma makes soba from scratch at this petite Fremont destination, which was one of Eater’s Best New Restaurant in America in 2018. Soma serves traditional soba shop dishes like seiro soba (cold with dipping sauce) and super-crunchy tempura, but also more creative dishes like soba with oysters and gochujang broth and oreo tempura accompanied by mini toasted marshmallows. Make a full night of it by sampling some sake and snacks at next-door sibling bar Hannyatou as well.

After building a strong following as a pop-up inside Fremont’s Pomerol, contemporary Indian specialist Meesha took over the space and became a full-fledged restaurant in 2020, complete with a covered and heated patio around the back. Chef Preeti Agarwal's can’t-miss dishes include rarah keema pao with expertly prepared ground lamb, fried Amritsari fish, and paneer in tomato sauce with black cardamom. The restaurant also features a robust drink menu with wine, beer, and original mocktails and cocktails like Mughal Empress, a creamy gin sour with pomegranate, rose, and sumac.

Of all the sushi chefs in Seattle, Taichi Kitamura may know the most about local fish, and at his Eastlake destination, Sushi Kappo Tamura, he provides an experience you couldn’t replicate in any other part of the country. He sources seafood, sometimes exclusive items like bairdi (aka tanner) crab, from Pacific Northwest producers like Taylor Shellfish and Skagit River Ranch as well as individual fishers, and grows some of the restaurant’s produce in a garden on the roof. You can taste the results by way of a full a la carte menu featuring sushi and hot dishes as well omakase showcasing seasonal specialties, perfect with a seasonal sake flight.

Executive chef Aisha Ibrahim helms this Queen Anne icon, owned and operated by the Canlis family for over 70 years. The gorgeous restaurant overlooking Lake Union has won several James Beard Awards in recent years, including for its design and its wine program, and serves as a study in how to do fine dining without stuffiness, including excellent service whether you walk into the piano lounge or sit for a multi-course meal. Ibrahim energizes the historic establishment with a super-seasonal approach inspired by Japanese kaiseki cooking, and options might include duck with bitter chicory, celeriac, and blood orange; grilled sablefish with abalone, dashi, and daikon; and dark chocolate sorbet with koji and spruce tips.

Often lumped in with food from neighboring Thailand when it makes the cut at all, the cuisine of Laos takes center stage at Capitol Hill’s Taurus Ox thanks to three chefs, Sydney Clark, Khampaeng Panyathong, and Jenessa Sneva, with strong Seattle dining pedigrees. The tiny counter-service shop recently upgraded to this full-service home, where dishes such as thom khem and chicken laap continue to benefit from local produce and a whole-animal approach to butchery. Don’t miss the Lao pork sausage, fragrant with lemongrass and lime leaf, or one of the city’s best patties, a smash burger made with pork jowl bacon and jaew tomato sauce. For another rare treat, pair it with a locally made sato, or Laotian rice wine, from Village Ghost.

Eric and Sophie Banh’s Vietnamese restaurants — Monsoon, the original, and Ba Bar, the hip younger sibling — are some of Seattle’s best in part because they prioritize local ingredients. Though you can find casual favorites like imperial rolls with vermicelli on the menu, Monsoon focuses on fine dining with Chinese influences served family-style. Highlights include the wok-cooked Anderson Ranch lamb with chile and cumin, the catfish steamed in a clay pot with coconut juice, and a perfectly balanced green papaya salad with charred prawns. In addition to the Capitol Hill restaurant with its rooftop patio, Monsoon has a Bellevue location.

More than 10 years in, this romantic trattoria on Capitol Hill continues to entrance diners with food from Italy’s Piedmont region. The nest of delicate tajarin pasta with butter and sage sauce is a Seattle mainstay, but every dish from chef Stuart Lane is memorable. After a satisfying dinner at Spinasse, head to next-door sibling bar Artusi for a digestif and dessert, or stop by the bar another night for snacks like beef tongue with salsa tonnata (tuna sauce) and burrata with pomegranate seeds and toasted pistachios.

At the outskirts of Pike Place Market, Le Pichet is as close as you can get to a classic Parisian bistro in Seattle, an intimate nook for an unbelievably pillowy quiche or croissant and a cafe au lait in the morning, chicken liver terrine with bread and simple salad for lunch, a roast chicken or steak frites for dinner, and a glass of wine anytime in between. The late Anthony Bourdain counted it among his favorites and it remains a refuge for local food writers, off-duty chefs, and Francophiles.

Seattle’s most influential sushi chef, Shiro Kashiba studied under Jiro Ono and brought edomae-style sushi to the city decades ago; he’s had a hand in some of the area’s top sushi restaurants, including Shiro’s in Belltown. Kashiba retired several years ago before making a triumphant return with Sushi Kashiba, this modern stunner in Pike Place Market. Diners rightly covet the first-come, first-served seats at the chef’s counter as they guarantee face time with Kashiba’s masterful team, but even if you can’t score a spot there, you should embrace the seasonal approach with an omakase menu, which will likely include local delicacies like geoduck. You can also explore octogenarian Kashiba’s legacy at restaurants like 2022 Eater Award-winner Takai By Kashiba, a Bellevue newcomer run by Jun Takai, one of Kashiba’s many proteges.

This longtime Pike Place Market wonder from chef Daisley Gordon is well-regarded for its dedication to classic Parisian fare, served in a warmly lit dining room. Start dinner with escargot or calamari, order the white bean stew with lamb, pork, and duck confit for an entree, and finish with a delightful chocolate cognac mousse. Lunch and weekend brunch menus offer house-made croissants and a popular quiche with Comté cheese, which you can also take to go.

The Pham family’s boat-shaped Pho Bac restaurant (now called the Boat and focusing on chicken and rice) was a pioneer in Seattle’s Vietnamese dining scene. The next generation, sisters Yenvy and Quynh-Vy, have carried on the family’s legacy with aplomb at places like coffee roaster Hello Em, inspired bar Phocific Standard Time, and Pho Bac Sup Shop, which kicked off the family’s current era of expansion with modern twists to the formula in Little Saigon. Tender beef falls off the bone in aromatic bowls of pho or bun bo hue, while pho fries form a satisfying base for brisket and gravy. And the fruity and herbaceous cocktails are every bit as fragrant as the soups, leaning on mango, passionfruit, Thai basil, and Vietnamese coriander.

It’s not just the view that makes Marination Ma Kai so popular, though its location on a water taxi route certainly helps. But flavorful Hawaiian-Korean fusion defines Roz Edison and Kamala Saxton’s restaurant, which also has siblings in South Lake Union and Columbia City. Unforgettable dishes include tacos filled with kalua pork or kalbi beef and signature Nunya sauce, kimchi fried rice with tofu, fish and chips with miso ginger tartar sauce, and loco moco. Order online to beat the lines and sit at the lovely patio or stroll with your food along the water toward Alki Beach.

Since opening in early 2020, Beacon Hill’s innovative Filipinx restaurant from star chef Melissa Miranda has developed a dynamic menu with items such as succulent short rib kare kare, smoked oysters, and mussels cooked with moringa. The homey space makes diners feel like they’re eating in a beloved family member’s living room, albeit one with killer cocktails, world-class food, and reservations that fill up quickly. Musang also gives back with charitable endeavors like a community kitchen and youth program Little Wildcats, which provides education about Filipinx recipes and culture.

No single restaurant can please everyone; at Off Alley, a 14-seat brick-walled restaurant in Columbia City, chef Evan Leichtling and partner Meghna Prakash embrace that truth. You don’t always find a meticulously seasonal chef’s-choice cooking style and a hand-written list of cool natural wines paired with punk music and attitude, but that approach is working here. The menu changes daily, so check the website to see what you might encounter, from juicy smoked mussels with celery on sourdough and whole quail with nettles in a cream sauce to salt cod with squid ink rice and a burning-hot Scotch bonnet ice cream.

Hillman City’s nationally acclaimed Filipino American fine dining restaurant hosts intimate tasting-menu experiences that showcase the ingenuity, storytelling ability, and passion of husband-and-wife team Aaron Verzosa and Amber Manuguid. Inventive takes on anything from pandesal to sinigang and banana ketchup weave local ingredients together with the duo’s personal journeys in the area as well as those of Filipino immigrants to the Pacific Northwest, creating a unique history lesson with each dinner. The tiny restaurant’s 12 seats are normally booked out months ahead, but you can sign up for a waiting list on the website.

A relative newcomer to the vibrant Hillman City Ethiopian scene, Delish Ethiopian Cuisine has a bar area and a comfortable atmosphere in which husband and wife Delish Lemma and Amy Abera of Addis Ababa share recipes passed down from Abera’s mother and grandmother. Run the meat-free section of the menu with the 10-item veggie combo or try succulent beef tibs pan-fried in garlic, butter, onion, and berbere spice. Delish also offers an Ethiopian coffee ceremony for five or more diners.

The name Tomo means “friend” in Japanese and pays homage to Tomoko Ishiwata Bristol, the grandmother of former Canlis chef Brady Williams. Book a seat inside the lauded chef’s intimate White Center restaurant for coursed dinners of hyper-seasonal Pacific Northwest cuisine like pork collar with squash, fermented radish chawanmushi, and sweet potato with miso caramel. No reservation? The patio and bar welcome walk-ins for a la carte bites like vegetable curry buns and an excellent selection of wine and cocktails.

After five years as a food truck, El Cabrito became a brick-and-mortar restaurant on Burien’s Ambaum Boulevard in 2019, with a few seats indoors and some covered tables on a back patio. Chef-owner Leticia Sánchez started making moles with her grandmother in Oaxaca when she was 5 years old, and these years of experience show in dishes like the expertly balanced mole coloradito that pools around pork enchiladas and the molotes (fried masa dumplings filled with potato and chorizo) drowned in smoky morita pepper and avocado salsas, all presented on brightly hued ceramics. El Cabrito also serves specials like rockfish ceviche, tamales, and blue crab empanadas.

Vashon Island’s celebrated Thai restaurant is so good that many Seattleites take the ferry over just to sample the food. Chef-owner May Chaleoy’s flavors shine brightly in entrees like whole fried trout alongside mango salad flecked with mint and cashews as well as satisfying appetizers like grilled pork skewers marinated in yellow curry. She also offers versions of ubiquitous Thai dishes with elegant twists, like pad thai served with turnips and banana blossom or tom yum soup with oyster mushrooms.