I’ve been surprised at the large number of Seattle/Eastside people (4 or 5 from Sammamish alone!) and thought it would be cool to post a Seattle Foodie Scene thread and see if takes off.
To be clear - I’m not necessarily looking for a restaurant rec thread; there are several of those, including a “Best Pizza of Seattle” thread. I’d love to have a place that shows up on my “View Your Posts” thread that has stuff like butchers, fishmongers, cheese shops or restaurants that normally would make the obligatory “Canlis, Café Juanita, Walrus and Carpenter” posts. Yelp is ok (they still keep me on as an Elite, but I don’t review much any more), but would much rather see posts from people I know/trust before I drive out to Ballard to try something
I’ll kick-off with one of my favorite destinations - Melrose Market. Melrose Market is on Cap Hill and has, imho, the best butcher in Seattle - Rain Shadow Meats. I routinely pack the kids in the car and drive 35-40 minutes to get there on the weekend and buy up for 3 days at a time. They dry-age a ton of meat on site, including quite a bit of grass-fed beef. They’ve got a sister shop in Pioneer Square that serves lunch, but I generally like the selection at Melrose better and they’ll usually set me up with atypical cuts like Teres Major, etc. Their terrines, rilletes, sausage, etc. are awesome, too.
Calf and Kid is directly across from Rain Shadow in the market. I usually can’t make it out of Melrose without spending a bunch more money at Calf and Kid; they’ve got a great selection of cheese, albeit a bit more expensive than anywhere else. Other highlights include 3 or 4 different types of Fallot mustard and day old bread at half price (awesome for croutons).
Finally, I usually hit up Homegrown for a sandwich if I’m dragging the kids along. Homegrown can be a little hit or miss, depending on how fru fru the sandwich is. My kids love their peanut butter sandwiches, including one they make with a marshmallow sauce that is ridiculous.
Great idea for a thread Andrew. I don’t live in Seattle but do frequent the city to drop off / pick up wine at SWS and visit REI, etc. I would really like to find a really top notch seafood market. Thanks for the info on Melrose Market; I’ll have to stop in next time I visit McCarthy & Schiering. Have you ever been to the Seattle Cheese Festival they have at Pikes Place; I hear it’s worth the hassle?
Have not been to the cheese festival; will have to check it out, as we eat lots of it
Re: seafood - I hit up two different places. If you do go to Melrose Market, Taylor’s Shellfish is two doors down. Taylor’s has some of the best oysters, clams and mussels you can find; Willows Inn was serving their food last week when we were there. When it comes to fish, I hit Gemini Fish Market in Issaquah. I don’t know that I’d make a drive out there from Seattle for it, over anything in downtown, but for Eastside people, it’s fantastic. The thing I appreciate most about Gemini is that Jim and team will find just about anything for you if you want to special order stuff and they’ll often do bulk orders (crawfish, lobster) or stock weird stuff (louvar). He’s also got a place in Renton, but I haven’t made it over there.
For seafood, I like Mutual Fish, followed by University Seafood, Uwajimaya, and Wong Tung Seafood.
In general, I find that the U District saturday market is great for veggies, foraged mushrooms, locally sourced meat, dairy, pretty much whatever is in season. LOVE the cream from Sea Breeze Farm on Vashon. So very good with fresh chanterelles (even better, hedgehogs), on toast. Also fabulous with fresh berries.
If you are ever in Olympia on a weekend visit the Olympia Farmers Market. The main reason I attend is to browse the meat counter at the “Stewarts Meat”. I like their selection of jerky and sausages…very good. I’ll post more about their beef later with some pictures; I’ll probably pick up some filet mignon and rib eyes to compare with similar cuts from Flannery.
This is great- I’d love to see more suggestions on this. My time constraints tend to leave me hitting the Metropolitan Market vs. anything fancy, but I do love to hit the Spanish Table on Western (just below the pike place market) for great chorizos, manchego cheese, and other Spanish ingredients.
I second Wong Tung for seafood. Note it is cash only.
If going to the Spanish Table don’t miss World Spice Merchants across the street. We keep their cajun black blend, Murray River Sea Salt, Tikka Masala, Thai and other spice blends on hand at all times.
London Plane, Matt Dillon’s new market/cafe in Pioneer Square is pretty cool, good pastries, Sitka and Spruce sourdough and prepared food.
Rama Farm peaches! Best ever and available at the University Farmer’s market for a week or two more.
Yeah, definitely don’t miss World Spice. Or Big John’s PFI, down near Uwajimaya. Lots of good Mediterranean stuff. Salt packed capers, good olive oil, top notch anchovies, olives, good cheese/charcuterie counter.
I had a deliciously fun lunch at Taylor’s Shellfish at Capitol Hill and a very nice solo dinner at the bar at Matt’s at Pike Place Market, just last week.
The Geoduck sashimi and the assorted fresh oysters at Taylor’s hit the spot after just a couple of hours from a long flight from NYC.
My dinner of seafood stew in coconut-based broth at Matt’s was unforgettable.
Can’t wait to make it back to Seattle and eat some more.
