For my money, the Hill’s best-protected and most micro district hides on Summit Avenue at Mercer Street. Among the residential forest, five businesses cluster together under a trio of 100 foot bigleaf maples: Top Pot, Sol Liquor Lounge, and Single Shot in one building, and Summit Public House and Cornelly in another. It’s like being transported to another city under that maple canopy, maybe Berlin or Melbourne. Something about the light filtering through the leaves, the urbanity, the overall tranquility. There are some West Village vibes here, too, if the West Village were quiet and smelled good.

“It’s really the neighborhood that makes the place,” says Single Shot’s owner Ruadhri (“Rory”) McCormick, who helped open the bar-resto in 2014 and is now its sole owner. “It’s so special to be on this little tree-lined side street. We’re away from the chaos of Broadway, but we’re still part of a vibrant community down here.” He confesses that, although he also co-owns Re:Public and El Grito Taqueria in South Lake Union, we’re more likely to find him up here, away from the busy crush of the Amazon village. “I hide up here more often, where we’re doing our own thing,” he says. “Down there, with all the tech offices, it’s larger groups and happy hours. I would say it’s a good mix of regulars and new faces here—but it’s more regulars during the week, and a lot of them are our neighbors. Our friends.”

The creamy burrata boasts a seasonal flair, accented by charred peaches and rhubarb purée, sauced with watercress pesto, balsamic gastrique, and pistachio oil.

Photography by Andrea Coan

Whether they’re weekly locals or vacationing visitors, McCormick says, it’s the repeat customers that keep this ship running. Although it made a splash when it opened, these days Single Shot can elude the rest of the city, as the restaurant comes up on its eleventh year this autumn. “A little tongue-in-cheek play on the name,” McCormick quips, as we joke about whether people outside the neighborhood even know about this place anymore. (Just kidding: The name comes from an antique folk art carving—a 12-foot wooden replica of a rifle—that hangs above the bar.)

In comparison to mccormick, Antonio Palma is a fresher addition to the Single Shot team, having joined up as executive chef four years ago—but he’s been a regular diner since the restaurant’s debut. “I’ve known Rory for eighteen years, through Re:Public,” Palma says. (He’s been working in local kitchens for two decades, starting off with impresario Luigi de Nunzio at his longtime pastaria Al Boccalino in Pioneer Square.) “Years ago, right when it opened, Single Shot was one of my favorite restaurants to come into on the weekends. We have a flatbread pizza, the Margherita—that’s what I used to come in for, every weekend! And then everything else was so good that it became my favorite place in Seattle. At one point, I told my partner, ‘I would like to work in that kitchen someday.’”

Single Shot’s pork chop, sourced from Idaho’s Salmon Creek Farms, is bold in flavor and presence, combining a Green Goddess dressing, charred rapini, and sauteed green apples.

Photography by Andrea Coan

Palma got his wish soon after, helping with brunch and later dinner service for several years, departing across the lake in 2018 to help open Ascend Prime Steak & Sushi in downtown Bellevue as its sous chef. “But then I came back,” he says with a grin.

Since taking the helm at Single Shot, Palma has imparted the menus with the diverse culinary geography of his resume. It’s evident in dishes like the hamachi crudo, with pristine pink slabs of yellowtail, blood orange segments sprinkled with crunchy fried-out garlic, pickled rings of red Fresno chile, and micro-herbs, all served in a swirly pool of yuzu, soy sauce, and neon-green cilantro-jalapeno oil. It’s a Japanese-Mexican mashup that’s almost too vivid and beautiful to eat.

Another crossover hit is the roasted cauliflower entrée: a whole head of the stuff, spiced and olive-oiled, blessed by the wood fire, then dressed with both tahini and hummus, peppery romesco sauce, pickled golden raisins, and blistered cherry tomatoes. This hyper-flavorful, totally vegan dish evokes a place somewhere among Italy, Syria, and the northern coast of Africa (maybe Cyprus?), and it’s loaded with more than enough fat, texture, and sheer garlic to satisfy any avowed carnivore.

Luxurious vegan fare aside, for me, the star here is still the famous pork chop. Sourced from Duroc/white-line crossbred pigs via Idaho’s Salmon Creek Farms, it’s a monster at 16 ounces and at least an inch thick. Recently, it came with a Green Goddess dressing, charred rapini, watercress, and sauteed Granny Smiths—my plate exactly matched the trees I was dining beneath, light brown and brilliant green. Palma serves it with two extra-porky baby back ribs tented over the chop like a teepee, and it’s breathtaking to behold. The architectural ribs, the caramelized crust, the vivacious green sauce, the juicy first bite of the rosy marbled pork, and its fire-sizzled rim of fat. The faint sting of capsaicin. The superb quality of the meat itself. There’s a reason this thing has been on the menu for years. The last time I dined at Single Shot, I took an order to go, because I knew my partner would be jealous if I got to eat a Single Shot pork chop and he did not.

When asked how his menus differ from the ones that were in play prior, Palma says, “When I took over at Single Shot four years ago, the menu was a lot different. The previous chef was doing more of a Southern-style cuisine. So, when I moved here, it took me a few months to get to know the customers and the neighborhood, to learn what they’re looking for.”

“Sometimes I’ll do Mediterranean dishes, but then I’ll add, like, Japanese influences,  or some influences from where I’m from, in Mexico. Or Spanish influences on Italian dishes. I use a lot of French technique too.”

Palma describes his food as, global cuisine. “Sometimes I’ll do Mediterranean dishes,” he says, “but then I’ll add, like, Japanese influences, or some influences from where I’m from, in Mexico. Or Spanish influences on Italian dishes. I use a lot of French technique too.”

Fatty hamachi crudo accompanied by blood orange and Japanese-Mexican fusion sauce.

Photography by Andrea Coan

This diversity extends to bar manager Jason Mc-Grady’s inspired craft. Drinkers shouldn’t skip the Alpine Run, comprising gin, Amaro Braulio, rosemary, lemon, and red Zirbenz liqueur, made from the cones of Austrian stone pine trees. It’s earthy, citrusy, kinda minty, and the etched glassware is a sweet extra touch. The 611 Sling, meanwhile, is a rummy take on the Singapore Sling: Pere Labat 59° Rhum Agricole, Plantation Original Dark Rum, Vedrenne Crème de Banane, hibiscus, four kinds of citrus, and Angostura bitters. And the zero-proof Trellis is a not-too-sweet summertime refresher, with Wildfred’s Bitter Orange, rosemary, orgeat, soda, and lemon.

Single shot is one of those restaurants where it’s not possible to make a mistake on the menu, which is astonishing when you get a look at its tiny kitchen. Add to this the fact that Palma’s whole thing is cooking with live fire, and it’s plain dazzling. But even if its kitchen were the size of a Cheesecake Factory, I would still love everything about this place from Palma’s thoughtful seasonal dishes and the accomplished cocktail list to its lack of fussiness and pre-tense—which, to be real, was not always the case, back when Single Shot was one of the hottest tickets in town.

Aesthetically, this restaurant is also a standout. In an elegant nod to the 1920s, the dining room has a simple gray-and-white palette, with pretty vintage tile and twinkling lights that imbue a lovely golden glow. Details like the marble bar and the white roses atop it shows attention to the holistic experience. Another bartop tenet—the vertical espresso machine that looks like something out of Metropolis—serves up a tight little espresso at 11 p.m. after your meal, Euro-style.

And those big old trees are a crucial part of the experience, of course—the feeling of being cordoned off from the rest of the city. Of knowing a truly delicious secret.

As it enters its second decade, Single Shot has evolved into an exquisite dovetailing of McCormick’s moody aesthetics and Palma’s globally inspired culinary fare—all hidden away in a cool sub-rosa geographical pocket of Seattle. In such a quickly shapeshifting urban landscape, I’m grateful that it still exists.

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Kenmore

Inside copperworks distilling Co.’s spacious Kenmore location along the Burke-Gilman Trail, De La Soil is a relaxed, community-driven, farm‑to‑table kitchen run by chef duo Cody and Andrea Westerfield (Lecosho, Serafina Osteria). Their focus is on seasonal, hyper‑local produce—almost entirely sourced from Tuk Muk Farm in nearby Woodinville—styled into approachable counter‑service dishes. Beef-fat baby carrots, chargrilled asparagus, smashburgers, and creatively crafted tacos are highlights, as are the rotating seasonal specials. The family‑friendly 5,000 square feet includes a great patio and plays host to regular events like trivia nights and pop-up markets. Naturally, Copperworks’ award‑winning spirits are available as well.

De La Soil, 7324 N.E. 175th St., Kenmore

Little Beast

Ballard

After popping up to great acclaim inside Fair Isle Brewing for a few years, Seattle’s favorite butchers are now striking out on their own. Taking over the former Ballard Pizza Co. space on Ballard Avenue, the folks at Beast & Cleaver have created a warm and welcoming English‑style pub, offering classic fare like Scotch eggs, meat pies, sausage rolls, sticky toffee pudding, and hearty Sunday roasts. Highlights so far are the lamb korma pie, currywurst rolls, and a perfectly charred pork chop with grilled nectarines. As with the pop-up version, it’s all made with top‑notch, PNW-sourced ingredients, while keeping whole‑animal butchery at the core.

Little Beast, 5107 Ballard Ave. N.W., Seattle

Caterer Richard Mullen cooks up barbecue standards.

Phot courtesy of Richard's Too Good BBQ Shop

Richard’s Too Good BBQ Shop

Madrona

In an old barber shop in Madrona, longtime caterers Richard and Lauren Mullen are cooking up barbecue standards like applewood-smoked chicken, brisket, pulled pork, and ribs. Plates come with two hard-to-choose sides: your choice of mac & cheese, bacon baked beans, dilly potato salad, collards, green salad, honey cornbread muffins, or mango-citrus coleslaw. Richard, who grew up in nearby Des Moines, is a former social worker, and he and Lauren built the shop on a foundation of community and social outreach. Everything on this menu is 100% gluten-free, and they also bottle and sell their sauces and rubs, all of which are vegan.

Richard’s Too Good BBQ Shop, 1123 34th Ave., Seattle

Marin

Downtown Seattle

Opened this summer in the recently renovated downtown Kimpton Hotel Monaco at Fourth and Spring, Marin is serving West Coast cuisine—as perhaps the name suggests. Under executive chef Robin Posey, the menu delivers globally inspired coastal fare made from PNW ingredients: grilled British Columbia king salmon, Oregon albacore tuna tartare, housemade pitas with smoked trout dip, and Rainier Beer-battered fish and chips. Longtime Seattle chef Posey (Lark, Toulouse Petit, the Hi-Life) is keeping things modern and fresh by adding cool global twists here and there. E.g., the Moroccan roasted chicken accented with ras el hanout, the charred carrots with harissa yogurt, and the marigold negroni with calendula-infused vermouth.

Marin, 1101 Fourth Ave., Seattle

Mint & Martini

Capitol Hill

This place is shaking up the fusion cuisine genre in the huge 4500-square-foot former Barrio space (RIP). Mint & Martini brings together modern Indian, Indochinese (and even a few Mediterranean and American) flavors, serving classics like biryani and lamb rogan josh and tandoori chicken, as well as a tikka masala pizza (your choice of protein), and even a selection of Italian dishes like pasta pomodoro and fettuccine alfredo. There’s a long, diverse list of beer, wine, and cocktails, and the mocktail list is pretty substantial, too. The food menu’s almost as massive as the restaurant, and about half of it’s veggie, so this place is a must-investigate for vegetarians who like to party.

Mint & Martini, 1420 12th Ave., Seattle

Kahlo & Loyal rethinks post-work tapas and tipples.

Photo courtesy of Khalo & Loyal

Kahlo & Loyal

Ballard

A block off the main drag, Kahlo & Loyal is serving cocktails and small plates in the former Little Prague Bakery space. Born and raised in Durban, South Africa, owner Sheldon Raju has lived and cooked around the world, and his new restaurant-bar is a patchwork quilt of culinary influences: Mexican, German, Chinese, Spanish, Korean, and South African, to name a few. Some crowd faves so far are the crispy paprika-smoked calamari with miso mayo, the bibim guksu-spiced soba noodles with pickled veg and poached quail eggs, and the steamed shrimp baos full of cucumber, mint, and basil. With mismatched china, walls covered in quirky art, and a peacock theme popping up throughout the space, it’s a fun addition to the ongoing Market Street (well, almost) portfolio of bars and restaurants.

Kahlo & Loyal, 5608 17th Ave. N.W., Seattle

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Current cravings. Ramie’s menu changes often but is a consistently curaten exploration of Vietnamese flavors with a contemporary flair.

Photography by Brooke Fitts

Where Ba Sa does contemporary Vietnamese cuisine — that is, classic dishes restyled with Pacific Northwest seafood or other local ingredients — Ramie serves a completely bespoke menu from the school of Vietnamese fine dining, blending bold Southeast Asian flavors, Pacific Northwest produce, and refined technique into both cuisine and cocktails. The Nguyen siblings named their inventive new restaurant after an herb in the nettle family that grows throughout Southeast Asia: Ramie, (rhymes with Jamie) is used for both culinary and textile purposes.

“The first year has been wild,” Nguyen says. “I thought it was going to be hard, but I don’t think I could have imagined it being this difficult.”

The space, formerly the longtime home of Omega Ouzeri, was one of the first stumbling blocks Nguyen ran into. A testament to modern design, in charcoal and jade tones with brass accents, the space is also enormous, with a wide-open dining room, a sleek bar area and an upstairs loft. “Yeah, our space is beautiful, but it’s huge,” Trinh says. “We have the upstairs too, and it’s massive. So, when we’re busy, it’s lively, it’s great, everybody wants to come in. But if you’re the only guests in the restaurant and it’s a slow night, it’s so intimidating.”

Then there’s Ramie’s location at 14th Avenue and East Pike Street. It’s a few blocks from the crux of the action, meaning that it doesn’t get many walk-ins. Trinh also cites SEO issues on Ramie’s website among the various foibles during the inaugural year.

A different concept

Although both siblings co-own Ba Sa, Trinh Nguyen is the sole owner at Ramie while Thai serves as head chef. The menu changes often but is consistently a curated exploration of Vietnamese flavors, always presented with contemporary flair. The vibrant mam kho quẹt, a seasonal vegetable crudité served with a dip of purple taro purée, mam (fish sauce) and shrimp powder, looks like an artist’s palette representing every color in the rainbow, all made of veggies.

For entrées, the cá chiên — a fried whole branzino accompanied by chili sambal, chimichurri, kimchi cucumber and an onsen egg fish sauce — barely resembles a traditional cá chiên, demonstrating the Nguyens’ ability to refresh a familiar Viet dish with totally unexpected flavors. The suon heo nuong, pork ribs that are usually prepared with soy sauce, five spice and other usual characters, are here rubbed and then glazed with coffee and served alongside butternut squash purée.

“We didn’t open Ramie as a business. We opened it as a passion project. Thai and I really, really want to push the boundaries of Vietnamese food.”

One of the most fascinating dishes here is the rau diếp xoăn, a savory pudding made from radicchio, cucumbers, honey-roasted walnuts, roasted peanuts and rice crackers; it is then accented with a piquant pesto made from rau ram (known locally as Vietnamese coriander). It’s a vegetarian cover of tiet canh vit, a duck blood pudding that’s popular in Vietnam but perhaps less so stateside, so the Nguyens decided to create a unique version for their specific audience.

Ramie has become known for its innovative dishes and vibrant flavors.

Photography by Brooke Fitts

Even the simpler apps, like bánh tiêu — a hollowed-out loaf of bread served with whipped butter, local honey, fleur de sel and roasted sesame — are things you won’t find anywhere else. Ramie’s dessert menu is required viewing, too, thanks to Trinh’s background in French pastry. Her multi layered chè thái is a coconut pavlova adorned with durian pastry cream, fruit milk ice cream, jackfruit veil and shiso dust — another total original.

Unexpected course

The life of a chef-owner was never Trinh’s master plan. “I don’t think I ever imagined growing up and saying I’m either a chef or a restaurateur or anything,” she laughs, “by any means.” She describes once dreaming of a career as a singer, and later of one as an hotelier.

When she was 19, just weeks before she was slated to start her bachelor’s degree in business management and finance, her parents told her they had bought a Vietnamese restaurant — Pho T&N — and needed her to punt her college plans in order to help them restyle the restaurant as their own and open it as quickly as possible.

Within days, she found herself negotiating the first lease for the restaurant and figuring out how to commission a sign from a commercial sign maker — things she had never thought about. Once the shop was open, she ended up working the front of the house for six years while her parents cooked in the back.

Trinh has always been one to take challenges in stride. The Nguyen family moved to Washington state in 1998, after spending seven years in a refugee camp in Thailand, where her brother Thai was born. “My parents and my grandparents had multiple restaurants before the fall of Saigon,” she says, and although she didn’t always enjoy cooking herself, she’s always loved to eat and has been keenly interested in culinary processes, even back in Thailand.

“As a kid, when I was in the refugee camp, I would just sit and watch people cook and put things together. And I was always drawn into the dessert side of things.”

Mission driven. Trinh Nguyen, right, and her head chef brother, Thai, opened Ramie in the Capitol Hill neighborhood as a passion project.

Photography by Brooke Fitts

She eventually became a co-owner of Pho T&N, which is still in business in Poulsbo today, before opening the award-winning Ba Sa on Bainbridge Island with Thai in 2019. Ramie could be considered the next phase of their journey as chefs and restaurant owners, where no holds are barred when it comes to their combined culinary creativity.

“We didn’t open Ramie as a business,” Trinh says. “We opened it as a passion project. Thai and I really, really want to push the boundaries of Vietnamese food. I feel like it’s time. Every ethnic cuisine has gone through it, from pizza to pasta to sushi to hand rolls to ramen, (and) now to real rustic Vietnamese dishes, whether they’re eaten at home, or dishes that are just [beyond] what Americans know of the cuisine.”

Trinh eventually did go to college, earning her degree in finance and business management, and she spent years working in banking after graduating. It was her parents’ 2016 retirement that drew her back to the family business, along with Thai, to her own surprise.

Considering the acclaim Ramie has received in just a year — and the inspired dishes she and Thai have conjured up — it’s kind of impossible to imagine her doing anything else. Although it’s been a bit of an uphill climb to make this latest dream exist, Trinh figures it’s all in a day’s work.

“If it were easy,” she shrugs, “everyone would be doing it.”

The post Ramie Shows Seattle What Vietnamese Cuisine Can Be appeared first on Seattle magazine.

Here are a handful of other new openings sure to please the palate.

Robin’s Restaurant and Market

Fremont

Fresh off the December 2024 debut of Greenwood American Bistro, chef Grant Rico and business partner (and former culinary school roommate) Or’el Anbar have followed it up with Robin’s Restaurant and Market on Stone Way in eastern Fremont. The team — the parent company is known as Model Restaurant Group — took over the old Art of the Table space, restyling it as an upscale diner that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The morning menu features waffle sandwiches and huevos rancheros. Lunch is all about big salads and deli fare, while dinner spotlights stick-to-your-ribs entrees such as braised beef with polenta and roasted romanesco broccoli or local mussels with nduja butter and grilled bread. The “market” part of the name pertains to a selection of cookbooks, pantry items and natural wines, the latter curated by Bellevue’s Story in a Bottle Wines.

The waffle sandwiches are a breakfast staple at Robin’s.

Photo courtesy of Robin's Restaurant and Market

Schooner Street

Ballard

You just can’t keep Liz Nielsen and Darren Miller down. After the married couple’s longtime neighborhood bar, The Stepping Stone, closed in January 2025, Ballardites were left bereft — but not for long. A few months later, the duo has reopened right up the road as Schooner Street, in the spot once known as Pour Decisions (and, prior to that, The Dane). “Schooner Street” was the original name for Northwest 80th Street when Ballard was an incorporated city, but was changed when Seattle annexed it in 1907. The historic street’s namesake pub will serve beer and wine alongside sandwiches, soups and salads.

The pub will serve beer and wine alongside sandwiches, soups and salads

Photo courtesy of Schooner Street

Bottega Gabriele

Pioneer Square

As of march 2025, Bottega Gabriele has moved into a small slot on the ground floor of the 110-year-old Pioneer Square Hotel at Yesler Street and Western Avenue. Owned by two native Italian Gabrieles — that’s Gabriele Russo from Naples and Gabriele Brownstein from Sardinia — this picture-perfect salumeria looks like it was plucked from a Fellini film. Specializing in huge focaccia sandwiches with hearty fillings, the deli’s standouts include the mortadella sandwich with lemon zest, arugula, ricotta and hot Calabrian honey, as well as the prosciutto with almond butter, apples and pecorino.

The Gabrieles also sell imported meats and cheeses by the pound.

Enjoy a focaccia sandwich with hearty fillings like mortadella, ricotta and prosciutto.

Photo courtesy of Bottega Gabriele

Cocoa Legato

Greenwood

On north 85th street and Greenwood Avenue North, Cocoa Legato has moved into the long-empty spot just east of Hummus Cafe. Owner Aaron Lindstrom, a former manager at Theo Chocolate, had a dream of fusing a chocolate shop with a music venue, so sweet-toothed music fans can now catch live bands while they indulge. Legato, which means “smooth” in Italian, is a nod to both the classical music term and the product that Lindstrom is selling.

Indulge in a sweet chocolate while listening to live music at Cocoa Legato

PHOTO BY SHERI FOREMAN

Jiang Nan

Bellevue

Beloved New York city-based restaurant chain Jiang Nan has at last arrived on the West Coast, opening a new chandelier-bedecked location inside The Shops at the Bravern in downtown Bellevue. The new 8,000-square-foot space is the chain’s largest so far. Jiang Nan is known throughout the East Coast for its elevated pan-Chinese menus, covering everything from famous dishes such as Peking duck or xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) to deeper cuts like abalone and sea snail soup or stir-fried loofah.

The crab dishes are a must at Jian Nan.

Photo courtesy of Jian Nan

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“I’ve always had my eye on this place,” Reyes says, while telling the story of how his restaurant, Lenox, polymorphed from popup to food truck to brick-and-mortar. “I helped open The Innkeeper, actually. And then it was Jerk Shack. So, this is kind of the Caribbean spot in Seattle.”

Chef Jhonny Reyes has long wanted to open a brick-and-mortar restaurant.

Photography by Andrea Coan

Alongside the building’s culinary pedigree, he cites its leafy, secluded patio — a rarity for the neighborhood and the fact that it’s a detached stand-alone building, when he decided that this must be the place.

One year after opening his Nuyorican restaurant, Lenox, at Second Avenue and Wall Street in Belltown, Reyes says it looks just like the sketches he and his wife, Sarah Fox, put together, an accomplishment he calls “amazing.” After scoring his dream location, Reyes assembled a dream team to help manage it, comprising old pals he’s worked with across his decades-long career in the Seattle restaurant industry. He’s brought in John Fry to manage the bar, who previously did the same at the well-hailed Rumba. Brian Mar, former culinary director at Saint Bread, is the operations manager.

Reyes always envisioned owning his own full-service restaurant long before Lenox’s pop-up and food truck phases. He worked in the kitchens of myriad local fine-dining spots, such as Roux and Art of the Table. He cites all these gigs as a substitution for college that trained him for his current role as chef-owner. “I never went to culinary school,” Reyes says, “so my whole thing was to find places that do something really, really well, and then stay there for a year and learn as much as I could.”

This approach taught him enough to snag a slot on The Food Network’s Chopped in 2022, where he walked away with the crown. Doing this also landed him at legendary Madison Park bistro Luc, where he spent four years working for highly decorated Chef Thierry Rautureau, who died in 2023. With Lenox, alongside celebrating the Afro-Caribbean recipes he learned from his parents and grandparents, Reyes is aiming to implement all of the things he learned from Rautureau and great chefs like him.

Rautureau in particular was a major influence. They were, Reyes recalls, “really tight.” “I was very sad that he didn’t get to experience (Lenox) before his passing,” he says. “It’s funny, because one of my cooks the other day was saying, ‘Yeah, I guess we’re a French-style kitchen,’ because everything here comes down to sauces and stocks and bases. That’s all Thierry.”

The inspiration for both the food and drinks at Lenox comes from owner/chef Jhonny Reyes’ culture and upbringing.

Photography by Andrea Coan

With a full staff and full-service kitchen, Reyes has been able to craft and serve the more elaborate dishes and diverse menus that he couldn’t have pulled off in a truck. For example, the magnificent lechon, a spiral of crackly butterflied pork belly served in a lake of yellow coco greens with seasoned rice, pigeon peas and Haitian-style pikliz, is a menu star — and a highly photogenic one. See also the pescado crujiente, a heartbreakingly perfect halibut fillet on a bed of coconut-imbued barley, braised leeks, and roasted mushrooms. The mushrooms and barley create somewhat of a risotto effect, except tropical, thanks to a reduction of coconut milk and Malta India, a non-alcoholic malt beverage from Puerto Rico.

Reyes’ utterly distinct take on tres hermanas is similarly astounding. It’s a Technicolor jumble of roasted corn, haricots verts, and summer squash that curves around a lake of creamy Green Goddess dressing, studded with pickled cherries and sprinkled with farmer’s cheese, pickled onions and peppers, fresh herbs and microgreens. It sounds exotic, and it is. It rivals even the entrees for tastiest dish on the list.

It’s hard to find an item on this menu that isn’t a show-stopper. Reyes is also particularly proud of the alcapurria, a cassava-and-plantain fritter commonly eaten in Puerto Rico, although Lenox’s version is filled with Cuban picadillo beef.

While Lenox is a love letter to his Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Jamaican heritage, by way of Spanish Harlem, Reyes was a child of Seattle. When his dad moved to the area for a tech job, 5-year-old Reyes came along, though he frequently traveled back to New York City to see his mom and extended family. Although he’s never lived in New York as an adult, he still goes there often, so he’s treating the restaurant as more of an homage to his family’s food culture, not a personal biography per se.

“And it’s actually me reconnecting with my roots and my culture,” Reyes goes on, “because some of that got lost in translation when we moved over here. With this restaurant, even my dad and my sisters are getting prouder and prouder of their own heritage. It makes me proud too.”

He’s been in the restaurant industry nearly as long as he’s lived in Seattle. As a Franklin High School student — and later Center School alum — living in Seward Park, he got his start as a dishwasher at nearby Pizzuto’s. He’s lived in just about every Seattle neighborhood in town, including Belltown.

Reyes is stoked to be back in the neighborhood, and in light of Lenox’s unexpected (to him, at least) success, he’s taking care to be a part of the fabric of the community, rather than a nuclear self-contained business. “I’m just hoping that the amount of business that we’re doing is also helping the businesses around us. You know what I’m saying? I really want to make sure that, like, people are going out to get the drinks nearby after they come here.”

He also hopes that his still-new neighbors will pop in at Lenox and say hi. “We’re trying to be friends with everybody,” Reyes says. “That’s the dream.”

The post One Year In, Lenox’s Dreams Are All Coming True appeared first on Seattle magazine.

Here’s a quick list of some of the region’s newest and most exciting restaurant/bar openings.

La Loba

South Lake Union

On the ground floor of the brand-new 1 Hotel in South Lake Union, Barcelona-born and Las Vegas-based star chef Oscar Amador will open La Loba this spring. Coming from Le Cirque at the Bellagio, Amador amalgamates Pacific Northwestern seafood with Catalan dishes at La Loba (“The She-Wolf”), such as salmon candy smoked-montadito and octopus al olivo with masa fritters, avocado, pickled red onion, and lime.

Amador is best known for his work in Spain at the Michelin-starred El Bulli and El Raco de Can Fabes, both now closed — but FYI, since landing in the United States, he’s also been a 2023 James Beard Award finalist and a semifinalist in 2024.

Led by Chef Oscar Amador, a Barcelona native, La Loba pushes the boundaries of traditional Catalan cuisine.

Photo courtesy of La Loba

The Dandy of King Street Crossing

Pioneer Square/Lumen Field

This pioneer square wine-and-cocktail bar opened in Pioneer Square in mid-March, sharing a building with Il Terrazzo Carmine and General Porpoise doughnuts. From the owners of The Coupe & Flute on Beacon Hill, The Dandy also does small plates with Asian and Middle Eastern influences such as meatballs vindaloo, lemongrass steamed clams, and an elaborate hummus strewn with garlicky oil, herbs, and crispy bits — among tall ferns, dark tones, and cool geometric wallpaper. It’s also just one short block from Lumen Field and T-Mobile Park, making for a perfect pre- or post-Seahawks or Mariners game respite.

The Wayland Mill

Northlake

From the owner of James Beard Award-nominated Saint Bread (Best Bakery, 2025), The Wayland Mill is slated to open along the northern shore of Lake Union this spring. The Northlake bistro will serve yōshoku cuisine, which interprets Western dishes like spaghetti Bolognese or biscuits and gravy with Japanese style and flair.

Owner Yasuaki Saito also owns and operates Tivoli in Fremont and Post Alley Pizza in downtown Seattle, and he was previously on the team at the now-closed London Plane, so you know this guy knows how to throw (dough) down. He’s also one of Seattle magazine’s Most Influential People, not for nothing.

Peanut butter shoyu icebox pie from The Wayland Mill.

Photo courtesy of The Wayland Mill

Mr. Gyros

Greenwood

After literally exploding in 2016 due to a natural gas leak, Mr. Gyros has at last reopened at North 84th Street and Phinney Avenue North, nine years later. What may seem like a run-of-the-mill fast food stop to some has special importance to Greenwoodites, as many hold vivid memories of the massive blast, which leveled the building that once housed Neptune Coffee, G&O Family Cyclery, and the Quik Stop convenience store as well as Mr. Gyros, and seriously damaged many others.

After a crowdfunding campaign, the Arsheed brothers, Sammy and Joni, opened the newest Mr. Gyros location in mid-March, serving the very same menu of shawarma, gyros, kebabs, and other Greek classics. “We’re not just reopening a restaurant,” Sammy told the PhinneyWood Blog in March. “We’re reuniting with the neighborhood that helped make Mr. Gyros what it is today. This reopening represents the resilience and determination of this community.”

Grann

Sixth Avenue, Tacoma

One of the area’s most anticipated restaurant openings is down in Tacoma. In April, chef Reginald Jacob Howell and pitmaster Denzel Johnson took over the former Sixth Avenue space once occupied by The Table and are now serving Texas-style barbecue with Indian, Creole, and Caribbean flavors. Tacoma-born Howell, who led local favorite en Rama’s kitchen for a few years, says the name is “a play on grandma or gran-gran.”

Highlights from the debut menu include butter chicken pasta with andouille, smoked beef biryani, masala tandoori ribs, and gulab jamun beignets.

Laurel

Capitol Hill

At just under 500 square feet, this bijoux little jewel box debuted this spring on Capitol Hill’s busy, buzzy Olive Way. Open from a staggering 8 a.m. to 2 a.m., Laurel does coffee in the morning and then switches to cocktails in the evening. (How Scandinavian.) Co-owners Kate Opatz — who also owns Montana next door, as well as Rich Rich and both La Dives — and biz partner Niko Ciel named the cafe-bar after Opatz’s mother. They keep things light and femme, with houseplants, colorful tiles, and pastel tones. The Laurel Collins, made with Fords gin, bay leaf, lemon, black pepper, and walnut bitters, is a standout.

Laurel’s espresso martini features vodka, fresh espresso, vanilla, chocolate, and orange zest.

Photo by Lauren Max Winkelman

Triumph Valley

Shoreline

The only local dim sum restaurant to rival those found on No. 3 Road in Richmond, B.C. — per Seattle Times’ Tan Vinh — Renton’s Triumph Valley opened a Shoreline satellite this spring, on North Westminster Way and North 155th Street. The new location has the same tremendous menu, encompassing a couple hundred items, from which you can order piecemeal or just choose one of the combos. The dish for which it’s most loved, the roast duck, comes in both Peking and Hong Kong styles, and the dim sum is pretty classic stuff — xiao long bao, pork-and-corn potstickers, red bean sesame balls.

You can also opt for the entrees. Plenty of recognizable Cantonese standards here, like sweet and sour spareribs and beef chow fun, along with some deeper cuts, such as chicken feet and spare-ribs over rice in lotus leaf. This place has everything.

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These crepes were nut-brown, thanks to the inclusion of buckwheat flour, and flavor combos were mostly classics like ham and Gruyère but sometimes unusual (to me), such as a crepe stuffed with anchovy puree, spinach, potatoes, and boiled egg, garnished with lemon. Specials were always based on hyper-local ingredients, something you didn’t see a ton of in Seattle back then.

I remember being introduced to black cod at 611 Supreme. My first chicken liver pate was there, and my first taste of herb butter, and my first bite of bone marrow. It’s where I learned the enormous difference between packaged bread and freshly baked bread, and why Starbucks wasn’t even close to the best coffee Seattle had to offer.

The space at 611 E. Pine is now a pawn shop, but I can’t walk by without seeing 611 Supreme inside. It was one of the restaurants that taught me to love restaurants, and more than 25 years later, I still think about it with great regularity.

SMALL WORLD

Well, I was recently reminded what a cozy place Seattle still can be. On a rainy night way out north in Lake Forest Park, I met some friends for pizza and drinks at The Local 104. Open since 2018 in a former mini-mart building on Lake Ballinger Way, this place had certainly sailed under my radar, but the parking lot was packed on a weeknight, so the neighborhood folks clearly know what’s up.

The restaurant’s got a smart strategy: Everyone who walks in the door gets hit by a pleasantly smoky wave of pizza smells from the wood-fired oven, which is cleverly situated right in front of the main entrance. Co-owner Tony Vujovich isn’t far behind, doing the greeting and seating.

Gregarious and jovial, Vujovich spent almost two decades at Larry’s Markets, opening new stores, working in specialty produce, and hobnobbing with small farmers. “Some of these farmers were so small that back then, they’d deliver to the supermarkets, so I’d get to know them. And then, because I’m a curious person, in my free time, I’d go out to these farms and go out and talk to them about the unique stuff they were growing.”

Later, Vujovich found himself working for various winemakers in Woodinville’s wine district. That’s how he accidentally transitioned to the pizza world, originally making his neo-Neapolitan pizzas as a popup operation.

Vujovich’s long connection to small Pacific Northwest farms transcends the produce category at Local 104, as local producers are all over the menu. From the list of inventive pizzas, our team agrees on the Quixote, made with Spanish chorizo, dates, parsley, and cream, and the Aries, featuring harissa, tomato, lamb merguez sausage, oil-cured peppers, and preserved lemon. Both are cheesed with fior di latte mozzarella and manchego. Beneath their magnificent and elaborate toppings, the pies have a crisp bottom with a chewy, yeasty interior, the flavorful crust at once sturdy and light.

Our table of three consumes every speck of both pizzas, and a massive fried chicken thigh sandwich besides. As prophesied by Vujovich, one of us could probably finish a pizza solo — especially when the flavor combos hit as deliciously as these did. The gorgeous, premium Iberico chorizo served alongside the sweet medjool dates is a real showstopper, as is the combination of chili-based harissa with lamb merguez. I’d never have thought of putting dates on a pizza. Vujovich tells us the dates are tossed in sherry vinegar and pepper before going on the pie. It’s brilliant. We’re learning here.

FULL CIRCLE

Co-owner Margaret Edwins also comes around to chat with us briefly. We gush over how much we loved everything and ask about her background. She says she used to own a restaurant years ago on Capitol Hill.

I really did almost burst into tears when she said the name 611 Supreme. “I’m so glad to have found you again!” I blurted out, babbling in the next breath about what 611 Supreme had meant to me at age 19. In a flash, it made perfect and absolute sense that this particular person was behind this particular menu, if only as a co-collaborator, and that I’d just gotten such an education out of something as simple as a pizza.

The ricotta ice cream, by the way, was spectacular — seasoned with the same preserved lemon from the pizza and served with stone fruit. Have you ever seen preserved lemon served on ice cream? Cheese ice cream, no less? Simple but genius.

It took me decades of bopping around Seattle to meet Margaret Edwins and Tony Vujovich, but I’ve learned about food from both of them my whole life. As it turns out, I’m still learning from them today. Perhaps you have been too. Either way, we’re all very lucky to know where to find them these days, and that it’s just up the street.

Small town, eh?

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Lisle opened Lucy’s Bottle Shop in January in a nondescript midcentury warehouse at 23rd Avenue West and Emerson Street — the newest addition to a nameless little micro-neighborhood to the west of Fisherman’s Terminal, just around the corner from Figurehead Brewing. Its mission behind opening Lucy’s, Lisle says, is to exclusively sell and promote wines made by women, BIPOC, and queer winemakers — the unsung wine heroes of the industry.

The wine industry has traditionally been controlled overwhelmingly by straight white men, who often gatekeep the craft so that only a select few get to reap its booming profits. Unsurprisingly, when it comes to owning wineries or even having enough access to a vineyard to learn the trade, it takes a lot of cash to buy in, and that’s where marginalized people don’t always get the chance to play. Approximately 1% of American wineries are Black-owned, for example, and that number plummets outside of the U.S. Women, meanwhile, make up just 14% of winemakers (that number was 10% in 1890) and 38% of winery owners, statistics that have slowly grown over the ages but certainly still need more representation.

The long, skinny warehouse that Lucy’s inhabits was a CrossFit gym for the last decade or so, and it initially seems like a weird spot for this type of business. But step inside, and you realize that the layout, in fact, lends itself very well to a bar and bottle shop. The office in front serves as the wine shop, full of glass-door coolers and pretty bottle displays, and the wine bar lives in the open, airy space in back. It’s a friendly, chummy vibe back there, and folks all seem to know each other.

On the walls is colorful work by LGBTQ+ artists, displayed courtesy of Fishbowl Gallery on Lower Queen Anne. Nestled among the bottles on the bright yellow shelves there’s more art, alongside bags of fancy imported snacks, all for sale. On the menu, alongside grab-and-go food from queer-owned Baskette in Fremont, there’s a curated menu of single pours and themed tasting flights for different palates.

Open for only a few months, Lucy’s already has a rep as a dog-friendly bar, so if the clientele doesn’t already know each other, they’re going to shortly, once their pups insist upon it. The wine helps, too.

“There’s so much to know about wine,” Lisle says, “so I try to offer accessibility and keep things approachable, and lots of diversity among each style of wine.”

The shop has a variety of wines, from $18 bottles to $90 bottles. Perusing the shelves, it’s cool to see a cabernet from Mexico on the shelf next to a French cab, or to see a rosé made by a Punjabi- and Black-owned winery, Saanj, right here in Seattle.

There are wines you might be unfamiliar with — for me, it was Lebnani, a natural wine available in white (abyad) or red (ahmar) from Mersel Wines, based in Lebanon. Lisle happens to have a bottle of the red Lebnani open and includes it in my flight of natural wines — it’s got cherry–strawberry notes, smoky with a little licorice. Really lovely.

Originally from Chicago, Lisle has a background as a chef, most recently at Harry’s Fine Foods in Seattle, and for a decade prior in Los Angeles.

“I worked in fine dining, originally for (chef and restaurateur) Thomas Keller, so I was dealing in wine pairings, wine dinners, coursed dinners, and I was having to taste things to figure out which flavor profile goes with which wine,” Lisle says. “Having started cooking professionally when she was 15 years old, she later took an internship in Paris, “to get some chops under Michelin-starred chefs and see what that world was like,” where her love for wine bloomed further.

Lisle herself, by the way, is the eponymous Lucy — she repurposed a childhood nickname for her shop. “My mom calls me “Lucy Belusi,’” Lisle laughs. “That’s actually the full nickname. Obviously, my name is Alyssa, but she’s called me Lucy since I was very young.” The shop’s name, she says, helps her feel close to her family back in Chicago.

“I think it’s really important for people to remember that, more than anything, this is a wine shop as well as a wine bar,” she says. “The wine is all good. There are no bad wines in here. They are all delicious, and I’m not doing this gimmicky thing where I’m cherry-picking winemakers who are different and saying, ‘Come try them and support them,’ for just that reason.”

At at its core, Lisle says, Lucy’s concept is a simple one.

“All of these wines are made by phenomenal artisans,” she says, gesturing around her, “who deserve to be celebrated because, first and foremost, they make fantastic wine. That’s why we’re here. To lift them up.”

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Ringo Curry

Chinatown–International District

In the hallowed former Ho Ho Seafood space, this new curry house is doing cozy, from- scratch Japanese-style curries poured over tonkatsu, omelets, and other Japanese comfort favorites in a sleek, updated dining room. Curry is the main event here, with more than 15 different options available, and Ringo uses fresh apples and peanut butter in the recipe.

Ringo Curry also serves two kinds of nabe, a soup served simmering in a clay pot that’s loaded with pork belly or katsu pork loin and your choice of broth, along with various permutations of kimchi, soft-boiled “onsen” egg, tofu, mushrooms, and veggies. Boy, is it ever the season to open a restaurant like this.

Hey Bagel

University Village

Local bagel baron Andrew Rubenstein has opened a new shop in University Village in a return to his roots. Rubenstein’s eponymous bakery won nationwide accolades in 2019 and expanded quickly thereafter, and he sold the three-store chain to Ethan Stowell in 2023. But

Hey Bagel is a solo project, where he’ll be slinging ‘hot crackly bagels” in flavors like salted poppy-seed and blueberry clove, along with creative cream cheese treatments such as chili crisp, raspberry curry and hot honey, and espresso and chocolate with Biscoff cookie crumbs. Are the bagels the same ones we remember? “I’ve changed some of the hydration,” Rubenstein told Eater Seattle in 2023. “I’ve changed my fermentation times and my processes of rolling and shaping them.” He also seems focused on making them more rustic and less uniform. “More bizarre-looking bagels at times.”

Migaku

Ballard

At 15th Avenue Northwest and Northwest 62nd Street, Migaku has moved into the space originally occupied by Watson’s Counter. Migaku is serving high-level Japanese kaiseki, with the seasonal kaiseki course starting at $130 a head. The menu focuses on sushi with an eye for sustainable seafood, although it includes non-sushi odds and ends like chawanmushi (savory egg custard), grilled wagyu, and veggie tempura.

The chef-owners are also known for Karaage Setsuna in Belltown, and specifically for their very, very good Japanese Hawaiian fried chicken, so here’s hoping it shows up at Migaku as well.

Pasifika Grill

Bellevue

Located just outside of Bellevue’s downtown core, Pasifika Grill and Bar celebrated its grand opening in late January.

Serving dishes from the Pacific Islands with a focus on Hawaiian fare, the restaurant’s menu spans the entire ocean and features a few Chamorro (i.e., from Guam) items like tinaktak and kelaguen, as well as Samoan sapasui, Hawaiian laulau, and Korean kalbi short ribs, just to name a few. There’s also full island-style breakfast and cocktail menus.

Korean Kalbi short ribs.

Photo courtesy of Pasifika Grill and Bar

My friend Derek’s

Tangletown

At long last, the maker of Seattle’s much-coveted Detroit-style pie has opened a dine-in brick-and-mortar shop across the street from the Tangletown Pub. Pizzaiolo Derek Reiff taught himself to make Detroit pizzas as a pandemic hobby, topping them with cuppy pepperoni and Castelvetrano olives. Previously takeout-only, My Friend Derek’s had a waiting list at least a month deep, and the pizzas were among the most elusive reservations in town — the Taneda of pizza.

But the new spot has seating for 40, with both dine-in and takeout options, as well as salads and a thin New York City-style pie to complement the chewy-crispy deep-dishes.

Pufftown Bakehouse

Pike Place Market

Pufftown is selling croissants, “cruffins,” and other buttery, puffed-up delights out of the old Taxi Dogs slot on the main Pike Place drag. Operating under the tagline “Croissants with character,” owner-couple Serena Rodriguez and Daniel Durand found themselves riffing on crazy croissant concoctions at home when Durand wasn’t at work as a pastry chef, and they started popping up around town with their creations in 2021.

The new tourist-centric storefront is counter service-only with seasonal pastries and drip coffee. Standouts include the savory potato gratin croissant, loaded with mornay sauce, and the cream-filled Pistachio Winter Tree, a croissanty cone with a green stripe winding around it like a candy cane. It closes at noon, so get there early!

Cocina Casera

White Center

In January, Eda Martin opened up Cocina Casera in the recently vacated Bok a Bok Chicken space in White Center.

Having started out in a commissary kitchen on Capitol Hill, the fast casual spot serves a menu of Venezuelan and other South American standards, like various arepas, meaty sanguches (sandwiches), and truly massive corn-crust empanadas in slow- braised beef, chicken, or vegan chorizo.

Cocina Casera offers a taste of Venezuelan and other South American standards such as vegan chorizo arepa and handcraft Sangrias.

Photo courtesy of Cocina Casera

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It’s hard to remember a Seattle that Paquette wasn’t cooking in. An incomplete list of her affiliations includes Terra Plata, Café Flora, Dandelion, Elliott Bay Cafe (both locations), Marjorie, and Lecosho, in addition to her own restaurants: Richmond Beach pizzeria Le Petit Paquet as well as the crowdfunded and community-focused Skelly and the Bean on Capitol Hill. Among other achievements, she was a scholarship recipient to Quillisascut Farm School; was among the original team behind Smoke Farm’s Burning Beast fundraiser-slash-festival; and was mentored by the late, great Chef Tamara Murphy. Today, after several decades of culinary work in this city, Paquette employs the same field-to-plate, farmers-market-based culinary ethos and habits in her work

Although Paquette is officially serving as Drumlin’s GM, she’s also acting as the chef for now, as the current sous chef, Lucas Cobb, ramps up for the role. As well, she was a consultant on the shop’s reopen, a major player behind designing the restaurant’s new menus, concept, and vision. When owners Megan Kogut and Jarred Swalwell, who also own the Ridgecrest Public House next door, opened Drumlin in 2020, it was a tame — if lovely — menu of sandwiches, hummus ‘n’ pita, and tomato soup, alongside craft beer, wine, and cider. 

Paquette says some things have stayed the same at Drumlin, too — the pretzel knots with beer cheese is a holdout from the legacy menu, and I recognize the charcuterie boards too, even if they’re being sourced differently now. Live music may be added to the roster as well, alongside the events that Drumlin hosted before the break, like book club meetings and karaoke nights.

Among the restyled menu’s stars include the cacio e pepe risotto topped with burrata and tomato dust, Paquette’s signature beluga lentils with bratwurst and kale (“I’ve made these lentils for 20 years, everywhere I go, and they’re never not a hit,” Paquette notes), and a stunning side of roasted carrots, served in a pool of maple goat yogurt and pomegranate molasses and studded with feta and pepitas. 

It’s the kind of dish where you wish you’d brought along a little rubber spatula, like you’d use to scrape brownie batter out of the bowl, so you could scoop up all the gorgeous, creamy morass of yogurt and molasses and salty cheese and nutty pepita bits that’re left on the plate, once the (beautifully roasted) carrots are gone. It’s a celestial elixir.

With a resume like hers, it’s safe to assume that everything on the list will be done with creativity, balance, and attention to detail. That extends to some of the lower-res items that I might’ve missed without her help. On a menu, it’s hard to make bread and butter sound like something to get lathered up about, since we all know how easy it is to phone in. When it came out, the crostini-adjacent bread was perfectly nice (sourced by Macrina, I believe?), but the butter upon it was next-level: grated over the top of the in thick curls and accented with black salt and marigold petals, and just impossibly rich. 

“You have our beautiful grated Italian butter there, yeah,” Paquette says. “I found this extra-fatty, super-rich Italian butter — burro d’Italia — and it’s got such star power that I like to excessively microplane it onto the bread, to give folks a nice big fat fluffy pile of butter. Like, it’s about the butter. The bread’s great too, but bread is secondary when you have butter like this. Right?” 

It’s a good metaphor for what’s happened at Drumlin. In comparison to its first form, Drumlin 2.0 is more intentional, more streamlined, and certainly more luxurious, with its chic cocktails, homey lentils and curly piles of European butter. That added sheen of luxury is the point, per Kogut and Swalwell’s original vision. Still cozy, still chill, with the same old garlic knots and beer cheese, but this place has a lot more identity this round — and a lot more space to try on new ideas. What a cool, promising gift South Shoreline has received, in Paquette and Drumlin both. 

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