This is one of the more fun blog posts to create as 2019 winds down. It allows us to review all the great dishes we’ve had throughout the year and debate which ones belong in our top 15. A list ranges from a relatively simple shaved ice to a traditionally poor man’s Hawaiian breakfast to a couple of Southern-inspired biscuit dishes to a few noodle dishes(both Italian and Asian) to Asian fusion and a few Mexican dishes.
We’ve already counted down our Best Seattle Dishes of 2019, 15 through 8.
Without further ado, here are our Best Seattle Dishes of 2019, 7 through 1:
7. Seattle Biscuit Co. —$14. The End – Cheese grits, collards, pulled pork, pickled red onion, comeback sauce, fried bologna, over-easy egg, biscuits
Excerpt from our blog post:
The Ed N‘ Diane(END) is named after the owner’s parents. I don’t usually order grits, but this was a winner and is definitely a contender for Seattle Best Dishes of 2019. The pulled pork, fried bologna and collards were perfect complements to the grits. The grits were not overly cheesy and the slight kick of the pork, the saltiness of the bologna and tart of the collards were a great spoonful of flavor. Our daughter devoured the thick fried bologna chunks and mini biscuit. We’re used to the sliced thin baloney, so when she saw the thick chunks, she seemed a bit surprised. Add the over easy egg with runny yolk and you’ve got a near perfect dish.
6. D’La Santa – $31.99. Tacoarte -Platter filled with a variety of delicious taco fillings: carne asada, pollo asado, cochinita pibil, pastor & refried pinto beans. Tortillas served on the side. (serves 2 people)
Tacoarte $31.99 Platter filled with a variety of delicious taco fillings: carne asada, pollo asado, cochinita pibil, pastor & refried pinto beans. Tortillas served on the side. (serves 2 people)
Tacoarte topping-cilantro, onions, pico de gallo, radishes, pickled red onion, salsa.
Excerpt from our blog post:
Another thing that makes this a perfect date spot is the dish that literally every table we saw ordered. That dish was the Tacoarte, which comes as two platters. One filled with a variety of taco fillings: carne asada, pollo asado, cochinita pibil, pastor, pork chorizo & refried pinto beans. For those keeping track at home that’s one steak, one chicken and three pork. The price of this dish is $31.99, but it serves two people, which we feel is totally reasonable. You can definitely fill up 3 people with this dish. Along with the meat fillings, came another platter of toppings, which included onions, cilantro, salsa, pico de gallo, radishes and pickled red onions. The refried beans are really creamy, not lumpy like what you see in most restaurants. This is the perfect date dish because you’re interacting, sharing, you can discuss your favorite fillings, topping and combinations. We quickly ran out of tortillas since the fillings and toppings will easily make 15 tacos minimum. We were asked if we needed extra tortillas, which we did. Every single table had ordered this dish and if when we go back, we’d definitely order it again.
The filling rankings:
1) Carne Asada (my favorite)
2) Al Pastor (wife’s favorite)
3) Pork Chorizo
4) Conchinita Pibil
5) Pollo Asado
5. Fremont Bowl — $14.95. Chirashi Bowl-tuna, chopped fatty tuna, salmon, yellowtail, albacore, shrimp, fresh water eel, masago with fresh wasabi + yuzu kosho (pepper)
Excerpt from our blog post:
The cashier advised the Chirashi Bowl is their most popular and it’s easy to understand when seeing the dish. The different cuts of fish make for a colorful presentation that makes it one of the most photogenic dishes in Seattle. What separates chirashi from poke is that poke marinated in sauce with a bunch of different toppings. This can mask the quality of fish as well as the quantity of fish. Chirashi is just pure raw fish, so the fish quality and quantity is apparent.
The Chirashi Bowl is not only a beautiful dish, but the quality of the fish is superb and the price is a bargain.
4. Tamari Bar – Shoka-do Bento Box
Excerpt from our blog post:
Next up was the Shoka-do Bento Box, which is limited to a certain count every evening. This was surely the highlight of the night. There are a total of nine squares with each being the perfect size for two bites, making it the perfect date night dish. You get nine different dishes, nine different flavors. It’s fun having so many choices at once and then discussing which are your favorites. Or both of you can try each grid at the same time and discuss after each tasting.
From the top and left to right with scores out of 5:
- Fried Crispy Salmon(4.25), Wagyu Beef Tataki(4.5) , Potato Salad (4.0)
- Aburi Scallop Carpaccio(4.5), Tamari Bar Sushi Roll(4.5), Aburi Salmon(4.5)
- Fried Oyster(5.0), Zuke Maguro(marinated)-(3.0), Tuna Tatsuta(fried)-(5.0)
Each appetizer was beautifully presented and each had at least 5 different ingredients and it was a good mixture of fried and raw. We just really enjoyed this concept.
3. Joule– $13. Bone marrow, spicy anchovy butter, leek
Excerpt from our blog post:
This was a home run! I don’t know if there is always this much marrow on their bones or if I just hit the jackpot, but usually there’s not much marrow whenever I order . This dish had so much marrow, I couldn’t believe it. Served with bread the marrow was perfect turning into a rich pudding that tasted like beef flavored butter. Add in the generous topping of leeks and you’ve got FIRE!
2. Watson’s Counter — $18. Loco Moco – Fresh ground house-blend of chuck, short-rib, and pork belly atop a bed of rice, house-made gravy, and a fried egg on top.
Excerpt from our blog post:
My wife got the Loco Moco. I know it’s early in the year, but this dish is a contender to be on our Top Dishes of 2019. We’ve had our fair share of Loco Mocos in Hawaii and around town at Kona Kitchen, Maono, Cheeky Café. This is the best we’ve had. The patty is made with a blend of chuck, short-rib, and pork belly and you have the rice and egg, but the showstopper is the house-made gravy. It’s a thick peppery flavorful smack in the mouth. Mixed with the egg yolk, generous sized patty and topped with sesame seeds and green onions = Broke Da Mouth!
1. Revel– $17. Rice w/Egg yolk -Albacore tuna, fennel kimchi, escarole
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Excerpt from our blog post:
Not sure how we missed this one for our favorite dishes of 2018. We ALWAYS order this. The char on the escarole, the large toppings of kim chee, the sear on the albacore and off course one of my favorite foods, a raw egg yolk.
We were watching them prepare this dish and I see that the raw egg yolk is marinated in what appears to be soy sauce. This gives some additional flavor to the yolk, so when you mix it altogether it creates it’s own sauce. The combination of the 5 ingredients make for a perfect bite.
Perhaps, because we order this dish all the time we took it for granted last year, but we need to give this dish it’s due.
This was our Favorite Seattle Dish of 2019.
After reviewing the various dishes we had in 2019 and finally landing on a top 15, we really feel grateful that Seattle has such a wide variety of great restaurants in such a condensed area that. The exciting thing is that there are so many more restaurants that we have on our list to visit. Here’s to a great 2019 and an even better 2020!
Related:
- Our 15 Best Seattle Dishes of 2018 (Part 1)
- Our 15 Best Seattle Dishes of 2018 (Part 2)
- Watson’s Counter
- Revel