The Seattle Coffee Shop Awards – Part 2
As you know Seattleites have the stereotype of being coffee drinking fools. This is no stereotype, we take our coffee seriously. And if you ask 20 different locals what their favorite coffee place is, you’ll most likely get 20 different answers. These are our choices for Best Seattle Coffee Shop Awards. With two young’uns, we’ve had to trade in our frequency of night life in Seattle bars and pubs to morning life in a lot of Seattle coffee cafes. In doing so, we’ve gotten to revisit a lot of coffee shops we hadn’t been to in a while and also got a chance to visit a lot of new places that had always been on our radar but never been able to go to. We Seattleites are so lucky to have so many varieties of roasters and cafes in such a condensed area.
You’ll notice in our Coffee Shop blog posts we rarely mention how good the coffee is in each place, because we feel like it’s a given we’re going to get exceptional coffee. If we happen upon a coffee shop in which the coffee is not good, we will not review it. This might be the reason you may not see a particular coffee shop on our blog.
See our other installments of Seattle Coffee Shop Awards:
Part 1 – Best Coffee Neighborhood, Most Popular, Most Underrated
Part 3 – Best Seattle Coffee Drink Sets, Best Views
Part 4 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops to Impress Visitors, Impress Visiting Coffee Snobs, Make Visitors Feel Like Locals.
Part 5 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops for Food Options, Friendliest Service
Part 6 – Seattle Coffee With Most Character, Best Seattle Coffee Shops Overall.
Best Seattle Coffee Shops For Big Groups – El Diablo Coffee, Espresso Vivace-SLU, La Marzocco Cafe
These places are huge by Seattle Coffee Shop standards, but they not only have a lot of space, but also have areas for bigger groups to gather. Large coffee shops are a rarity in Seattle, so keep this list handy.
l Diablo Coffee(RIP) -Queen Anne- Espresso Vivace-Alley 24 -South Lake Union
- La Marzocco Café -Seattle Center
- Kaladi Brothers Coffee -Capitol Hill
- Caffe Umbria-Pioneer Square
El Diablo Coffee not only has big front patio, a living room area and a kids room, but it also has an entire second floor that is big and another huge patio. You will have no problem for a group meet up here. Espresso Vivace also has areas conducive to group gatherings, but also has a separate room for groups. La Marzocco Café has a radio station and a rotating group of roasters that take over the café, but it’s a wide open space and although it can get crowded, we think it’s good place for big groups. Kaladi Brothers Coffee is another unusually large place and it’s in normally-cramped Capitol Hill to boot. They not only have a massive community table, but also a second floor perch that is also quite spacious. This particular Caffe Umbria location in Pioneer Square has a section for ordering and preparation with standing only counters/tables, but a whole separate section with tons of seating.
Best Seattle Coffee Shops For When You Want To Be Left Alone – Pegasus Coffee
This is the opposite of the above category. Sometimes you just want to be alone while enjoying your coffee. You might want to read a book or listen to a podcast or get some studying or work done. There’s a good possibility that you might bump into a colleague or a friend at some of the more popular coffee places. Whatever the reason or circumstances, here are some suggestions for coffee shops if you want to be left alone:
Pegasus Coffee is small standing room only coffee shop that used to be an old cigar shop. It has a counter with a seat for one person only on either side of the front door. So if you bump into somebody you know here, they’ll have to sit in the other seat across the door, so you can continue to enjoy your coffee solo. Tempesta Coffee (RIP)has one standing table for just one person. That’s it. Again, even if you bumped into somebody you know there, they can’t join you. Plus as mentioned before they have a damn good Americano and even better doughnuts. Convoy Coffee is another small place, although it has a big seating area up the stairs. I don’t think many people know about Convoy, so they go to the many more-established coffee shops in Pioneer Square, which is the reason you won’t bump into anybody hear. As mentioned in our previous post, it’s a very underrated cafe. Caffe Ladro – The “Jetson’s” location. It’s near the Convention Center and some hotels, so it seems like it’s mostly tourists and taxi drivers who come here. It’s also in that weird spot between downtown and Capitol Hill, so I don’t think it has many regulars. This place is two blocks from my office and I have never seen another co-worker come here.
See our other installments of Seattle Coffee Shop Awards:
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Seattle Coffee Shops
Part 1 – Best Coffee Neighborhood, Most Popular, Most Underrated
Part 3 – Best Seattle Coffee Drink Sets, Best Views
Part 4 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops to Impress Visitors, Impress Visiting Coffee Snobs, Make Visitors Feel Like Locals.
Part 5 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops for Food Options, Friendliest Service
Part 6 – Seattle Coffee With Most Character, Best Seattle Coffee Shops Overall.
The Seattle Coffee Shop Awards-Part 1
As you know Seattleites have the stereotype of being coffee drinking fools. This is no stereotype, we take our coffee seriously. And if you ask 20 different locals what their favorite coffee place is, you’ll most likely get 20 different answers.
These are our choices for Best Seattle Coffee Shop Awards. With two young’uns, we’ve had to trade in our frequency of night life in Seattle bars and pubs to morning life in a lot of Seattle coffee cafes.
In doing so, we’ve gotten to revisit a lot of coffee shops we hadn’t been to in a while and also got a chance to visit a lot of new places that had always been on our radar but never been able to go to. We Seattleites are so lucky to have so many varieties of roasters and cafes in such a condensed area.
You’ll notice in our Coffee Shop blog posts we rarely mention how good the coffee is in each place, because we feel like it’s a given we’re going to get exceptional coffee. If we happen upon a coffee shop in which the coffee is not good, we will not review it. This might be the reason you may not see a particular coffee shop on our blog.
Part 2 – Best Coffee Shops for Groups or You Want To Be Alone.
Part 3 – Best Seattle Coffee Drink Sets, Best Views
Part 4 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops to Impress Visitors, Impress Visiting Coffee Snobs, Make Visitors Feel Like Locals.
Part 5 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops for Food Options, Friendliest Service
Part 6 – Seattle Coffee With Most Character, Best Seattle Coffee Shops Overall.
Best Seattle Coffee Shop Neighborhood – Pioneer Square
There are only really two choices. Capitol Hill and Pioneer Square. South Lake Union has ton of satellite branches of local Seattle cafes, but they’re mainly in the lobby of Amazon buildings and don’t have the atmosphere that most cafes have. I also don’t consider Downtown Seattle a neighborhood. We’re giving the nod to Pioneer Square. You’ve got Convoy Coffee, Slate Coffee Roasters, Elm Coffee Roasters, Zeitgeist Coffee. In our opinion you have the best Caffé Vita, Caffe Umbria and Cherry Street Public House locations in Pioneer Square. You also have a wide variation of styles. You’ve got the old cafes with tons of character in Caffé Vita and Zeitgeist Coffee. You’ve got the more modern cafes with great views in Caffe Umbria and Cherry Street Public House. You’ve got the bright little start up spot of Convoy Coffee. You’ve got the hardcore roasters of Slate Coffee Roasters and Elm Coffee Roasters.
Most Mentioned/Most Popular Seattle Coffee Shops – Espresso Vivace and “The Caffes”
When talking favorite coffee shops with local friends, there four names continuously pop up. These are the granddaddies of the Seattle Coffee Shop scene.
This actually makes sense because they all have an empire of multiple locations and all have been around for a longggggg time. And of course they have great coffee and roast their own beans. In no particular order……
- Espresso Vivace– 3 Seattle locations. Established 1988.
- Caffé Vita– 6 Seattle locations. Established 1995.
- Caffe Ladro– 15 locations in the greater Seattle area(incl Bellvue, Kirkland, Edmonds, etc). Established 1994.
- Caffe Umbria– 3 Seattle locations. Established 2002 , but family behind Umbria has been involved in Seattle cafes since 1986.
Caffe Umbria
Most Underrated Seattle Coffee Shops – Tempsta Coffee, Convoy Coffee, Ghost Note Coffee
These are the exact opposite of the popular coffee shops. We never hear anybody mention these coffee shops.
Tempesta Coffee(RIP)- Convoy Coffee
- Ghost Note Coffee
- Realfine Coffee
- Seven Coffee Roasters
- Anchorhead Coffee Co
- Analog Coffee
We believe these places are never mentioned, because they have never been visited by most people. There are a lot of reasons why. Here are our theories. In the case of Tempesta Coffee (RIP), they’re in a super small unassuming space in the middle of Belltown. It’s so small there’s not even a single seat, but damn, do they have good Americanos. Convoy Coffee is also a small place and might be drowned out in a sea of great more established coffee places in Pioneer Square(see above). Most people know them as the bicycle coffee bar at the University and Ballard Farmers Markets. Ghost Note Coffee is off the main streets of Pine and Pike in Capitol Hill and is relatively new. And although Realfine Coffee is not new to West Seattle, it’s very new to Capitol Hill and perhaps just gaining it’s footing. Seven Coffee Roasters is roaster in the middle of the Ravenna neighborhood and is disguised as a general store. Most people pass it and don’t even know it’s a roaster. Anchorhead Coffee Co is probably the most Instagrammable of the bunch, but it’s also relatively new being open for only two years. Lastly, I think Analog Coffee has actually gotten a lot of accolades and publicity, but nobody ever seems to mention it. Perhaps because it’s also in the middle of a neighborhood and not on a main avenue. We’re totally fine with these places being underrated and undiscovered, so we have them all to ourselves.
Next: Stay tuned for our next installment of The Seattle Coffee Shop Awards.
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Seattle Coffee Shops
Part 2 – Best Coffee Shops for Groups or You Want To Be Alone.
Part 3 – Best Seattle Coffee Drink Sets, Best Views
Part 4 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops to Impress Visitors, Impress Visiting Coffee Snobs, Make Visitors Feel Like Locals.
Part 5 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops for Food Options, Friendliest Service
Part 6 – Seattle Coffee With Most Character, Best Seattle Coffee Shops Overall.
There’s always been hype around Uneeda Burgers upgraded(“Fancy”) burger. Check out this excerpt from a food critic from The Stranger:
First of all, let me say that both burgers were excellent. Nothing wrong with relatively well-off suburban cows. Painted Hills, A+. HOWEVER. The Wagyu burger was a revelation. I mean literally like the book of Revelation, like eight flaming man-goats descended on fiery Segways and beat me in the face with their righteous swords of deliciousness….The Wagyu patty was soft without being insubstantial, drippier, darker, and beefier than its counterpart. The Wagyu burger made you forget that ketchup exists. Seriously, it was so good. If my mother were a cow, I would still eat this hamburger. If I were a hamburger, I would eat this hamburger. If I were this hamburger, I would eat myself.
Whoa. After reading this wouldn’t you be a tad bit curious to see if this burger was that good? So we had to do our own taste test.
As mentioned in our Uneeda Burger post, we have our favorite burgers, the Croque Madame Burger and the Crimini Mushroom Burger, so we’ve never had the “fancy” burger patty.
To really taste the patty, we just did the Classic Burger, which is as plain as you can get. It’s bun, patty, lettuce, tomato, pickle and sauce. We ordered one with the normal all-natural painted hills beef and then ordered the fancy patty made of gleason ranch 100% pasture-raised beef for an additional $2. Both were cooked to medium.
The Verdict: The regular classic is $5.00 and the “fancy” 100% pasture raised beef is an extra $2.00. In order to really compare, we had to test side by side, and there was a discernible difference with the pasture-raised beef. It is a bit more flavorful, but here’s the thing-the regular burger also has quality beef and it’s nearly as good. It was a fun experiment to do the taste test, but with the 40% markup on the pasture-raised beef, it’s not soooo much better in our opinion. Plus more importantly, we like the Uneeda burgers with the other quality ingredients like cheese, eggs, mushroom, ham,etc, so with the additional flavors and the regular burger already being of great quality, we don’t envision ordering the “fancy” burger going forward.
Update 9/22/19: Uneeda Burger just made Seattle Met’s 100 Best Restaurant
Related Articles:
- Paseo vs Un Bien
- Ezell’s vs Heaven Sent – Battle of Seattle’s Best Fried Chicken
- Battle of the North Seattle Taco Trucks
- Uneeda Burger – The Best Burger in Seattle
Our Top 15 Best Seattle Dishes of 2018 (Part 2)
We’re blessed to have so many great restaurants in Seattle. We’ve been able to discover a lot of new restaurants, but revisit a lot of our favorites. In reviewing our favorite dishes of the year, we originally had a top 10, but had such a difficult time deciding that we expanded it to a top 15. Truthfully, we could have expanded it to 25, but what would be so special about that many dishes? So 15 seems like a good compromise. We tried to pick a variety of dishes in price range from simple sandwiches and tacos to filet mignon and base it purely on taste.
You can take a look at Our Top 15 Best Seattle Dishes of 2018 (Part 1) post for our top dishes of 2018 from #15 through #8.
Without further ado here are the top 7 Seattle dishes of 2018….
7. Revel – Short Rib Dumplings with pickled shallots, scallions.
Revel is probably our favorite restaurant in Seattle. They’ve temporarily moved to South Lake Union from their original space in Fremont, but will move back once their new digs are complete. As mentioned in our previous article, there are a couple of restaurants that could have multiple dishes on our top 15 list. Revel is one of them, but the dish we chose is the Short Rib Dumplings with pickled shallots and scallions. First off the dumplings are massive and the savory of the dumplings is complemented by the pickled sourness of the shallots to make a great combination. We love this with a side order of rice.
6. Chiang’s Gourmet – Fish Fillet w/ Spicy Hot Sauce on Soybean Cake
Chiang’s Gourmet is one of the most underrated restaurants in Seattle for various reasons. It’s a difficult location to get to since it’s right off an I5 offramp in NE Seattle. It’s a very unassuming building that used to be an A&W Root Beer Drive-In restaurant. Also, if you’re not careful you might order things off the “American” menu(one of four of their menus), which is a rookie mistake that you don’t want to make. Chiang’s Gourmet is probably best known for their house made noodles, but our favorite dish is the Fish Fillet with Spicy Sauce and Tofu. It may not look so appetizing from the photo below, but it’s damn tasty. It has generous portions of fish, but the main reason you get this dish is the sauce. It’s not overly spicy and ohh sooo.. flavorful. A hack we learned is to take the sauce home even if we eat all the fish. We then pour the sauce over rice at home and create a brand new dish. Two yummy dishes for the price of one!
5. La Conasupo – Carne Asada and Carnitas Tacos
I’m hesitant to even mention La Conasupo because I don’t want any more people to know about and get any more crowded than it already is. It’s located in the back of a small Mexican grocery store in Greenwood. Take a look at these bad boys in the pictures. Each dish pictured below is just two tacos! If you take this home and have some extra tortillas you can easily turn this into 4 or 5 tacos. These are definitely the best tacos when looking at bang for your buck due to the portion size, but these are also the best tasting tacos in Seattle. I defy anybody to name me a better taco in Seattle.
4. Kisaku – Salmon filled with Ikura with a quail egg on top.
The whole Omakase at Kisaku deserves to be on this list but this concoction of Salmon filled with Ikura with a Quail Egg is da bomb! We’re already huge fans of egg yoke. Add the saltiness of the Ikura and fatty cuts of salmon and we just had to have seconds of this dish. Whenever we go here, we always ask for this. It’s not on their menu, so we just have to describe it when ordering it. We believe Kisaku is the best sushi restaurant in Seattle. Yes, better than Shiro’s, Mashiko, Kappo Tamura, Nishino or Chiso.
3. Kokkaku – Ton Katsu, Lan Roc Pork Tenderloin
Excerpt about this dish from our Kokkaku review- The other entrée we got was the Pork Tenderloin Ton Katsu. Normally, traditional tonkatsu is a slender piece of pork and here they replace it with a thicker pork tenderloin. I always have issues keeping pork tenderloin moist whenever I attempt to make it at home, but this dish is a homerun. So damn tender and moist! They provide a mortar and pestle to ground up sesame seeds and then you can put the ground seeds on the tonkatsu and pour the sauce over it or combine the seeds with the sauce and use it for dipping, which is what we chose to do. We also ordered a bowl of rice to eat with the tonkatsu, but they also provide a huge mound of shredded cabbage with citrus
2. Junkichi Robata Izakaya– Yaki Gaki-grilled shucked oysters , chives w/homemade soy sauce
Excerpt about this dish from our Junkichi Robata Izakaya review-All the dishes were good, but the one dish I would order over and over again would be the Yaki-Gaki, the grilled oysters. The oysters are monster huge and normally my preference for oysters is raw, but the char from the grill along with the oyster juice left over in the shell is sooo good.
1. Cantinetta -Co Winner Dishes: Tomato Farfalle, rabbit sausage, basil and Tagliatelle,guanciale, farm egg, black pepper
This little Italian gem of restaurant in Wallingford could have had seriously 5 or 6 dishes in the top 15 dishes we had in 2018. The Lopez Island Clams with Nduja Sausage, Shallots, Vino Blanco, the Black Pepper Tagliatelle, Carbonara, Prosciutto, and the Flank Steak with Black Trumpet Mushrooms and Port Butter also could have made the top 15 but the best dishes of 2018 are….
Tomato Farfalle, rabbit sausage, basil– The main issue we had with this dish is that it was a small portion and it was gone and eaten in no time. We really don’t order farfalle that often and basil is not one of my favorite herbs, but I was really interested in the rabbit sausage, so we ordered this dish. So glad we did. Put it all together and it was perfect. No one ingredient overpowered the others and together worked so well. The minty-ness of the basil, the tomato farfalle pasta combined with the slightly gamey, but so savory sausages. Perfect.
Tagliatelle, guanciale, farm egg, black pepper– So simple, so good. It was like a spin on a carbonara. Again, with a raw egg yoke it already had an advantage to being named a best dish of the year. Combined with hand made Tagliatelle and quality cured meat from the jowl/cheek of pork and it got us wondering how something so simple could be so damn good. We broke the yoke, mixed it all up, devoured it and ordered it again.
After reviewing the 15 Best Seattle Dishes of 2018, we’re reminded how lucky we are to live in a city with such a variety of quality restaurants with a wide price range. We want to especially thank local friends and the servers at the various restaurants who suggested places we’d never heard of. The top 3 dishes were from restaurants that were suggested to us and we’d probably never have visited these restaurants were it not for these suggestions.
You can take a look at Our Top 15 Best Seattle Dishes of 2018 (Part 1) post for our top dishes of 2018 from #15 through #8.
Related Articles:
Our Top 15 Best Seattle Dishes of 2018 (Part 1)
We’re blessed to have so many great restaurants in Seattle. We’ve been able to discover a lot of new restaurants, but revisit a lot of our favorites. In reviewing our favorite dishes of the year, we originally had a top 10, but had such a difficult time deciding that we expanded it to a top 15. Truthfully, we could have expanded it to 25, but what would be so special about that many dishes? So 15 seems like a good compromise. We tried to pick a variety of dishes in price range from simple sandwiches and tacos to filet mignon and base it purely on taste. Without further ado, here at the top dishes, #15 through #8.
- Mammoth – The Hunter Sandwich -Shaved steak peppers, onions, mushrooms, salami, provolone, aioli.
Their sandwiches stand alone as a reason to visit, but add in 48 taps and you’ve got a match made in heaven. Opened for almost 4 years now, Mammoth has such an interesting variety of sandwiches that it’s difficult to choose one. Some of our favorites: Predator with a fried chicken leg, pork belly, swiss, arugula, roasted red peppers, caper aioli and the Cro-Magnon with ham, mortadella, salami, coppa, provolone, lettuce, tomato, giardiniera, Italian dressing, but our favorite is the Hunter. You can see from the picture it’s a massive sandwich and the oil and juices from all the ingredients moisten the Macrina roll that encases it, but is sturdy enough to not fall apart. Pro tip: Keep the sandwich in the paper wrapping and eat it lie a burrito.
- Toulouse Petit – Cured Pork Cheeks Confit Hash.
This dish was actually featured on Food Network’s show, The Best Thing I Ever Ate. Once we saw that on the menu, we had to order it. Along with the pork cheeks the hash is comprised of arugula, potatoes and asparagus. It’s topped off with two perfectly cooked over easy eggs. We’re suckers for yolk, so when we split open the egg and combined the yolk with the hash….. day..yumm! Pro tip: Toulouse Petit is one of the few places I know of that has a Breakfast Happy Hour from 9am to 11am.
- June Baby – Fried Catfish Sandwich with pickled onion & tartar sauce.
How can a list of top Seattle dishes not include a dish from June Baby? We’ve unfortunately only been for lunches, but man if lunch is any indication of what we can expect for dinner, we’re already drooling. There were a couple of restaurants we went to this year in which a few of the dishes could have appeared on our Top 15 of 2018. June Baby was one of them. Look at how big this piece of catfish is! Cooked perfectly-crunchy on the outside and moist on the inside. Add the pickled onion and that’s a damn good sandwich. This place really has a chance to get popular someday 😉
- Daniel’s Broiler – Streak Tartare with grilled crostini.
Steak tartare is one of our favorite dishes, so when going out to eat there’s a good chance we’ll order it. No restaurant had a better tartare than Daniel’s Broiler. The presentation of having the tartar on top, a chopped boiled egg in the middle and capers/onions on the bottom was different, but oohh so good. This was also our last meal prior to our daughter being born in October, so maybe there’s also a bit of sentimentality built in.
- Manolin – Grilled Beef with creamed yucca, chimichurri
This year we came to Manolin for an anniversary celebration and a dinner with relatives from outside the country. It seems the times we end up coming to Manolin are for special occasions. This should give you some indication of the quality of their dishes. Whether it’s Shigoku oysters, black rice with squid, chorizon and broccoli or a pink scallop pozole with beans, all taste special. But our favorite was the grilled beef with creamed yucca and chimichurri. If you’re afraid of blood, don’t order this dish. But if seeing blood on your plate, to you, means, “tender juicy yumminess” then this is the dish for you. The generous portions of quality beef mixed with the sweet yucca and then topped with the savory chimichurri provides a mixture of flavors that definitely brings back fond memories. Just reliving this dish makes me want to move it up the list.
- Chan – Kimchi Fried Rice w/Egg
One of the most underrated Happy Hours in Seattle is in the heart of the biggest tourist attraction in Seattle. Chan is hidden away from the main Pike Place Market, but this little secret place is not so secret during happy hour. It’s normally packed. The small size doesn’t help, but people are willing to wait for their caramel glazed chicken wings, spicy pork sliders, ahi tuna poke, but our favorite is the kimchi fried rice. We find that it’s common for kimchi fried rice to be too salty, but Chan’s fried rice is flavorful, but not salty and the egg on top is like the icing on the cake. It’s made in and presented in a skillet, which creates an outer crust of crunchy fried rice. We once went for happy hour and ordered this dish twice instead of ordering anything else on the menu.
- The Metropolitan Grill – Filet Mignon .
Seattleites can argue all they want about who has the best steaks in Seattle. El Gaucho, Miller’s Guild, Jak’s Grill, The Butcher’s Table, Daniel’s Broiler, etc. I’m not even going to mention the national chain steak houses. The Met wins easily for us. It’s not the easiest place to get to since you’ve got to deal with traffic to get to the middle of downtown, but when there are really special occasions that require a steak dinner, this is our first choice. And the Filet Mignon is a no brainer. We haven’t been to their new remodeled digs, but it’s just an iconic Seattle restaurant where the quality has held up for so many years. I have many memories in my younger(and dumber) days of going out for drinks after work, having too much to drink and foolishly going to The Met for steak before going home. In the moment, full of joy stuffing my face with Filet Mignon and then crying the next morning when looking at my bill. On one particular outing, I asked the server why their Filet Mignon tastes so much better than other steak house. He said that all really good steak houses have quality cuts of beef and all know how to cook it, but what differentiates the Met Grill is the special lard they slather on their Filet Mignon. Take it for what it’s worth, all I know is that “it damn good”.
8. Hokkaido Ramen Santouka – Tsukemen.
Excerpt from our Hokkaido Ramen Santouka post- I’m not a huge fan of cold soba or somen. Taking all this into consideration, the Tsukemen at Hokkaido Ramen Santouka has won my taste buds over and is my favorite and I’d say it’s one of my top 10 dishes in Seattle. For those unfamiliar with Tsukemen, it’s noodles that you dip out a soup and then eat. The soup has a very flavorful dense taste, so there’s an art to eating Tsukemen. It takes restraint to only dip 3 or 4 noodles at a time. If you try to stuff a bunch of noodles in the soup, the flavor will be too overpowering. Having the Tsukemen with the Aji-Tama(half cooked egg) takes it to another level. It’s a good dish to have in the summer for me. It’s not piping hot, but it’s not cold. The noodles are at room tempature and the dipping soup is hot.
Coming Up: Our Top 15 Best Seattle Dishes of 2018 (Part 2). Find out the top 7 Seattle dishes of 2018.
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Morsel vs Biscuit & Bean – The Battle of Seattle’s Best Biscuit Sandwich
Comments: This Seattle Food War is not as juicy as Paseo vs Un Bien or Ezell’s vs Heaven Sent, but they do have history. But before we get to that, a bit of our history with Morsel and Biscuit & Bean. We’ve always known about Morsel. It was known for it’s breakfast biscuit sandwiches and always had a line out the door every weekend morning. They used to be located one block down from their current location in a cramped old spot on The Ave(University Ave). If you wanted to beat the line you have to get there right when it opens. I remember one time I was 10 minutes early before Morsel opened. Nobody was there in line yet, so I figured I’d go to Safeway across the street to grab something really quick. I came back at 5 minutes after Morsel opened and there was a line out the door! Within 15 minutes it went from an empty sidewalk to a line out the door. They do not take call in orders on the weekends.
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The History Behind Morsel and Biscuit & Bean
Here’s the history of how these two places are related. Prior to 2013, the Morsel location on The Ave was a place called Nook, which as also revered for it’s biscuits. It was actually featured on an Anthony Bourdain show. It surprisingly closed down and that’s when Morsel was born and took over the space. In 2014, Morsel’s owner teamed with the owners of a coffee shop and opened up another branch in Ballard, which was called Morsel & Bean. In 2018, the owners went their separate ways and the owners of the coffee shop kept the space and changed the name to Biscuit & Bean while the owner of Morsel went back to concentrate on Morsel. We heard about Biscuit and Bean only this year and visited for the first time, not knowing the history. After trying Biscuit and Bean, we talked about how similar the biscuits were to Morsel’s and that’s when we did some research to discover the history of the two places. There are some subtle differences between the recipes and ingredients. And that’s what made us wonder. Which biscuit sandwich is better? Morsel or Biscuit & Bean?
Here’s the tale of the tape:
- Distance from our house: Morsel(4754 University Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105): 1 mile vs Biscuit & Bean(5905 15th Ave NW, Seattle, WA 98107): 3.5 miles
- Coffee Served: Morsel: Velton’s vs Biscuit & Bean: Conduit
- Established: Morsel: 2014 vs Biscuit & Bean: 2018
The Order For this Morsel vs Biscuit & Bean tasting, we tried to compare apples to apples so we got the 2 sandwiches from each location on buttermilk biscuits. You actually have a choice of cheddar, buttermilk and a special(For ex. garlic/oregano/parm). We wanted to let the sandwich ingredients do the talking, so we chose buttermilk. Both locations were very close to the tasting location, so we were able to compare fresh servings side by side.
The Rating System: For this Morsel vs Biscuit & Bean tasting, we decided to rate the meal based on the below. We gave an increased weighting for Service(2x) and Taste(3x) since we feel these are more important.
1. Brick & Mortar- Morsel has just moved into a much bigger and brand new spot when compared to their old spot down the street. There is no dedicated parking. Biscuit & Bean is in a stand alone building and they do have dedicated parking as well as drive thru window. They also have a patio. It’s a bit smaller than Morsel, but it doesn’t feel cramped. Winner: Biscuit & Bean(1)
2. Service – Both have similar systems- you order, pay, sit down and wait until they call out your order when it’s ready. The day we went it was a Sunday morning, so both places were equally busy with about a constant 4 or 5 person line to order. All seats were taken in both places. Biscuit & Bean wins hands down. They were pleasant and quick. We ordered the two sandwiches and it took about 6 minutes. You can peek into the kitchen and they just seemed like a well oiled machine. Morsel took longer, about 15 minutes, which is fine. It’s not outrageous, but the service was an issue. For example I was giving my order to the cashier, I was half way through giving the order and one of the other workers interrupted the cashier to ask a question when we were clearly engaged. Both the cashier and I were frustrated that we had to start all over with the order. Also, both places are busy and noisy, so it’s hard to hear them call out the order from across the room. I went up to collect the order at Morsel and just wanted to confirm the name that was called. The guy just said, “yeah that’s what I said” and turned around. No “Thanks for coming” or “Have a good day”. Truthfully, this is normally not a big deal, but I just felt some of the Morsel workers did not want to be there. This was easy to declare. Winner: Biscuit & Bean(2)
3. Value- The prices are very similar, but Morsel’s prices are a tad lower. Winner: Morsel(1)
4. Taste-
- Biscuit – The Biscuit & Bean biscuits were a little bigger, which is not why they were better than Morsel’s.The biscuits were also fluffier and lighter where Morsel’s were denser. Taste-wise, they were about the same. Due to better consistency, Winner: Biscuit & Bean(1)
- The Fast Break(Morsel) vs The Classic(Biscuit & Bean)-These are basically the same sandwiches with different names. Both have bacon, scrambled eggs, tomato jam. The main difference is that Biscuit & Bean uses Beecher’s Flagship White Cheddar and Morsel uses normal cheddar(orange). As you can see the ingredients are basically the same. The main difference can be seen in the picture above. The Morsel sandwich has a ton of egg. It’s actually thicker than the biscuit. Bigger is not always better. The egg just overpowered the other ingredients. Winner: Biscuit & Bean(1)
- The Spanish Fly(Morsel) vs The Signature(Biscuit & Bean) – Again basically the exact same sandwich which makes it great for comparisons. Both have prosciutto, fried egg, Mama Lil’s Pepper Aioli. The slight difference is that The Spanish Fly has spinach and smoked gouda. The Signature has arugula and manchego cheese. Although these ingredients are different, it’s still very similar. Both were good and not noticeably different. We’ll give the nod to Morsel due to the abundance of arugula, which made a slight difference. By the way, both eggs were cooked perfectly with yoke oozing. Winner: Morsel(1)
5. Other- Morsel has three choices of sandwiches-the two that are mentioned above and a veggie version. Biscuit and Bean also has a veggie sandwich, but also has a Greek sandwich and one called, The Market, which has apple chicken sausage, spinach, mustard aioli and apple butter, which is my wife’s favorite. They also have a cool display of their biscuits so as a first timer, you can see how big they are. More options give’s Biscuit Bean the point. Winner: Biscuit & Bean(1)
The Final Tally
| Category | Morsel | Biscuit & Bean |
| Brick & Mortar | 0 | 1 |
| Service | 0 | 2 |
| Value | 1 | 0 |
| Taste | 1 | 2 |
| Other | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 2 | 6 |
Summary: So by a score of 6 to 2, Biscuit & Bean is the Winner!!! Most of our other Seattle Food Wars have been pretty close, but this was a blow out by Biscuit & Bean. Both of the biscuits held up well, the ingredients combinations were spot on and both are filling. The difference is really in the execution of both service and making of the biscuits/sandwiches.
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Ezell’s vs Heaven Sent – Battle of Seattle’s Best Fried Chicken
vs 
The Ezelll’s vs Heaven Sent story is very much like the Paseo vs Un Bien story. Except we’re not talking Caribbean sandwiches. This is the Best Seattle Fried Chicken competition which is the next in our Seattle Food War Series. And it has a doozy of a soap opera story behind it. And after doing our taste test, much like the Top Pot vs Might O doughnut competition, you can’t go wrong with either.
The History Behind Ezell’s and Heaven Sent
As soon as I moved to Seattle in the late 90’s, I heard the story of a fried chicken place all the way up here in the PNW that was so good that Oprah Winfrey declared it the best she’d ever tasted and would fly in the chicken from Seattle to Chicago so she could enjoy it. This place was Ezell’s, which had opened in 1984.
Apparently, after many years of having a successful business, there was a falling out with the co-founders and Ezell Stephens of the Ezell’s namesake was forced out of the fried chicken chain that was named after him. So what did Ezell Stephens do? He opened up his own Ezell’s fried chicken chain. So for a time, there were two sets of Ezell’s owned by each co-founder. Of course, lawyers got involved. You can actually read the offical court documents here.
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Once the dust settled, Ezell Stephens opened his chain of Heaven Sent Fried Chicken. And ever since then there’s been a debate in Seattle over who has the better fried chicken. It’s eerily similar to the Paseo vs Un Bien story, isn’t it? We’re here to settle the score once and for all. There’s even trash talk involved, “Their chicken is called Ezell’s,” said Mr. Stephens. “It’s not Ezell’s. Hell, it was only Ezell’s when Ezell was there.” and Mr. Stephens points out he’s the person who cooked for Oprah on her birthday in 1990.” On Facebook, the company declares “you will only find Ezell Stephens, the person who cooked for Oprah at Heaven Sent Fried Chicken.”- WSJ. These quotes are from an article from the Wall Street Journal that actually did a article about the feud. I love it!
If Oprah’s endorsement wasn’t enough, Esquire Magazine named Ezell’s the Best Fried Chicken in the US and it won by a massive margin. You’d think that the best fried chicken would come from the South, but Ezell’s whooped the other nominees from places like Tennessee, Texas, North Carolina, Louisiana.
Here’s the tale of the tape:
- Distance from our house: Ezell’s: 2 miles vs Heaven Sent: 4.5 miles
- Locations:
Ezell’s: 13 locations: Bellevue, Kent, Lynnwood, Mill Creek, Renton(3x), Wallingford, Rainier Valley, Central District, Spokane, Tacoma, Woodinville
Heaven Sent: 3 locations: Lake City, Renton, Everett
The Order– For this Ezell’s vs Heaven Sent taste test, we tried to compare apples to apples so we got the 3 piece meal with a side of slaw and rolls. We tried to get mac & cheese also, but Heaven Sent didn’t have any prepared at the time of ordering. We ordered the spicy chicken version at each location. We had tried the original version before at each location prior and liked the spicy version better. Both locations were very close to our taste testing location, so we were able to compare fresh servings side by side.
The Rating System: For this Ezell’s vs Heaven Sent tasting, we decided to rate the meal based on the below. We gave an increased weighting to Value(2x) and Taste(3x) since we feel these are more important.
1. Appetizing/Appearance – Comparing on appearance only, Ezell’s golden dark brown pieces were more appealing. We think maybe Ezell’s chicken having a bit more batter also adds to the appeal. Winner: Ezell’s(1)
2. Crispiness- If it’s fried, it better be crispy, right? Again, having the extra batter on the chicken made all the difference. What a satisfying sound it is to hear that first bite into crispy fried chicken. Winner: Ezell’s(1)
3. Juiciness– After taking two big bites of each, Heaven Sent’s chicken was clearly juicier. So moist. I wouldn’t say Ezell’s was dry or anything, but it was less juicy. Winner: Heaven Sent(1)
4. Sides-
- Roll– The rolls tasted exactly the same to us, but Heaven Sent’s were much bigger, much fluffier and not as dense. Both were sweet with a nice brown hue on the outside. Our personal preference is fluffy instead of dense. Winner: Heaven Sent(1)
- Cole Slaw– Again, very similar tasting, but Heaven Sent’s slaw was a bit juicier and had slightly more spice, more peppery. This was super close, but… Winner: Heaven Sent(1)
5. Taste- We ordered a 3 piece meal at each place.
- Ezell’s: 3 piece meal. Comes with 2 sides and a roll. They didn’t ask what type of pieces I wanted, but they do give a choice of original, spicy or combination of both. They gave us a drumstick, wing and a breast.
- Heaven Sent: 3 piece meal comes with one side, a roll and a drink. They give you the option of 2 thighs and a drumstick or 2 breasts and a wing.
We found Heaven Sent’s batter more flavorful and the spices made it a bit more tasty than Ezell’s. The Heaven Sent chicken’s spiciness is perfect, not too hot, but enough to put a tingle on the tongue. I also like the fact that we were given a choice of the 3 pieces. We like chicken breasts, so we’re happy to get two at Heaven Sent. Winner: Heaven Sent (3)
6. Value for 3 piece meal including tax
- Ezell’s: $12.10. They not only give you an extra side dish, but it’s $2.50+ cheaper than Heaven Sent. Perhaps it’s cheaper because it’s take out only and they don’t have the extra expense of maintaining a sit down eating area?
- Heaven Sent : $14.64. They only give one side dish for this particular 3 piece meal, but they do give a drink from the soda fountain which Ezell’s doesn’t.
Extra side dish and $2.50+ cheaper? Winner: Ezell’s(2)
The Final Tally
| Category | Ezell’s | Heaven Sent |
| Appetizing/Appearance | 1 | 0 |
| Crispiness | 1 | 0 |
| Juiciness | 0 | 1 |
| Sides -Rolls | 0 | 1 |
| Sides- Cole Slaw | 0 | 1 |
| Taste | 0 | 3 |
| Value | 2 | 0 |
| Total | 4 | 6 |
Summary: There’s a constant comparison of Ezell’s and Heaven Sent for a reason-the Oprah story, the longevity of Ezell’s, the tumultuous history between the two, but there’s a main reason the comparisons persist. They both make damn good chicken. Both were fast. Both had service that was spot on. Truthfully, there is no loser, but a winner must be declared. So by a score of 6 to 4, Heaven Sent is the Winner!!!
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Battle of Seattle Doughnuts(or Donuts?)- Top Shop vs Mighty O
Coming from Los Angeles, there seems to be a donut shop on every corner. When I arrived in Seattle in the 90’s, I was shocked how little donut shops there were. My go to was Winchell’s on 45th in Wallingford, but it went out of business and is now currently Rancho Bravo Tacos. There are now a few mom and pop doughnut shops, but for the last few years, Top Pot and Mighty O have ruled over the Seattle doughnut landscape.
I don’t like cake, pies, cookies or most pastries, but I love donuts. I can’t say i’m a connoisseur of many things, but I definitely feel I can speak to the quality of donuts.
Let’s get to it. In this corner….
Mighty-O: Mighty-O’s distinction is that they make their donuts with certified organic ingredients, they contain no cholesterol because there are no chemical preservatives, no animal derived ingredients, no colorings or artificial flavors.
And in this corner….
Top Pot: From their website-“With over 40 different types of donuts, Top Pot Doughnuts invites you to join us on our delicious journey of good taste. From our uniquely designed cafés to our hand-roasted coffee and hand-forged gourmet doughnuts, we’re committed to doing things the old fashioned way—beautifully, warmly, and with unfailing attention to details. Our exceptional quality, vintage aesthetic, and personal customer service offers a fresh take on the old “coffee and doughnuts” routine “
Here’s the tale of the tape:
- Spelling: Mighty O Donut vs Top Pot Doughnut. The first thing you notice is that each spells donut/doughnut differently.
- Distance from our house: Mighty O: 1.2 miles vs Top Pot: 1.6 miles
- Locations:
Mighty O: 4 locations: Ballard, Green Lake, Capitol Hill, Denny Triangle
Top Pot:23 locations: Including Capitol Hill, Downtown x 3, Wedgewood, Queen Anne, Ballard, South Lake Union, First Hill
- Price for half dozen( Sprinkles, Maple Bar, Apple Fritter, Glazed, Chocolate, Jelly Filled):
Mighty O: $12,99
Top Pot : $15.39
- Pick Up/Delivery Options:
Mighty O: Order online and pick up option. Also Amazon Delivery and Caviar Delivery
Top Pot: No ordering online option. Postmates will deliver.
- Claim to Fame:
Mighty O: Creating certified organic, non-GMO, cholesterol-free donuts, without chemical preservatives, hydrogenated oils, trans fats, artificial coloring, or flavors. Also cornering the market on supplying local coffee shops-Broadcast, Vivace, Victrola, Vita, Elm Coffee Roasters, Analog Coffee, Zeitgeist. Also Mighty O won a Donut Challenge on Food Network:
Top Pot: Golden Tate(former : Wide Receiver) breaking into a Bellevue Top Pot because he had a hankering for a maple bar. “They’re irresistible” quoted Mr Tate to the Seattle Times. (link https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/seahawks/the-great-maple-bar-caper-seahawks-golden-tate-caught-in-3-am-visit-to-top-pot-doughnuts/). Also, Pres Obama got his fill at Top Pot:
- Donuts – To be fair we ordered the same 6 donuts from each place to make sure we were comparing apples to apples. We got a maple bar, sprinkle, jelly filled, glazed, apple fritter, and chocolate. We decided to grade each donut on the following criteria.
1) Appetizing/Appearance
2) Glaze/toppings/frosting
3) The dough
4) Filling(when appropriate)
5) Taste
Maple Bar
1) Appetizing/Appearance -Top Pot
2) Glaze/toppings/frosting -Top Pot
3) The dough – Mighty O
4) Filling(when appropriate) – N/A
5) Taste – Top Pot
Winner-Top Pot
Sprinkles
1) Appetizing/Appearance -Top Pot
2) Glaze/toppings/frosting -Top Pot
3) The dough – Mighty O
4) Filling(when appropriate) – N/A
5) Taste – Mighty O
Winner- Mighty O. Taste as tie breaker.
Jelly Filled -Sugar on Top Pot, glaze on Mighty
1) Appetizing/Appearance – Mighty O
2) Glaze/toppings/frosting – Mighty O
3) The dough – Mighty O
4) Filling(when appropriate) – Mighty O
5) Taste – Mighty O
Winner – Mighty O
Glazed- Old Fashioned Glazed vs Good O’l Glazed
1) Appetizing/Appearance -Top Pot
2) Glaze/toppings/frosting -Top Pot
3) The dough – Mighty O
4) Filling(when appropriate) – N/A
5) Taste – Top Pot
Winner-Top Pot
Apple Fritter
1) Appetizing/Appearance -Top Pot
2) Glaze/toppings/frosting -MIghty O
3) The dough – Top Pot
4) Filling(when appropriate) – N/A
5) Taste – Mighty O
Winner-Mighty O. Taste as tie breaker.
Chocolate-Double trouble vs Lots O’ chocolate
1) Appetizing/Appearance -Top Pot
2) Glaze/toppings/frosting -MIghty O
3) The dough – Mighty O
4) Filling(when appropriate) – N/A
5) Taste – MIghty O
Winner- Mighty O
Summary: So by a score of 4 to 2, Mighty O is the Winner!!! One of the amazing things about Mighty O is that with the use of specific ingredients, you’d think that it would sacrifice taste or texture of the donut, but their donuts are near perfect. We consistently felt that Top Pot donuts look very appetizing both in overall appearance and glaze/toppings. And we also consistently felt that Mighty O won in the texture of the donut and taste. Truthfully you can’t go wrong with either one and when visitors come to town we often get a dozen from either one to show them some local flavor.
Related Articles:
- Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Seattle Coffee Shops
- Morsel vs Biscuit & Bean – The Battle of Seattle’s Best Biscuit Sandwich
- Ezell’s vs Heaven Sent – Battle of Seattle’s Best Fried Chicken
- Battle of the Best Caribbean Sandwiches-Paseo vs Un Bien
- Battle of the Best Seattle Ramen Restaurants
Seattle Coffee Places For Each Stage of Dating
We’ve told you about our choices for the Seattle Bars For Each Stage of Dating, but a reader pointed out, “what if you don’t drink?” Valid question. Or what if you are allergic to alcohol, you have to meet up during work hours, have to drive home sober, are on medication or just don’t want to drink alcohol? So as an alternative here are our choices for the best Seattle coffee places for each stage of dating.
First Date Coffee Place-For sure you want somewhere casual while feeling each other out and getting to know each other. Our pick:Revolution Coffee. First order your drinks(to go). You can chill out for awhile and talk a bit. The reason for picking Revolutions Coffee is not due to the space, but the location. It’s right across the street from Green Lake Park. Suggest a nice stroll around the park while sipping your coffee. How much more casual can you get? Walking around the entire lake takes about an hour, so by this time you should know if you want to see your date again. If things don’t click, hey, at least you got in a good walk at one of Seattle’s most picturesque parks.
First Date Coffee Place(What if the Weather Sucks?) – You know sometimes Seattle weather doesn’t cooperate and a walk around Green Lake is out of the question. So if it’s pouring outside, our alternative picks: Slate Coffee Roasters. We have a specific order at Slate for the first date. Order the Deconstructed Latte, which is espresso, milk and a combination of both. It’s perfect for sharing. You can discuss the specific ingredients with the barista before trying and then after trying each ingredient you can discuss and review. We think it encourages discussion and since you are sharing the experience together it makes for a perfect first date.
Impress The Date Coffee Place- You decided you’re interested and want to pursue the relationship. Time to impress. It has to be quiet, chill with some dark lighting to set the mood for romance. Our pick for the Seattle Bar choice for this stage of dating was Suite 410. Our pick for the Impress The Date Coffee Place is Anchorhead Coffee Co for many of the same reasons as Suite 410. It has a dark lighting setting the mood for romance, but it’s also a really impressive beautiful space. I wouldn’t say there’s a lot of seating specifically for two, but there are plenty of spaces that you can feel secluded and whisper those sweet nothings. Awe, yeah, playa! They have a good variety of food options. It’s also a great place as a precursor to the evening as Paramount Theatre, AMC Pacific Place, Regal Meridian Cinemas or Gameworks are all just a few blocks away.
The Test Coffee Place– Now take your date to a coffee place to see if they’ll have a fun time. Do something a little bit more interactive besides just sipping coffee and talking. Bars around town have all kinds of things to do for fun-bocce ball, mini gold, shooting pool, ping pong, pinball, etc. What type of fun thing is there to do at a coffee place? Coffee shops are meant for quiet time, right? Our pick: Caffe Vita. Why? Every month on a Sunday, Caffe Vita’s roasting facility on Capitol Hill has a 2 hour Public Brewing School which focuses on manual brewing methods such as French Press, Chemex, Bonmac Pour Over and Aeropress. And for all you cheapskates out there, it’s free! You two can become experts at various types of coffee making, so you can make each other great coffee each morning. And, hey, if things don’t work out, these skills are portable, so you can impress your next dating partner with your coffee making skills. A win all the way around. The classes do fill up quickly, so plan ahead of time like any good person planning a date should.
Soure:flicker
Seal the Deal Coffee Shop Getting Serious Coffee Shop- To us, there’s no such thing as a “Seal The Deal” coffee place like there is for bars, so we’ve replaced it with a Getting Serious Coffee Shop. It’s getting serious. This one might stick around for awhile. Time to introduce the date to friends. In the future, you might be bringing them around to your game nights, camping trips and as a +1 to weddings, birthday parties and baby showers, so they’d better get along with your friends. Also time to introduce them to family. You may start bringing them to Thanksgiving dinners, Christmas get togethers, babysitting the nieces and nephews.
As you know most of the coffee places in Seattle are pretty small and difficult to have big group outings. You don’t want to introduce your date to each friend and family member one by one. Where should you introduce this perspective marriage material to your loved ones? Our Pick: La Marzocco Cafe. It’s a relatively new space and located in the Seattle Center. You may say to yourself, that only tourists go to the Seattle Center to see the Space Needle, EMP or Chihuly Garden, but there’s gotta be times where you are there sometime throughout the year? What about meeting up during Bumbershoot, events at Key Arena, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Bite of Seattle, International Brewery Festival, Folklife Festival or having a bite out in lower Queen Anne?
The place is huge with tons of seating, which makes it perfect for big groups. They have cool displays of various espresso machines, a record store onsite and the coffee and menu are ever-changing. Why? This is the concept of the cafe-“Each month, a new, renowned coffee roaster or coffee brand from across the US or elsewhere in the world will take over our cafe space, implement a new menu, train our staff on their coffees and drink preparation, and curate a new experience for guests. Join us for something refreshing and new during each visit.”
Introduce the friends and family to meet your date. Get their opinion, see if they approve or don’t. If yes, move forward. If they don’t perhaps take them to the next coffee shop…….
Drive Off the Date Coffee Shop- This is the opposite of the Getting Serious Coffee Shop. You’ve determined that it just ain’t gonna work out .You figured out this date is nothing special, just like the rest, a dime a dozen. That ain’t good enough for you! How do you tell your date it’s over? If you take your date to this place, they probably know what’s coming next. If you’ve been going to all these independent coffee places all over town, your date might think to themselves, “Why the heck are we going here?” What better coffee shop to symbolize to your date they’re just like the rest or a dime a dozen? A coffee shop whose locations are pretty much the same and so commonplace they’re like a dime a dozen. Our Pick: Take your date to Starbucks. Another reason Starbucks is our choice. You know when you’re just not sure about your date it can go one way or the other, but something just suddenly breaks the camel’s back. Maybe you heard her obnoxious laugh one too many times, maybe his last brag after enduring his constant bragging does it, you just found out her main job is a drug mule or he cuts the date short again because he has to meet up with his Xbox playing buddies. Who knows where you’re going to be when you’ve decided-“Nope, not gonna happen”. If you have one of these spur of the moment revelations, no matter where you are, there will be a Starbucks close by. Just say, “Hey, we need to talk. Why don’t we go to that Starbucks across the street”. Be merciful and make it quick. Wham, bam, thank you, Ma’am! And make sure you get your coffee in a to go cup just in case dumping your date has left them in a heaping pile of tears. You can just wish them a happy life and peace out. Ball on, playa!
Battle of Seattle Ramen Restaurants (or The Seattle Ramen March Madness Tournament)
My recollection of Seattle Ramen History
We love ramen!! So we’ve kept a close eye on how ramen has evolved and became more of a Seattle staple in the last few years. Thank you, God!
When I first moved to Seattle, I was shocked that there weren’t any ramen shops to speak of. Coming from Southern California, which has a plethora of ramen shops, I thought that ramen would be the perfect meal for the cold Seattle weather. I always told my friends that if I had an entrepreneurial spirit and a good ramen broth recipe, that would be the business I’d open in Seattle. I had neither, so it never happened. But I thought whoever did, would make money hand over fist.
This is my recollection of ramen shops in Seattle. I think at the time Tsukushinbo was the only one that had ramen and it was only on Fridays, which I believe is still their practice today. Then Samurai Ramen opened in the International District in 2007 and Aloha Ramen opened in Greenwood in 2009. In 2012, Yoroshiku opened, although they’re not strictly a ramen place. Around the same time Ramen Man opened down the street in Wallingford. The real influx of Japanese ramen chains opening up branches in Seattle happened with Kukai Ramen(now Kizuki) in 2014. This is when the ramen scene in Seattle finally exploded with branches from Japan ramen shops and local ramen places opening seemingly every week –Ooink, Betsutenjin, Teinei, Ramen Danbo, Hokkaido Ramen Santouka , Tentenyu, Arashi Ramen.
Choosing the Field in Our Seattle Ramen March Madness
With the NCAA Tournament going on, I thought it be fun to have a Seattle Ramen Battle tournament style. So what’s the best way to rate all the ramen places? We knew we would not rate these places on atmosphere of the restaurants since ramen in Japan is basically eaten at outdoor stalls or little hole in the wall places. We thought it was more fair to compare apples to apples. So we had three choices. Most ramen places have a shio(salt) based, a shoyu(soy sauce) based and miso(fermented soy bean) based broth. Problem was some places didn’t have any of these common ramen broths. For example Tentenyu doesn’t have a simple shio, shoyu or miso ramen. In the end, we just picked what ramen bowl we wanted and based our ratings on what we ordered. I did try to ask each server what was their most popular ramen and ordered that.
Better Luck Next Year
These are Ramen Shops that did not make the field of 8 for various reasons. Like the NCAA Tournament, there are some teams that just don’t make the cut. Could be due to not enough quality wins ramen dishes, strength of schedule broth, not enough film time to properly evaluate or just stronger competition. Maybe next year, fellas.
- Tsukushinbo(International District)-Definitely tournament worthy, but only serves ramen on Friday. This is the equivalent of why pitchers shouldn’t be MVPs since they only pitch every 5 days.
- Yoroshiku(Wallingford)-Also tournament worthy, but they really are a Japanese restaurant that happens to serve really good ramen.
- Betsutenjin(Capitol Hill)-Haven’t made in there yet.
- Nuna Ramen(Fremont)
- Samurai Noodle(University and ID)
- Kiki Ramen(SLU)
- Teinei(SLU)
- Any Ramen Place on the East Side-Too far. Sorry
This Year’s Participants in the Seattle Ramen March Madness
- West Region-Arashi Ramen(Ballard) vs Ramen Man(Wallingford)
Out of the West Region comes Arashi Ramen from Ballard, known for it’s spicy miso tonkatsu ramen. They’ve dominated the Ballard neighborhood for close to 4 years. No new ramen shop dare enter their domain. They will match up with Ramen Man out of Wallingford. We all know old veteran Ramen Man will be tough to beat with it’s unlimited boiled eggs. Their campus is small but their Original Tori Paitan Ramen is mighty.
2. North Region–Aloha Ramen(Lake City) vs Santouka Ramen(University District)
The old stalwart meets the new kid on the block. Aloha Ramen is formerly out of Greenwood, but transferred to Lake City. They’ve been around since 2009 and have a wicked combo of garlic fried rice and their Katsu Tan Ramen. Aloha hopes to beat the Moana out of Santouka, home of the powerful Tsukemen. Santouka has been in Seattle for less than a year, so you know they’ve had a strong season to make the field with such a limited resume. Their dinner sets and membership perks make this Rookie of the Year a possible MVP candidate.
3. Capitol Hill Region #1– Kizuki Ramen vs Tentenyu Ramen
Kizuki Ramen formerly known as Kukai, which means “crap” in Hawaiian, has been multiplying all over Seattle and Bellevue trying to overpower the competition by kicking the “kukai” out them through pure number of locations. Facing Kizuki in the Capitol Hill Region #1 is Tentenyu, another newcomer to Seattle, but honing it’s skills in Kyoto for over 40 years. They keep their style of play simple-only 4 bowls of ramen, but they have a secret weapon off the bench, black garlic oil! They are hoping to beat Kizuki by tenten points.
4. Capitol Hill Region #2–Ramen Danbo vs Ooink
Closing out the field are two more competitors from Capitol Hill. Yet another newcomer to the field, Ramen Danbo is not only known for it’s Tonkatsu Broth Ramen, but also it’s aresnal of weapons(choices of noodles thickness, noodle firmness, broth thickness, lard amount and spicy factor). Ramen Danbo hopes to go Rambo on Ooink. Ooink –Don’t let the looks of their campus fool you. This could be the Cinderella story of the tournament. Their unconventional style might be enough to trip up their opponent. Spicy reigns supreme on this menu, but their Kotteri Ramen might be their best player. Ooink hopes to go hog-wild on Ramen Danbo.
We’re not going to go into a lot of detail why one ramen won over the other, but suffice to say it can be chalked up to simply, “we just liked one ramen over the other”.
Without further ado, here are the winners round by round:
Round 1 Results
- West Region Winner-Arashi Ramen
Arashi Ramen - North Region Winner-Santouka Ramen
Santouka - Capitol Hill Region #1 Winner-Kizuki Ramen
Kizuki Ramen - Capitol Hill Region #2 Winner-Ramen Danbo
Ramen Danbo
The Final Four
West Region Winner-Arashi Ramen vs North Region Winner-Santouka Ramen
Capitol Hill Region #1 Winner-Kizuki Ramen vs Capitol Hill Region #2 Winner-Kizuki Ramen
The Championship
Santouka Ramen vs Kizuki Ramen
The Winner-Hokkaido Santouka Ramen!
Note: We’ll be sure to review each place in detail in a separate blog posts.
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