**********12/20-Unfortunately, This Restaurant Has Closed Down**********
The Wandering Goose – Best Breakfast in Seattle?
Recommended by: Our server, Marissa at the The 5 Spot recommended The Wandering Goose to try out. She advised they had breakfast everyday and had some of the best fried chicken in the city.
Description on the The Wandering Goose’s website: The Wandering Goose is a thirty seat Southern influenced cafe in the heart of Seattle’s North Capitol Hill neighborhood. The Wandering Goose is warm and inviting with bright natural light streaming in through the east facing windows. The demising wall between the neighboring restaurant is made from vintage leaded glass windows allowing for even more light and a sense of openness in this tiny but magical café. Offering Southern inspired breakfast and lunch fare including biscuits, cookies, layer cakes, biscuit sandwiches, hushpuppies, crock pot grits, country ham, sawmill gravy, country sausage gravy, greens, pimento cheese, chow-chow and fresh salads. All ingredients are seasonal and affordable fare. We will offer baking classes, cooking classes and retail sundries.
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Neighborhood/Type: Capitol Hill
Address: 403 15th Ave E, Seattle, WA 98112
What we ate/drank: Hangtown Fry-fried oysters, cured pork belly, poached eggs. Fried Chicken Plate w/collard greens, coleslaw, butter milk biscuit. The Sawmill Biscuit Sandwich-fried chicken, sawmill gravy, cheese, poached eggs. Machiatto using Caffe Vita coffee.
Comments: Update 9/22/19: Wandering Goose just made Seattle Met’s 100 Best Restaurant
Marissa at The 5 Spot did not let us down with her suggestion! We’ve now been here multiple times and The Wandering Goose is now in our rotation of breakfast places.
Wandering Goose has two similar characteristics of two other recently reviewed restaurants:
- Like Il Corvo, you line up, put your order in toward the back of the restaurant, pay and then take a seat. They’ll bring out the meals to you. Also similar to Il Corvo lines through the restaurant form regularly due to it’s small size and popularity.
- Like Citizen Cafe and The 5 Spot, it’s one of those rare Seattle restaurants that’s opens for breakfast at 7:00am not only on weekends, but on weekdays.
If there is anything you take from this post it’s if you have a group of four or more, you’d better get there as soon as it opens or you’ll be waiting awhile. The Wandering Goose only has 30 seats. We’ve only come on weekdays in between 7-8 am to ensure we get a table. We won’t even think about going on the weekends unless we do takeout. There’s basically two rows of long benches on either side of the restaurant with tables and adjoining chairs.
The Wandering Goose specializes in Southern comfort food and has the decor to match. It feels like a diner in a small farm town – branded wooden tables, weathered window panes, ceiling fans with long downrods, lamps made of burlap sacks, old cases behind the cashier. It has that laid back country feel, which is a nice departure from the modern hip restaurants that permeate the Seattle landscape.
Here are some of the yummy dishes we’ve had. There aren’t many places that serve a Hangtown Fry(typically eggs, bacon and oysters) in Seattle, so whenever I see it, I normally order it. Usually the ingredients are all scrambled together or as an omelette. I like Wandering Goose’s variation on the dish. You have a poached egg, so you have the runny yoke. You have the pork belly instead of bacon. Take a look at the picture down below to see how thick the piece of pork belly was. Whoa. Lastly you have fried oysters on top of a bed of potatoes in a skillet. Lots of savory flavors in this dish. I added a bit of their house made “sweet heat” sauce too. As with all their dishes, the portion size will leave you full.
Note: There are two entertaining origin stories of how the Hangtown Fry came into existence. The first was a gold prospector hitting it rich and going to a hotel in California and ordering the most expensive things on the menu which in those days were eggs, bacon and oysters. The other story is that a condemned man was due to be executed and for his last meal he specifically ordered oysters, because he knew it would take more than a day to get them, so he gained an extra day of life.
Fried Chicken Plate w/collard greens, coleslaw, butter milk biscuit. Their fried chicken definitely deserves mentioned when talking about the best fried chicken in the city. Perhaps Wandering Goose will enter the fray in the war over who has the best fried chicken in Seattle between Ezell’s and Heaven Sent. Crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. The seasoning on the crispy skin was flavorful, but not overly seasoned like many other places. Our two year old devoured the drum stick like the Tasmanian Devil from WB. The Fried Chicken Plate also came with collard greens which were sweet and spicy and cole slaw which was crisp and fresh. It also came with one of their biscuits.
The Sawmill Biscuit Sandwich-fried chicken, sawmill gravy, cheese, poached eggs. Like the Fried Chicken Plate, The Sawmill may give another Seattle Food War a new combatant. Wandering Goose may give Morsel and Bean & Biscuit a run for their money for Best Seattle Biscuit Sandwich. Take a gander at the pictures of The Sawmill below! Your mouth is salivating, ain’t it? I opted for the addition of a poached egg for extra. How could I not have some runny yoke with this bad boy?
This is not really a traditional sandwich you can eat with your hands. You’ll need a knife and fork. The biscuits are huge and fluffy. I always expect biscuits this big to be dense. Everything about this dish is substantial from the size of the biscuit and chicken to the amount of thick gravy. The sandwich was delicious and despite it being so substantial, I finished it. Needless to say, there was no need for lunch that day. I think the next time I order this, I’ll try it without cheese. The cheese melted into the gravy, making it cheezy. It was still delicious, but I’d like to taste the gravy on it’s own.
The Sawmill – **Before**cutting into it $13.00- fried chicken, sawmill gravy, cheese add poached eggs $1.25. Score: (5.0/5.0)
Summary: Are we ready to crown The Wandering Goose as our favorite breakfast spot yet? Not quite yet, but it’s a front runner. I think if we were to put it in a category, it would be our favorite breakfast spot when playing hooky from work. Due to it’s small seating capacity and popularity, I think we’d only come here during early morning weekdays.
If you want to learn more about the history of The Wandering Goose you can read about it here.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 5.00
Service: 5.00
Food/Drinks: 5.00
Bang for the Buck: 4.50
Overall: 4.85
Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is.
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- Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
- Most locals know about it
- Locals “in the know” know about it
- Only those who live close by know about it.
- You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!
Servers recommendations to visit in the future: The cashier recommended Fat Hen as a suggestion. We’d heard of Fat Hen and have a funny story about it, but we’d never been there. Stay tuned for our visit and review of Fat Hen and the funny story connected to it.
Related Articles:
The 5 Spot – Seattle’s Best Diner?
Recommended by: When we asked our server(Brian) at Citizen Cafe for other breakfast spots in Seattle, he recommended The 5 Spot right up the hill in Queen Anne as a suggestion.
he 5 Spot’s website: Home of the “American Food Festival Series“, 5 Spot’s menu offers big flavored food and kitsch from all points of the continental U.S. Our menus are inspired by our nation’s cultural roots and history that’s found on kitchen tables across America. Our roaming menu might find us parlez vous-in’ down Bourbon Street, two steppin’ into Texas, or soakin’ up those lazy, languid days along Florida’s Gulf Rim. Not feelin’ like goin’ too far outta town? 5 Spot highlights its regular Melting Pot Meals from 5 defined regions (or spots) year-round for those who like to stick with a sure thing.
Neighborhood/Type: Queen Anne
Address: 1502 Queen Anne Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98109
What we ate/drank: Bag O’ Beignets, Kids Waffle and Fruit, The Big Nashty Sandwich, Enchilada De Desayuno, Coffee
Comments: First thing we want to point out is The 5 Spot is not to be confused with The 5 Point, which we mentioned as our “Drive Off the Date Bar” in our Seattle Bars For Each Stage of Dating post
Now that we have that service announcement out of the way let’s get to The 5 Spot. Brian at Citizen Cafe recommended The 5 Spot. It has been over 10 years since I’d been there and my wife had never been. The 5 Spot is out of the way for us being up on Queen Anne Hill, but after going here my wife may insist on putting it in our restaurant rotation.
As mentioned I’d not been here for over 10 years, but it’s been a Seattle institution since I can remember. More than 20 years? The 5 Spot’s claim to fame is their roaming menu of American cuisine, so you can always get new dishes no matter how many times you’ve been there. Also, if there is a particular dish you’ve enjoyed, you better go back quickly if you want it again because it might be gone once they change the menu. They do have their standard dishes that always remain on the menu though.
The 5 Spot is one of the bigger diners you’ll find in Seattle. It doesn’t matter, you’ll most likely be waiting for a seat due to it’s popularity. In totality, it probably seats over 100 people.
Another thing you’ll notice is that it’s very kid-friendly. They provided our two year old with crayons and a kids place mat. They provided a car seat stand to put our 4 month old in. And they have a kids menu, which is greatly appreciated for us parents on a budget. More than half the parties at the 5 Spot on a Monday morning had kids, so it shows you how kid-friendly they are.
One of the nice things about many of the brunch/breakfast places we’ve visited lately is that they are open on the weekdays. The 5 Spot is no exception opening every day at 8:00am. They are also open til 11pm on the weekdays and til midnight on the weekends.
The atmosphere is nostalgic diner. It has the old-style coat hangers at each booth and also has individual lighting at each booth. It’s bright, airy and busy.
On this particular visit they have a Nashville theme going on. So a huge Elvis cut out met us at the door and guitars hung from the ceiling.
At home, the best our 2 year old gets are microwaved French toast, so getting real ones was a treat for her. The Enchilada De Desayuno is from their normal menu and was prepared in an iron skillet. It came with black beans, pepper jack and Oaxaca cheese and two over easy eggs with massive potatoes on the side. I also went with an addition of smoked pork. The portion is huge, but you definitely pay for it at $16.50($13.50 for the dish + $3.00 for the addition of the smoked pork). It was a delicious dish overall and I think the potatoes paired well with the enchilada sauce, pork and cheese.
We agreed the definite favorite was the Big Nashty off the Nashville menu. It’s a “Big ass shpicy breakfast sandwich” with chicken thigh, bacon jam, vinegared greens, pair of over easy eggs, and pickles on Ciabatta. Take a look at the picture below. As you can see the chicken is massive and impossible to fit in your mouth. The sourness of the vinegared greens and pickles mixed with the bacon jam and chicken was so flavorful.
Although the portions were big, there were no left overs. The sign of a delicious meal. Bag of Beignets accompanied with a chocolate dipping were a good way to top off the meal, especially with a coffee.
Below are our the ratings of some of our dishes from our visit.
Egg dipped and griddled golden brown slices of country white bread with Vermont maple syrup, powdered sugar and fresh fruit. Score: (5.0/5.0) <<<based on our daughter’s empty plate
Enchilada De Desayuno $16.50. Score: (4.75/5.0)
The Big Nashty $13.50
Score: (5.0 / 5.0)
Summary:
The food is a bit on the expensive size but the service was top notch and over accommodating to our family and the atmosphere and everchanging menu is a very rare treat in Seattle. So the higher prices are justified in our opinion. This is a great places to bring visitors out of town and any large group. The size of the diner and the number of choices on the menu means you can accommodate all.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 5.00
Service: 5.00
Food/Drinks: 4.75
Bang for the Buck: 4.25
Overall: 4.75
Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is.
-
- Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
-
- Most locals know about it
-
- Locals “in the know” know about it
-
- Only those who live close by know about it.
-
- You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!
Servers recommendations to visit in the future: Our server Marissa suggested Wandering Goose(RIP 2020) in Capitol Hill to try out. She advised they had breakfast everyday and had some of the best fried chicken in the city.
Related Articles:
Mike’s Noodle House
Recommended by: A fellow diner at Dough Zone Dumpling House advised they were there, because they intended to go to Mike’s Noodle House, but it had a long wait and mentioned they had the best Wonton Soup in Seattle.
Description on the Mike’s Noodle House website: Not surprisingly, they ain’t got one.
Neighborhood/Type: International District
Address: 418 Maynard Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104
What we ate/drank: Wonton Noodle Soup, Wonton & Beef Brisket Noodle Soup
Comments: Update 9/22/19: Mike’s Noodle House just made Seattle Met’s 100 Best Restaurant
You can call Mike’s Noodle House, “The Il Corvo of the ID(International District)”. Like Il Corvo, Mike’s Noodle House has the following qualities:
- It has a loyal following that often leads to lines out the door.
- It has a limited amount of seats, so don’t be surprised if you’re sharing a table with fellow diners.
- Noodles(and wontons) are their specialty.
Like many places in the ID, Mike’s Noodle House is a no frills establishment. If you’re looking for pristine conditions and over the top service, this ain’t your place. If you want fast efficient service and great food that’s served very quickly, then you’ll love Mike’s Noodle House.
First things first, CASH ONLY. Don’t get caught going out on a date and only having plastic on you.
One of the things I like about Mike’s Noodle House’s Wonton Soup is the soup is very subtle and not overpowering. It reminds me a little of saimin. The plump wontons each have an entire shrimp and ground pork that are encased within the thin, but sturdy wrapping. The noodles are long, thin and plentiful.
One of the nice touches is that they provide a pair of scissors when we are sharing a bowl of soup with our 2 yr old. They bring a small bowl for her. If you’ve ever tried to transfer long noodles from one bowl to another, you know it’s going to be a mess. Having the scissors there to cut the noodles during the transfer from bowl to bowl is ingenious. I’ve not seen this in any other restaurant before.
I typically order the OG, Wonton Noodle Soup that comes with 5 wontons. The soup doesn’t come with any veggies which is a bit unusual. My wife orders the Wonton Noodle Soup with Beef Brisket. Their soups are perfect during the cold months in Seattle. Another cool feature is the big window that you can peer through as the cooks prepare the dishes.
In summary, you may have to wait, you may have to sit with strangers, you won’t be getting any travel point since you can’t use a credit card and you won’t get a warm greeting or small talk from the staff, but the soup is totally worth it.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 3.75
Service: 4.00
Food/Drinks: 5.00
Bang for the Buck: 5.00
Overall: 4.35
Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is.
-
- Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
- Most locals know about it
- Locals “in the know” know about it
- Only those who live close by know about it.
- You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!
Servers recommendations to visit in the future: The servers here are too busy for small talk. But a funny story. We were here eating before going to a friend’s house warming party. We noticed a couple that came in around the same time as we did. We end up at the house warming party and noticed the same couple from Mike’s Noodle House there. We both laughed. Great minds think alike. We made some small talk and we both talked about how much we liked Mike’s Noodle House and asked for some of their other favorites. They recommended Xian Noodles in the University District as a place that specializes in biang biang noodles at a reasonable price.
Related Articles:
Dough Zone Dumpling House – International District
Recommended by: I briefly mentioned Dough Zone Dumpling House in my Little Kitchen review. Friends of ours gave their own opinion on who had the best dumplings in Seattle. They said if you take everything into consideration-price, quality, clean environment, taste, that Dough Zone Dumpling House was the best. We’d thought we’d revisit Dough Zone Dumpling House to see if they were right.
Description on the Dough Zone Dumpling House’s website: Our house special Q-bao are originated from the famous Shanghai Sheng Jian Bao (Pan Fried Buns). They are tasty buns fill with moist pork and wrapped with half fluffy, half crispy dough. Our Q-bao are made with quality ingredients and prepared in a traditional way. After being half steamed and half pan fried, buns are becoming soft on the top and crispy crust on the bottom. it’s PERFECTION.
Neighborhood/Type: International District
What we ate/drank: Pork Q Bao Buns, Beef Stew Noodles, Pork & Shrimp Steamed Dumplings, Pork Xiao Long Bao, Dan Dan Noodles, Broccoli w/Oyster Sauce, Pork Wonton in Szechuan Sauce
Comments: Update 9/22/19: Dough Zone Dumpling just made Seattle Met’s 100 Best Restaurant
You can call Dough Zone Dumpling House, “The Local Din Tai Fung” or “The Seattle Din Tai Fung”. It’s the restaurant that Dough Zone Dumpling House is most compared to. We thought about doing a Dough Zone vs Din Tai Fung review as part of our Food War Series, but the logistics were just too hard to pull off.
Our history with Din Tai Fung:
Back in 2013, Din Tai Fung opened their first Seattle location in University Village. At the time Din Tai Fung only had branches in Los Angeles and Bellevue in the entire US. The long waits started immediately. For the early goers who stood in line, there were bragging rights to have waited so long and posted pictures of meals on Instagram to rub it in their friends’ faces. To this day, we still enjoy Din Tai Fung. We love their efficiency and consistently delicious dishes, but we’ve got to admit, we’ve seen the price go up and up the last few years, which is warranted. Obviously, with long lines still happening anybody who took Econ 101 knows prices will rise until demand is met. And the demand is still there. When Din Tai Fung first opened we felt the food portions, the yumminess and the low prices at the time, made for a screaming deal. Screaming deal now days? Not so much.
Back to our Dough Zone Dumpling House story:
During this time(2014) we heard of a place in the Eastside that had a same type of fanatical following. We’d heard the stories of a place called, Dough Zone Dumpling House that had better food than Din Tai Fung. As you know from our Third Culture Coffee post, we don’t go to the Eastside much, so all we could do was speculate and wonder if the stories were true. We heard that they were expanding their empire on the Eastside with 2 Bellevue, a Redmond and Issaquah locations, so we knew it must be good to sustain 4 branches in a relatively small area.
Then in 2017 word that they were finally expanding to Seattle spread like wildfire. Finally we’d be able to taste for ourselves. In the Fall of 2017, Dough Zone Dumpling House opened in a brand new building in the ID(International District). Of course the lines started as soon as the restaurant opened. We figured we’d wait a bit and let them work out the kinks and perhaps the lines would die down. Our first time going was Christmas Eve of 2017 and we’ve been regulars ever since.
Like Din Tai Fung, there’s normally a long wait. We’ve been extremely lucky each visit we’ve made to Dough Zone in that we’ve been seated immediately. Thank you, Food Gods! And then when we leave the waiting area is packed and we look at each other and say, “perfect timing”.
The prices per dish are definitely cheaper, but smaller than Din Tai Fung. I think we prefer it this way, because we’ve been able to try a lot of different dishes without getting too full. And if you really like a certain dish you can always create your own bigger portion by ordering multiple orders.
The minute you sit down they give you a paper checklist to mark the dishes you want. They are literally back in 5 minutes to see if you’re ready. Like us, I’m sure most returning visitors have their favorite dishes already in mind, so a quick turn around must be normal. No matter how busy it is, the dishes come out in rapid fire succession shortly after ordering. If you’re starving, this is a good thing. If you’re there to have a leisurely meal and catch up with friends and family, shut your pie hole and start eating. There’s an angry mob of people on the wait list screaming to get a seat.
One of the best qualities of Dough Zone Dumpling House is that it is right across the street from the International District Link Light Rail Station, so if you use the Link Light Rail or any of the buses that use the tunnel, it’s super convenient to get to. We typically do take the Link Light Rail, but we’ve also just spent $20 worth of groceries at Uwajimaya a block away and got two hours of free parking.
Below are our ratings of some of our favorite dishes from our various visits. All are very good, but some are damn good!
Because we were advised to go hear specifically to compare the dumplings from our Little Kitchen’s Review, I have to say that Dough Zone’s are better than Little Kitchen’s dumplings, but not as good as Little Ting’s Kitchen.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 4.50
Service: 4.75
Food/Drinks: 4.75
Bang for the Buck: 4.75
Overall: 4.70
Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is.
-
- Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
- Most locals know about it
- Locals “in the know” know about it
- Only those who live close by know about it.
- You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!
Servers recommendations to visit in the future: Not a server recommendation, but a fellow diner at Dough Zone Dumpling House advised they were there, because they intended to go to Mike’s Noodle House, but it had a long wait and mentioned they had the best Wonton Soup in Seattle.
Related Articles:
D’La Santa Mexican Cuisine & Grill
Recommended by: We advised in our Senor Moose review that we thought Senor Moose was the best Mexican restaurant in Seattle for the mid-tier level(see below) and probably the best overall Mexican restaurant in Seattle. A reader suggested that we try D’La Santa Mexican Cuisine & Grill and promised we would be impressed.
Description on the D’La Santa’s website: We pride ourselves on being 100% family owned. A team of brothers, uncles, aunts and daughters serving grandmothers old recipes. Combined with new rustic and old traditional Mexican food we thrive to serve you the best quality prime meats and organic vegetables.
Neighborhood/Type: Capitol Hill
Address: 2359 10th Ave E, Seattle, WA 98102
What we ate/drank: Tuetanos-Fire roasted bone marrows boat with cotija cheese and green onion, Picocitos- Jalapeno peppers stuffed with cream cheese & bacon, 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)
Comments: Not taking into account taco trucks, because you know we love us some taco trucks, but in our opinion there are three tiers of Mexican restaurants in Seattle.
- The fancy modernish ones like Barrio, Mezcaleria Oaxaca, Chavez, Fogon Cocina Mexicana, Poquitos
- The mid-tier ones like La Carta de Oaxaca, El Quetzal, Casco Antiguo, El Borracho, 418 Public House, Senor Moose
- The hole-in-the-wall cheaper ones like La Conasupo, Mendoza’s Mercado, Taco Chukis, Gorditos
D’La Santa falls in the mid-tier category.
As mentioned above, a reader suggested D’La Santa as a worthy adversary for best Mexican restaurant in Seattle. We’d never heard of D’La Santa, which opened in late 2017. And I don’t think anybody could blame us since it’s located near a secluded stretch of businesses in North Capitol Hill on 10th Ave E away from the more popular areas of Broadway and the Pike/Pine Corridor. It’s almost borderline Eastlake. Regardless, we gotta give props to this reader for pointing us in the direction of D’La Santa. It is indeed a worthy adversary.
Because the area is away from the more popular streets, parking is no problem at all. The outside has a façade of hanging lanterns that continue inside with a massive tree in the middle of the restaurant also with hanging lanterns. The lights are dimmed, so it definitely gives a romantic vibe that would be a perfect date spot. It did seem like a lot of couples there were on dates, but there was also a good number of groups there with kids in tow.
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
One other item that most tables ordered, but we didn’t, was the House Margarita that came in a coconut shell. I noticed there were four tables in a row that each ordered it. We also ordered some appetizers. The Picocitos, which are jalapeno peppers stuffed with cream cheese & bacon. This dish was $4.99 and again we felt it was a very reasonable price considering how big the peppers were and how much cream cheese was applied. It had just the right amount of bacon for a very balanced dish.
The other appetized we got was the Tuetanos, a fire roasted bone marrow boat with cotija cheese and green onion. This was more of a dish for me since my wife doesn’t really enjoy bone marrow. The frustrating thing about bone marrow is there’s just so little of it per bone, but oh how I love me some fatty goodness.
Picocitos $4.99 (3) Jalapeno peppers stuffed with cream cheese & bacon
I have to say that service started out a little rough. We arrived and we had to wait awhile to be seated as there was no workers to be seen even though there were about 6 tables already being served. Somebody eventually came out from the back and we were seated with menus. Again, we waited quite a while before our order was taken. In fact, in thinking back we actually had to flag down somebody to take our order.
To their credit, after this service was impeccable. Our server answered our questions about the dishes, warned us that the bone marrow would take a little longer due to the preparation, periodically checked on us, took away dishes as we finished, asked if we needed more tortillas and also asked if we needed anything boxed up.
Aside from the dishes we got there are so many other interesting dishes that we’d love to try in the future like the Torta Caramelo, which is bread stuffed with anaheim pepper and melted asadero cheese, filled with your choice of meat. Taco Gobernador, which is shrimp sauteed with garlic, onion, butter & cheese.
Let’s not forget their extensive steak menu, starting with a reasonably priced (Wagyu) Mishima Reserved Ultra, grade 8 at $29.99 all the way up to their 40oz Tomahawk for two that’s $119.99. We’ll save that one for a very, very special occasion.
Finding this undiscovered(to us) restaurant is the main reason we try to ask locals where they like to eat. We would have never visited D’La Santa without a local reader suggesting it. This quaint family run restaurant would probably never appear in a Seattle city guidebook. We’re not quite ready to hand over the mantle from Senor Moose as Best Mexican Restaurant in Seattle. We’ll take a few more visits and try a few more dishes, but they are in fact a worthy adversary.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 4.50
Service: 4.50
Food/Drinks: 4.75
Bang for the Buck: 4.75
Overall: 4.65
Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is.
-
- Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
-
- Most locals know about it
-
- Locals “in the know” know about it
-
- Only those who live close by know about it.
-
- You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!
Servers recommendations to visit in the future: Up above we mention La Conasupo Market,which is one of favorites.
Related Articles:
Citizen Cafe – Queen Anne
Recommended by: Our Server at Square Knot Diner is a resident of the Queen Anne neighborhood and mentioned a little known and underrated spot called, Citizen Café.
Description on the Citizen Cafe’s website: Welcome to Citizen Cafe and Bar. We are located in the lower Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle, Washingon in the shadow of the Space Needle. We love our neighborhood and the people that we see everyday, as well as those who might be passing through, looking for a place to grab a bite or a sip. We also love creating food and drinks that are fun and delicious. Things are always changing with new specials for every season and creative new ideas for cocktails and dishes. Be at home in our cozy cafe or on our sun-drenched patio and let us take care of you.
Neighborhood/Type: Queen Anne
What we ate/drank: Pulled Pork Tacos, Korexican Tacos, Macchiato
Comments: Until our server at Square Knot Diner had told us about Citizen Café, we’d never heard of it. Maybe it’s because when going to Queen Anne we’re familiar with the businesses on Queen Anne Ave on top of the hill and the businesses on lower Queen Anne on Mercer Ave. Citizen Café is located on the lower western part of Queen Anne. When we did arrive, we were quite shocked how big the property was. In addition to the two story café they had a huge adjoining outside portion. Citizen Café is a bit of a unicorn in Seattle in that they serve 7:00am breakfast not only on the weekends, but also on weekdays.
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The bottom portion of the space is the café portion, where a lot of commuters are just ordering coffee to go. There is some counter space along the window and a few stools near the cashier, but the second story is where the main seating area is. Our server told us that the second story was added on only a few years ago. The space has a lot of character. You’ll notice the exposed brick throughout and the exposed wooden beams. Our server advised that prior incarnations of the space were a fire station, a horse stable and more recently storage for the auto repair business next door. An original touch is the pages of Anna Karenina wallpapered along the wall on the second floor.
We both decided on tacos for breakfast, the pulled pork tacos and the Korexican Tacos(see details in the picture below). I’m not sure why, but I wasn’t expecting much when we ordered our meals. Maybe we thought that they were mainly a coffee shop first and food would take a back seat in quality. We were happily surprised that their tacos were really good. I especially like their pulled pork tacos. I thought for the portion size and quality, the dishes were also reasonably priced.I’m more of a savory person than a sweet person, so the Korexican tacos were not a hit for me, but my wife loved them.
Our server was accommodating and friendly. I point this out because we were there with two kids-(2 yr old and a 3 month old). The place is really unique and we’ll be sure to add it to our list of places to take visitors or local friends. Just a warning, it’s not a place that can accommodate larger groups. I would say maybe 6 people max and even that’s pushing it. Citizen is coffee cafe/brunch spot by day and bar/cocktails in the evening.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 4.50
Service: 5.00
Food/Drinks: 4.65
Bang for the Buck: 4.25
Overall: 4.50
Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is.
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- Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
- Most locals know about it
- Locals “in the know” know about it
- Only those who live close by know about it.
- You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!
Servers recommendations to visit in the future: Our server(Brian) mentioned The 5 Spot as another option for breakfasts in the area when asking for suggestions.
Related Articles:
**********5/20-Unfortunately, This Restaurant Has Closed Down**********
Il Corvo – Pioneer Square
Recommended by: Our server(sorry we didn’t get your name) at Trove in Capitol Hill recommended Il Corvo as her favorite lunch spot.
Description on the Il Corvo’s website:At Il Corvo we rely on years of experience and knowledge in order to create the perfect noodle. We work with traditional bronze dies and handmade tools as well as high quality organic ingredients to develop pasta with a proper al dente mouth feel that is both delicious and firm.
Neighborhood/Type: Pioneer Square
Address: 217 James St, Seattle, WA 98104
What we ate/drank: Campanelle, Pappardelle, Maccheroni, Kale Salad
Comments: Update 9/22/19: Il Corvo just made Seattle Met’s 100 Best Restaurant
There are certain Rites of Passage in Seattle like standing in line at Paseo for a sandwich or standing in line at Tsukushinbo for Ramen Friday. Here’s another one. Standing in line for lunch at Il Corvo.
Some history of Il Corvo first. It used to be this secret pasta place located in a gelato shop near Pike Place Market. I can’t remember if they served lunch everyday or only on certain days, but I remember there were maybe 3 tables. And I don’t think there was any signage that Il Corvo was located in this gelato shop. You just had to know about it. I also remember that it wasn’t really a proper kitchen but that pasta was being made off of a portable butane burner, like you might have for camping.
Eventually Il Corvo moved to it’s current location in Pioneer Square, but it’s only open for lunch and it’s only open on the weekdays. The daily ritual that happens is a line starts forming at 10:45ish and sometimes earlier. If you want a seat(aprox 35 seats) in their small location coming at 11:00 right when they open is too late. If you look at the picture below it was taken exactly at 11:00 and you might think that there’s only about 12 people waiting. Nope, there’s already a line from the back of the restaurant that starts at the cashier all the way through the restaurant and out the door. So although there’s 12 people waiting in line outside, there’s actually a line of more than 20 inside. This is definitely an indication of how good their pasta is. The owner/chef, Mike Easton, was a Finalist for the Best Chef: Northwest award given by the James Beard Foundation.
So you stand in line, get to the cash register and order. Then they will advise you where to sit and bring the food out. Even with the large crowds, they do a good job of managing the available tables. While waiting in line to order, they went down the long line to ask if you were ordering to go or staying and this way they could decide where to seat people even prior to them ordering. If you are a party of one or two, don’t be surprised if you’re sharing a table with others. It can’t really be helped due to the popularity of Il Corvo and the always present line through the restaurant, but it can feel very cramped once seated with those in line hovering right over you. It’s just the price you have to pay like any popular place.
There’s an ever-changing menu of three pastas a day at $9.95 per dish. You can follow what they’re serving that day on their Instagram. They also have some Anti-Pasta dishes such as kale salad, prosciutto plate, pickled vegetables and house made focaccia. They also serve wine.
We always order the three different pastas and when all dishes get to the table, we always look and each other and say, “There’s no way we can finish this”. We always do.
The Pappardelle ala Bolongnese was my favorite and gets a five out of five rating from me. Served with flat broad pappardelle, the meat in the Bolognese sauce is blended into a gooey paste. Bon Appetit actually published the recipe for this gravy back in 2015, but I’d much rather have it prepared and cooked by a pasta Jedi.
The Campanelle with arugula pesto with walnuts, almonds and pistachio was on the other side of spectrum with a really fresh and light compared to the savory Bolognese. I think we’ve had this same dish, but it was with Fusilli the last time we were here.
The last dish was the Maccheroni with corona beans, swiss chard and mama lil’s peppers, which was also a home run. The Maccheroni noodles are massive to match the corona beans. I think the bigger holes in the noodles allows all the ingredients to really permeate. And we’re big fans of Mama Lil’s Peppers. These are also a main ingredient of both Morsel and Biscuit and Beans’ biscuit sandwiches.
As a courtesy for those waiting in line for a seat, try not to linger too long. We did notice that a lot of people do order to go to eat back at their office, but definitely the best way to enjoy it is fresh off the pan in the restaurant if possible.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 4.25
Service: 4.75
Food/Drinks: 5.00
Bang for the Buck: 5.00
Overall: 4.75
Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is.
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- Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
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- Most locals know about it
-
- Locals “in the know” know about it
-
- Only those who live close by know about it.
-
- You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!
Servers recommendations to visit in the future: After this blog post was published a friend/reader reminded us of Tavolata after seeing me gush about Il Corvo’s pappardelle. We’ll head there soon.
Related Articles:
**********Unfortunately, This Restaurant Has Closed Down**********
Recommended by: We’re huge fans of Revel and Joule from the wife/husband team of Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi, but had never been to Trove in Capitol Hill. We were in the mood for some Korean BBQ, so off we went.
Description on the Trove website: Korean barbecue is at the heart of Trove, the ambitious culinary playground Yang and Chirchi opened in 2014. Trove BBQ’s dining room holds tabletop grills on which diners can cook their own deeply flavored meats.
Neighborhood/Type: Capitol Hill
What we ate/drank: Pork Kimchi Dumplings w/mapo sauce, Meat Tower for 2: Beef sirloin with salted black bean cure & pork belly with garlic chili cure. Stoup Pale Ale.
Comments: We knew about Trove since we are fans of Revel and Joule and remembered when it opened, but we were shocked that it was over 4 years ago. Well, we finally made it out here. First of all, Old Village Korean BBQ, this ain’t. We’re in Cap Hill, so of course we’re dealing with a very chic place.
Trove seems to be split in 5 different compartments. You have the truck that is attached to the building that serves parfait from the truck window. Although this section was closed when we visited on a Friday night. The entry leads you to the second compartment, which is a noodle bar with a few seats that are right in the store front on Pike. At first we thought this was the entire restaurant and thought, “Wow, this place is tiny”, but when the host appeared, he took us back to the main bbq area. Although, they don’t have the built in bbq grills into the table at this section, I did see that they had portable grills that they could put next to your table if you wanted bbq.
Before reaching the main dining area, we passed by the third compartment, which is their bar area that’s got a dark romantic vibe to it. The forth compartment is the main dining area which has the tables with the bbq grill built in. This is wear we ate. The fifth compartment is a slightly elevated private room area.
For starters we ordered some drinks and the Pork Kimchi Dumplings w/mapo sauce. One thing I notice about these dumplings is that there was no wasted space between the wrapper and the filling of the dumplings. Normally, there is the filling and then a bunch of space between the wrapper when the filling inside normally shrinks when it’s steamed. Not only are the dumplings on the bigger side, I really feel like you get your moneys worth when the dumpling is all the way full of pork.
As our main course we ordered the Humble Meat Tower that included beef sirloin with salted black bean cure and pork belly with garlic chili cure. This was perfect for two of us, but oh how I wish we had more people so we could have gotten the Baller Tower Plus for 6 people, which include pork collar, beef tri tip, leg of lamb with cumin and Sichuan peppercorn rub and duck with carmelized plum sauce. We’ll definitely have to come back with more people or bigger appetites.
With the Meat Tower comes three dipping sauces-a jalapeno sauce, a seafood sauce and a miso sauce. The Meat Tower is literally a tower of meat. It also comes with leafy veggies so you can wrap your meat and eat ssam style. We did use the lettuce to wrap our cooked meat, but we also ordered rice to eat that way too. So you get your tower of thinly sliced raw meat, they provide some tongs and you place the meat on the grill. Once done you use a pair of scissors they also provide to cut up your meat, put in your lettuce wrap, put a little bit of the sauce on and devour. You can cook the meat at your pace, so you can take breaks in between.
Some might think, “I came all the way to this fancy restaurant in Capitol Hill and I have to pay to cook my own meal?!?” But there is something fun about cooking your own food, especially when you’re out with groups. And like I said, you can eat at your own pace, which is nice. What you’re really paying for is the spices/marinate and quality of the meat that you can’t get anywhere else.
We really enjoyed our meal at Trove, but if we’re being honest, it’s a distant third to Revel and Joule . I know it’s not fair to compare since Trove’s niche is Korean BBQ which is very different from Revel and Joule , but we consider those two to be two of the top 5 in all of Seattle so our expectations were high. All in all, it was fun and tasty and we’d love to come back to see if we could take on the Baller Meat Tower so we can get more of a variety.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 4.25
Service: 4.25
Food/Drinks: 4.75
Bang for the Buck: 4.60
Overall: 4.50
Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is.
-
- Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
- Most locals know about it
- Locals “in the know” know about it
- Only those who live close by know about it.
- You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!
Servers recommendations to visit in the future: Our server mentioned Il Corvo as her favorite lunch time pasta restaurant.
Related Articles:
Square Knot Diner
Recommended by: Carmela, our server at Roxy’s Diner in Fremont recommended Square Knot Diner for really good breakfasts.
T
Description on the Square Knot Diner’s website: No nonsense, straight-up diner food. All ages welcome.
Neighborhood/Type: Georgetown
Address: 6015 Airport Way South, Seattle, WA 98108
Music Playing: Don’t Blame Me by Thelonious Monk
What we ate/drank: Cinnamon Roll, Chile Cheese Omelette, Corned Beef Hash w/Two Poached Eggs
Comments: We have a family tradition of stopping by Square Knot Diner whenever we are headed to Seatac Airport for a trip. It all started when our youngest was born. The first restaurant we ever took her to was Roxy’s Diner in Fremont. Our daughters crying woke us up and Roxy’s Diner happened to be open at 7am on a Saturday. Long story short, we asked our server at Roxy’s Diner, if she could recommend other diners should we find ourselves in the same predicament. She suggested Square Knot Diner in Georgetown. Now, Georgetown is a bit out of the way for us, so we didn’t go there right away, but remembered it as an option if we were ever in the area. We’d never heard of Square Knot Diner before Carmela at Roxy’s Diner suggested it.
So fast forward a few months. We took our daughter on our first flight by plane to Texas. As paranoid first time parents traveling with an infant we left the house far in advance of our flight to account for any issues or delays that might occur. We checked and double checked and headed to Seatac. When we got on the freeway, we determined we were going to be at the airport super early, about 3 hours too early. We remember Carmela’s suggestion in Georgetown which is on the way to the airport and a tradition was born. Now we always build in some extra time to make a stop at Square Knot Diner for breakfast whenever we go to Seatac airport.
Their motto is so apropos-“No nonsense, straight-up diner food. All ages welcome”. This really is a no frills diner that feels like it’s stuck in time. From their old style booths, to the vintage signage and the U-shaped counter that you see in the movies when depicting a diner from the 50s. When we walked in to Square Knot Diner for the first time, I saw the U-Shaped counter and fell in love.
You won’t find any fancy breakfast dishes here, but you will get tasty hearty traditional breakfast meals that are reasonably priced. And true to their word, about all ages being welcome, our server could not have been any nicer, fawning over our daughter when we went there for the first time and in each subsequent visit. We’ve gotten various dishes during our visits, but we always get a cinnamon roll. That’s a given. It’s big enough for sharing and it has the perfect amount of frosting and cinnamon. I can’t forget about the music. I don’t know if it’s standard practice here, but on more than one occasion they were playing jazz. I’m talking Thelonious Monk, Coltrane, Mingus. Picture eating a corned beef hash early in the morning in an old timey diner listening to Thelonious Monk. It was surreal.
The atmosphere, the friendly service, the early hours(6:00am even on the weekend) and good bang for your buck are all the qualities of Square Knot Diner that we enjoy. Square Knot Diner will continue to be our stop-before-heading-to-the-airport tradition. And a special shout out to Carmela at Roxy’s Diner for the recommendation. We would have never have come here without it.
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Ratings:
Atmosphere: 4.75
Service: 5.00
Food/Drinks: 4.25
Bang for the Buck: 4.50
Overall: 4.625
Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is.
-
- Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
- Most locals know about it
- Locals “in the know” know about it
- Only those who live close by know about it.
- You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!
Servers recommendations to visit in the future: Our server at Square Knot Diner is a resident of the Queen Anne neighborhood and mentioned a little known and underrated spot called, Citizen Café.
Related Articles:
Roxy’s Diner
Recommended by: Mark at Uneeda Burger
Description on their web: Real Eastcoast on the Westcoast. We mean it. Owner Peter Glick, a native New Yorker, brings classic Jewish deli staples to Seattle.
Neighborhood/Type: Fremont / Breakfast
Address: 462 N. 36th Street, Seattle, WA 98103
Music playing: Someday Soon by Harlem
What we ate/drank: Pastrami hash- Pastrami and home fries cooked crisp and topped with 2 poached eggs and a toasted bagel. Chicken Fried Steak- country fried steak w/gravy served with 2 eggs, home fries and a toasted bagel or toast. Caffé Ladro coffee. Roxy’s Deli Scramble w/Tots and pastrami.
Comments: We had a early Saturday errand to run near Fremont and looked for some breakfast places that would be open at 7:30am. We remembered Mark from Uneeda Burger suggested this place. There’s a parking lot next to Roxy’s which is rare for Fremont. Once you are seated at Roxy’s ask for a parking ticket, they’ll give you the ticket to put in the pay box in the parking lot.
The menu is extensive with 6 pages of choices. Their specialties are definitely brunch and corned beef / pastrami sandwiches. As you can see from the pictures their portions are huge. We turned the pastrami hash into one meal at the restaurant and 3 meals from the left over portions.
This is the type of place we’d bring our parents when their in town-a very straight forward hearty breakfast. Kind of in the same vain as Voula’s or Vera’s. The coffee they serve is Caffé Ladro.
Up for a once-in-a-lifetime drink? Order the Restraining Order if you dare!
The Restraining Order is a shot of Jim Beam(I think it used to be tequila) and a slap in the face by a server of your choosing. I asked if a lot of people ordered it and found out that it’s very common for both men and women and was advised to go to Youtube to check it out. So here you go…..
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 3.5
Service: 5
Food/Drinks: 4
Bang for the Buck: 4.5
Overall: 4.25
Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is
-
- Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
- Most locals know about it
- Locals “in the know” know about it
- Only those who live close by know about it.
- You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!
Eavesdropping Convos: None
Servers recommendations to visit in the future: Our server, Carmela(?) suggested Square Knot Diner as another family friendly and early opening breakfast place to visit.
Related: