Eat Your Way through the Evergreen State: What to Eat in Washington
Washington state is known for its fresh coastal seafood, eastern vineyards and, of course, abundant coffee shops. But it’s also home to a diverse community of farmers and foragers that grow and harvest ingredients like lavender, asparagus, mushrooms and peated barley. Here are 26 especially iconic bites from the Evergreen State smorgasbord.
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What to Try in Washington
We can’t lay claim to championship sports teams or affordable rent, but we do often brag about our Dungeness crab, oysters on the half shell, and boutique coffee roasters. Ah, Washington! Where tech employees are only outnumbered by bowls of clam chowder, and rainstorms still spark short-term memory loss when it comes to driving. Here are just a few of the foods that make living in the Space Needle state totally worth it.
Illustration by Hello Neighbor Designs
Smoked Sockeye Salmon
Chef Blaine Wetzel at The Willows Inn on Lummi Island has cracked the code to the perfect smoked salmon recipe. Using Sockeye caught off the shores of Lummi Island during the early stages of their spawning season (which makes them nice and fatty), Wetzel brines and then dries them to create a super flavorful fish. The salmon is then smoked lightly over a long period of time to give it a sashimi-like texture. Finished off with a glaze of brown sugar, butter and verjus, the result is a bright and clean taste with firm texture that has made this dish a textbook example of the type of seafood Washington is capable of.
Go to: The Willows Inn
Sauteed Geoduck
Shiro Kashiba began harvesting geoduck on the Washington coast and preparing them as nigiri when he immigrated to Seattle from Japan 50 years ago. Prior to that, it hadn’t been done — anywhere. He popularized geoduck as sushi, so you can bet any geoduck he touches at his eponymous Sushi Kashiba, in Pike Place Market, is pure gold. While the nigiri is seasonal, the sauteed geoduck with matsutake mushrooms is available year-round. Best part? There’s an excellent chance Shirosan will be behind the sushi bar during your visit. Now in his 70s, the man doesn’t know how to retire.
Go to: Sushi Kashiba
Oysters on the Half Shell
Oyster Stew
Washington's south sound is still mourning the loss of Xinh Dwelley's Shelton restaurant that shuttered in late 2016 after spoiling a long list of loyal patrons with incredible seafood for 20 years. Fortunately, her famous geoduck chowder and oyster stew can still be found at Taylor Shellfish oyster bars and markets. The oyster stew, made with baked oysters, is something to marvel at. After being cut in large chunks, the oysters are added to a base of butter, garlic, celery, onion and oregano and topped off with milk and cream. Long live Xinh's Clam & Oyster House.
Beecher' s Mac & Cheese
The popularity of this iconic mac comes down to two things: a generous amount of Beecher’s signature Flagship cheese and the fact that there’s no actual macaroni involved. Flagship, Beecher’s signature cheese, melts smooth and creamy, while retaining its nutty, robust flavor. And using penne as the pasta gives the dish a chewier texture and helps hold the sauce better than standard macaroni. The recipe is rounded out with a hint of garlic and chile powder which, according to Beecher’s, makes it the World’s Best.
Go to: Beecher’s Handmade Cheese
Steamed Mussels & Clams
When longtime Pike Place Market fish thrower Dan Bugge bought popular dining spot Matt's in the Market, in an upstairs nook of an adjacent building, in 2006, he redirected his love of seafood into a full-fledged restaurant. It goes without saying that everything is intensely local at Matt’s and the shellfish is no exception, all sourced from coastal farms. And while the Washington seaboard is a main theme with this dish, the menu’s actually inspired by the flavors of Spain, starting with a broth made from Spanish Cava, garlic, shallot and pork stock. The shellfish is cooked with Matt’s housemade chorizo, corona beans and piquillo peppers — all topped with cilantro and olive oil croutons.
Go to: Matt's in the Market
Razor Clam Chowder
Geoduck Crudo
As mega restaurateur Ethan Stowell continues to build his empire at an impressive speed, one of the classic dishes that helped put him on the map isn' t going anywhere. At Anchovies & Olives in Seattle, Stowell makes geoduck crudo by thinly slicing the saltwater clam's siphon and mixing it with radishes, fennel and chiles. It's a simple dish with a refined taste that magically makes you forget all about the hilarity of the geoduck's awkward appearance.
Salmon Sandwich
Morels on Toast
Saigon-Style Dungeness Crab
Monsoon's owner, Sophie Banh, has been working with the same suppliers for the past two decades, and that includes Wong Tung seafood market in Seattle's International District, where she sources her live crab. The Saigon-style Dungeness crab is made to order — each crab is oil-blanched and finished off in the wok with shallots, garlic, butter, and five spice. This dish sells out immediately when it's on the menu, which is only when Sophie gets a good deal on the crab. Even more rare is the fact that Sophie will not raise the price; she wants everyone to be able to afford to eat in her restaurant.
Penn Cove Mussels: à la Marinière
When your restaurant is down the road from the country's oldest and largest commercial mussel farm, your shellfish better be good. And at charming Prima Bistro on Whidbey Island, a stone's throwfrom Penn Cove, they are. Served à la marinière, which means in the style of the sea, the mussels are added to a mixture of shallots, celery and garlic, with a lot of butter, and white wine. Once they're steamed open, more butter is added. The bivalves are served in cast iron pots with lids removed tableside to ensure the meal is piping hot and as aromatic as possible.
Scrambled Egg
Mangalitsa Pig Charcuterie
A short ferry ride away from Seattle on Bainbridge Island sits Hitchcock, a destination restaurant known for its compulsion towards local harvesting. Fortunately for diners, that extends to the animals. Chef-Owner Brendan McGill raises rare Mangalitsa pigs, feeding them organic Skagit Valley barley and tons of locally grown pumpkin, spent grain from regional breweries and distilleries, and vegetable waste from the restaurant. In return, the heritage hogs produce some of the best charcuterie in the state, supplying Hitchcock, as well as McGill's two delis and pizzeria, with outstanding salumi and a reputation that is well deserved.
Dungeness Crab Roll
Bar Harbor exists because of the New England crab roll, so it's an obsession here. After finding a bakery that would make a traditional white bread roll, it was all smooth sailing from there. While a lot of great sandwiches are ruined by lousy bread, the rolls here are buttery and crispy and served in three different styles: Maine (with mayo), Connecticut (with butter) and New England (with mayo, celery and chive). This is probably the only place in the Seattle area where it's safe to root for the Patriots!
Molten Chocolate Cake
Theo Chocolate sets a new level of chocolate devotion in the Pacific Northwest. Autumn Martin left her dream job as Head Chocolatier of Theo to open Hot Cakes — a sort of sugar shack that offers everything from boozy shakes to cookies, smoked chocolate chips, caramel sauces and her signature dessert, molten chocolate cakes. What started out as a DIY dessert business springboarded by her incredible calling-card recipe (Take-n-Bake Molten Chocolate Cake), is now a full-fledged store with multiple locations and a thriving retail business.
Etta's "Rub with Love" Salmon
Westland Peated Barley Praline
Honey Lavender Ice Cream
Molly Moon's, Seattle's O.G. scoop shop, has a handful of flavors on tap year-round, including Honey Lavender. It's so popular, Purple Haze Lavender Farms in Sequim struggles to keep up with demand. Ground lavender, along with honey, is added straight into the mixer for refreshing ice cream with a relaxing kick of lavender.
Cold-Pressed Blueberry Juice
Charles Smith Wines
Asparagus Tamales
Cafe Nico
Clams Bucatini
When razor clam season hits the Long Beach Peninsula, The Depot restaurant is where you want to be. Clams Bucatini, which has been on the menu for more than a decade, is flavored with a generous amount of the pungent shellfish, which is tossed in a sauce of garlic, white wine, lemon juice, chile flakes and a helping of the razor clam's more subtle, buttery counterpart, the Willapa Bay clam. The hollow build of the bucatini allows the juices to flow in and out. And by the time you run out of pasta, you'll be left with spoonfuls of razor clams left to eat.
Steamed Spot Prawns
Known for using a lot of spot prawns when they're in season, Chef Taichi Kitamura of Sushi Kappo Tamura in Seattle uses exclusively live prawns, which deliver a firm, lobster-like texture and intense sweetness. Kitamura steams the live shrimp (sourced from waters off the Hood Canal and San Juan Islands) in a bamboo steamer for about 10 minutes, lets them cool, and then splashes cold water on them to deshell. Delicately, he keeps the head and tomalley attached. The prawns are one of his most popular dishes, available late spring to early fall.
