Kirkland’s Northern Italian fine-dining mainstay reopened its dining room in 2021 with several excellent seasonally changing tasting menus, including pescatarian, vegetarian, and vegan options. Chef Holly Smith’s omnivore’s tasting menus include dishes like Anderson Valley lamb chops with turnip gratin, while the vegan tasting menu includes dishes like green garlic soup with fava bean toast.
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Kathakali Indian Cuisine
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The cuisine of Kerala, one of India’s southernmost states, is fresh, fiery, and famous for the marine flavors of the Malabar Coast. Kerala cuisine is celebrated at Kathakali in Kirkland, a sister restaurant to Snoqualmie’s Aahaar led by co-owners Ramya Balachandran and Ajay Panicker. The seafood and vegetarian dishes are standouts: the chakka thoran dosa is perfumed and lacy, the palakkad avial is a spiced assortment of legumes, tubers, fruits, and gourds, and the tangy meen pollichathu (black bass cooked in banana leaves) is excellent. Kathakali is open for onsite and takeout dining.
Kathakali/Facebook
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Monsoon Bellevue
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The downtown Bellevue location of Eric and Sophie Banh’s fine-dining Vietnamese restaurant serves dishes made with the same care that has wowed diners in Seattle since the original restaurant opened in 1999. Expect dishes not found at other Vietnamese restaurants in the area like fresh rolls filled with avocado and raw ahi tuna and perfectly-balanced cumin lamb made with house-fermented soy beans. Though more common, the subtly flavored green papaya salad is just as impressive as the other dishes, achieving a perfect balance of salt, acid, sugar, and funk.
Istanbul Cuisine
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Just outside Bellevue Square Mall, Istanbul Cuisine skirts the chaos inside and draws diners with its peppery cig kofte (a dumpling of rolled bulgur and spiced tomato paste) and tender hand-rolled yufka pastries. Occupying a 4-by-12-foot stall next to the Macy’s entrance off Bellevue Way, the one-or-two-person team rolls dough, griddles gözleme and pide, and fries peynir cheese-stuffed syrupy kunefe in front of onlookers. This Turkish street food spot offers a calmer dining experience than is normally found in downtown Bellevue; when the food is ready, walk across NE 4th Street to eat in the park. Istanbul Cuisine is open for takeout dining.
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Facing East
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Facing East offers a broad survey of Taiwanese and Hakka cuisine that has charmed the surrounding BelRed community since 2006. Five-spice fried chicken, gua bao (pork belly buns), and bitter melon with salted duck egg are excellent, as is the classic beef noodle soup. Facing East is open for takeout dining and offers a grab-and-go fridge.
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Reunion Malaysian Cafe + Kitchen
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Since 2016, this family-owned kopitiam (a traditional Southeast Asian coffee shop) helmed by Grace Ting and Robert Tju has offered personal takes on Malaysian classics. The nasi lemak ayam berempah features expertly marinated fried chicken, sauce-laden broken rice, a particularly savory sambal, and a collection of other ingredients to customize each bite. Bring one or two friends to split the roti canai beef rendang or any of the laksa bowls — deeply herbal and tangy broth shines here. Reunion is open for on-site and takeout dining.
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DERU
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This Kirkland market and restaurant led by Jamie Casady and Jordan Cooper has been doing it all since 2011: layer cake slices that can feed four, expertly assembled sandwiches with fillings like celeriac remoulade on house roast beef, and assertive salads that embrace both springy greens and herbs by the handful. DERU offers no gimmicks, just fresh bakes, vibrant produce, and delicious surprises like a mint-muddled beet soda. DERU Market is open for takeout dining only, and ordering ahead online will streamline the process.
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Sevenrooms
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Renton Deli
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Renton Deli opened in January 2020 on Sunset Boulevard to serve Vietnamese classics like satiny banh cuon (minced pork and wood ear mushrooms wrapped in a tapioca and rice flour crepe) and tender nem cuon (grilled pork sausage and herb spring roll), slices of cha lua sausage, and briney bun rieu (soup). The hot case, full of steamed and fried delights, empties quickly with the regular stream of customers flowing through the deli. The surrounding area is also full of culinary heavyweights: El Recreo next door serves quesadillas de huitlacoche and robust churros (birria on the weekends, too) and Viet-Wah market up the street has more Vietnamese food to explore. Renton Deli is open for takeout only.
Tortas Ahogadas Atemajac
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Perched atop the second floor of the Highland Queen Plaza in Renton, Tortas Ahogadas Y Tacos Atemajac specializes in the cuisine of Guadalajara in the western Mexican state of Jalisco. The star of the show is the torta ahogada — carnitas stuffed in a birote roll, drenched in a tangy salsa of tomato and chile de arbol alongside tacos dorados and vegetable accompaniments. But the rest of the menu is also exceptional: the tortas have a perfect ratio of filling of choice, cheese, and condiments, the sopes are hearty, and the tacos de barbacoa are juicy and aromatic. Tortas Ahogadas Y Tacos Atemajac is open for takeout and onsite dining.
Dan Gui Sichuan Cuisine
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This restaurant in a strip mall in Bellevue’s Bel-Red neighborhood serves some of the best Sichuan food in the Seattle area, at much lower prices than most of its competitors. The mapo tofu (made with fermented black beans and chili fava bean paste) has unparalleled depth. The cold dishes, like cucumber salad and wood-ear salad, are refreshing and satisfying. And the restaurant also serves excellent renditions of American Chinese dishes like sweet and sour chicken — something that some of the other Sichuan restaurants in the area don’t offer.
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Sandwich House TRES
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The shokupan sandwiches at Minako Matsumura and Makoto Ogasawara’s Lake Hills shop come with an enormous range of fillings. The gobo salad is sweet and earthy; the creamy sesame chicken tastes like a familiar chicken salad with a hint of toastiness from the sesame; and the Exotic Japan dessert sando with matcha cream, strawberries, and adzuki bean is a seamless mix of savory and sweet — nutty, fruity, light, and bitter. The sandwiches range from $4 to $6 each, so order at least two. TRES is open for takeout dining, and special orders can be placed the day before.
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Lari Adda Food Truck
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Lari Adda, which means “truck stop” in Urdu, opened its truck windows in May 2021 to serve tart, spicy, and pungent Pakistani street food to the surrounding Lake Hills community. Parked on 145th Avenue just south of Kamber Road, Lari Adda slings an outstanding samosa chaat, a tangy and toasty lentil potato bun-kebab, and compact beef bihari paratha rolls. Beverages and desserts like the meetha paan, a sweet and perfumed betel leaf pouch, are thrilling. Owners Saira Bano and Sheraz Malik hail from Karachi and Lahore, respectively, and say they aim to showcase the intricacies of Pakistani cuisine. Lari Adda is open takeout and on-site dining in a raucously decorated tent and serves a popular weekend brunch.
O'Bop
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Located next to a cash register in a Shell gas station, O’Bop serves Korean barbecue bowls and mandu that entice diners up the busy 148th Avenue even during rush hour. The bulgogi here is smoky-sweet and tender, placed atop rice and silky, bouncy japchae, all nestled between crunchy shredded lettuce and assorted sauces. Vegetarian options stand their ground; the medium-firm tofu and zingy kimchi are a lighter counterpoint to the richer meats. Ellie Oh, the owner and operator of both O’Bop and the gas station, has been quietly nourishing Lake Hills commuters since 2016 with her no-nonsense cuisine. O’Bop is open for takeout dining.
Courtesy of O’Bop
Nine Way
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Nine Way, just south of State Route 520 on 148th Avenue, specializes in noodle dishes from Sichuan province’s capital, Chengdu. Choose from sweet water noodles (thick hand-pulled noodles with a garlicky spicy peanut sauce) or the titular Nine Way Noodle (mouth-numbing and layered with minced pork), then move onto soups like the briney and rich zha cai with shredded pork soup or the personal, pre-cooked Sichuan hot pot called Mao Cai. Nine Way is open for onsite dining and takeout.
Heritage Restaurant|Bar
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Nestled between tasting rooms in south Woodinville, Heritage is a seasonal, modern American food destination and a haven for wine-lovers. This jovial spot is led by chef Breanna Beike and can be enjoyed for the spot-on technique in dishes like Dungeness crab hush puppies that verge on croquetas and lithe and chewy house egg noodles — as well as creative dishes like bitter and texturally rich little gem salad and buttery seared black cod with Israeli couscous. The wine list highlights the particularities of Washington producers while also making room for European standard-bearers. Heritage is open for on-site and takeout dining.
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Buerjia Chinese Sauerkraut Fish
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The namesake dish at Bu Er Jia, “Chinese Sauerkraut Fish” is spicy, sour, brothy, and more. Farm-raised Idaho tilapia and largemouth bass are plucked from a tank and cooked in a tangy broth, resulting in a multi-stage meal: first ladle tender fish slices over the accompanying rice, then move onto slurping the leftover broth. Smaller plates and desserts are also available to supplement the dish. Bu Er Jia is open for on-site and takeout dining.
Bu Er Jia
151 days
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Tucked in Redmond’s Overlake neighborhood next to shabu shabu restaurant Shaburina, 151 Days offers a concise menu centered on free-range, heritage Bresse chickens, which owner Yongshen Guo raises 50 miles north in Arlington. The braised snack platter is a neatly arranged trio of peanuts, eggs, and tofu. The smoky chicken noodle soup and accompanying sides add vegetal notes to a rich chicken broth. Finish the meal with a millet doughnut and glass of tangy sea buckthorn juice (imagine a carrot-flavored jolly rancher) for a satisfying send-off. 151 Days is open for on-site and takeout dining.
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Blazing Bowl (crossroads mall food court)
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Blazing Bowl, the only explicitly Laotian restaurant on the Eastside, opened in 2019 in the Crossroads Mall food court. The restaurant offers a sampling of Laotian dishes including sour fermented sausage, crispy fried rice with a bouquet of herbs, and hand-pulled noodles. If you don’t already know the entire Laotian food lexicon, that’s alright — the digital menu board rotates through pictures of each dish. Blazing Bowl also offers conveyor-belt hot pot: heating elements are embedded in each table, while ingredients traverse the belt, a holdover from a Japanese restaurant that was the previous tenant. An extra order of its Jiew Mak Len sauce, a spicy and aromatic tomato-based condiment, is always a good idea for now and later. The restaurant is open for on-site and takeout dining.
Spark Pizza
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Just north of the Redmond Town Center shopping center, this wood-fired pizza restaurant offers charred, cloud-like Neapolitan-inspired pies and rotating pizza specials. Owners Carolyn and Tony Scott opened Spark Pizza after the success of their first Redmond restaurant, Woodblock. The menu also offers wines that pair well with pizza and a smattering of lighter bites and creative desserts like the orange and garam masala cannoli. Spark is open for on-site and takeout dining and has an outdoor patio and picnic area.
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Xochi Tacos
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The tacos de guisado at taco truck Xochi in Issaquah are complex and comforting: craggy corn tortillas (or flour if you order the encebollado) are griddled before enclosing a variety of stewed and braised fillings inspired by owner Sandra Diaz’s Mexico City roots. Both the meat and vegetable options are memorable; highlights include a piquant cochinita pibil taco — bright with citrus juice and savory from achiote-laced slow-roasted pork — and velvety calabaza tacos full of stewed squash. Xochi is open for walk-up takeout.
