These were my 10 best bites of 2021 in Seattle

It was another long year of mostly takeout and outdoor meals, a year of tempering standards because of the difficult conditions. But Seattle’s chefs took it the only way they could – in stride – trying to continue cooking fantastic meals safely and often short-handedly.

Over the course of the year, despite the struggles of serving food in a pandemic, local restaurants, pop-ups, and food trucks managed to keep on turning out some incredible dishes.

This list rounds up my favorite bites of the year – new, old and somewhere in between – as someone who does this for a living.

Seafood tower at Westward

The first meal I ate on-site at a restaurant in the post-vax era, a few weeks after getting vaccinated and just about exactly a year after my last one, was the luxurious seafood tower, on a sunny spring afternoon at Westward. The house-made hot sauces tangoed on my tongue with the briny Northwest oysters, the sun gleamed off the lake and the ice under my geoduck ceviche. With each bite of shrimp and crab, shared with a friend across the table, I remembered the joys of eating out. For the rest of the year, when people asked for a recommendation of where to celebrate their first meal back at restaurants – or any other occasion – this became my best answer.

Better than yo’ grandma’s mac and cheese at Communion Restaurant & Bar

Many parts of my meal at Seattle’s latest sensation were predictably good, like the wings that are an ode to Thompson’s Point of View. Others surprised me: while chef Kristi Brown’s signature black-eyed pea hummus was as good as ever, the collard green dip next to it on the relish tray brought the jaw-dropping flavor. But it was the mac and cheese that showed what the restaurant did so well. Below the crispy top, a world of flavor swam in the creamy noodles, capturing an entire feeling of comfort and home in a single dish, served in a way that gave it elegance without turning its back the inherent nature of the dish.

Joe Frogger cookies from Gravy

Vashon’s Gravy spent the pandemic in transition, reformatting into a deli it called Salt & Schmaltz, inspired by co-owner Pepa Brower’s New York heritage. But the Joe Froggers that they started making come from a colonial-era New England tavern run by a free Black man, and whose wife made the ginger molasses cookies “as big as lily pads.” The ones served here aren’t quite that big, but they are more than good enough to make up for it.

Bluefin tuna cold ramen at Yoroshiku

Over the summer, Wallingford’s Yoroshiku brought in sustainably farmed bluefin tuna and served it in a variety of ways, most impressively the chilled ramen. A light, lemony broth with deep, rich flavor, hugged the sashimi-sliced fish, while the springy noodles offered a little contrast. Suddenly the quintessential winter comfort food became one of the most sunshine filled ways to cool off on a warm day.

Slow roasted carrots at Mezzanotte

On a menu of exciting ingredients like rye spaghetti with tripe and foie gras or braised rabbit with chestnuts and lentils, don’t miss the somewhat ordinary sounding slow roasted carrots, because chef Jason Stratton is at his best here when taking simple ingredients and blowing up their flavors. Seated in a bed of garlicky ricotta and walnut sauce, sticky with their own sweetness, and served with rye crips that provide just the necessary contrasts, they steal the show from even Stratton’s most enticing creations (hello, Dungeness crab bucatini).

Everything bagel donut from the Flour Box

The good news is that it is getting slightly easier to score the oversized stuffed donut from this Hillman City bakery, if you manage to stop by at mid-day on a day they don’t seem too busy. The bad news is that even owner Pamela Vuong has no idea when those might be (though she tries to keep people updated via Instagram). The worse news is that it will almost never be on a day when they are making the incredible everything bagel donuts, with seeds sprinkled on top and a cream cheese filling. Three years after I first tried one, someone brought me my second one this year, and somehow it was even better than I remembered.

Tom yum congee from Secret Congee

One of the secrets to fending off a chill while eating outside to keep myself and my children safe, I quickly learned, came in ordering properly: something that stays hot and comforting for the whole meal. As much as I love a nice broth, it turns cold in minutes outdoors. Not the case with the thick rice porridges from Secret Congee’s Wallingford window. Every flavor of the signature dish comes stuffed with flavor and toppings, so much my friend described the amount of shrimp I pulled from the Thai-inspired version I enjoyed as a “clown car” of crustaceans.

Yuvarlama from Hamdi

Among the many fantastic dishes from this Turkish pop-up, the lamb neck in yogurt soup stood out for its salty, sour, meaty flavor. Filled with ample piles of tiny lamb dumplings, shredded lamb meat and chickpeas, the small bowl came flavored with dried mint and then topped with a mint oil as bright green in color as it was in flavor.

Huitlacoche quesadilla from El Recreo

This Renton strip mall taco shop quietly turns out a ton of Mexico City-style specialties better than most anywhere else in the city, foremost among them, the huitlacoche quesadilla. The giant housemade tortillas wrap around the fillings with plenty of cheese to hold it together, but leave the focus squarely on the ample, earthy, sweet huitlacoche inside.

Bo luc lac at Billiard Hoang

My return to drinking in bars also meant a return to needing a hangover breakfast that can cure anything, and for decades the best place to find that has been south end stalwart Billiard Hoang. Most of the menu fits the bill, but this beefy combo with two eggs on top is the ultimate restorative morning meal. Snow white rice sits next to a pile of stir-fried beef tenderloin and hearty vegetables that soak up the flavor, come topped with sunnyside up eggs on top, ready to burst their yolks all over the plate, marrying the whole mess into a single dish.