📍Added in June: The namesake chicken and waffles at Fat’s Chicken & Waffles are fine, but to be honest, the rest of the menu is where the real magic is. Creamy grits with plump shrimp and buttery shrimp sauce ranks up there as some of the best I’ve had. Red beans and rice are complex, with pickled pork and smoked hocks. And the fried chicken (in by-the-piece or biscuit sandwich form) is grease-free and crisp, with that coveted cosmic oneness between coating and skin.

📍Added in June: Bar Del Corso in Beacon Hill is simply outstanding in every way. The pizza is crisp, leopard-spotted, and lightly chewy like the best in Naples; the baccala fritters are whipped and light as a feather; and the prosciutto is properly aged and sliced paper thin so it melts in your mouth. Come in the summer and sit on the back patio to sip perfect Negronis while eating bits of charred octopus and whatever the seasonal vegetable specials are.

📍Added in June: This is a fantastic butcher shop where the butchers truly know the meat, from the cut, to the diet, to the breed, to the aging process (many months long in some cases!). If you’re the type who likes a steak with character (and are willing to pay for it), this is the shop for you. For a more hands-off experience, book a table at The Peasant, a posh, meat-focused restaurant inside the shop (open Thursday–Sunday) that handily dispels the notion that British food is bland.

📍Added in June: This South American bakery in the heart of the Central District is operated by three generations of the Rocha family, who bake South American and European cookies, pastries, and breads daily. But my favorite treat here are the pupusas from the hot breakfast menu. Freshly griddled, hand-filled corn cakes come crisp on the outside and warm and gooey in the center, with a side of tangy curtido and tomato salsa. (Don’t sleep on the “skinny egg and bean” burritos either.)

📍Added in June: El Cabrito in Burien is a small Oaxacan restaurant that focuses on the region’s two most iconic dishes: mole (available as plates, enchiladas, tacos, and other forms) and tlayuda. It’s the latter that I mostly come for. Think: a handmade corn tortilla the size of a large pizza toasted until crisp and charred, topped with a smear of refried black beans, shredded queso Oaxaca, carne asada, cabbage, avocado, tomato, and a really tasty chipotle salsa. It ticks all the boxes.

Nobody would say that Ba Bar—with locations in Capitol Hill, South Lake, and U Village—flies under the radar, but the slow-roasted duck suprème, served with broken rice, pickled carrots and daikon, pineapple, and nuoc cham, may well be one of the best deals in town. Few restaurants serve duck as juicy and crisp, let alone for only $21. The whole menu is packed with value, but the bún bò huế (spicy beef noodles) and chewy caramelized pork floss cookies are extra special.

With a menu that ranges from very dry-aged to extremely dry-aged, a peek-inside showcase dry-aging room, and a chalkboard menu that offers virtually every tender cut on the steer, Bateau is like no other steakhouse I’ve been to. I enjoy sitting at the bar (where I’ve never needed a reservation) and taking my time to linger over the beef-heavy tasting menu (think: beef lardo melting over brown butter barley). They have an especially good NA cocktail program.

Billiard Hoang looks like a pool hall from the outside, but walk in, and you'll find that half the space is a restaurant worth visiting. I love the rich, gelatinous oxtail pho (I'm a sucker for all things oxtail), with extra-thin and bouncy rice noodles and lots of fresh herbs, as well as their grilled pork banh mi. It's a classic version with juicy strips of grilled pork (with plenty of crispy caramelized bits) and fresh vegetables stuffed into a crisp rice-flour baguette.

Blackbird Bakery is an essential first stop when I get off the ferry to Bainbridge. Their toast, whether simply spread with soft salted butter or loaded up with jam, is rightfully lauded, but the quiche, with its sturdy, deep, buttery crust and its filling cooked to the consistency of a creamy custard in a great crème brûlée, is consistently among the best I’ve had anywhere. I’m especially fond of the potato version, whose soft texture echoes the creaminess of the custard.

The quintessential neighborhood Italian restaurant, perfect for a standing date night or a lively celebration with the whole family (try to snag reservations for $10 pizza-and-pasta Mondays). Their handmade lasagna with its many layers, al dente bite, and bright tomato sauce is a Seattle classic, but don’t overlook the dense, olive oil–rich eggplant or the tomatoes roasted in the wood-fired oven. The steak, tucked away at the bottom of the menu, is low-key one of the better steaks in town.