Food & Drink

Seattle’s Southwest Restaurants Get Fired Up

Southwest heat in the Northwest chill.

By Chelsea Lin, Naomi Tomky and Megan Lamb February 5, 2018

BangBangCafe-5_NEW

This article originally appeared in the February 2018 issue of Seattle magazine.

This article appears in print in the February 2018 issue, as part of the cover story, “The United States of Food.” Click here to subscribe.

Bang Bang Cafe
New Mexico Red and Green Chile Sauce
If you’ve spent any time at all in New Mexico, you’ve had something smothered in chile sauce—after all, the state question is “Red or green?” in reference to your preferred sauce. At Belltown’s casual, homey Bang Bang Cafe, you can opt for both in the signature Bang Bang burrito ($9.25), filled with eggs, potatoes, whole pinto beans and cheddar, with half drenched in red chile sauce and the other half in green, the latter made with Hatch chiles flown in from New Mexico.
Know Before You Go: Every August, local markets from Whole Foods to Fred Meyer roast Hatch chiles and sell them cheap. That’s the time to fill your freezer for eating year-round.
Bang Bang Cafe, Belltown, 2460 Western Ave.; 206.448.2233

Off the Rez 
Native American Fry Bread Tacos
This food truck offers something Seattle disappointingly lacks: an addictively delightful take on fry bread, the anchoring dish of Native American cuisine, regardless of tribe or region. Mark McConnell (who owns the truck with his partner, Cecilia Rikard) spent his childhood eating fry bread; his mother grew up on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana. Go sweet and get yours topped with cinnamon sugar, lemon curd or strawberry preserves, or savory; we particularly love the classic chili Indian tacos ($4.50) served on fry bread.
What To Order: Need a gluten-free option? Get yours on corn tortillas instead.
Off the Rez, Mobile food truck

Jules Maes Saloon
Texas Chicken-fried Steak
Every diner in town does its best to give life to a fried-from-frozen, paper-thin version of chicken-fried steak drenched in greasy gravy, but at Jules Maes Saloon in Georgetown, they make this Texas dish in Texas fashion: bigger, thus better. The steak ($15), so thick and flavorful it would please even without the crunchy coating, gets an aromatic bath in fennel gravy, a side of bright (in both color and flavor) green beans and a bed of fluffy mashed potatoes. It’s an almost disconcertingly refined version of the dish. Almost.
Where Else To Find It: Find a near facsimile of the dish, minus the 100-year-old historic bar, at sibling spot Noble Barton in White Center.
Jules Maes Saloon, Georgetown, 5919 Airport Way S; 206.957.7766

 

Follow Us

Love at First Spark

Love at First Spark

Redmond pizza joint earns another honor

Italy loves Spark Pizza. The venerable Redmond restaurant has been named one of the Top 50 Pizzerias in the United States for the second consecutive year by Italian publication 50topizza.it. The online guide recognizes the best pizzerias in the world and is updated annually. Spark last year finished No. 48. It finished No. 31 this…

Tastes of Mexico

Tastes of Mexico

Special dinners at El Camino seek to educate and entertain

Illuminated beneath the glow of Fremont’s famous rocket, two dozen Seattleites gather at El Camino restaurant to enjoy a specially curated meal featuring authentic Mexican dishes paired with three pours of Wahaka Mezcal. The enclosed patio is strewn with colorful punched banners and paper lanterns. Light dances above tables set with flickering votives, bowls of…

Seattle Restaurant Week kicks off

Seattle Restaurant Week kicks off

Expect a broader range of dishes at several different prices

At times referred to as “Restaurant Weak” for menus limited in scope and portion size, Restaurant Week is coming of age after 20 years. In the beginning of what would become Restaurant Week, chefs and restaurateurs often compromised on portion size and sometimes quality.  Chef and restaurateur Brian Clevenger, who owns General Harvest Restaurants (Vendemia,…

Fish Feast

Fish Feast

Take part in an Italian-American tradition while enjoying Seattle's fantastic seafood

Consider Paju’s fried rice a seafood dish thanks to the addition of squid ink. The catfish sandwich at Matt’s in the Market has been a menu mainstay for years.Is it a hush puppy or a crab dish? At Emerald City Fish & Chips, it’s both.