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For most of the nearly two decades I\u2019ve been writing about food in the Seattle area, I\u2019ve created something of a \u201cwish list\u201d at the beginning of the new year: the restaurants, cuisines, and changes I\u2019d like to see before the calendar changes again. Some are realistic\u2014after years of dreaming of a Ghanaian restaurant, I can consider that wish fulfilled by the superlatively excellent Gold Coast Ghal Kitchen. Others are pie-in-the-sky, like a complete moratorium on tipping in any form and conversion to European-style all-inclusive prices.<\/p>\n
This year, when I sat down to write my list, the top item feels concerningly closer to the out-of-reach category: I want survival. I want our classic restaurants to reach their second (or third or fourth) decades. I want new restaurants to feel secure enough to experiment, to serve the city something original and different.<\/p>\n
It sounds desperate and pathetic, and far from the kind of hopeful excitement this list is meant to express. So, for a moment, I\u2019ll leave reality behind and tell you what I\u2019d love to eat, where I\u2019d love to dine, and how I\u2019d like to do it in the year 2026.<\/p>\n
A Real Georgian Restaurant<\/p>\n
Seattle has an excellent khachapuri specialist in downtown\u2019s Skalka, and I found the country\u2019s famous soup dumplings at a Federal Way Korean spa (now a different restaurant, but with a similar menu). The Supra pop-up is high on my to-do list, too. But Georgian food is so much more than these: It\u2019s pkhali, the colorful balls of vegetables and walnuts, and the velvety chicken soup, chikhirtma. It\u2019s washed down with pear soda or amber wine. Something along the lines of Vancouver, WA\u2019s Dediko, a top-notch stop on any trip south.<\/p>\n
Bricks-and-Mortar Burmese Food<\/p>\n
One of my culinary highlights of 2025 was the first Burmese food fair I attended at the monastery in Snohomish. Another was the second one I went to. Those kept my cravings for mohinga and tea leaf salad mostly at bay, but I\u2019m greedy and I\u2019d still love to get my fill of Shan tofu and ohn no khao sw\u00e8 on demand\u2014the way Vancouverites (BC this time) can at Amay\u2019s House and Laksa King. Portland has some half-dozen Burmese restaurants and carts. Surely one of them could open up here.<\/p>\n
Find the Missing Middle<\/p>\n
Restaurants facing increased labor costs went in one of two directions: adding to the consumer cost, through price hikes and service charges, or reducing the labor, moving toward counter-service and hybrid models. As this forking continues, what\u2019s lost is the casual meal\u2014it just won\u2019t pencil out for most restaurants to offer full-service for entr\u00e9es under $30. The space between a $20 takeout sandwich and a minimum $75 spend per person at a restaurant will continue to empty. Sadly, I don\u2019t have the answer as to how we prevent this and refind that missing middle\u2014this is a wish list, not a road map.<\/p>\n
More Cooperation<\/p>\n
As noted, I don\u2019t have all the answers. But I do spend a lot of time watching restaurants and see how well it works when folks work together. De La Soil, the Seattle Met 2025 best new restaurant\u00a0inside a distillery in Kenmore, is a prime example of how shared space can defray costs. But you can also look at how La Marea (another of last year\u2019s best new restaurants) fills its space with pop-ups when its small team takes a break. And there\u2019s cooperation in the more literal sense\u2014the cooperative ownership model behind new spots Rosette and Pidgin. I don\u2019t have a crystal ball that can predict if or how Seattle\u2019s restaurant scene weathers the current mounting costs, but I know it\u2019s going to require a lot of cooperation and collaboration.<\/p>\n
Bigger and Better Solutions<\/p>\n
We also need more than just cooperative boots on the ground. We need business accelerators and incubators, low-barrier-to-entry options to help new businesses get moving\u2014and then moving into their own spaces. The short-lived Spice Bridge Global Food Hall from the Food Innovation Network demonstrated one model, graduating Seatango and Theary Cambodian Foods to their own spaces. Seattle Restored dipped its toes into restaurant waters with Lenox and Pan de la Selva. But we also need better solutions for older restaurants, too. As rents rise, older restaurants suffer on business plans designed for another era. Thai Siam and Irwin\u2019s found ways to buy their buildings, and it sure seems like helping other spots do the same before things get dire would be nice, too.<\/p>\n
Keep Food Fun<\/p>\n
I am somewhat jaded and cynical, so when I first started chasing down the roots of the New Zealand\u2013style ice cream trend, I was sure the pot of gold at the tip of my rainbow swirl cone was going to be a private equity or venture-funded company pushing machines in some sort of neo-franchise scheme. Instead, I found almost the exact opposite\u2014it was a bunch of individual operators who simply loved ice cream and called up the brothers making the machines on the other side of the world and maybe added some googly eyes to their cones. Keeping on the dessert theme, everything about maximalist cakes makes me endlessly happy: It\u2019s just a gaggle of frosting geeks nerding out about flowers and colors. I can\u2019t predict what\u2019s next, but I hope it follows a similar pattern. Food is fun! Let\u2019s keep it that way!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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