Best of the City 2009

The Global Edition

Edited by Jessica VoelkerWith contribution from Eric Scigliano, Kathryn Robinson, Karen Quinn, Matthew Halverson, Alex Girma, James Ross Gardner, Kelley Frodel, Laura Cassidy, and Steve Wiecking

Mexican Sopes

Kathleen Andersen is about as gringo as they come—unless you count the 30 years she spent living and cooking in central Mexico. Hence the dead-on genuine Mexican food, the kind you’d enjoy around someone’s mesa de cocina, and the ever-present lines outside her affably casual SEÑOR MOOSE CAFÉ in Ballard. The best time to go is breakfast, when the coffee is strong and the sopes come in three varieties. In sopes con huevos the masa cakes arrive with eggs, black beans, and one of Andersen’s 15 housemade salsas, along with fresh Mexican cream. It’s not just breakfast; it’s a $7.95 ticket to Mexico City. Señor Moose Café, 5242 Leary Ave NW, Ballard, 206-784-5568; www.senormoose.com

Mexican Taco Bus

In a city whose parking lots now have traffic jams, mobile restaurants have become a certified Big Thing. The most plentiful of these are the Mexican taco trucks; the best of those, a tidy, tricked-out bus called TACOS EL ASADERO, at the northern gateway of Columbia City. Sure, there’s indoor/outdoor seating, but the real draw is tacos that redefine simplicity—carne asada, cilantro, onions, some salsa—and delectable fried mulitas. Tacos El Asadero, 3513 Rainier Ave S, Columbia City, 206-722-9977

Oaxacan Mole

Back home in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, brothers Roberto and Misael Dominguez rarely ate mole—“Too hard to make!” Roberto admits—but they’re making up for that now at their jumping Ballard sensation, LA CARTA DE OAXACA, where the sweet mole negro is by far the city’s best. Served over stewed chicken or pork, or with a masa pancake and shreds of meat in leaf-wrapped tamales, this complex and fiery sauce hits every sensor on the palate—and almost makes up for the line you had to stand in to get some. La Carta de Oaxaca, 5431 Ballard Ave NW, Ballard, 206-782-8722; www.lacartadeoaxaca.com

Caribbean Sandwiches

Lorenzo Lorenzo came from Cuba as a foster child—first to Miami, then to the Northwest, dreaming all the while of bringing the food of his homeland to his new land. That he did with the erstwhile Islabelle, a Caribbean takeout on Northlake, and later with PASEO, the corrugated-tin shack in Fremont with a line outside instead of a sign. The flame-grilled pork sandwiches—packed into toasted baguettes with caramelized onions, fresh cilantro, and garlic aioli—are so popular that Lorenzo recently added a second location at Shilshole. But he still prepares all the sauces himself, following recipes so secret he won’t even share them with his staff. Paseo, 4225 Fremont Ave N, Fremont, 206-545-7440. 6229 Seaview Ave NW, Ballard, 206-789-3100

Brazilian Salad Bar

According to Denver press accounts, when Marco Casas-Beaux cheffed a prominent Italian restaurant there he used four different names, claimed to be from Italy, and generally left heads spinning and shaking. Here in Seattle he started popular Southwestern (Cactus) and Argentinian (Buenos Aires Grill) restaurants, a since-departed tapas bar (Madrid 522), and IPANEMA BRAZILIAN GRILL, a churrascaria where meat has a leading role but the chorus of olive oil–dredged grilled veggies—crunchy asparagus, finger-size eggplant, golden beets, green and yellow summer squash, oyster and shiitake mushrooms—are the real stars of the show. Ipanema Brazilian Grill, 1225 First Ave, Downtown, 206-957-8444; www.ipanemabraziliangrill.us

Basque Small Plates

When Carolin Messier first traveled to the Basque seaside town of San Sebastian, Spain, she fell in love with the all-day bars, where folks of all ages would come in for a belt and a bite. The stateside replica she co-owns is TXORI, a classy little slip of a joint that deals in pintxos, the small bites Basques pop while they’re drinking. Her version of these sumptuous oiled somethings—foie gras with apricot drizzle, braised pork shoulder on toasted bread with a dot of roast pepper—are the very soul of brevity. Txori, 2207 Second Ave, Belltown, 206-204-9771; www.txoribar.com

Spanish Paella

Tapas-wise, we’ve got it going on. But paella, the one-pot Catalan rice, meat, and seafood staple, has never found satisfactory expression in Seattle—until now. For its second foray into the United States the beloved Madrid chain TABERNA DEL ALABARDERO chose Belltown, in the buttery sun-drenched space once occupied by Cascadia. Taberna offers four varieties (each for two to four diners), its saffron rice cooked to a crunchy, caramelized crust and studded with tenderest glistening shrimp, mussels, clams, and squid. The saffron flavor never gets tedious and the presentation—the dish is scraped, then alluringly spooned from the steaming paella pan tableside—is an appetizer in itself. Taberna del Alabardero, 2328 First Ave, Belltown, 206-448-8884; www.alabardero.com

Salvadorean Pastries

When sisters Ana Castro and Aminta Elgin were children in El Salvador their grandmother owned a bakery, their mother a pupusa-takeout shop, their dad a farming business. After fleeing their war-torn country, they took the family food trade and made it their livelihood, risking everything they had to open their SALVADOREAN BAKERY in 1996. Immediately, the nearby Salvadorean community flocked. Here’s why: puff pastry with coconut meringue; pasteles filled with crème anglaise; sweet cakes soaked in rum and cinnamon syrup…and pupusas, the stuffed corn-flour tortillas of El Salvador, prepared in the traditional way with cheese and edible Central American flowers. Salvadorean Bakery, 1719 SW Roxbury St, White Center, 206-762-4064

Next: Where to find other international cuisine

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Published: July 2009