A wild rice and sweet potato salad—with arugula, spinach, dried cranberries, and nuts—at Meet the Moon. Image via Meet the Moon’s Facebook page
Recently I munched my way through the most delectable grain bowl at Leschi’s crammed-to-the-rafters Meet the Moon: farro and barley with arugula, garbanzos, toasted almonds, pickled golden raisins, feta cheese, and spring vegetables, all tossed in a lime-mint vinaigrette.
(Before you start looking for the car keys, know that MtM’s menu changes and may already have. A call, however, revealed they’re pretty sure it’ll stick around, in varying permutations.)
My point is: Grain bowls are having a moment in Seattle.
You already know Thrive’s Buddha Bowl (and its handful of grainy confreres) and Chaco Canyon’s quinoa/kale bowl (and its ditto)…a couple of radiantly healthy quick-stop outfits that may or may not have kicked off the recent obsession.
Whatever the reason, we have spied grain bowls at Sweetgrass Food Co. (including lentil, brown rice, and quinoa bowls), London Plane (they often feature nut or legume bowls with vegetables and herbs), and Dunbar Room (whose current permutation, the Organic Field Greens salad, features Northwest grains, currants, and toasted hazelnuts).
And of course at the ur-mother of them all, Restaurant Eve in Fremont, whose Eve Hot Bowl unites ancient grains (barley, farro, freekeh), with nuts and seeds, dandelion greens, and whatever vegetables are being harvested that day—all in a sesame vinaigrette. Egg if you want it.
You probably want it.
If you’ve found other grain bowls around here, do share. Because can you think of a better summer dinner?
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