Oriental Mart—a certified classic!
You know it for the cheeky signage (“We don’t have a ‘menu’ ‘cus I cook what I want”). And the homestyle Filipino food—pork adobo and salmon sinigang soup—dished from hotel pans for lunches. Now one of the stands in Pike Place Market you can properly call an institution is getting more national recognition.
The James Beard Foundation announced today that Oriental Mart, which has held down a spot in the Market since 1971, is one of six restaurants in the country to receive its 2020 America’s Classics Award (today’s other winner is El Taco de Mexico in Denver). The foundation hands them out to “locally-owned restaurants that have timeless appeal and are beloved regionally for quality food that reflects the character of its community.” Marcus Samuelsson just opened his Seattle episode of No Passport Required with a visit to O Mart. He was fittingly pumped about the food and cooking.
You should be, too. It’s comforting as hell—warm food, warm service, hot chili vinegar.
Updated Feb 19: The restaurant is currently closed until April 1, as it does yearly, while its cook Leila Rosas is in the Philippines.
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