5 Best Restaurants in Ballard, Seattle

Nestled on the ground floor of an inconspicuous apartment building between Ballard Ave. and the National Nordic Museum, this little café is a one-of-a-kind hybrid. The co-owners are German and Chinese, and the menu mixes those two cultures in unique, surprising ways. Along with familiar espresso drinks and five varieties of Chinese tea, there are specialty drinks that border on the surreal: seaweed latte (with soy sauce caramel) and yuzu vanilla espresso tonic are prime examples. The food choices—mainly pastries and breakfast bites—are equally daring.

Autumn Martin specializes in creative, high-quality desserts (including vegan options) such as a s'mores molten chocolate cake with house-made marshmallows and caramel, and cookies with house-smoked chocolate chips. Thick, rich milkshakes come in gourmet seasonal flavors like Meyer lemon with lavender, or grownup boozy shakes like smoked chocolate and scotch. Hot Cakes is open late night, too. A few long communal tables make for casual dining. The company's take-and-bake mason-jar desserts make a great gift. For a lighter bite, head north to Martin's plant-based ice cream shop, Frankie & Jo's ( 1411 NW 70th St.).

This small, unpretentious Ballard café makes some of the city's best bagels, which you can get with a classic schmear or as part of a creative, elaborate sandwich. Breakfast burritos come in regular and giant (one-pound) sizes and include a variety of delicious salsas made from scratch. Bagels and burritos may sound like an unusual pairing, but Rachel has them both down, making this a dependable choice for a quick, tasty breakfast or snack.

There's a battle between Paseo (in Fremont) and Un Bien for the title of best Caribbean roast sandwich in Seattle—and everyone's a winner. At both places, the signature sandwich consists of succulent, slow-roasted pork shoulder, stuffed in a baguette along with caramelized onions, jalapeños, cilantro, and aioli. That's the classic, but the menu has a dozen variations, including steak, chicken, tofu, and prawns, and you can ditch the bread for a rice bowl. Whatever way you go, you'll end up with a sweet, savory, juicy indulgence. There are a few picnic benches for eating on site, but a takeout order makes an easy, delicious picnic up the road at Golden Gardens.

A sibling spot to the Mexican steakhouse next door, this ode to Mexican coffee uses a single-origin beans grown by a cooperative in Oaxaca and roasted locally by Fulcrum. Fresh-squeezed orange juice and tres leches cakes complete the feel of a contemporary Mexico City café, but a few touches keep it Seattle, including the assortment of locally baked pastries.