2 Best Restaurants in Wallingford, Seattle

Westward singularly nails the dream of Seattle visitors and locals alike: serving high-quality, fresh local seafood from a waterfront location with a view. Lake Union laps at the rocky shore just feet from where diners look out toward Downtown as just-shucked oysters gleam from seafood towers. Owned by Seattle's seafood queen, Renee Erickson, Westward takes its mission to present pristine seafood in a simple fashion very seriously, starting with the splurge-worthy shellfish tower. The short menu focuses on chilled and raw seafood, but also includes a few small salads and larger dishes that come from the wood-fired oven. The wine list is excellent, but the full bar also offers a flight of mezcal to pair with the oysters.

Familiar brunch dishes and pastries take on new personalities as this all-day café weaves them with Japanese ingredients. Chashu pork flavors the biscuits and gravy, teriyaki-glazed bacon, and a sandwich filled with tamago-style omelette. At the pastry case in front, scones are laced with ginger and scallions, and the icebox pie uses sudachi citrus. This is comfort food that has traveled back and forth across the Pacific, reflecting restaurateur Yasuaki Saito's childhood with one parent each from northern Japan and the southern U.S. The minimal decor and bare walls help to further highlight the colorful food and eclectic selection of serving dishes, which give the impression of all having been selected at the world's cutest thrift shop.