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Olympia and especially Tacoma have increasingly hip and sophisticated dining scenes, with everything from laid-back cafés to seasonally driven restaurants with water views. After those cities, Gig Harbor and Bellingham have the best food scenes—they’re not terribly big, but support fine little crops of notable restaurants. You’ll also find good brewpubs and indie coffeehouses in most of the larger towns in the area. Edmonds also has a growing bounty of exceptional eateries.
On the road, refueling takes place at country-style cafés, farm stands, and kitschy or specialty shops like the ’50s-style sweets shops of Port Gamble and Snoqualmie or the Norwegian bakeries of Poulsbo. None of these is in short supply, and many eateries, however small, pride themselves on using local ingredients.
Brewing memorabilia, including a big wall of vintage beer bottles known as the "beer shrine," greet patrons to this rambling roadhouse and brewery along the scenic Mt. Baker Highway, about 20 miles northeast of Bellingham. After a day of skiing or hiking, stop in for a pint of Bavarian-style hefeweizen or a heady barley wine, along with one of the filling pizzas or a bowl of clams steamed in garlic-chipotle broth.
