Ah, the hill. Everyone’s clutching iced Americanos, smells of Dick’s fryer oil can be sniffed out from just about anywhere on Broadway, and if you took a shot for every cotton candy-colored hairstyle, cute dog, and brand-new apartment complex you passed, well, we don't recommend that. Capitol Hill is Seattle's playground. And as for the lineup of A+ places to eat? Those are our kind of monkey bars. Here’s where to play.
THE SPOTS
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This Piedmontese pasta specialist is not just the best Italian restaurant in the neighborhood. It’s the best restaurant in the city, full stop. Bold? Sure, but so is the mountain of silky sage butter tajarin or braised rabbit agnolotti you eat by candlelight after an early December sunset, or fried zucchini blossoms snacked between gulps of tangerine-tinted paper plane cocktails come summertime. Yes, your wallet will be three figures emptier at the end of it all, but in exchange, you’ll have a life-affirming meal in a dining room filled with lace curtains, fine art, and noodle sheets draped over the open kitchen.
photo credit: Nate Watters
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Maripili is a Galician-style Tapas spot that fully delivers on the concept of good things coming in small packages. Among the stellar bite-sized dishes here are phenomenal ling cod bacalao with nutty manchego gnocchi and peas soaked in a tangy fish broth, tender tortilla española filled with grassy olive oil-poached potatoes, and the star of the show: paella tahdig with smoky chorizo, spice-rubbed prawns, dollops of triple garlic aioli, and a brittle, barely-there socarrat crisp. With a friendly staff, Spanish-forward wine list, and all-around good energy, it's easy to order upwards of a dozen dishes here. It makes Maripili a no-brainer for something like a double date, solo meal at the bar, or standout brunch.
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At Taneda Sushi In Kaiseki, an omakase restaurant with only nine chairs, you’re often left with no choice but to book a seat for one—if you can even find a reservation to begin with. Conveniently, it’s actually better that way. Because when you’re shooting the breeze with a chef who becomes your confidante after tossing you 25 courses of quality fish, it never feels lonely. While the $195 menu changes every month, you can expect amazing bites like otoro hand rolls with pickled daikon, torched A5 miyazaki wagyu nigiri topped with caviar, sweet shrimp wrapped around custardy uni, and grilled eel placed directly into your open hand like a love note. This is the best kaiseki experience in the city, and much like running a marathon or traveling the world, you can enjoy it all by yourself.
It’s a meal dilemma we’ve encountered often—khao soi or a cheeseburger? Cut to Taurus Ox, the Lao spot that does both (and more). Taurus Ox’s crown jewel is undoubtedly their smashburger, a double-pattied stunner topped with taro stem, cilantro, pickled onion, and cured pork jowl, along with the genius addition of spicy pork skin-laced jaew bong and nutty provolone that cuts through the herbs and rendered fat. It’s a drippy, tangy, beautiful mess, but that isn’t to say that the other dishes play second fiddle. Thom khem loaded with caramelized pork belly and a brussels sprout hash brown would be an ideal under-the-covers dinner, and garlicky lemongrass sausage would rule a summer barbecue. Stumble in on a weeknight, or pack your friends in before bar-hopping.
D'La Santa is in a fun space complete with a replica tree, cheesy garlic-butter shrimp tacos, and margaritas served in clay bowls. This Mexican spot is owned by one big family, and you can expect to consume copious amounts of delicious things like phenomenal birria, cochinita pibil, and carne asada while you’re here. There are nine different kinds of steak on the menu, ranging from thin-sliced wagyu to a 44-ounce tomahawk (eat the whole thing if you need a win). Come with a group, split a molcajete of guacamole, and do not miss the aforementioned garlic butter shrimp tacos.
photo credit: Jesse C. Rivera
Ltd Edition is another exclusive around-$150 sushi omakase in a city where those are not too hard to come by, but this one's worth it. Just wait till the uni cart comes out—there are few moments more exciting than receiving a buttery sea urchin hand roll as if it were a sidewalk snow cone. Whether you sit at the counter or high-top table, you’ll receive a history lesson on every piece of fish that comes out, and know exactly how to eat it—one bite or two? Chopsticks or hands? The Dungeness nigiri in particular is a standout way to experience the Miss Universe of the PNW crustacean world, with succulent crab meat and a gelatin topping made from its own juices. Be sure to enjoy it with someone who will equally appreciate crab-flavored Jell-O.
photo credit: Brooke Fitts
If the week has felt longer than The Iliad, and it’s time for a plate of cheese-blasted carbs, get to Cornelly immediately. This small Italian spot on Summit serves pizza and pasta that deserve a 24-book Homer-style epic written about them. The pies are thoroughly crunchy without being burnt, with excellent toppings like fennel sausage and globs of ricotta or smoked scamorza and a sh*tton of summer corn. Meanwhile, fresh pasta tossed in pesto or a spruced-up bolognese with mint and hints of vinegar proves that Cornelly nails any type of flour-based dough. The effortlessly chill dining room and sidewalk patio are walk-in-only, but swing by before 6pm, and you’ll be among the natural wine and lavender-buttered olive focaccia faster than you can say dactylic hexameter.
One of our go-to group dinner spots, this big basement—filled with Himalayan food instead of random boxes of tacky holiday decorations—is consistently our first choice for anything that can be swept up with a surplus of garlic-brushed naan. Annapurna Cafe houses the best Indian, Tibetan, and Nepalese food in town, and they belong among the stars for their Tibetan momo alone, rich with spiced chicken and paired with tomato, mint, and peanut chutneys. Annapurna also excels at Indian classics like tikka masala and palak paneer, as well as hall of fame-worthy stewed lamb and fish korma. It’s all just as excellent whether you’re hanging out in the basement clinking bottles of Kingfisher or taking home multiple plastic tubs of greatness.
When we think about Mexican food in Seattle, La Cocina Oaxaqueña is like the best friend in a romantic comedy that turns out to be the protagonist’s true love—they’ve been there for us all along. The food is consistently delicious, and the good energy flows as freely as tequila. Speaking of, we’ve never been let down by the strong margaritas, delicious unlimited salsa, and snappy fried-to-order chips that are so fresh they burn your fingertips. It’s the kind of place where you could plan a meal two weeks in advance, or bust in simply when everywhere else on Capitol Hill is too packed. The cherry on top is their excellent Southern Mexican food, be it sour and spicy camarones al mojo de ajo, enchiladas topped with velvety mole, or al pastor tacos on homemade tortillas filled with saucy-sweet braised pork.
photo credit: Erin Lodi
B-Side is a little corner cafe currently operating out of Analog Coffee. You can expect a sizable line that makes an otherwise sleepy sidewalk come to life on the weekends, but their takeout-friendly breakfast is well worth the wait. In particular, they serve the greatest breakfast sandwich in town, a.k.a. a toasty english muffin stuffed with scallion-folded egg, Beecher’s cheese, country ham, pickled daikon, and charred onion aioli which you can (and should) doctor up with hot sauce. There are other non-breakfast items like cashew butter-topped toast and grain bowls, but be real—you're here for this sandwich.
At Aviv, hummus is a lifestyle. Next to a 7-Eleven in Capitol Hill, this tiny Middle Eastern spot is an oasis on 15th Avenue, with colorful bar stools and decorative paintings of chickpeas on the walls. The menu is full of fresh homemade hummus that comes in different varieties, like one topped with crispy falafel balls, ground beef and pine nuts, or a coarse-mashed version with lemon and garlic. Paired with a tangy cucumber tomato salad and some standout shawarma-spiced fries dunked in tahina, it's a perfect low-key weeknight dinner.
photo credit: Nate Watters
It would take a natural disaster, restraining order, or an NSYNC reunion tour to keep us away from Kobuta & Ookami. This spot is dedicated to different types of katsu, and it’s so good that you’ll want to line up before they open. That is, unless you’d like to wait for over an hour while scaring other diners by looking sad through the windows at them.The iberico pork cutlet is tender, with breading that stays crisp even after swimming in rich, dark chocolate-spiked curry. But our favorite dish is the mozzarella pork katsu, a.k.a. thin slices of cutlet wrapped around chunks of melty cheese, topped with tangy tomato miso and a flurry of parmesan. Lactose intolerant people, this is your Everest. Make Kobuta & Ookami a frontrunner for a first (or twelfth) date—just make sure you bring Lactaid.
Tamari Bar is our favorite spot for sashimi on Capitol Hill. From salmon belly chirashi topped with miso sauce and ikura to perfectly sweet scallops, the fish here is so great on its own that we almost forget about the many other delicious things under their roof (looking at you, pork dumplings, soft serve with matcha syrup, and marinated wagyu cooked on a hot rock). If you prefer your sushi in maki form, they also serve tasty rolls.
Spice Waala is a good lunch takeout spot on Capitol Hill that serves roti wrapped with fillings like paneer masala, chicken tikka, and ground lamb—but our favorite is the aloo patty that keeps its crisp even when rolled up with their delicious green chutney. The kathi rolls run about $7 each, and they’re big enough to keep you full for a few hours. Add on some fries with the aforementioned chutney and a soft serve sundae.
The reimagining of this northern Capitol Hill classic is a home run simply based on the new pastries alone. And yeah, we’d eat sugar for breakfast on the daily if we lived in the neighborhood. We’re talking about things like savory tahini caramel bars, New York-style crumb cake muffins, and buckwheat chocolate chunk cookies with a salty, dulce de leche-like texture that softly crumbles like kinetic sand. But that would be ignoring their BEC, a majestic stack of paper-thin egg folds, bacon cooked just before it gets crispy, and yellow american that oozes between the layers and stretches like taffy, all on a homemade toasted poppy roll.
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Single Shot is one of our favorite Capitol Hill date night spots—not just because it’s far removed from the noise and hot dog cart smells of Pike/Pine, but also because the dining room is attractive, there’s a big marble bar, and everything on the menu, from the cold potato and crab salad to the seared steak to the margherita flatbread with prosciutto, is excellent. Pull up a seat at the bar, order a bottle of sparkling wine, and know there’s no possible way to screw this up.
Joining the ranks of awesome restaurants in quiet pockets of the neighborhood is Harry’s Fine Foods, a little corner spot that reminds us of a fancy parlor and a general store combined. This place just has the Feel Good Factor™, and it also happens to have very good negronis. Food ranges from pasta to crudo to one of our favorite cheeseburgers in the city. You would do well to get that burger, plus crispy herbed french fries with green “601” sauce.
If we had a dollar for every Thai restaurant in Seattle, we’d have a lot of dollars. But this laidback spot is one of our favorites. Get yourself a mason jar of Thai iced tea and a platter of crunchy, creamy lime zest chicken, gather some humans you don’t hate, and you’ve got a summer al fresco lunch perfect for people-watching on Pine Street.
