Seattle, WA

restaurants

Mamnoon

Bourdain had: fresh bread, baharat-seasoned beef and lamb kebabs; fried cauliflower with tahini; summer fatteh with local squash and charred tomatoes, pine nuts, and stuffed grape leaves; hummus; beer. Dinner dates: Raft Hollingsworth III and Joy Hollingsworth, Hollingsworth Cannabis Company, farm directors and members of the family that owns the company. “Mamnoon Restaurant is a modern take on traditional Syrian and Lebanese food. And it’s done well,” Bourdain assessed.

Bellevue, WA

restaurants

Modernist Cuisine

Bourdain ate: baba au rhum in a jar, a bagel. Lunch date: Nathan Myhrvold, former chief technology officer at Microsoft and lead author of Modernist Cuisine; Francisco Migoya, head chef of the Modernist Cuisine culinary team.

Seattle, WA

restaurants

North Star Diner & Shanghai Room

Bourdain had: crab, bacon, and melted cheese sandwich; drinks. Dinner and drinks date: retired Seattle homicide detective Mike Ciesynski, Fred Moody. But according to Bourdain, who’s borderline obsessed with the serial killers of the PNW, “Crab, bacon, and melted cheese is, when discussing dumpsites and ligature marks, a must.”

Seattle, WA

restaurants

Taylor Shellfish Oyster Bar

Bourdain ate: oysters; flash-fried whole local smelt served with pepperoncini sambal aioli; local dungeness crab, chilled and cooked with pickled ginger sauce. Lunch dates: Fred Moody, writer of books including Unspeakable Joy and Seattle and the Demons of Ambition, and bartender at Shanghai Room; Jack Whisner, transit planner for King County metro; Knute Berger, Seattle magazine columnist and Pugetopolis. “Taylor Shellfish Oyster Bar in Pioneer Square is old-school...with three restaurants in town, they know what they’re doing,” Bourdain said.

Seattle, WA

bar

Pacific Inn Pub

Bourdain ate: Fish and Chips. Lunch Date: Astra Elane and Dustin Patterson, members of local band The Gods Themselves, who penned “Tech Boys.” Bourdain says, ”Pacific Inn Pub is a holdout. A place that has so far managed to resist the temptation to appease the invaders.”

Seattle, WA

restaurants

Ocho

Bourdain had: drinks and tapas. Dinner date: Mark Lanegan, singer-songwriter, formerly with Screaming Trees, Queens of the Stone Age, and many other acts, and artist behind Parts Unknown theme song; Jeff Fielder, touring guitarist. He gave it his seal of approval, complimenting Ocho’s “generous drinks and Spanish-style tapas.”

Seattle, WA

restaurants

Revel

Bourdain ate: cilantro noodles, yu choy, and thinly sliced flatiron steak; kimchi pancakes with braised pork belly and bean sprouts; marinated-short-rib rice bowl with house sambal, daikon kimchi, and egg; short-rib dumplings topped with pickled shallot and scallion. Lunch dates: John Cook and Todd Bishop, co-founders of tech news website GeekWire; Rachel Yang, chef behind Revel.