Seafood Shines at These Seattle Steakhouses
Seattle is seafood country. While the city is certainly filled with every kind of cuisine and dining style imaginable, the one thing it’s best known for is its fish and seafood, taking full advantage of the nearby bounty. Steakhouses, for all their meat-centric glory, are among the best places to find the city’s best and freshest seafood. Beef shares the spotlight at these top-tier steakhouses, shining a spotlight on some of the best nautical creations in the nation.
El Gaucho: This beautiful and majestic destination, with a particularly stunning outpost in Bellevue, is renowned for its show-stopping entrees like chateaubriand. While that’s certainly noteworthy in and of itself, you’d be remiss to skip over the restaurant’s plentiful seafood creations. Star starters include Dungeness crab cocktail, fresh oysters from the Northwest, sea scallops with lemon beurre blanc and grilled octopus wit spinach, pancetta, olive tapenade and basil oil. And those are just some of the appetizers. Diving deeper into the menu, you’ll find clam chowder and the table side Gaucho salad with shrimp and Roquefort cheese, followed by king crab legs with lemon beurre blanc, grilled salmon with citrus glaze and daikon sprouts, Alaskan halibut with pea shoots and truffle aioli and pepper-seared ahi tuna with tapenade, fried arugula and Spanish piquillo pepper vinaigrette.
The Tin Table: This timeworn institution is famous for good reason. The Tin Table has established itself as an enduring staple thanks to a roster of high-quality, fresh-as-can-be ingredients prepared with a comfort food twist. Seafood, shellfish and fish play a pivotal role in that success, as evidenced by highlights like crab-artichoke dip, pan-seared sockeye salmon with honey-sriracha glaze and seared tuna with coriander crust. The crispy skin sea bass is a particular standout, pan-fried and stuffed with melted leeks and preserved lemon, this thing is bursting at the seems with flavor and texture. It’s all finished with a bright and zesty lemon-huckleberry sauce.
Joule: One of the more unique steakhouses in town, this esteemed, award-winning gem draws inspiration from Korea and beyond for dishes that are totally distinct and deeply flavorful. For instance, appetizers include seemingly familiar flavors like shrimp cocktail, albeit this version comes with Chinese celery, pork belly and ginger beer. Then there’s the Caesar salad, which gets a hit of black garlic vinaigrette and some smoked whitefish. Even the fried rice is exemplary, here cooked with geoduck (essentially a large clam), seaweed and pork rind. Further into the heartier portions of the menu, entrees include stunners like octopus with hot bacon vinaigrette and mackerel with green curry-cilantro chimichurri and black currant.
Jak’s Grill: On the other side of the spectrum, while restaurants like Joule forge pioneering new flavor combination, steakhouses like Jak’s Grill keep things classic — and perfectly prepared. At this homey Seattle classic, you can rest assured the salmon fillets will be nicely grilled, the Dungeness crab cakes will be plump and tender, capped with red pepper remoulade and Champagne beurre blanc, and the grilled prawns will be redolent with spice and lime. The lobster mac & cheese is a fan favorite, as is the crab-stuffed halibut.
Red Cow: One of the most prolific restaurateurs in town, Ethan Stowell is behind this French-accented brasserie and steakhouse. And like any good French spot worth its salt, this one is rich with seafood and fish presentations as well. Alongside the bone marrow and the steak frites, Stowell and co. bring the goods with silky-smooth brandade, moules frites and Alaskan halibut with seasonal mushrooms, asparagus, beurre blanc and seasonal accompaniments like ramps.
Daniel’s Broiler: At this sky-high Bellevue restaurant, the food is as stunning as the Seattle skyline views across the lake. Seafood plays a big role in the menu offerings here, starting with small plates like seared ahi tuna, spicy barbecued prawns, caviar, coconut-fried lobster tail, oysters Rockefeller and bacon-wrapped scallops with Sambuca butter sauce. Whatever you do, don’t miss the whiskey-Dungeness crab soup, a popular (and wildly unique) bowlful. There are plenty of larger seafood plates to choose from too, from lobster Cobb salads and grilled king salmon with miso glaze to prawn scampi and pan-seared halibut with lemon vinaigrette and spring pea-mint orzo.
Miller’s Guild: From octopus carpaccio to prawn cocktail with smoked tomato cocktail sauce, it’s instantly clear that Miller’s Guild is far from your typical seafood-slinging steakhouse. Rather, this contemporary bastion is full of surprises. Perhaps none more so than the applewood-grilled Chinook salmon with wild mushrooms, spring peas, wild leeks and fill. Or the chimichurri-splashed halibut with onions, mushrooms and bacon. For the perfect plate of surf & turf, look no further than the andouille sausage and prawns, served over cheesy grits with tomato ragu and poached egg.
