Food & Drink Aug 31, 2011

Enter the Void

Four Great Places for Asian Food in the Fifth Level of Hell on the Eastside

by Katherine Long

Comments

1
Thai Chef in the Safeway strip mall on 140th Ave. NE between Bel-Red and Northup is also deserving of people's business...IMO it is THE Thai restaurant to beat, Seattle included.
mistamatic on August 31, 2011 at 1:24 PM · Report this
2
Sellout.
JF on September 1, 2011 at 10:05 AM · Report this
3
I live right by Yea's, and yes it is really good! I especially love getting a few families together to chip in and order a bunch of entrees to take to the park.

Thanks for giving the Eastside some love. It'd be awesome to see more reviews around here.
bethm on September 1, 2011 at 12:10 PM · Report this
4
Asian restaurants run by actual Asian people? Not cool. Everyone knows that the only good Asian restaurants are owned and staffed by white kids with tattoos.
Joe Glibmoron on September 1, 2011 at 12:15 PM · Report this
5
I don't know if it's still there - I can't remember its name - but there was a great Thai restaurant near Factoria Mall. It was in an ugly parking lot that it shared with a 7-11, but the building was a standalone. They planted bamboo in front of all the windows, so when you were inside it was possible to pretend that the restaurant was located someplace that was nice. That was about 12 years ago, and I hope it's still in business. It certainly deserved to be covered by this article if it is.
Matt from Denver on September 1, 2011 at 12:15 PM · Report this
6
Izumis up in Totem Lake off of 124th fits this bill quite nicely. Most likely the best Japanese comfort food outside of Maneki.
mtallen on September 1, 2011 at 12:37 PM · Report this
7
Unless you have a craving for something that reminds you of your childhood in Hong Kong (the best Cantonese places are still in the ID), Bellevue is a much better place to go for Chinese and Taiwanese food than Seattle.

I don't know why this is such a big secret given how readily people will admit that you need to go north (Lynnwood) or south (Federal Way) to get good Korean food. Bellevue even has a Salvadoran restaurant now.

Seattle does beat the rest of the region for Vietnamese food, though.
Sean P. on September 1, 2011 at 12:49 PM · Report this
8
Additionally, the best Indian food around is found nowhere near Seattle proper, but rather in East Bellevue, Bothell, and Redmond.
laterite on September 1, 2011 at 12:53 PM · Report this
9
@6, I second that. It may be in an ugly strip mall, but this is where we take Japanese executives who are tired of eating steak and want some comfort food.
Reg on September 1, 2011 at 1:16 PM · Report this
10
Izumi kicks Maneki's ass.
TLjr on September 1, 2011 at 1:34 PM · Report this
11
Zenyai Noodle House in Bellevue (Overlake area, right by the Trader Joes) is one of my absolute favorite restaurants. The people who work there are hella nice, it has a great atmosphere, the food is delicious, and totally reasonably priced. The Red Sea Tofu is my favorite - a spicy sea-vegetable laden soup that I just can't get enough of.
Benj on September 1, 2011 at 2:15 PM · Report this
12
Agreed that Izumi is the shiznit.

I will say it's a bit unfair to paint the entire Eastside as a "Republican stronghold." Newcastle, Clyde Hill, Medina and parts of Sammamish, maybe, but most of the rest is pretty apt to be split with even a few solidly blue sections in the north end towards the county line and over to Lake Forest Park.
laterite on September 1, 2011 at 3:49 PM · Report this
13
I agree about Izumi and I love Facing East. I'd like to add a vote for Spicy Talk Bistro in Redmond for really good schezuan food.
Cori on September 1, 2011 at 5:32 PM · Report this
14
Not worth it, not even close.
raku on September 1, 2011 at 6:51 PM · Report this
15
@5 The restaurant you speak of is a Thai Ginger, it's part of a chain. There's one in Downtown Seattle in Pacific Place as well as in Redmond, Issaquah and Madison Park. I don't know if it used to be something else at the Factoria location, but that's what it has been for the past 4 years that I have worked in the area. It is quite tasty. My coworkers and I end up there a lot at lunchtime.
on September 2, 2011 at 12:30 PM · Report this
16
Schezuan Chef is amazing. Located in a strip mall in the old K-Mart Plaza - corner of 148th and Main St in Bellevue. Full of Asian familes, the staff is friendly and helpful to the non-Asians who venture into some of the more obscure dishes. Their smoked pork belly is especially delicious.
MChaotic on September 2, 2011 at 2:03 PM · Report this
17
@16

Schezuan Chef closed awhile, back but the good news is that the chef from that place went on to open Spicy Talk Bistro, which has been mentioned a few time above.
reaganyouth on September 2, 2011 at 3:05 PM · Report this
18
OMG how could you leave out Spiced? Hard core Szechwan place in Crossroads area? The red chiles and the numbing black pepper are addictive!
on September 3, 2011 at 4:37 AM · Report this
19
Get over the fact that your from the eastside, most young people on capitol hill are . Be comfortable in your own skin. Seattle sucks too.
coody on September 3, 2011 at 9:12 PM · Report this
20
@18

100% correct! It's the best Chinese around. Super authentic, super spicy!
on September 4, 2011 at 9:37 AM · Report this
21
Wow. Once you get thru the whining and BS of the first few paragraphs, the article is fairly informative. Lingering thought: Why not just move to Seattle proper, put your children in school there and find them a tutor from the East side? Living in "hell"? Sounds like you have made it your own.
Zoe S on September 4, 2011 at 11:55 AM · Report this
22
Sushi teriyaki (I think that's its name) located in Renton in a strip mall on the corner of Duvall & Sunset has absolutely amazing sushi (I haven't tried their teriyaki). The prices are reasonable and the quality & freshness can't be beat. Thx for the interesting review. I agree w/ another comment stating that the article got much better after the eastside bashing stopped. Perhaps we can all start to agree that there is good and bad wherever you live and travel, in and out of Seattle.
caraga on September 6, 2011 at 1:22 AM · Report this
23
@pretentious hipster white kids from the midwest/rural-parts-unknown who now live on the Hill : please don't go to Bellevue. The wait for a table at Facing East is unbearable enough. Plus, I already ate all the Gua Bao [pork burgers].
TheVripper on September 6, 2011 at 2:45 PM · Report this
24
A few doors down from Facing East is Boiling Point, also an amazing place to eat.

Spicy Talk didn't impress me. The food wasn't spicy.

Noodle Land in Downtown Redmond has some really good Thai soups that I have not found anywhere else.
com2kid on September 6, 2011 at 4:05 PM · Report this
25
Hey: you were too hard on yourself for being from the Eastside. My guess is you're about 20 which means you were born before Starbuck's was a household name and we still had good rock that wasn't yet called "grunge." So you're righteously grandfathered in. At least you're not a transplant!
Steve123 on September 7, 2011 at 2:04 PM · Report this