Ballard

Hattie's Hat 5231 Ballard Ave NW, 784-0175, $$
Hattie's no longer has potroast night (rest its soul), but the buttermilk-soaked fried chicken with gravy (and choice of excellent sides) is still around. Breakfast—biscuits and gravy, huevos rancheros, good pancakes with jam—is no longer served all day and night, but is worth getting out of bed for.

Hi-Life 5425 Russell NW, 784-7272, $
Housed in the beautifully renovated Ballard Firehouse. Hi-Life serves a delicious breakfast. The Fancy French Toast was delicious. Two huge slices of crusty and thick Essential Bakery bread were soaked to the core in yummy, not-too-sweet vanilla custard and cooked to a crisp, deep golden brown.

India Bistro 2301 NW Market St, 783-5080, $
Consistently considered above the grade for Indian food, this Ballard bistro ranks high for its tandoori combos, curries, dahl, and masalas. Meat, seafood, and vegetarian lovers alike should all find something to fit their cravings here.

La Carta de Oaxaca 5431 Ballard Ave NW, 782-8722, $
If Oaxaca is Mole Central, how are the moles at La Carta? Some black moles have a hint of char to them, to balance out the sugar and chocolate in the sauce, but La Carta's sticks to sweeter notes. It's delicious and mysterious—perfect in tamales wrapped with banana leaves.

Le Gourmand 425 NW Market Street, 784-3463, $$$
Traditional French cuisine done up with fresh Northwest produce makes for down-to-earth yet fancy food, with names that are hard to pronounce but very easy to enjoy.

Market Street Grill 1744 NW Market St, 789-6766, $$
A sleek, sophisticated restaurant painted in IKEA-like colors, with food that seems to take on a bustling city's characteristics by being layered, complex, detailed, and very, very busy. Every dish is embellished up the wazoo, but that doesn't mean that some of them aren't very good.

Zagi's Pizza Ristorante 2408 NW 80th St, 706-0750, $
The pie is New York style, and it is satisfaction incarnate. A little cornmeal on the bottom of the excellent crust adds body without giving the gritty sensation that your pizza's been dropped on a cornmeal beach. the cheese evades the mountain-of-mozzarella problem and tastes interesting enough to make a plain slice a pleasure.

Belltown

Brasa 2107 Third Ave, 728-4220, $$$
One of the current Seattle food stars, Brasa may overwhelm average diners–the menu is far-flung and can be intimidating–but it's a surprisingly fun place to go with a group for appetizers in the bar.

Cyclops 2421 First Ave, 441-1677, $$
Another Belltown restaurant that's often packed, Cyclops earns its popularity by serving good, imaginative food and tasty drinks.

Le Pichet 1933 First Ave, 256-1499, $$
Unfussy, delicious, clean, uncluttered, real. Here is the place to indulge your cravings for all the weird, wonderful things the French do to meat, such as rillettes, confit, and páté. Le Pichet could so easily have gone over the top with the preciousness and the pretentiousness and the expensive food; praise the Lord, it didn't.

Marco's Supperclub 2510 First Ave, 441-7801, $$
A truly urban place—one where a lot of people share a small space and interaction is inevitable—serving truly urban food, with ethnic flourishes from all over. The gossamer fried sage leaves have become something of a legend.

Marjorie 2331 Second Ave, 441-9842, $$
Food from all over the place: There's both fish sauce and mango salsa on the menu. It's eclectic, and the quality varies from one region to the next.

Marrakesh Moroccan Restaurant 2334 Second Ave, 956-0500, $$
Thank goodness Moroccan food is back in Seattle—with all the traditional and slightly theatrical accompaniments: the pillows to lounge against, the minty tea poured from a great height, scented water poured over the hands. And the food is lovely: fragrant stews over couscous, a flaky, buttery chicken pie, chicken with preserved lemons. There is something inherently royal about it.

Saito's Japanese Cafe and Bar 2122 Second Ave, 728-1333, $$$
Nestled in Belltown, Saito's, named for chef-owner Yutaka Saito, who has been preparing sushi since his teens in Tokyo, is a popular spot for fresh and impeccably prepared sushi. The restaurant draws a big lunch crowd, and though it's pricey, most sushi fans will find it to be worth every penny. Saito's also boasts an impressive sake bar, with over 40 selections.

Capitol Hill

THE CAPITOL CLUB 414 E Pine St, 325-2149, $$
This snazzy Capitol Hill nightclub/eatery specializes in seasonal Mediterranean-Moroccan fare, from seared duck breast and braised lamb shank entrees to small plates of grilled spiced prawns and Penn Cove mussels. But what people lose their minds over is the Kobe beef burger ($13), a legendarily luxurious burger experience praised by devotees for its intricate flavors, juicy hugeness, and unfailing ability to transport diners directly to heaven.

Bill's Off Broadway 725 E Pine St, 323-7200, $
Honestly, you don't have to be drunk to like the food here, although the pizza—pillowy and cheesy, the right balance of hot, salty, and greasy—has been known to make the room stop spinning.

Bimbo's Bitchin' Burrito Kitchen 506 E Pine St, 329-9978, $
Fat, tasty burritos, pretty good everything else. Sometimes crowded, which means a wait, but the Bimbo's crew is perfectly willing to come track you down in the Cha Cha when your table's ready.

Cafe Septieme 214 Broadway E, 860-8858, $
Places all over town have copied Cafe Septieme's trademark blood-red walls, but no place in the city can capture Septieme's ambience. At lunch, have the chicken club or the Septieme salad. At dinner, the schnitzel, the spaghetti carbonara, and the strip steak are all worth the calories. Breakfasts are awesome—and can take the edge off any hangover. Lattes are served in a bowl at Septieme and you're free to sit as long as you like.

Capitol Hill Cafe Internet Lounge & Eatery 216 Broadway E, 860-6858, $
Offers a wide selection of delicious sandwiches (catering to both meat-eaters and vegans), salads, and specials like homemade calzones and macaroni and cheese. Many are convinced that Capitol Hill Cafe has the best veggie burger in Seattle. Plus, it's open until midnight every night.

El Greco 219 Broadway E, 328-4604, $
This Broadway Mediterranean staple—usually crowded due to the cramped layout of the blue-hued dining room—is a great spot to settle in over a bottle of wine and while away the hours nibbling on hummus, tzatziki, and baba ghanoush.

Garage 1130 Broadway Ave, 322-2296, $
The main attraction is the gigantic pool hall, but the bar food is also good. Burgers, pizza—perfect to wash down with the booze o' your choice.

Glo's 1621 E Olive Way, 324-2577, $
Expect to relax with a cup of Glo's coffee while you wait for a table in this delicious, popular, and tiny breakfast nook. Morning burritos, omelets, and eggs done fancy or plain make the wait well worth the time.

Jamjuree 509 15th Ave E, 323-4255, $
This family-owned restaurant is a Capitol Hill favorite for seafood, curries, noodle dishes, and other Thai standards. With plenty of veggie options (they work small miracles with green beans) and street-style food, such as fish cakes and chicken satay.

Kimchi Bistro 219 Broadway E, 323-4472, $
Korean dishes are often spicy and always soulful (they like barbecue too, you know), and every entrée comes accessorized with funky, pickley kimchi and another little vegetal treat. Oxtail soup, with clear slippery noodles, has an unmistakable fragrance. Bibimbop, the classic rice bowl, comes with a rainbow of marinated veggies, beef if you like it, and a very lightly fried egg on top.

Monsoon 615 19th Ave E, 325-2111, $$$
Sparse and simple Vietnamese cuisine in the upscale Monsoon is surprisingly comfortable—and well worth the menu price.

Rosebud Restaurant and Bar 719 E Pike St, 323-6636, $$
A warm place with warm food and good drinks, the Rosebud is one of the few cafes on Capitol Hill where people can talk while dining or drinking. The music, which is usually classical jazz, never overwhelms a conversation, and so it's perfect for a work meeting or a date. Great happy hour, well-prepared though pricey food.

Central District

Hidmo Eritrean Restaurant 2000 S Jackson St, 329-1534, $
The heart of Eritrean cuisine is injera, the spongy, slightly sour pancake bread that serves as serving platter, sauce sopper, and utensil. I find injera-eating one of the most collegial ways to share food, much better than the frenetic passing of small plates, or the vague menace of forks reaching across the table to try someone else's meat. Instead each person wraps their hand in a hygienic hunk of flatbread and grabs a morsel of whichever preparation looks appealing. Double dipping is nearly impossible.

Ms. Helen at Deano's Cafe and Lounge 2030 E Madison St, 322-7670, $
Ms. Helen is a one-woman show at a lunch counter inside a bar, and what a show it is. The tenderest possible oxtails, okra stew with corn and tomatoes, fried catfish with a sweet cornmeal crust, and skillet-style cornbread that is so good you'll want to howl. Service can take a while—that's a lot of work for one woman—but you won't begrudge a single second of it.

Philadelphia Fevre 2332 E Madison St, 323-1000, $
The sexy sandwiches at Philadelphia Fevre are filled with fistfuls of shaved meat and creamy melted American cheese.

R & L Home of Good Barbeque 1816 E Yesler Way, 322-0271, $
With its somewhat inarguable moniker, R & L has been providing inexpensive barbeque and soul cuisine—Louisiana style—for over 50 years.

Downtown/Pioneer Square

Assaggio 2010 Fourth Ave, 441-1399, $$$
The ebullient Mauro Golmarvi presides over Assaggio, shaking hands and kissing babies. This is food in the tradition of tourist-friendly Italian restaurants, but no matter—some of it, such as the brodo aconetano (mussels, clams, scallops, and bay shrimp packed in a fragrant tide pool of creamy saffron broth), is very good.

Bakeman's 122 Cherry St, 622-3375, $
Bakeman's turkey sandwich is legendary, and has been around longer than most things in Seattle. You line up cafeteria-style, and you better know what you want: light or dark meat, white or wheat bread, cranberry or no. Other stuff is good; the turkey sandwich is great.

Cafe Paloma 93 Yesler Way, 405-1920, $$
Mediterranean food with the emphasis on Turkey—such as some lovely little Turkish meatballs in a bright tomato sauce. Much of the food is of the sort of tapas/meze/happy-hour ethic, but prepared with care and delicious pita, and likely as not the jovial owner will check in with you from time to time to see how everything is.

Campagne 86 Pine St, 728-2800, $$$
Unlike its casual cousin downstairs, Campagne is a full-on special-occasion restaurant serving French-style food adapted to Northwest ingredients (with the Pike Place Market right outside their door, they've got a lot to work with, after all). You can watch the staff professionally sidestep each other in the tiny box of a kitchen (their window looks out on Post Alley) as they whip up some of the finest food in the city. Don't embarrass us—dress nicely, please.

Crow 823 Fifth Ave N, 283-8800, $$
Contrary to the dominant trend, Crow is not a small plate restaurant. It's serves hearty entrees like sausage-stuffed lasagna, whose pleasant spiciness made an otherwise macho friend declare that it felt like he had stars in his mouth. Good old chicken 'n' green beans was also a pleasure, especially wrapped in a crispy blanket of pancetta, and especially when I discovered a crackly skinned, boneless thigh hidden under the breast.

Etta's Seafood 2020 Western Ave, 443-6000, $$
Alongside its many celebrated seafood items, Etta's also offers a juicy, pleasing wedge of iceberg lettuce doused with Thousand Island dressing among its fancier salads. Props to the iceberg, yo.

Hurricane Cafe 2230 Seventh Ave, 682-5858, $
The Hurricane Cafe (one of the city's few 24-hour joints) keeps trying to reinvent itself, seemingly fighting the fact that it always has been and always will be the smoky, noisy after-show ritual of Seattle's late-night crowd. The wait staff's generally lazy (with a few exceptions), and the food is always half-assed, but who gives a fuck? It's 4 am and you want to eat.

Library Bistro 92 Madison St, 624-3546, $$$
The food is a miracle at this restaurant in the very nice Alexis Hotel. It's unfussy but sophisticated, with excellent ingredients.

Palace Kitchen 2030 Fifth Ave, 448-2001, $$$
Expensive but worth it—if you can get a booth along the wall. The tables along the windows are cramped and the glare from the streetlights can be annoying. Terrific, hearty food, apple-wood grill, and awesome appetizers. The pork chops are terrific, the drinks are strong, and the monorail zips by overhead.

Pan Africa Market 1521 First Ave, 652-2461, $
This sunny cafe has dual menus: one rotates with African food from around the continent, from the slightly spicy Tanzanian groundnut stew to a chicken braised with dates in a more Moroccan vein. The other is devoted to Ethiopian standbys like spicy braised chicken, lentil stew, and beef with tomatoes.

Salumi 309 Third Ave S, 621-8772, $
We love Salumi so much that we have a nickname for it: We call it "Hello, meat." At Armandino Batali's busy, narrow storefront/counter/tiny restaurant in Pioneer Square, you can find house-cured Italian meats all made by Batali and his talented staff—along with hot and cold sandwiches, and platters that feature cooked meats (sausages, meatballs, oxtails) as well as cured meats (various salamis, coppa, pancetta, prosciuttos, tongue, and cured lamb).

Eastlake

Le Fournil 3230 Eastlake Ave E, 328-6523, $
The croissants from Le Fournil cannot be eaten without a considerable mess: Each bite creates a shower of pastry shards, while inside the crisp exterior the croissants are moist and coiled like a perfect wave. The plain croissant is perfect as it is, but try the chocolate, almond, raspberry, peach, and apple versions if you must. Le Fournil also makes tasty sandwiches.

Pomodoro Ristorante 2366 Eastlake Ave E, 324-3160, $$
The menu is divided in two: Spanish tapas on the left and Italian pastas on the right, and my dining entourage veered toward Italy. Inspired by the restaurant's name, we started with a giant slab of beefsteak tomato dressed in balsamic vinegar and topped with a confetti of basil and fresh mozzarella—an appetizer ample enough for three to share. Gnocchi (Italian for "dumplings") are hand-rolled little footballs of boiled dough. Pomodoro's were perfect: wee, dimpled, more tender than chewy, and joined by beer-boiled fennel sausage and mushrooms in a chunky tomato sauce.

Fremont

35th Street Bistro 709 N 35th St, 547-9850, $
The Girard & Dominique smoked-trout salad dazzles you with its presentation, then kicks you in the shins while you figure out how to eat it. A fillet of smoked trout—like smoked salmon only less briny, with an almost sweet smokiness—sits between a pile of lightly dressed mixed greens and an airy cream concoction, along with triangles of toasted brioche and slices of cucumber.

Bandoleone 703 N. 34th St, 329-7559, $$
A cozy, noisy, elegant restaurant with spicy, tasty Spanish-style cuisine. It's a little pricey, but you'll feel satisfied about dollars well spent.

Fremont Dock 1102 N 34th St, 633-4300, $
The Dock is known primarily as a dive bar, so don't expect hoity-toity cuisine here. The dark, smoky Fremont fixture serves just enough grub to grease up your stomach for its drinks. A full breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu offers a mix of standard diner fare, from steak and eggs to apple pie.

Kwanjai Thai 469 N 36th St, 632-3656, $
Located in the Thai-food capital of Seattle–where Thai restaurants outnumber baby strollers almost two to one–the casual Kwanjai Thai has earned a reputation as being worth the wait. They're serious about their noodles, soups, and star-spice ratings, and many swear it's the Thai talk of the town in Fremont, which is saying a lot.

Persimmon 4256 Fremont Ave N, 632-0760, $
Brunch that doesn't disappoint. With its jolly colors, beaded curtains, and sad clown paintings in the hallway, Persimmon's look is retro-cute, but not overstuffed. The same goes for the food.

The Red Door 3401 Evanston Ave N, 547-7521, $
More yuppie gloss than Fremont funk, the Red Door is a crowded beer-and-bar-food standby, with standard-issue sandwiches, burgers, shellfish, and fish and chips.

Greenwood/Phinney

Acorn Eatery & Bar 9041 Holman Rd NW, 297-0700, $$
The Acorn Eatery & Bar serves Italian food (pasta, pizza) as well as local entrées (salmon).

Bick's Broadview American Grill 10555 Greenwood Ave N, 367-8481, $$
The kind of place you don't expect in a residential neighborhood–upscale atmosphere and a daring menu.

Burrito Loco 9211 Holman Rd NW, 783-0719, $
One of the best burrito joints in town, Burrito Loco stuffs fluffy tortillas with flavorful ingredients–including appropriately seasoned beans–then grills the folded package for some extra gusto before delivering it to your table.

International District

Malay Satay Hut 212 12th Ave S, 324-4091, $
Three cuisines fuse under the heading of Malaysian food: the intense sweetness possible in Chinese food joining the slower, more lumbering heat and weight of Indian and the brightness of Thai that we identify with cilantro and fish sauce. Here, you'll want the roti canai (soft Indian flatbread served with a potato curry), the Belachan okra (okra sautéed in pungent shrimp paste), and perhaps a whole steamed fish.

Shanghai Garden 524 Sixth Ave S, 625-1688, $
The hand-shaved noodles are the thing here, especially in a bright-green Barleygreen variation. Shanghai Garden proves that Chinese food doesn't have to be greasy, salty, and so loaded with MSG that you're stunned into speechlessness. Instead the food is fragrant, clean, and delicious.

Tai Tung 655 S King St, 622-7372, $
Here is emotional fortitude in a bowl: Tai Tung has about 20 varieties of soup and hot pots, plus tons of specials–from comfort foods (sautéed string beans with shredded pork) to modest luxuries (wok-seared crab). You'll want to sit at the counter with the regulars.

Madison Park

Cafe Flora 2901 E Madison St, 325-9100, $$
A mecca for vegetarians desiring a night out as first-class culinary citizens. From drinks to dessert, the Flora experience is intoxicating enough to stun even the hoariest carnivore into submission, at least for an evening.

Harvest Vine 2701 E Madison, 320-9771, $$
In a perfect world, you would never have to eat anywhere else. Each tapas dish is perfect in some way: aged Spanish cheeses, lovely anchovies, seared sea scallops, mushrooms sautéed with leeks and scrambled eggs, a whole pan-fried trout, Spanish ham... you could sit at the counter and have one amazing dish after another slide right by you. That would be heaven indeed.

Madrona/Leschi

Hi-Spot Cafe 1410 34th Ave, 325-7905, $
Two words: Pint-size mimosas. So much better than those dinky champagne flutes that are gone three times before your breakfast arrives. Even the hearty toast and good-as-Grandma-makes jam is yummy, and that's not just the mimosa talking.

Queen Anne

5 Spot Cafe 1502 Queen Anne Ave N, 285-7768, $$
With its ever-evolving menu–half of which rotates every three months or so–the 5 Spot Cafe focuses on regionalism in American cuisine. Even better, the experiments are almost always yummy.

Bamboo Garden 364 Roy St, 282-6616, $$
Bamboo Garden is heaven on earth for any vegetarian when the craving for some delicious Chinese food hits. Because Bamboo Garden uses vegetable protein when creating its "meat" entrées, everything on the menu (which boasts over 100 selections), from the sweet-and-sour chicken (my favorite) to the braised-chicken-and-shark-fin soup, is safe for the vegetarians in the group. Surprisingly, everything's delicious enough for the carnivores too.

Banjara Cuisine of India 2 Boston St, 282-7752, $$
Admirable daals and vindaloos, stuffed naan and tandoori, all presented with a visual flair. But Banjara's claim to fame is the fried calamari appetizer, flecked with green bits of cilantro.

Malena's Taco Shop 620 W McGraw St, 284-0304, $
If you get tired of the showier restaurants on Queen Anne Avenue, Malena's offers relief in the form of a small, spare dining space, a no-nonsense white board of a menu, and tasty tacos and burritos filled with homemade salsa, carne asada, and carnitas.

Tup Tim Thai 118 W Mercer St, 281-8833, $
We've never heard an ill word spoken about the comfortable yet convenient Tup Tim Thai. Maybe that's why its lunch and dinner hours are consistently bustling and its regulars refuse to eat Thai anywhere else.

Panos Kleftiko Taverna 815 Fifth Ave N, 301-0393, $$
You could make a whole dinner out of appetizers here, out of tzatziki and baked olives and stuffed artichoke hearts and chopped peppers. But the rest of the menu looks good, too.

Rainier Valley/Beacon Hill/ Mount Baker/Columbia City

Jones BBQ 3216 S Hudson St, 725-2728, $
BBQ enthusiasts have said that Jones BBQ in Rainier Valley has the best ribs and the best Arkansas-Texas-influenced sauce in town. It's one-stop shopping for barbecue fans.

La Medusa 4857 Rainier Ave S, 723-2192, $$
Authentic Sicilian food in Columbia City: Note the presence of sardines and anchovies, as well as more Middle Eastern touches like pine nuts and raisins (the legacy of Sicily's invasion by the Moors).

Pho Hoa 4406 Rainier Ave S, 723-1508, $
Keeping it simple: Pho Hoa–with a sister restaurant in the International District–is a sweet Vietnamese neighborhood soup shop that's nearly always busy.

Willie's Taste of Soul 6305 Beacon Ave S, 722-3229, $$
Willie himself looks like he may have starred opposite Pam Grier in one of her '70s movies: He's strapping and charismatic even while wearing a plastic apron. His barbecue is worth the trip down south to Beacon Hill: Ribs and brisket have a pleasant campfire tone, while Willie's sauce is not too sweet and packs a little vinegar punch. Greens, too, are delicious.

SoDo/Georgetown/South Park

Cucina De Santis 1759 First Ave S, 587-4222, $
Michael de Santis, owner and chef of the cucina, serves up family recipes, rich on red sauce and melted cheese, fried peppers and onions whose smell beckons you to eat more than you really should.

Pig Iron Bar-B-Q 5602 First Ave S, 768-1009, $
The staff is of the hip, hot variety and the food comes in only medium-huge portions on cool-looking tin trays, with sides nested in matching cylinders. So even though no one's calling you "honey", the hospitality's still fine, and the pulled pork is almost falling-apart tender, with crisped edges here and there.

Wazobia West African Cuisine 170 S Washington St, 624-9154, $$
Unfamiliar components like fufu and egusi melon seeds come together with chicken and spicy okra stew to create a perfect balance of flavor and texture. Also tempting is the Nigerian pepper soup, which, as the menu informs us, is "consumed in great quantities by beer and palm wine drinkers."

University District/Ravenna

Agua Verde Cafe and Paddleclub 1303 NE Boat St, 545-8570, $
If the sun is out, the water will be shimmering behind this cottage-like restaurant that, along with offering yam tacos and mango margaritas and hominy stew, also rents kayaks by the hour. The menu of simple, fresh food–tacos (meats, fish, and vegetables), empanadas, sandwiches, quesadillas, salads, nightly specials, and sublime desserts–recalls the cuisines of Baja, Oaxaca, Tampico, and salt-sprayed Mexican beach towns.

Flowers Bar & Restaurant 4247 University Way NE, 633-1903, $
Every day of the week, from 11 am to 3 pm, Flowers has a Mediterranean-inspired vegetarian buffet. After that, it serves a combination of Mediterranean and American starters and entrées. Plus, with its dark colors, triphop and jazz music floating from the bar, and abundance of glass and Parisian mirrors, Flowers is the most fashionable hangout on the Ave.

Maple Leaf Grill 8929 Roosevelt Way NE, 523-8449, $
The kind of bar everyone wishes his or her neighborhood had, the Maple Leaf Grill is a cozy, worn-in den, perfect for folks in the area to walk to and grab a burger and a beer-with their kids or without. A giant horseshoe-shaped bar dominates the main room, making a perfect spot for solo diners who crave a little background noise and people-watching with their dinner.

Thai Tom 4543 University Way NE, 548-9548, $
Sit at the counter and watch cooks ladle varying portions of sauces, meats, vegetables, and spices into crusty woks, and keep the ingredients dancing frantically on blackened surfaces over tall flames. Ingredients don't spend a lot of time on the fire, so they don't suffer from the overkill-spice-absorption and mushiness you often find in Thai restaurants. This is vibrant, macho cooking some of the best Thai food in Seattle.

Wallingford/Green Lake

Blue Onion Bistro 5801 Roosevelt Way NE, 729-0579, $$
This former gas station has been converted into a cozy home-style bistro where just a few bucks can get you a fully satisfying bistro-style lunch of soup, salad, and a sandwich. All-American dinners get jazzed up with quality ingredients (duck breast with maple-sausage glaze, alongside fish sticks made of salmon, and mac 'n' cheese made with blue cheese) while staying in the moderate price range.

Diggity Dog 5421 Meridian Ave N, 633-1966, $
A popular neighborhood hangout, with hot dogs that are pretty good. They could be served a little hotter, but at least Diggity Dog isn't stingy with the sauerkraut.

Eva 2227 N 56th St, 633-3538, $$
Amy McCray's menu is both worldly and grounded, with good honest cooking. She's got a nice knack for sides like chorizo-bread pudding with sherry-braised rabbit, squash spaetzle with a veal shank, and corn pudding with pork loin.

Luau 2253 N 56th St, 633-5828, $$
Fun and crazy–expect Polynesian ambiance complete with thatched roof and oversized pupu platters.

West Seattle/White Center

Jade West 6032 California Ave SW, 932-9840, $
Sit down at the low counter and choose between your favorite greasy American favorites (French toast, hamburgers, etc.) and your favorite greasy Chinese favorites (fried rice and chow mein). Chef/owner Wah will customize each order for you with flair.

Mashiko 4725 California Ave SW, 935-4339, $$$
Don't expect to leave the Ikea-stylish Mashiko for less than $30 a pop, and that's if you plan on eating light. That said, the fish is incredibly fresh, plentiful, and tasty, and the rolls are more creative than your standard California-roll-and-spicy-tuna affair. For those who can't decide, they have a couple of sashimi sampler plates at prices that range from expensive to very expensive, but if you've got the corporate card for the night (or you're just rich like that), this is the place to go.

West 5 4539 California Ave SW, 935-1966, $
If you're looking for something heavy and comforting, some down-home cooking that could put you into a food coma, then head over to West Seattle's West 5. They serve up some impressive meatloaf and macaroni and cheese that'll get you off to a good start.