Skip to content

Spam Meets Sushi? This Bremerton Treat is Worth the Ferry Ride

This Hawaiian cafe makes phenomenal musubi.

By Chelsea Lin July 11, 2017

ACPhotography_CakfeKai_5_11_2017-7

This article originally appeared in the July 2017 issue of Seattle magazine.

Before you dismiss the culinary appeal of Spam, try it Jamie Cancel’s way. The owner of Bremerton’s sweet, laid-back Hawaiian Cafe Kai is using her musubi—blocks of rice generally topped with Spam (and/or other ingredients)—to popularize the polarizing pork product. She says musubi, which she grew up making for birthdays and beach parties in her native Hawaii, is the best kind of portable snack. I don’t disagree.

My favorite is a brunch lover’s dream, the rice brushed with house-made teriyaki (created by Cancel’s husband, Brandon Sumailo), topped with salty Spam, strips of bacon and egg scrambled with soy sauce, all held together with a little seaweed belt ($3.50). This may not be the comfort food I grew up with, but it’s one I’ve adopted. Bremerton, 2518 Wheaton Way; 360.627.8755

 

Follow Us

5 Dishes to Try in March

5 Dishes to Try in March

Worker-owned restaurants and community-driven kitchens shaping Seattle’s food scene.

Those in the restaurant industry have always faced unspoken challenges. Their stories are often kept behind the fold. Today, we’re hearing more personal accounts of wage theft, abuse, harassment, and a mountain of trauma in an industry built to nourish, celebrate, and commemorate.  How does one server, one restaurant take on changing the industry when…

Palace Kitchen Celebrates 30 Years

Palace Kitchen Celebrates 30 Years

The Belltown staple still feeds the city after 10 p.m.

After the last tickets come off the rail, floor mats are hauled out to be hosed down, oven hoods are scrubbed, aprons come untied, and someone counts the drawer. It’s a familiar ritual in restaurant cities everywhere. When the shift ends, cooks and servers go looking for a drink and something to eat. For three…

Protein Without the Pressure

Protein Without the Pressure

In her new cookbook, Seattle author and dietitian Rachael DeVaux keeps healthy eating grounded in real life.

Rachael DeVaux is not afraid of beef. That might sound obvious, but in a wellness culture still haunted by plain chicken breast and low-fat everything, her enthusiasm for grass-fed ground beef feels almost radical. The Seattle-based New York Times bestselling author, personal trainer, and founder of Rachael’s Good Eats has built a following of more than 3.5…

Restaurant Roundup: Nordic Cuisine and a Brazilian Brick-and-Mortar

Restaurant Roundup: Nordic Cuisine and a Brazilian Brick-and-Mortar

Here’s what was served up recently in the Emerald City.

Monday nights are worth celebrating—you made it through the first day of the week, so why not treat yourself to a delicious meal? Unfortunately, but understandably, plenty of restaurants are closed. But at these spots, not only are the kitchens still serving, the quality doesn’t drop off post-weekend, providing a perfect opportunity for a surprise…