July may have us asking, what makes up American food these days? Though the American flag cake studded with strawberries and blueberries remains a patriotic standby, we in Seattle are lucky to have a food scene bursting at the seams with creative and unique offerings from people who dare to dream.

Life is Like a Bowl of Cherries

There are many types of cherries in the world that vary based on season. In Seattle, we clamor for the cherries named after the ever-present mountain that overlooks our city, Rainier Cherries. The Rainiers are instantly recognizable by its yellow flesh and bright red blush, and known for its sweet and buttery flavor. In 1952, Dr. Harold Fogle, a researcher at Washington State University, crossed Bing and Van cherries to create the popular Rainier cherries that we know today. In late June to early July, we look forward to them making their rare appearance at our local markets. You can also find them at your local farmers markets where stands like Collins Family Orchards and Martin Family Orchards will offer them until the end of its season, likely mid-July.

The Rainier Cherry makes a brief seasonal appearance each summer

Photo by Tiffany Ran

A Double Double at Outsider BBQ

Onur Gulbay, who hails from Turkey, is Seattle’s trusted pitmaster for Texas-style barbecue. This may make him a bit of an outsider, he jests, but in this food scene, he fits right in. Outsider BBQ‘s two meats, two sides plate allows for the most variety. He introduces bright, fresh sides to accompany his usual offerings of ribs, pulled pork, sausage, and brisket. Gulbay’s standout sides reflect his place of origin with a scattering of Turkish pickles and sumac on his potato salad, an herbaceous black eyed pea salad inspired by his mother’s recipe, and a lemon poppy seed slaw, but his meats are purely Texan—smoked with salt and pepper only. If you’re lucky enough to catch his eight hour smoked and confited beef cheeks on the menu, you’ll find it hard to keep your order to only two proteins. Outsider hosts regular pop-ups at breweries across the city. Message their Instagram for news on upcoming locations.

Meat and two sides at Outsider BBQ

Photo by Tiffany Ran

The First of Many More Pak Mors

Pak Mor is a rice noodle skin dumpling that traveled by way of Vietnam to Thailand where it became a street food sensation. Owners Pum Yamamoto and Tom Yalodom opened E-Jae Pak Mor to provide this popular street food that is hard to come by here because of its difficult, technique-driven process. Yamamoto was inspired to learn this technique by a friend’s longing to have the dish and not being able to find any quality versions in the States. They stretch a thick, cheese cloth-like fabric over a pot of boiling water to create a drum, on which each dumpling is formed by first steaming a thin layer of rice flour slurry on the fabric, adding the filling, and scraping the wrapper in a rhythmic half-circle motion to create a ripply veil of rice noodle wrapper around the pork filling. Yamamoto recommends the Pak Mor Kai Tok, the ground pork dumplings with an egg wrapped in steamed rice noodles and served with fried shallots and their herbaceous mint dipping sauce. Ask for the runny egg, she adds, and they’ll be happy to oblige.

Savory Pak Mor Kai Tok at E-Jae Pak Mor

Photo courtesy of E-Jae Pak Mor

Say Halo to Summer

Hood Famous Bakeshop was started by husband and wife duo Chera Amlag and Geo Quibuyen (also known as Prometheus Brown or MC Geo from Seattle’s hip-hop duo Blue Scholars). They operated as a pop-up before opening Hood Famous Bakeshop in the International District, where their signature ube cheesecakes and other offerings ushered in a local wave of curiosity and excitement for Filipino cuisine. The cafe’s location at the Publix Building was historically home to many Filipino cannery workers and farm laborers. During the summer, its halo halo joins the spotlight as a sweet icy dessert stacked with different textures and flavors like pandan jelly, ube and regular flan, crunchy oat clusters and more. You can order this at Hood Famous’ International District location throughout the summer Tuesday through Sunday, 11am to 3pm.

A refreshing icy Halo Halo

Photo courtesy of Hood Famous Bakeshop

The Locavore’s Maek Juck

After operating the popular Ballard bar The Gerald for a few years, owner Wes Yoo took the plunge in 2022 to change the space into a restaurant named Wero that reflects his exploration of Korean food and cuisine. He has since continued to elevate the menu to include the restaurant’s own ferments and incorporate more seasonal produce obtained from the Ballard Farmers Market right outside the restaurant’s doorstep. Maek Juck is a historic Korean dish of pork shoulder marinated in doenjang, a fermented soybean paste. Yoo’s marinated pork shoulder rests on a bed of fava bean and perilla puree and is garnished with pickled red onions. It tastes of summer barbecues mixed with those funky, herbaceous notes one loves and desires in Korean cuisine.

Wero’s pork shoulder Maek Juck

Photo courtesy of Wero

Tiffany Ran is a writer and the chef behind food pop-up, Babalio Taiwanese. Much of her food exploration includes jumping between catering, restaurants, and the pop-up world. She’s a regular contributor to Seattlemag.com and you’ll also find her writing featured in Vice Munchies, Lucky Peach, Goldthread, JoySauce, Northwest Asian Weekly, and more. She is the proud dog mom of a chow chow named Ponky Bear.