The United States of Food: Seattle’s Boom Is Bringing Food From All Over the Country

When you yearn for a taste of home -- whether that's a Philly cheesesteak or a New England lobster roll -- we're here to help you find it in Seattle.

By Chelsea Lin, Naomi Tomky and Megan Lamb February 13, 2018

This article originally appeared in the February 2018 issue of Seattle magazine.

This article appears in print as the cover story in the February 2018 issue. Click here to subscribe.

There is nothing a native Californian living in Seattle likes to bemoan—besides, perhaps, our omnipresent gray skies—as much as the so-called lack of Mexican food. Ditto for New Yorkers and their bagels. And it’s pretty much the same for most people who grew up with a favorite hoagie or slice of deep dish or rib platter who now find themselves in the land of pho and smoked salmon.

It’s something Seattleites have long laughed off. Who needs all that stuff when we have chanterelles to forage in our backyards and oysters to pull from Puget Sound? Well, now that more than 60 percent of the city’s population is made up of transplants from elsewhere…we do.

As our population diversifies, so, too, do our tastes. But food memories are tricky. A favorite dish gets mixed up with nostalgia and sentimentality; it’s improved by our remembered experiences of another place and another time. Even Seattle’s amazing food scene can’t compete with that. In these pages, we celebrate the regional dishes—from Hawaiian plate lunches to New England lobster rolls—that may remind you of home. (Never mind that we still, inexplicably, don’t have a Tater Tot casserole or Kentucky hot brown or Boston cream pie to speak of.) You’ll find a common thread among many of the restaurateurs mentioned here: They, like you, missed the flavors they grew up with. Now, you can have a taste of your old home without having to leave your new one.

Midwest
Northeast
Southwest
South
Hot Dogs
Desserts
West
Pizza
Barbecue
Chowder