Counter Culture: Road Trip Edition—Sea J’s Cafe

Winter in Seattle has a way of convincing you to stay home, to hunker down and forget the gems just beyond the city limits. But winter is exactly when Port Townsend shines its most authentic light. Gone are the summer crowds—what remains is a charming, windswept seaside town that feels like it’s yours alone.

Before you reach the postcard-perfect Victorian streets of Port Townsend, you roll down a long hill, pass the Safeway, and glance right, toward the unassuming moorage yard. Buried in that boatyard—easy to miss unless you know exactly what you’re looking for—is Sea J’s Cafe, a tiny, no-frills, barely-more-than-a-shack spot serving what might be the best fish and chips in Washington State.

Sea J’s is the definition of a hole-in-the-wall: small, unpretentious, and focused on feeding locals who know a good thing when they taste it. Yes, the menu has burgers, breakfast classics, and a handful of seafood dishes. But you’re here for one reason—the cod fish and chips. Fresh, perfectly fried, crisp without being heavy, paired with a tartar sauce so quintessentially right that it ruins any trendy reinterpretation you’ll encounter back in the city. This is the fish and chips that make a two-hour drive plus a ferry ride from Seattle feel not only reasonable, but necessary. It doesn’t even have a website, but it’s consistently rated among the best fish and chips in the region on sites like TripAdvisor.

Use your cabin fever as motivation. Take the drive, breathe the cold salt air, wander a beautiful town at its most peaceful, and reward yourself with a paper-lined basket of Sea J’s legendary cod and chips. 

Some road trips are about the destination. This one is about lunch.