While it’s true that Seattle’s restaurant-scape is still sleepily waking up from its long pandemic nap, exciting things are happening in the city’s culinary scene. These days, we’re seeing new tantalizing restaurant openings and food events pretty much every week. Here’s a heads-up on seven restaurant openings to load up your dining calendar.

Ringo Curry

Chinatown–International District

In the hallowed former Ho Ho Seafood space, this new curry house is doing cozy, from- scratch Japanese-style curries poured over tonkatsu, omelets, and other Japanese comfort favorites in a sleek, updated dining room. Curry is the main event here, with more than 15 different options available, and Ringo uses fresh apples and peanut butter in the recipe.

Ringo Curry also serves two kinds of nabe, a soup served simmering in a clay pot that’s loaded with pork belly or katsu pork loin and your choice of broth, along with various permutations of kimchi, soft-boiled “onsen” egg, tofu, mushrooms, and veggies. Boy, is it ever the season to open a restaurant like this.

Hey Bagel

University Village

Local bagel baron Andrew Rubenstein has opened a new shop in University Village in a return to his roots. Rubenstein’s eponymous bakery won nationwide accolades in 2019 and expanded quickly thereafter, and he sold the three-store chain to Ethan Stowell in 2023. But

Hey Bagel is a solo project, where he’ll be slinging ‘hot crackly bagels” in flavors like salted poppy-seed and blueberry clove, along with creative cream cheese treatments such as chili crisp, raspberry curry and hot honey, and espresso and chocolate with Biscoff cookie crumbs. Are the bagels the same ones we remember? “I’ve changed some of the hydration,” Rubenstein told Eater Seattle in 2023. “I’ve changed my fermentation times and my processes of rolling and shaping them.” He also seems focused on making them more rustic and less uniform. “More bizarre-looking bagels at times.”

Migaku

Ballard

At 15th Avenue Northwest and Northwest 62nd Street, Migaku has moved into the space originally occupied by Watson’s Counter. Migaku is serving high-level Japanese kaiseki, with the seasonal kaiseki course starting at $130 a head. The menu focuses on sushi with an eye for sustainable seafood, although it includes non-sushi odds and ends like chawanmushi (savory egg custard), grilled wagyu, and veggie tempura.

The chef-owners are also known for Karaage Setsuna in Belltown, and specifically for their very, very good Japanese Hawaiian fried chicken, so here’s hoping it shows up at Migaku as well.

Pasifika Grill

Bellevue

Located just outside of Bellevue’s downtown core, Pasifika Grill and Bar celebrated its grand opening in late January.

Serving dishes from the Pacific Islands with a focus on Hawaiian fare, the restaurant’s menu spans the entire ocean and features a few Chamorro (i.e., from Guam) items like tinaktak and kelaguen, as well as Samoan sapasui, Hawaiian laulau, and Korean kalbi short ribs, just to name a few. There’s also full island-style breakfast and cocktail menus.

Korean Kalbi short ribs.

Photo courtesy of Pasifika Grill and Bar

My friend Derek’s

Tangletown

At long last, the maker of Seattle’s much-coveted Detroit-style pie has opened a dine-in brick-and-mortar shop across the street from the Tangletown Pub. Pizzaiolo Derek Reiff taught himself to make Detroit pizzas as a pandemic hobby, topping them with cuppy pepperoni and Castelvetrano olives. Previously takeout-only, My Friend Derek’s had a waiting list at least a month deep, and the pizzas were among the most elusive reservations in town — the Taneda of pizza.

But the new spot has seating for 40, with both dine-in and takeout options, as well as salads and a thin New York City-style pie to complement the chewy-crispy deep-dishes.

Pufftown Bakehouse

Pike Place Market

Pufftown is selling croissants, “cruffins,” and other buttery, puffed-up delights out of the old Taxi Dogs slot on the main Pike Place drag. Operating under the tagline “Croissants with character,” owner-couple Serena Rodriguez and Daniel Durand found themselves riffing on crazy croissant concoctions at home when Durand wasn’t at work as a pastry chef, and they started popping up around town with their creations in 2021.

The new tourist-centric storefront is counter service-only with seasonal pastries and drip coffee. Standouts include the savory potato gratin croissant, loaded with mornay sauce, and the cream-filled Pistachio Winter Tree, a croissanty cone with a green stripe winding around it like a candy cane. It closes at noon, so get there early!

Cocina Casera

White Center

In January, Eda Martin opened up Cocina Casera in the recently vacated Bok a Bok Chicken space in White Center.

Having started out in a commissary kitchen on Capitol Hill, the fast casual spot serves a menu of Venezuelan and other South American standards, like various arepas, meaty sanguches (sandwiches), and truly massive corn-crust empanadas in slow- braised beef, chicken, or vegan chorizo.

Cocina Casera offers a taste of Venezuelan and other South American standards such as vegan chorizo arepa and handcraft Sangrias.

Photo courtesy of Cocina Casera