Restaurant Roundup: Bite of Seattle’s Bad Taste and Homer Reopening
Here’s what was served up recently in the Emerald City
By Ben McBee August 1, 2025
What’s your favorite food holiday? Some might say Thanksgiving for the turkey (or Tofurky) slathered in gravy, not to mention all the sides. Maybe a pint of Guinness and corned beef on St. Patrick’s Day makes you happy. Let us suggest a new festive highlight for your culinary calendar — Aug. 8, also known as “National Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Day.”
And just like the delightfully fruitful squash running rampant across Seattle, these food stories keep on growing, and well, they do say sharing is caring.
A new stake in Seattle’s steak scene
Pioneer Square is the place to be if you’re looking for high-quality cuts of beef. Gordo Steak, a new venture from self-taught chef David Orozco, will focus on carne asada and draw on his upbringing in Mexico. For now, no opening date has been set for the spot at 323 Occidental Ave. S.; it will be Orozco’s third restaurant in the metro area, joining two Asadero locations in Kent and Ballard.
Out of the fire
Homer is in the home stretch of reopening, with plans to resume business this month following a recent fire. The restaurant’s Mediterranean bites, which incorporate Pacific Northwest-sourced ingredients, are a popular draw to the Beacon Hill neighborhood. “After being closed for nearly two months, we can’t wait to re-light our ovens, launch our delicious late summer menu, and take advantage of the rest of this short but sweet patio season!” owners Sara Knowles and Logan Cox shared via Homer’s Instagram.
The bell is ringing in Ravenna
After 62 years of hotcakes and hash browns, this is the last weekend to grab breakfast at Ravenna Varsity, which will close for good on Sunday, Aug. 3. According to Vanishing Seattle, owners of the North Seattle diner could not reach a lease agreement with the landlord, and all potential buyers for the business were similarly turned down. As a landmark for the community, it leaves behind a long history.
Can you taste the controversy?
Because that’s what was cooking at last weekend’s Bite of Seattle food festival. On top of criticism from attendees balking at the exorbitant prices, plus overnight security concerns, some vendors feel hard done by the event’s organizers, FoodieLand — a California-based company that purchased the rights from local owners last year. They say that out-of-state sellers got preferential treatment with regard to foot traffic, and that’s just the start of a longer list of contract stipulations that cut into vendors’ bottom lines.
On a less sour note…
If you’re looking to get that bad taste out of your mouth, Eater can point you in the right direction. Their latest “best dishes” list features a dense yet delicate matcha strawberry cheesecake, super tender wagyu bavette, a lamb korma meat pie that’s everything you didn’t know you needed from an English-style pub, as well as esquites (roasted corn salad) at the somewhat-secret De La Soil inside Copperworks Distilling. And now we’re hungry.
About Restaurant Roundup
Follow Us
Restaurant Roundup: Holiday Cheer at SLU BRU, StarChefs, and Kabul Closing
Here’s what was served up recently in the Emerald City.
Fusion food has an innate ability to bring us together. In the blending of two (or sometimes more) cultures, new perspectives are unlocked and we are all better for it. Esquire is in agreement, as the magazine has selected Lupe’s Situ Tacos, a Mexican-Lebanese taqueria in Ballard, as one of the 33 best new restaurants…
Counter Culture: Sansonina Ristorante Italiano
An Italian escape hiding in Renton.
Tucked just off Rainier Avenue, across from a Safeway, Sansonina Ristorante Italiano—which opened early in 2019—is the kind of place you drive past for years without noticing until you walk through the door. Once inside, the outside world dissolves, the hum of traffic fades, and suddenly you’re not in Renton anymore. You’re in a dimly…
5 Things to Eat in December
This month’s assignment: Take the pressure off.
There’s something about the end of the year that adds pressure to everything we do. Despite all the talk of holiday cheer and “merry and bright,” heightened expectations can bring a sense of weariness. We’re fretting over feasts and gatherings while working fervently to tie up loose ends—gifts, work, everything—with a pretty bow. Each month,…
Ahead of the Cut
How a tech-minded home cook turned years of tinkering into a chef’s knife powered by 40,000 vibrations per second.
Scott Heimendinger traces his love for knives back to college, when his dad taught him how to cook over the phone. By his junior year he had saved for his first real knife, a JA Henckels Santoku. Compared with the $9 IKEA knife he had been using, “it felt like a laser… things that used…