Seattle Times food critics Tan Vinh and Jackie Varriano eat hundreds of meals each month: At new restaurants, old-school dive bars, tiny pop-ups and national chains. In this episode, Tan and Jackie highlight five of the best dishes they’ve tasted recently, from high-concept Vietnamese fusion to an Italian cookie pop-up.

Read more about Tan and Jackie’s picks in The Seattle Times, linked below.

Recommendations in this episode:

• Ramie, Capitol Hill – Hột Vịt Lộn (duck) custard
• Nue, Capitol Hill – Balut (steamed duck embryo)
• The Lonely Siren, Downtown – Batatas (potato) Bravas
• Pizzas Locas, Des Moines – Mexican corn pizza
• Good Lazy, Issaquah – Cereal Milk Donut
• Tremonte’s Italian American – pop-up and online

Seattle Eats is a production of The Seattle Times and KUOW, part of the NPR Network. You can support Seattle Eats by investing in the local newsrooms and the specialized beats that make this sort of storytelling possible. Please consider joining and subscribing at kuow.org/eats and seattletimes.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Who makes the best slice of pizza in Seattle? Last summer, the Seattle Times food team went in search of an answer to that question. They polled Seattle diners and narrowed 32 pizzerias down to 4 finalists and 1 winner. Today, we’re re-sharing our episode breaking down the results, so you can enjoy a pristine slice this holiday weekend.

Read more about the results of The Seattle Times Pizza Smackdown.

Recommendations in this episode:

• Bar del Corso, Beacon Hill
• Delancey, Ballard
• The Independent Pizzeria, Madison Park
• My Friend Derek’s, Fremont
• Post Alley Pizza, Downtown
• Stevie’s Famous, Burien / Beacon Hill

Seattle Eats is a production of The Seattle Times and KUOW, part of the NPR Network. You can support Seattle Eats by investing in the local newsrooms and the specialized beats that make this sort of storytelling possible. Please consider joining and subscribing at kuow.org/eats and seattletimes.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

June brought a slate of closed restaurants in Seattle, from a half-century-old dive bar to some of the city’s most high-end dining. But it was also a good month for new spots, with two popular rooftop bars debuting in Central Seattle just as the weather heats up.

Tan breaks down all the trends in openings and closings this month with Seattle Eats producer Clare McGrane.

Read more about The College Inn Pub’s closure, Sea Creatures Restaurants’ pivot and this summer’s new openings in The Seattle Times.

Recommendations in this episode:

• Firn, Pioneer Square
• Cantina Del Sol, Capitol Hill

Closed restaurants:

• Bateu and Boat Bar, Capitol Hill (temporary)
• General Porpoise donuts, Laurelhurst and Capitol Hill
• The College Inn Pub, University District

Seattle Eats is a production of The Seattle Times and KUOW, part of the NPR Network. You can support Seattle Eats by investing in the local newsrooms and the specialized beats that make this sort of storytelling possible. Please consider joining and subscribing at kuow.org/eats and seattletimes.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, 25 restaurants and chefs were crowned with James Beard Awards – the Oscars of the food world. And for the fifth year in a row, Washington state came away with zero wins.

Tan breaks down the three Seattle-area finalists with Seattle Times food writer Jackie Varriano, and asks: What are we doing wrong?

Read more about this year’s local James Beard Award finalists, including seven-time finalist Jay Blackington, in The Seattle Times.

Recommendations in this episode:

• Atoma, Wallingford – Best New Restaurant finalist
• Archipelago, Hillman City – Outstanding Hospitality finalist
• Houlme, Orcas Island – chef Jay Blackington, Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific finalist

Seattle Eats is a production of The Seattle Times and KUOW, part of the NPR Network. You can support Seattle Eats by investing in the local newsrooms and the specialized beats that make this sort of storytelling possible. Please consider joining and subscribing at kuow.org/eats and seattletimes.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dinner parties are a staple in many cultures, but in Georgia – in the Caucus mountains of Eastern Europe — dinner parties are another deal all together. Almost any occasion in Georgia calls for a Supra, a feasting tradition that goes far beyond the food on the table and the wine in the glasses. It’s about connecting with the other people around the table, sometimes getting extremely vulnerable.

The Supra Dinner Society wants to make this Georgian tradition a feature in Seattle. In this episode, Tan attends a Supra and explains how the tradition works.

Read more about the Supra Dinner Society in The Seattle Times.

The group hosts weekly public Supras in Seattle. Find more details on its website.

Seattle Eats is a production of The Seattle Times and KUOW, part of the NPR Network. You can support Seattle Eats by investing in the local newsrooms and the specialized beats that make this sort of storytelling possible. Please consider joining and subscribing at kuow.org/eats and seattletimes.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ever stopped by a Seattle bar or casual food spot and noticed a pinball machine or two? The region is a center for pinball enthusiasts, in part thanks to its culture of barcades and general geekiness.

Today, we’re sharing a glimpse into Seattle’s pinball haunts from Meet Me Here, a new podcast from KUOW. Find more episodes of Meet Me Here in the KUOW app or your favorite podcast app.

Recommendations in this episode:

• 8-bit, Renton
• ADD-A-Ball, Fremont
• Ice Box, Ballard (all ages)
• Jupiter, Belltown
• Pinball Museum, Chinatown-International District
• Shorty’s, Belltown
• Time Warp, Capitol Hill
• Triple Knock, Tacoma

Seattle Eats is a production of The Seattle Times and KUOW, part of the NPR Network. You can support Seattle Eats by investing in the local newsrooms and the specialized beats that make this sort of storytelling possible. Please consider joining and subscribing at kuow.org/eats and seattletimes.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Memorial Day is behind us, meaning summer has officially started. The Seattle Eats team is taking a short summer break to cook up new shows. To get the vacation vibes going, we asked friends of the show to send us their favorite patio to enjoy the summer weather.

Seattle Eats will be back with regular episodes June 12.

Patio recommendations:

• Marination Ma Kai – West Seattle (Rachel Belle)
• Little Water Cantina – Eastlake (Trevor Lenzmeier)
• Bar Harbor – South Lake Union (Bethany Jean Clement)
• Hook and Fork – Union, WA (Chris Cvetkovich)
• Brimmer & Heeltap – Ballard (Jackie Varriano)
• Magnuson Brewery – Sand Point (Jane Park)
• Ballard Brewery District - Ballard (Tan Vinh)

Seattle Eats is a production of The Seattle Times and KUOW, part of the NPR Network. You can support Seattle Eats by investing in the local newsrooms and the specialized beats that make this sort of storytelling possible. Please consider joining and subscribing at kuow.org/eats and seattletimes.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Pacific Northwest is a great place to hunt for clams of all types: Razor, manilla, butter, and even the elusive geoduck. But one bivalve flies under the radar: horse clams.

Horse clams are the little cousin of the geoduck and share many of the qualities that make geoduck a delicacy. But while geoduck costs upwards of $40 a pound, horse clams aren’t available in stores. The only way to eat them is to get a $15 license, find a beach at low tide and start digging.

In this episode, Tan takes a horse clamming lesson with Chris Cvetkovich, owner of Nue on Capitol Hill. Chris digs up a bounty of horse clams and shares his recipe for preparing them in a Peruvian ceviche.

Read Tan’s story about horse clamming in The Seattle Times.

Chris’s ceviche recipe:

1. Clean and thinly slice the neck of your horse clams.
2. Place the sliced clams in a bowl and add fresh juice from 2-3 lemons or limes (or both!)
3. Slice sweet onion into thin crescents. Chop up a ripe avocado, a handful of cilantro (with stems) and a pepper of your preferred spiciness.
4. Mix veggies and a healthy amount of salt into the clam and juice.
5. Taste and add more citrus juice and salt if needed.
6. Let rest for 30 minutes to allow the flavors to meld (optional).
7. Enjoy with tortilla chips or a crunchy topping for added texture.

Remember to get a shellfish license from the Washington Department of Food and Wildlife before any clamming trip.

Seattle Eats is a production of The Seattle Times and KUOW, part of the NPR Network. You can support Seattle Eats by investing in the local newsrooms and the specialized beats that make this sort of storytelling possible. Please consider joining and subscribing at kuow.org/eats and seattletimes.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.