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Wander through any Seattle farmers market and you’ll notice the savory aromas of grilled goodness, from seasonal veggies and local meats to fresh-baked pastries, flatbreads, and more. The Seattle area is home to hundreds of pop-up food vendors, and that means even more flavors and cuisines to try during Seattle Restaurant Week!
Pop-ups, whether at neighborhood farmers markets, events, or operating out of commissary kitchens, have long been a not-so-secret window to traditional family recipes, inventive offerings from emerging chefs, or goods from food creatives passionate about special dishes.
Pop-ups also provide a lower-barrier point of entry for chefs, especially from BIPOC and immigrant communities, to develop and share their own creations without the hefty restaurant start-up fees. During the early pandemic, pop-ups were a lifeline for underemployed or unemployed chefs, who made everything from special menus to cocktail and dinner kits.
Some pop-ups chefs have gone on to enter the brick-and-mortar restaurant world, like Pidgin Cooperative, a long time farmers market staple that served up ramen, tacos, and mochi inspired by brothers Zach and Seth Pacleb’s family recipes. Pidgin Cooperative eschews the typical top-down hierarchical business model in favor of being a worker-owned cooperative. Earlier this year they opened a brick-and-mortar restaurant and bottle shop at the Fishermen’s Terminal, and are participating in Seattle Restaurant Week this fall.
What new cuisines and flavors will you try as you #CraveYourPath through Seattle’s pop-up scene during Seattle Restaurant Week? Consider this your ticket to explore!
Check out these pop-ups for a place to start.
Rice Beans and Happiness – Redmond Pop-Up, South Lake Union Pop-Up
Homemade Mexican meals are just a phone call away with Rice, Beans & Happiness. Chef Vicky hails from Mexico and lived in Texas with a large family that always gathered around traditional dishes like tamales, mole, and frijolles rancheros. Once in the Pacific Northwest, Vicky missed the home cooking she grew up with and launched a successful food pop-up during the pandemic. Now, Rice, Beans & Happiness has grown into a full-blown catering company based out of a commissary kitchen in Redmond. They deliver throughout the Seattle area.
For SRW, Rice, Beans & Happiness has a few options on different days and two pop-up locations: In Redmond on Oct. 28, try the pozole verde (chicken soup) made with organic hominy and fresh local vegetables (veggie option available); on Oct. 31 and Nov. 4 try the chicken tacos in verde sauce; and on Nov. 7 try the pollo con callibasitas y elote (chicken and zucchini in a mild sauce, accompanied with black beans and tortillas). You can also find her in South Lake Union on Oct. 26 and Nov. 2, with various options for chilaquiles, tacos de canasta, and burritos. Redmond. Lunch at $20. South Lake Union. Lunch at $20.
Cookies for the “inbetween” Vietnamese-American experience, Anh Oi marries memory and nostalgia to local ingredients. “I started baking as a way to reconnect with my heritage and found that the recipes I grew up with could live inside something as simple as a cookie,” said owner Vince Vu. “Each flavor is both, always — rooted in Vietnam, shaped in America, and inspired by the in-between spaces of identity.”
For SRW, Anh Oi is offering a four-pack of cookies (each around a quarter pound), with flavors like fried banana, strawberry corn milk, Vietnamese coffee & white chocolate, and chocolate chunk. Georgetown. $20.
At pop-up panaderia Bakescapade, conchas, pan dulces, and other goodies are “inspired by Mexican roots as well as childhood favorites, all of our products are a representation of our very own innovative culture,” says owner Karen Sandoval. Pan de Muerto season is upon us, and Sandoval is offering a special flight for Seattle Restaurant Week with flavors cafe de olla, ube cookies and cream, and guayaba matcha. Pickup at Cafe Calaveras, where you can pair your goodies with a drink. Yesler Terrace. Pan de Muerto flight for $35.
Gracie Santos started baking handmade pies during the pandemic as a therapeutic way to connect with friends and family and raise funds for community and social justice causes. It soon turned into a consistent, popular, full-fledged pop-up with a devoted following. Filipino flavors meet Pacific Northwest ingredients in sweet and savory offerings like chicken adobo pot pie and champorado pecan pie. For Seattle Restaurant Week, Grayseas Pies is popping up on Nov. 8. Ask how you can Give A Meal at pickup. Lake City. Dinner at $35.
Malaysian food is relatively scarce in Seattle, which only highlights the success of Masakan, a project by Safira Ezani and her mother Masitah Hamzah. The two started cooking up Malaysian dishes as a side project before fully immersing themselves into the Seattle pop-up community in 2021. Malaysian food brings together Chinese, Indian, and Arabic influences, with tropical ingredients like coconut and banana leaves. Some popular offerings at their pop-ups include nasi lemak (coconut milk rice with sambal and fried anchovies), murtabak (stuffed pan-fried flatbread), curry puffs (beef or vegetables in fried pastry shells), and delicious Malaysian desserts. Masakan’s food is always halal. SODO. Lunch and dinner for $20.
Project Feast is an organization that provides culinary training and education for refugees and immigrants, while empowering cross-cultural sharing through food. Their take out family meals have been thoughtfully curated from trainees’ family recipes. Project Feast also partners with local farms and food recovery organizations to use seasonal and recovered produce, reducing waste and supporting our regional food economy. Ballard, Beacon Hill, Central District, Lynnwood, Renton, Tacoma, West Seattle. Dinner for two for $35.
