Restaurants in Seattle have the extremely good fortune to be sandwiched between superlative fishing grounds and a hinterland of farms and forests supplying impeccable produce, dairy products and foraged herbs and mushrooms. Add in their proximity to the acclaimed wineries of Washington and Oregon, and it’s no surprise that the city practically bursts with fine dining. (Someone should alert Michelin, which hasn’t deigned to rate any Seattle restaurants.) My traveling companion and I had time to try only a handful on this trip, and I was delighted with our choices — mostly.

Ascend Prime Steak & Sushi
» Aged steaks, creative maki and stupendous views

True to its name, Ascend perches on the 31st floor of a Bellevue building with stunning views across Lake Washington toward downtown. Chef Brandon Muehl offers a menu of premium steaks and Japanese-style seafood dishes. Noticing our disappointment at not being seated next to the floor-to-ceiling windows, our lead server took us to the terrace, still closed for the season, where we sipped imaginative cocktails and took in the stunning panorama. The lengthy food menu had all too many tempting options. For starters, we settled on tasty smoked tuna tartare with ají amarillo, compressed pear and toasted quinoa, a colorful maki of king-salmon ceviche and a well-composed roll of hamachi, orange, Okinawan sweet potato and shaved truffle. For our main course, we split a 28-day aged prime filet mignon and a side of sautéed foraged mushrooms garnished with mitsuba (like parsley) and foie gras. The steak stole the show with its exceptional tenderness, juiciness and rich flavor. Throughout dinner, service was efficient, friendly and accommodating. On our way out, we had a nightcap in the lively bar, with large fireplaces and memorable views over the lake. Food is also available in this lounge, which is a fine alternative to the main dining room.

Ascend Prime Steak & Sushi 
10400 Northeast Fourth Street, Suite 3100, Bellevue. Tel. (425) 625-2080

Atoma
» Distinctive seasonal cuisine, flawless service

In 2023, chef-owner Johnny Courtney and his wife, Sarah, opened Atoma in a craftsman-style home in the Wallingford neighborhood, less than a 20-minute drive from downtown. Courtney previously worked at Canlis, one of our favorite Seattle restaurants, as well as other top establishments in Australia, Mexico and Denver. So, perhaps it’s unsurprising that he created the best meal of our trip, using top-quality local ingredients in a diverse à la carte menu. We started with splendid glasses of Gosset Grande Réserve Brut, fully intending to take further advantage of the well-considered wine list, but the cocktails — like the Starr Sutherland Rising with rhum agricole, mezcal, lime and pineapple — proved irresistible. While ’70s music played in the background, our food began to arrive. Appetizers were the highlight, notably the savory fried rosette-shaped cookie, filled with farmer’s cheese and Walla Walla onion jam, and the crispy radish cake, topped with geoduck and shiso-pickled radish. But larger courses held their own. I relished the Dungeness crab with almond-milk vadouvan curry and charred kohlrabi; the kanpachi with tonnato sauce, radish and spring greens; and the bright halibut with nettle gnocchi and green garlic. Knowledgeable servers provided highly professional service from our entrance to exit. Atoma is well worth the trip from downtown.

Atoma
1411 North 45th Street, Seattle. Tel. (206) 420-1041

Cedar + Elm
» Outstanding regional food in an atmospheric historic dining room

During our stay at The Lodge at St. Edward Park, a seminary turned boutique hotel in the town of Kenmore, we tried this cozy restaurant led by executive chef Luke Kolpin, a former sous-chef at legendary Noma. Situated in the seminary’s former dining hall, Cedar + Elm retains the original windows and lighting fixtures but serves a contemporary menu of excellent Pacific Northwest cuisine. High-backed velvet booths fostered a sense of privacy. We loved our starters of Washington wheat flatbread with Danish butter and local asparagus dressed with brown butter, cured egg yolk and pine-nut crumble. The mushroom agnolotti with ricotta, maitake and buttered turnips also proved satisfying, but I’m still dreaming of the Washington steelhead trout served atop peas, chamomile cream and morels — utter perfection. A light dessert of mango sorbet and crumbled lemon bar came with a toasted marshmallow, a salute to the restaurant’s campfire-friendly location in a state park. The trails are ideal for an after-dinner stroll, but in the likely event of rain, guests can also wander amid the well-curated art on the first two floors of the hotel or have a nightcap at the Tonsorium Bar, a converted barber shop.

Cedar + Elm
The Lodge at St. Edward Park, 14477 Juanita Drive Northeast, Kenmore. Tel. (425) 321-1580

The Herbfarm
» Superb multicourse menus with a convivial dinner-party sensibility

Invigorated by new ownership in 2021, this beloved cottage-style restaurant in Woodinville (northeast of Seattle) was all the excuse I needed to return. At the helm since 2021, chef Chris Weber and general manager Jack Gingrich continue The Herbfarm’s tradition of showcasing the best of local cuisine. An evening here feels more like an elaborate dinner party than a standard restaurant experience. We arrived 45 minutes early as suggested and received welcome drinks of plum kombucha with straws crafted from the stems of lovage. After a visit to the sommelier in the wine cellar, we toured the herb garden and met the owners’ pet pot-bellied pigs. We chose a communal table and sat down to the “Revelry for Spring” menu, one of seven seasonal themes. Candles and flowers decorated the dining room, which faced a large open kitchen, and live Spanish guitar music enhanced the festive atmosphere. Each locally sourced dish and generous wine pairing delighted, starting with a surprising aspiclike asparagus “soup” topped with paddlefish caviar. Puget Sound halibut with Dungeness crab and lemony herbs was delicious, and the lamb tartare worked beautifully with a Rodeo Hills Pinot Noir from Oregon. Cheeses from local creameries and a dessert of plum mousse ended the dinner with more flavor fireworks. In addition to wine pairings, a complex nonalcoholic beverage pairing is available. Make (prepaid) reservations as far in advance as possible.

The Herbfarm
14590 Northeast 145th Street, Woodinville. Tel. (425) 485-5300

84 Yesler
» Centrally located but uneven service and cooking

Originally from Japan, owner Susumu Takahashi opened 84 Yesler in 2020 to showcase Pacific Northwest seafood in dishes with both Japanese and Italian influences. Inside a brick building in Pioneer Square, the modern dining room presents well-spaced seating and an open kitchen. I enjoyed our starter of meaty oysters from Shelton, Washington, served with a gin-spiked cocktail sauce. They were especially good with glasses of Bocelli, a brut rosé from Tuscany. Unfortunately, the smoked octopus with grilled asparagus, hollandaise and red caviar was too salty, and cotton candy that topped the seared foie gras on brioche stuck to our teeth. Seared Hokkaido scallops with brown-butter cauliflower espuma, locally foraged mushrooms and toasted hazelnuts sounded promising but lacked flavor. And a dessert of apple cake was moist but unremarkable. Our server kept us under close observation, at one point asking us to keep our cocktails on the coasters! Various other reviewers have praised 84 Yesler, but our dinner there didn’t compete with others we had in Seattle.

84 Yesler
84 Yesler Way, Seattle. (206) 624-1111