Where To Eat & Drink On Beacon Hill

Beacon Hill is a big hill that stretches all the way from Mt. Baker to Rainier Valley and everything west of MLK Jr. Way, south of I-90, and east of I-5. If that sounded like random words to you, just know that this neighborhood is pretty massive. Beacon Hill has a great mix of residential areas, parks, and most importantly—restaurants and bars. Here are our top spots, including a bodega that serves Mexican street corn and one of the best places in town to eat Neapolitan pizza.

THE SPOTS

Eating dinner at Musang is like being a guest at someone’s home—and we’re not just saying that because this Filipino restaurant is located inside a renovated craftsman. Throughout our many visits here, we’ve joined in on dining room-wide toasts and “Happy Birthday” singalongs, which would be enough to make Musang an exciting place to have a meal. But we’d also sit in a dark coat closet just to eat their outstanding food. From juicy pork and shrimp lumpia with a crackly shell to a flame-seared short rib kare kare basted in peanut butter bagoong, these are dishes that make us want to stop everything and sing about them as if life were a movie musical. It’s possible to have a memorable evening celebrating virtually anything at Musang, even if the occasion is, “I composted my coffee grinds today instead of dumping them down the drain.”

A huge kudos to whoever invented fire during the Stone Age. Without it, we wouldn’t have the blazing flame inside Bar Del Corso’s domed pizza oven creating tasty leopard spots on their crispy crust, melting globs of buffalo mozzarella, and sizzling craggy bits of homemade fennel sausage. The pies alone would solidify this staple as one of the most iconic Seattle happy places, but the small plates here seal the deal, like suppli al telefono stuffed with cheese that pulls like taffy or the best grilled octopus in town. It’s all worthy of sidling up to the bar or grabbing a backyard picnic table alongside something spiked with Aperol.

We hope you know that Hidden Valley is not a real place. But if it were, Homer would be where the parents go for date night after feeding their children a bottle of ranch dressing and sending them off to bed. It’s a Mediterranean restaurant that makes vegetables taste amazing, from burnt cabbage with stracciatella cheese and peanuts to charred carrots with a sauce that makes BBQ kind of look bad. The space (complete with baked pita smells and ostrich-printed wallpaper) is homey and cool at the same time, making it ideal for a date. And if you’re a meat-eater, never fear—the roasted chicken with fruit sauce is incredible.

The team behind Homer opened a casual counter spot that exclusively sells fried chicken and soft serve alongside odds and ends like curly fries and thick mozzarella sticks), and it’s a combination that seriously works. The greatest thing about Milk Drunk’s double-fried chicken is the coating, complete with the kind of thunderous crunch that fills your ears with noise when you take a bite. And unlike many fried chicken spots in town, there’s a kick of curry flavor in the slightly puffy breading, which tastes like a beautiful cross between a beer-battered fish fry and a pakora. Order strips of it, which you can dunk in herb-flecked green aioli, or on a sandwich.

It goes without saying that you should order carnitas at Carnitas Michoacan, but we’ll say it anyway. This pork is fantastic. The result of a tangy marinade paired with a long braise is this happy marriage of tender, melty meat and crispy edge bits, honeymooning together inside tacos or burritos wrapped with fluffy homemade tortillas. Go nuts with any of their tasty salsas (we prefer the hot red). And while you’ll definitely want the carnitas in some form or another, the carne asada is the unsung hero—well-salted and juicy, it's excellent steak, and shines in a city that has a few too many tasteless versions.

If you take a shuttered travel agency, slap up some bricks and art deco bird-patterned wallpaper, and fill it with bottles of champagne, you get The Coupe & Flute. This funky little bistro is officially the best spot in town for sparkling wine, whether you casually enjoy bubbles or your phone’s lock screen is currently the French countryside. Come here on a late afternoon to sip fizzy wine alongside snacks like battered prawns tossed in tamarind BBQ sauce, pomme frites with Sichuan chili mayo, and gnocchi with green pea pesto. It’s all served without any pretentiousness—the staff won’t assume you’re a viticulture novice, but they also won’t totally leave you on your own to navigate the world of carbonated grape juice. And with other drinks like spritzes, non-alcoholic aperitifs, and bottles of white, red, and rosé, you don’t have to be champagne-obsessed to appreciate a night out (or a weekend brunch) here.

This former food truck serves awesome Filipino plates that you should prioritize for a filling sit-down lunch or a “leave-work-two-hours-early-on-a-Friday” kind of meal. The space is filled with the smell of garlic and colorful homages to Filipino culture, like a proudly displayed flag, sungkâ, and intricately woven baskets and hats. But it’s the food you’re really here for. Their peppery pork sisig has a sizzle that could replace a white noise machine you turn on before bed, and a garlic aioli that comforts like a weighted blanket. Or, if menu-related FOMO takes hold, the Island Combo has a little taste of Chebogz’s greatest hits.

The Flora Bakehouse is not just a great place to grab a cheddar-chive scone, pink-frosted fudgy vegan brownie, or double-baked almond croissants so flaky that you should consider avoiding if you have trypophobia. (But devour them if you don’t). This Beacon Hill spot also happens to have a fantastic u-shaped rooftop that’s perfect for an afternoon work session al fresco. And by work session, we hope you know that we mean leisurely iced cardamom rose latte on a picnic table in the sun while doodling in the Moleskine journal you purchased with your company card. (This place doesn't have WiFi.)

Perihelion is our favorite place for beer south of I-90, and as an added perk, their food is the perfect accompaniment to pints of apricot sour. We’re talking rigatoni mac and cheese with gorgonzola, salty shoestring fries, soft pretzels, and one of the best cheeseburgers in town, topped with melty pork belly and chile aioli. The staff is very friendly, there’s an outdoor firepit, and it’s 325 feet away from the Beacon Hill light rail station. The only negative thing we can find is that they’re closed on Mondays.

For some people, happiness is a bath bomb and a glass of red. For us, it’s a pile of house tacos at Tacos Chukis, where marinated pork gets all mixed up with cheese, grilled pineapple, and avocado salsa. You can keep your tub full of glitter and rosehips. Just give us the Tacos Chukis.

We wish we could walk into any convenience store and come out with a cob of Mexican street corn. La Tienda Mexicana El Oaxaque is a tiny bodega with hand-painted signs and a big rainbow umbrella that sells mostly groceries and dried grasshoppers, but they have a cart in the front where you can order elotes on a stick or in a cup. It’s $3, incredibly satisfying, and goes perfectly with a few slices of fresh mango topped with chile, which you can also get here.

Have you ever been so deep in thought during a work meeting that your superiors praise such dedicated engagement, but it's really the chile rellenos burrito from Cafetal Quilombo on the brain? Same. The burrito in question from this Beacon Hill cafe has an ideal marriage of tender charred pepper, gooey queso, and fried-then-softened egg batter that just works when wrapped into a tortilla with rice and beans. Don't miss their breakfast burritos or iced horchata lattes, either.

The takeout operation in here is really fast, but we prefer sitting down at Nikos at a table with a covering that looks like fine blue china. They make some excellent avgolemono (chicken and rice stew), and it’s even better with a squeeze of lemon. We like to order it alongside a lamb gyro stuffed with tzatziki and feta.

We found a potsticker filling so juicy and perfect that it doesn’t even need a dunk in soy sauce. You can find them at Dim Sum House, a small white-tablecloth Chinese restaurant with a ton of options from wontons to stir fry. Not everything’s a hit here, so make sure the aforementioned potstickers make an appearance at your table as well as the delicious siu mai.