The Best Things Eater Seattle's Editor Ate in May

Eater

02-06-2025

At Eater Seattle, we have to eat out a lot — it's right there in the website name, next to 'Seattle.' Sometimes, this research shows up in the articles and maps we publish, but sometimes, we eat something so good that we have to tell everyone about it. This running monthly column is a place for us to share especially good dishes with you. Find April's edition here . Peanut butter shoyu icebox pie at the Wayland Mill
The Wayland Mill is a new cafe and restaurant from Yasuaki Saito, who owns or co-owns Saint Bread, Post Alley Pizza, and Tivoli. So naturally, there's a lot of hype around the place, even though it's still in soft-open mode and serving just breakfast and baked goods. The peanut butter pie is already a standout — it's reminiscent of an upscale version of a Reese's-based pie you might find at Chili's. There are peanut butter and chocolate notes, but the pie filling manages to stay light and fluffy, with a sesame-chocolate crust providing a bit of heft. I'm not usually a fan of roasted nuts, but the ones that top the whipped cream are gently roasted and caramel-coated, yet not too sweet. Bicerin at Ancient Gate
There are a lot of coffee places in the University District but precious few serving good coffee. Ancient Gate, on the Ave, is the exception that proves the rule —it serves high-quality single-origin beans, and its small menu of speciality drinks is consistently interesting. Case in point is this bicerin, an Italian drink that combines hot chocolate with espresso. Richer, darker, and creamier than your garden-variety mocha, it also has an intriguing edge of bitterness from the combination of the dark chocolate and the espresso. It's a chocolate drink for adults. Pastel de nata at Nata Seattle
A while back I wrote a story about egg tarts, which can be found all over Seattle in Chinese bakeries and restaurants; the pastry originated in Portugal before spreading to Hong Kong and Macau during the colonial era. Not long after I wrote that story, a Portuguese baker named Ricardo Fernandes reached out to me to say that he had started a egg tart speciality bakery called Nata that was operating out of a commissary kitchen in West Seattle. Now he's selling them at farmers markets, and you should make a plan to get a half-dozen. These are killer egg tarts — a flaky but still chewy crust that cradles a cinnamon-scented custard. It's so light and airy you'll have eaten two before you realize what's happening. Nata does rotating special flavors (including pandan and pear blue cheese), but the 'original' is what you should get to start. Firefly squid at LTD Edition Sushi
When you eat a 20-or-so-course omakase meal often the individual dishes go by in a blur. But these tiny little fellas, from the spring menu at Capitol Hill's LTD Edition Sushi, stick in your mind. That's largely because of the texture — the tentacles are intriguing crunchy, but the head (body? whatever) is creamy and smooth, almost eggy, thanks to the squid's liver. A big draw at LTD is delicacies like firefly squid (or sea snails, or baby eels, or monkfish liver, all part of the meal when I ate here) served without pretension, though not without flair. These squids might be off the June menu, but they'll surely get swapped out for something just as intriguing.
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