Seattle Restaurants/Ethical Sourcing

We can’t cook every night, nor do we want to. Seattle and surrounding areas have such a wealth of wonderful restaurants that we can’t help but want to eat out once in a while. When we do eat out, however, we want to know that the restaurants we patronize are serving meat and seafood that we can feel good about eating.

We’re compiling a list of Seattle area restaurants that source their meat from ethical sources and choose sustainable seafood. This is by no means a compete list, so if your favorite restaurant is not on the list, do not assume they source badly. They might not be on the list because we haven’t contacted them yet, or because whether they source ethically or not, they asked not to be listed on our website, or because they chose not to confirm or deny the type of meat they use. We will be updating this list regularly as we obtain more information. The seafood column is a little light on information because when we started this list, we weren’t asking about seafood. However it seemed like a natural extension, so we are working on obtaining all of that information as well.

Defining ethical sources can be tricky. I’d love to say that all of these restaurants use only grass fed beef, truly pastured pork and chickens, and eggs from chickens that spend their time outside, in an egg-mobile. Unfortunately, the ethical/sustainable debate isn’t that simple. So, what I’ve done is include ranch information whenever possible. Take Painted Hills and Oregon Country beef, for example. Both are larger operations, and they aren’t strictly grass-fed. But they are hormone and antibiotic free, and that fact requires that their cows, while fed grain after a certain age, and while moved from pure pasture to another facility/lot, aren’t kept in the horrid conditions of your run of the mill CAFO. My minimums for meat that I will consume at a restaurant is that it is hormone and antibiotic free.

Also, please note that this list does not cover vegetarian restaurants since by definition, they serve no meat.

If you’ve contacted any of your local restaurants, or you’re a local restaurant owner or chef and would like us to know that you source ethically, please email us and we will add you to our list.

We’re working on separate lists for Western Washington, Eastern Washington, and Portland. If you have recommendations for restaurants that are outside of Seattle that meet these ethical and sustainable sourcing guidelines, please email us!

Restaurant	Meat	Seafood	Notes
50 North	All	All	They use local ingredients, including Taylor Shellfish, Painted Hills, and Bluebird Grain farms.
Baguette Box	All		Baguette Box is part of the Monsoon family.
Bizzaro Cafe	All		Much of their produce is local/within 100 miles. Check their menu for details.
Blackboard Bistro	All	All	Blackboard Bistro sources from local sources when possible, and ethical sources other times. Their meat is hormone and antibiotic free. They use Thundering Hooves beef in their sliders.
The Blue Glass	See menu	See menu	The Blue Glass sources their sausage and bacon from Maple Rock Farms. Their eggs are labeled "free range", and all of their meats are hormone and antibiotic free.
Blue Moon Burgers	All	All	Blue Moon Burgers uses Thundering Hooves beef. Their pork and chicken is also non-CAFO. Salmon burgers are from wild salmon.
BOKA Restaurant and Bar	All		BOKA is making the transition to organic certification.
Caprice Kitchen	All	All	Chef Anne-Catherine shops the farmers markets for her supplies.
Charlie's Buns and Stuff	Beef	n/a	Charlie's sources their meat from a local distributor of sustainable meats.
Coastal Kitchen	Most		Check the menu and ask your server for details.
The Counter Burger	Beef		The counter uses hormone-free and antibiotic-free beef raised with ethical practices. We are still confirming their other meats.
Delancey	All	All	Brandon and Molly shop the farmers markets and cook seasonably.
Duke's Chowder House	All	All
Eats Cafe (West Seattle)	Beef and Pork		We are verifying if their other meats are CAFO free as well.
Emmer and Rye	All	All	Emmer and Rye sources from local farms for their meat, seafood, and vegetables. You can often find Chef Caswell at the farmers markets on the weekends.
Frank's Oyster House	Natural meats (in particular the chicken)	All	Frank's serves sustainable seafood and natural meats. They also use organic produce when they can. Ask about individual meat items on their menu as sources may vary.
Golden Beetle	All	All	Golden Beetle is certified organic by Oregon Tilth. They use local farms and foragers for their ingredients.
Grand Central Bakery	Meats and Eggs		Grand Central Bakery and Cafes sources our meat and eggs from a variety of sources including Oregon Country beef, Draper Valley, and Thundering Hooves.
Harborside Restaurant	All	All	Harborside adheres to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch List for all of their seafood. All of their meat is naturally raised (hormone and antibiotic free) and much of it is also certified organic and local. Ask your server for details or check the menu for ranch information.
Herbfarm	All	All	Much of their food is from their own farm.
Hitchcock Restaurant	All	All	Their philosophy is: "real food, procured from people we know, prepared lovingly."
Homegrown Sandwiches	All	All	Check their chalkboard for specifics. They update it regularly.
Jolly Roger Tap Room	Some	Some - check the menu or ask your server.	They source ethically for some of their meat and seafood. Check your menu and ask your server for details.
La Boucherie	All	All	They source their restaurant from their farm and farmers markets.
Local360	All	All	From their website: "We believe in sustainability, not as an abstract concept, but as a conscious daily choice."
Mashiko's		All	Mashiko is Seattle's first completely sustainable sushi restaurant!
Monsoon and Monsoon East	All
Naked City Brewing	All	All	Naked City strives to use local, organic, and sustainable ingredients whenever possible. Their menu lists either the source or the quality (natural, hormone and antibiotic free, free range, etc) of their meats and seafoods.
Naos	All	All	Naos uses local and organic meats and produce.
Portage Bay Cafe	All	All
Publican	Most if not all	None currently on menu	Publican strives to use local, seasonal, and sustainable ingredients. Their beef is NW sourced and pasture raised. The chicken is free range.
Rain City Burgers	Beef		Rain City Burgers uses Painted Hills Natural Beef for their burgers.
Ray's Boathouse	Most	Most
RidgebackCafe	All	N/A	Ridgeback Cafe uses all sustainably sourced meats.
Russell's Barn	Most		Ask your server for details. The lamb in particular is fantastic.
Salumi	Pork		We're waiting on confirmation of their other meats, though confidence is high.
Sand Point Grill	Most	All	Sand Point Grill offers local and sustainable ingredients. While not every meat source is listed on their menu, they use Long Valley Ranch grass fed beef for their burger. Ask your server for additional details.
Sitka and Spruce	Many	All	Sitka and Spruce offers local and sustainable sourcing and a seasonal menu.
Skillet Street Food	All	All	Most everything from Skillet will be CAFO free and sustainable.
Sky City/Space Needle	Beef, chicken, pork, eggs all hormone and antibiotic free. Also serve Jidori chicken.	All	Mushrooms from WA, OR, BC. Emmer from Bluebird Grain, hazelnuts and hazelnut oil from Holmquist. Uses seasonal produce whenever possible.
Smokin' Pete's BBQ	Beef, chicken, pork		Their hot links are Hempler's. Hempler uses CAFO free beef, but they don't list their pork source.
Spring Hill	All	All
Stumbling Goat Bistro	All		New owners have maintained commitment to local and sustainable.
Taste at SAM	All	All	Taste cooks seasonably, often sourcing from farmers markets.
Tidbit Bistro	Most	Most	Their cured meats come from Italy and they cannot guarantee they are non-CAFO. However, it is very likely they are. Their fish is all bought locally, but we have not yet verified sustainability.
Tilth	All	All	Tilth is organic and sustainable across the board.
Urbane	Most	Most	Urbane sources the majority of their menu items from within 200 miles of their restaurant. While the specific farms change often, their menu reflects many of the farms. Ask you server for more information about specific meats and seafoods.
Verve Wine Bar	Beef, pork, and chicken is hormone and antibiotic free, west coast based.	All	Verve buys their shellfish from Taylor Shellfish and the rest of their fish is wild-caught Alaskan seafood.
Where Ya At Matt?	Beef		Where Ya At Matt uses Painted Hills beef.

Our dream is that someday every restaurant who opts to be on this list will put a page on their own site stating their adherence to serving only (or mostly) ethically raised/caught meats and fish which we could then link to. If enough restaurants are willing to express interest, we are more than happy to start crafting a pledge to share.

Our list of restaurants for Western Washington includes the San Juan Islands.