Seattle Mag: 7 restaurants that define Seattle dining now
Revel - Fremont
Credit: Seattle Mag / Haley Young
A never-ending crush on fresh Asian flavors. Revel bills itself as a purveyor of Asian comfort food, and reviewers rave about especially indulgent dishes such as the pork belly pancake and the short-rib dumplings. But Joule chefs Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi aren’t satisfied with just merging meaty goodness with irresistible starch (which, of course, they do very well). It’s the more nuanced, layered flavors that will keep you coming back for more, despite the weekend crowds. (Try lunch if you can—same menu, less mayhem.) The pleasures of Revel lay in the worldly reframing of Asian spices and techniques within a modern, casual setting: the handmade seaweed noodles in a bowl of curried crab; the salad with rosy slices of corned lamb draped throughout, the excellent kimchi and pickles that punctuate so many plates; and the fantastic collection of house-made condiments that come with every meal.
File under: Dumpling mania, loud restaurants, open kitchen, swinging second restaurants, affordably chic, sticky fingers, wood-fired barbecue on the terrace
See also: Ba Bar, Green Leaf, Din Tai Fung, Facing East
