Photo courtesy Peter Mumford

Mac and Yease from Sage Cafe:

If you are a vegetarian or vegan, living and working in the greater Seattle area and trying to get through your daily grind without being cruel to any animals, then I'm willing to bet you already know all about Sage Cafe (formerly Hillside Quickie's Cafe, at 324 15th Avenue). I'll bet you know about their crepes, their sandwiches made of various soy-based meat substitutes, their cruelty-free soups and barbecue. For you, Sage is likely already essential in that most basic of ways: If you wanna eat out in a town not exactly overflowing with excellent vegan options, then you have to know about this place.

Any of the Daily Assiette plates from Le Pichet:

The crowds at Le Pichet are crazy. At 2pm. On a friggin' Monday.

On a day and at an hour when many other restaurateurs would be perfectly willing to dance around naked on the street wearing only a sandwich board advertising their daily specials, Le Pichet (which took home this year' Best of Seattle award for Best French Restaurant) is just jamming--moving the customers on and off the miniscule patio and in and out of the small-ish dining room at a breakneck pace.

Elvis Presley Burrito at Mama's Mexican Kitchen:

Oh, I know what you're thinking. How could one burrito be more important than all the other burritos being served in Seattle these days?

Simple. Because the burritos being served at Mama's were some of the first burritos ever served in Seattle.

Twice-Baked Almond Croissant at Bakery Nouveau:

Bakery Nouveau's owners, William and Heather Leaman, have been sugar pushers for more than twenty years. William was captain of the US bread bakers team in 2005 and won the World Cup of Baking that year. They've been running their West Seattle shop for years, and have built up a reputation for being one of Seattle's best. They do cookies and cakes, pain au chocolat, breads and pastries and all sorts of desserts.

None of those are what makes Bakery Nouveau essential.

Photo courtesy Peter Mumford

Moo Dade Deaw from Bai Tong:

I don't know what that guy has on that service tray he's hauling, but I love that picture (mostly for the pants), and in my mind what he's carrying will always be another plate of Bai Tong's moo dade deaw--a dish I will forever associate with Bai Tong, with Seattle, and with my first mind-altering taste of it from the original(ish) location in Tukwila.

Pho tai from the original location of Pho Bac:

From the parking lot of the original Pho Bac--the triangular bunker situated in the weird triangle where Jackson, Boren and Rainier all come together--you can see three different pho shops without straining. Then another Vietnamese restaurant, too. One focusing on things other than the simple joys of soup, well made. Around the corner and just out of sight is a place for teppanyaki. Down the street there is dim sum. One can score bahn mi sandwiches, spring rolls and noodles almost anywhere.

Photo courtesy Peter Mumford

The short rib from Crush:

The menu at Crush changes a lot. With the seasons, with the tides, with the phases of the moon and the product at the markets and the whims of the cooks and chef Jason Wilson. But one thing that's always there? The short rib.

Photo courtesy ifood

The Cuban Roast at Paseo:

Essential does not always mean best. Essential does not always mean favorite. Essential, at least in the context of this blog project, means the things one cannot or should not miss--those single dishes, plates (or sandwiches) for which individual restaurants have become duly and deservedly famous or infamous. And at Paseo, there should be a rule:

Rule #1: You do not talk about Fight Club

Rule #2: If this is your first time visiting Paseo, you have to order the Cuban Roast

The specials at Maneki:

Maneki's regular menu is a huge thing--a conclusive and nearly canonical reckoning of not just classical Japanese cuisine, but of a hundred year's worth of Japanese-American cookery as well. The restaurant itself, in one form or another, has been serving for more than a century. It is, in the very fact of its existence and every plate it serves, history personified. But what can truly make an evening here both memorable and unique to Seattle, the International District and this street alone, are the specials that Maneki posts every night.

Anything (seriously, anything) from Beth's Cafe:

There are restaurants in any city where locals can honestly say, "You haven't seen nothing 'til you've eaten at Blank's." Blank's usually isn't good. Sometimes Blank's is downright frightening. But Blank's is almost always long-lived and looked on with smirking affection, and always always a memorable, defining experience.