With a new location in Laurelhurst, Backyard is baking the same bagels you know and love, with bounce and crackle, fluffy schmears, and a pristine distribution of seeds and dehydrated alliums. With a covered parking garage and more seating than version 1.0 in Fremont, the situational possibilities are vast. Before shopping at University Village? Answering emails while clutching a fresh jalapeño-cheddar with the other? Catching up with a friend over a lox sandwich? It’s all yours for the taking.

The owners of this Eastlake sandwich shop used to helm Lyon’s Grocery, which tells you the kind of handheld repertoire we’re dealing with here. Italian subs double down on ham, along with a subtle acid jolt from pepperoncinis and a splash of red wine vinegar. Gooey breakfast sandwiches (smashed between bagels supplied from Backyard) could fuel us for the entire week. And toasty turkey-bacon numbers moistened with warm ranch and pepperjack are just as satisfying as they are rich.

We knew that this fancy restaurant inside Woodinville’s Somm Hotel was special after the first tear of hearth-baked bread. That feeling was affirmed upon discovery of Bin 47’s creste di gallo with sweet corn cream, Dungeness crab, and white chocolate. Yes, it sounds like an evil Chopped basket, but damn, that pasta’s the best thing here. With a massive, marble-y space, kind service, and plenty of reservation availability, this place has the potential to become a real Woodinville destination.

Fishermen’s Terminal was overdue for some excitement, and Pidgin Cooperative delivers. Once a farmers market stall, it now has a permanent home in Interbay. The menu touches on various Asian cuisines in the form of buttery rockfish fish and chips with a tempura-style batter served with Sichuan tartar sauce, or chili crisp noodles that have a well-rounded richness from peanuts. The space is perfect for setting up a laptop, grabbing lunch by the windows, or posting up at the bar.

A.K. in Othello serves the best pizza in Seattle, full stop. The crust gives credence to their “Welcome To The Dough Show” sign above the counter—it’s got a dry charred crunch, but the way it rips unearths cotton candy-like fluff with just a light chew. Toppings are just as stellar, like smoky scamorza and sweet vodka sauce deepened by caramelized sofrito, or you can go with a simple-but-effective plain pie. Keep an eye on their website for preorder timeslots.

This Ballard restaurant has phenomenal waterfront views where you can see Bond villain-like mansions along the shoreline and sea lions brawling with seagulls over salmon. But don’t let that distract you from the tasty seafood boil. Steaming bags of buttery, spicy shellfish get dumped across the table, best eaten in a punchy mala sauce. Between the giant lobster statues, robots delivering food with a flirty electronic wink, and epic scenery, Happy Crab has enough fun to spare.

This cerulean-accented Phinney Ridge spot is our new go-to for a casual lunch that doesn’t feel so casual. Like the name suggests, the Southern Thai-leaning menu has touches of Malaysian and Indonesian influence, and the result is highly comforting stuff. Braised lamb in coconut-spiked massaman curry contains the tenderness of pot roast, especially sopped with buttery roti. Crisp karee puffs stuffed with potato and peas are the perfect snack with a lemon-squeezed thai iced tea.

The newest member of Seattle’s Italian Focaccia Sandwich Coalition could very well be the best. At this excellent Phinney Ridge counter, the crisp schiaccata-bound packages are dopplegangers of ones you might find in Florence, and the to-the-point toppings succeed with flying colors. Those include porchetta funked up by truffle gorgonzola, prosciutto with calabrian chili relish and a sharp pecorino spread, or humble mortadella with pistachio and stracciatella. Prepare for lines.

This new Green Lake spot just joined the exclusive club of great Seattle restaurants with Southern influences. You can’t go wrong with the half chicken slathered in a lemony Alabama white sauce that gets into every nook of the smoky skin. And standout sides include soupy rosemary white beans and cornbread fritters with fresh kernels that pop out of crispy fried sides like protons on an atom. The small space makes Zax’s more ideal for takeout.

This Queen Anne counter serves some of the cheapest slices around. They happen to be great, too, with abundant semolina-dusted crunch, bruleed cheese, and the optional-but-not-really-optional-at-all addition of burrata, torn basil, and glugs of good olive oil. Sandwiches on homemade ciabatta are available, too, with the spicy tapenade-dominated Italian-ish as a standout. There's not much to the space, but for a neighborhood with slim pizza pickings, Swing’s an asset.

The British outpost of Beast & Cleaver on Ballard’s main drag appears to be a garden variety pub—but it's much more than that. Little Beast's butchery roots come through by way of a spicy lamb korma pie drenched in gravy that looks like melted coffee ice cream and tastes like Sunday night. Or a zippy currywurst sausage roll, perfect with a pimm’s cup. Or arguably the greatest pork chop of late. Between the presence of scotched eggs, a soundtrack of sing-along rock clas

Focaccia sandwiches are everywhere in the city, but Hushy’s is an outlier among the noise. This breezy all-day cafe nails the classics, like a predictable-yet-effective combination of mortadella, pistachios, and burrata. But our brainwaves really can’t stop fixating on the Milanese. It’s arranged with slivers of fatty-melty fried pork moistened by a kimchi slaw that cuts all the grease.

The flour wizards at Temple Pastries now serve a pizza-and-wine dinner service, and, surprising absolutely nobody, it’s all very good. Pies are Roman-style rectangles that provide ample crunch, with pockets of airiness here and there. You’ll find topping combinations like mortadella with bright pesto and straciatella, or Seattle’s finest vodka sauce with globs of stretchy mozzarella.

From the team behind popular bakery Saint Bread comes The Wayland Mill, an airy all-day cafe in Northlake specializing in the art of Japanese breakfast. That means springy tamago omelettes, deep-dark miso soup, and a sesame-slicked pea shoot salad we’d destroy by the bucketful. But you’re really here for pie. It’s a tough decision between the shoyu-salted peanut butter icebox, or a key lime stand-in featuring sudachi custard—both are already contenders for the city’s finest slices.