Get FREE email communications from Fodor's Travel, covering must-see travel destinations, expert trip planning advice, and travel inspiration to fuel your passion.
This region has a good range of dining options, from American pub fare to fine dining, and many incorporate locally grown and produced ingredients, including organic produce, beef, chicken, eggs, and artisanal breads and cheeses. Around the region, there are low-key, affordable, and unpretentious eateries—coffee shops, bakeries, brewpubs, diners, and restaurants.
Wenatchee is the largest city in the North Cascades and features the most variety when it comes to dining. It’s home to the most ethnically diverse cuisine in the region, including several Mexican restaurants as well as Italian, Thai, Japanese, Chinese, and others. The self-proclaimed "Apple Capital of Washington," this is the place to try to the fruit in a variety of forms, sweet and savory.
Bavarian-themed Leavenworth offers a number of restaurants specializing in traditional German fare as well as Southern barbecue and American pub fare. Wine enthusiasts might want to make a stop in the Lake Chelan region, home to some two-dozen wineries. Craft-beer lovers won’t want to miss the riverfront breweries in both Winthrop and Twisp.
Tucked beside the popular Glover Street Market, this bakery is justly renowned for both savory and sweet treats, including—most famously—cinnamon "twisps" (the bakery's own decadent version of cinnamon rolls). Note that they often sell out by late morning, so arrive early if you want to get one. There are also smoothies, milk shakes, and build-your-own sandwiches.
Serious coffee aficionados and casual sippers all stop by this venerable roaster and café a mile southeast of Twisp. Blue Star produces a number of fine roasts and blends, which you can sample in a spacious new building that opened in 2021. The space gives customers a view of the coffee roasting action through wide windows. Decadent pastries and baked goods complement the coffee, and you can shop for coffee-making equipment to up your coffee game at home.
The flagship location of this outstanding local roaster is in the trendy Wine Cellar building, and it doubles as a cute mercantile stocked with artisan chocolates, local maple syrup, and other goodies. There's no seating, but it's a perfect spot to pick up an expertly crafted espresso drink for your stroll around town. There's a second location by Front Street Park.
Downtown Wenatchee's go-to for cappuccinos, lattes, and other finely crafted espresso drinks is a large, inviting space with brick walls and plenty of seating. The kitchen also serves tasty light breakfast fare—bagel sandwiches, parfaits, wraps, and breakfast burritos—and wrap sandwiches and salads at lunch time.
Sign up for Travel Tips & News
Thank you for your interest!
