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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.
Located on the edge of a pear orchard in Cashmere, this family-owned bakeshop has an unusual and appealing industrial–vintage-farmhouse feel. It offers up some of the region's best breads and pastries, from bread pudding to almond meringue cookies to lemon cheesecake. Enjoy an espresso or European-style sandwich (baguette, butter, cured meats, cheeses) at a picnic table indoors or on the sunny patio anchored by a modern, concrete water feature and lots of lavender.
With a festive sidewalk seating area and a rustic timber-clad dining room, this trendy spot offers some of the best craft beer in Leavenworth. There are several great IPAs on hand, as well as a rich Maple stout. The menu includes tasty pizzas such as the Hot Mama, topped with thick-cut bacon, Mama Lil's Peppers, aged mozzarella, and arugula.
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.
A sylvan hilltop overlooking the Methow Valley sets the scene for an extraordinary dining experience featuring upscale Pacific Northwest cuisine with local and often organic ingredients, artfully presented and served in an elegant yet unpretentious, wood-filled setting. Highlights include chicken curry soup, mushroom strudel, prime beef tenderloin, and Columbia River steelhead. Desserts vary by the season: apple pie with house-made ice cream is a fall favorite, while pavlova with sugared cranberries is refreshing in winter. Beignets make an appearance on the breakfast menu, along with a tasty BLTA croissant. The 3,500-bottle wine cellar is one of the best and most extensive in the region.
Set in a buttery yellow cottage with a touch of gingerbread trim, this unfussy eatery offers a refreshing break from Leavenworth's Bavaria-on-steroids exuberance. The kitchen presents artfully plated five-course meals (reservations required) of mostly organic, farm-sourced Northwestern fare. The food during these leisurely, two-and-a-half-hour repasts is simply sublime. Covered, heated outdoor dining offers privacy, and indoor dining gives a full view of the kitchen.
A beloved downtown gastropub with rustic brick walls and soaring wood-beam ceilings, McGlinn's serves elevated comfort fare, including cavatappi with chipotle sauce, lamb tzatziki burgers, and wood-fired pizzas with inventive toppings (the blueberry-prosciutto is a favorite). There's an extensive craft-beer list, and desserts are worth saving room for. Hearty breakfasts of beer bread French toast, fried chicken with biscuits and gravy, and scrambles are served weekends.
The cheerful café at this budget-minded downtown inn is open only seasonally, but it's one of the very best spots in the area for lunch and, especially, breakfast. Bagel sandwiches, smashed avocado on desem bread (a mild sourdough bread), a choice of four scrambles, and several kinds of burrito wraps are the perfect sustenance for a day of hiking, boating, or wine touring.
The first thing you're likely to notice upon walking into this festive trattoria is the mammoth wood-fired brick oven, in which personable chef-owner John Bonica prepares such mouthwatering dinner fare as roasted veggies over polenta, blistered-crust pizzas with creative toppings, and wine-braised roast beef. Several excellent pasta dishes are offered, too.
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