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Port Townsend reigns as the foodie capital of the Olympic Peninsula, where Pacific Northwest coastal cuisine prevails. For a small town, it features an impressive collection of casual yet upscale dining options, some with sweeping bay views. Influences include Mediterranean, Latin, and Southern American cooking. Many restaurants and pubs offer straight-from-the-farm organic herbs and vegetables as well as locally crafted artisanal breads and cheeses and, of course, shellfish and salmon from local waters.
The entire Olympic Culinary Loop—from Port Townsend, Sequim, Port Angeles, and Forks to the Long Beach Peninsula(www.olympicculinaryloop.com)—is best known for its seafood, fresh from local bays and inlets or wild caught in the Pacific Ocean by local fishermen. Many restaurants along the route feature fish-and-chips, chowders, oyster or salmon burgers, crab cakes, cioppino, clams, and mussels. The peninsula also offers many family-friendly and down-home eateries, from hearty burger and breakfast joints to authentic Thai, Japanese, and Mexican restaurants.
In an uncluttered, light-filled storefront space in Uptown, this hip neighborhood bistro opened by a husband-wife team with experience at some of New York City's and Seattle's top restaurants turns out some of the most flavorful locavore-driven cuisine on the peninsula. You might start with sunchoke soup with chives and truffle oil, before graduating to rabbit lasagna with sofrito and mustard greens, or seared scallops with romesco, cauliflower, and Meyer lemon.
Set inside a whimsically decorated 1905 railroad station with plenty of vintage train memorabilia and historic photos, this romantic yet unpretentious bistro serves up sophisticated Northwestern fare with international influences. Sustainably sourced seafood figures in a number of dishes, from wild-caught calamari tossed with a Thai-style cilantro peanut sauce to razor clams sautéed in garlic and white wine and served with bucatini pasta. You'll also find some hearty grills on the "land food" section of the menu.
Most of the seats in this third-floor restaurant at the Adrift Hotel offer panoramic views of the dunes and the ocean beyond, making this a popular—though sometimes a bit crowded—place for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in summer and on weekends. It's worth persevering for a reservation, though, as the creative renditions of classic beach fare are consistently excellent, from roasted mushroom-and-chèvre crepes and sticky salted-caramel buns in the morning to roasted half chicken with smoked-honey jus and charred-broccoli pizzas with roasted squash and smoked provolone later in the day.
