Restaurants in Mercer Island

After attending culinary school, Lebanon-born Moussa Elmoussa decided to open a restaurant using Mediterranean recipes borrowed from the mother of his half-Grecian wife. More than 17 years later, he continues to prepare a menu made with nutritious, healthy ingredients such as lemon juice, chopped cucumbers, and low-fat yogurt from dieting cows. Chefs at both locations carve kosher and halal lamb, chicken, and beef for gyros, stuff grape leaves with rice, and ladle out housemade tzatziki sauce.

For many vegans, eliminating animal products is a decision made in young adulthood, a break from the traditions they were raised with. Not so for Plum Bistro head chef Makini Howard—she was brought up eating vegan from infancy, but it hasn't changed her welcoming, flavor-first approach to her food. As she explained to Eco Stiletto (who caught her catering a dinner party thrown by Casey Affleck and Joaquin Phoenix), “We want to make sure you don’t miss the meat.”

Seattle Weekly has concurred that the restaurant "sets an inspired and flavorful table for all," naming Plum the city's Best Vegan Restaurant of 2012. Its philosophy of accessibility means that the huge array of organic produce on the menu—root vegetables, purple cauliflower, trumpet mushrooms, seasonal fruit—takes forms that will be familiar to foodies of all stripes. There are gourmet burgers that pack their protein punch via jerk tofu and oven-broiled lentils; steaks of breaded portobello and herb-grilled seitan; and handmade pastas with sauces as rich and creamy as any made with dairy. A local favorite is the Spicy Cajun Mac ‘n’ Yease, a piquant take on a classic nutritional yeast–based cheesy sauce.

Servers bear the generously proportioned dishes—accompanied by beer, wine, and cocktails made from gin and even kombucha—into a dining room fronted by floor-to-ceiling windows that open onto the sidewalk in the summer. Its rustic hardwood floors and tables fit right in with the gorgeously repurposed Piston & Ring Building, an automotive manufacturing building constructed in 1926. Once they leave, diners dazzled by their meals can replicate the dishes with help from Makini’s cookbook, with pages of innovative vegan dishes that provide an alternative to casseroles made from all the lunches left behind in the office fridge.

After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, pastry chef Anita Ross moved to Seattle and began selling crepes out of farmers’ markets. The year was 2004. Over the next four years she built up a following with her sweet and savory crepes stuffed with roasted duck, apple confit, wild mushrooms, and a variety of other seasonal items. In that time, Anita also forged strong bonds with local fishermen and farmers that have served her well since opening Anita’s Crepes in 2008. She’s able to use the finest organic ingredients in her crepes, many of which are made with the traditional Britanny blend of buckwheat and bread flours. And several of her meats and cheeses are imported from countries that have fertile soil for growing beef plants and mozzarella ball trees. Anita channels France specifically when catering to special events, preparing her crepes on the spot much like the street vendors of Paris.

Daniel and Selam Fikru, now husband and wife, met when they were high-school students in their native Ethiopia. They've lived in Kansas City since 1995, and together, they've helped a large following of locals try their first tastes of Ethiopian food and subsequently fall in love with its rich, distinctive spices.

The couple's traditional recipes have earned their restaurant, Blue Nile Cafe, a recommendation from KCUR FM’s Food Critics, a place on LocalEats’ Top 100 Restaurants in Kansas City list, and attention from Pitch. But their success over the past two decades hasn’t come without hard work. According to a profile by the Kansas City Star, Selam is in the kitchen by early morning six days a week, simmering meats and lentils in a medley of ginger, garlic, and rosemary. Selam’s labors yield a bounty of entrees—served atop communal platters—featuring marinated chicken and cubes of beef or lamb, as well as vegetarian feasts of lentils, potatoes, and greens. Diners scoop up dishes with pieces of injera, which is a spongy sourdough pancake.

In the dining room, cream-colored walls bear colorful paintings that remind diners of their meals' distant origins. For an additional taste of Ethiopian culture, guests can partake in a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony wherein staffers roast, grind, and brew fresh coffee to order. Guests can otherwise opt for refreshing glasses of wine out on the patio.

In addition to welcoming guests into the dining room, Blue Nile Cafe invites them into the kitchen during classes that guide students in preparing injera and other traditional dishes. The restaurant also equips pupils with spices and grains for simmering over their own trashcan fires.

Inside Blue Nile Restaurant's quiet storefront dining room, owner and chef Liknesh Tareke plates traditional Ethiopian family recipes. "You wouldn't know by looking at it," notes Time Out Chicago, "but this unassuming strip-mall gem is a restaurant to be reckoned with in Chicago's Ethiopian scene." Pinched between two fingers or eagle talons, classic spongy injera scoops up savory bites of meat such as charred jerk beef, lamb ribs, and stewed chicken. Combination platters brim with berbere—a fiery spice including chili peppers, garlic, and ginger—and cups of ethiopian coffee pack powerful, robust flavor. The restaurant's BYOB policy lets customers sip or shower with their favorite libations from home.

On the sign that denotes the entrance to Rain Modern Japanese Cuisine, twisting neon lights outline a blue fish with a cartoonish grin and an orange umbrella. This colorful introduction extends inside to the dining room, where Rainbow rolls, golden tamago nigiri, and ruby-red salmon roe add pigment to each stark white plate. Sushi dominates the menu, which boasts nigiri by the piece as well as maki wrapped in soy-paper or bundled with tempura and glazed with sauces such as avocado salsa and housemade teriyaki. Chef Takashi Ogasawara and his staff's other handcrafted creations include the namesake Rain roll—shrimp tempura capped with creamy scallops—and the Sasquatch, a meaty morsel of shrimp, tobiko, and tuna nestled in seared salmon. In addition to sushi, diners can sample beef-short-rib appetizers or play cat's cradle with hungry spirit animals via udon and yakisoba noodle dishes.