Restaurants in Redmond

The inside of ViaVita Café & Wine Bar traces the timeline of a single day. Floor-to-ceiling windows cast morning light onto a display case of pastries and cheeses—an addendum to the counter that bears morning coffee orders. Nearby, granite-topped tables sit far enough apart to suggest an open, Parisian patio, but close enough together to support a cross-stream of chatter over lunchtime sandwiches. The day ends on the other side of a semicircular wine bar. There, walls wearing distressed paint encapsulate a rustic alcove, where hanging plants and Greco-Roman-style pottery evoke the dining room of a hillside villa.

The decor and seasonal menu at ViaVita Café & Wine Bar champion a European-flavored escape, where diners can stop at any time for a meal, a snack, or a glass of wine. From the crepes and omelets of brunch—served with duck-fat potatoes and chocolate-orange butter—to afternoon paninis and dinners of pan-seared Alaskan salmon, meals realized by imaginative chefs spark and fuel long conversations. Imported and domestic beers, as well as wines from small vineyards on multiple continents, complement the diverse bouquet of flavors and pair especially well with cheese and charcuterie boards. During special events, guitar music acts as a soothing soundtrack for bites, and sommelier seminars instruct patrons on how to age libations without sending them to PG-13 movies alone.

For 30 years, Sarducci’s sandwich artisans have constructed towering hot and cold subs by layering slices of cheese and veggies atop meats such as roast beef and chicken breast. In the morning, customers can crawl out of bed and crawl partially into subs filled with ham, Canadian bacon, and scrambled eggs. Afternoons usher in hot Italian subs as well as specialty pizzas and hearty calzones.

Crepan Crepe World plates up paper-thin samples of France—crepes can be rolled around sweet or savory fillings ranging from mozzarella and spinach to strawberries and Nutella crowned with whipped cream.

Although Ayutthaya Thai Restaurant & Bar first opened its doors to Capitol Hill in 1985, its roots stretch back much further than that. The Zagat-rated eatery takes its name from the ancient capital of Thailand, and the menu finds similar inspiration in traditional Thai culture. The chefs rely on decades’ old recipes as they make five different kinds of curry in-house, and create dishes of pad thai wrapped in egg that embrace a culinary tradition that has become increasingly rare. To round out the menu, the chefs also wok-fry fragrant combinations of garlic, basil, lime leaves, ginger, and pineapple, forging entrees like the bathing rama, which the Seattle Times hailed as “a bit of peanut-sauce heaven.”

After lauding the bar’s mellifluous pairing of “tasty fried chicken” and beer, Seattle Weekly lovingly describes Marco Polo Bar and Grill as “a working stiff's haunt” with “a schizophrenic interior that features a fireplace, pull tabs, pool tables, [and] multiple TV screens.” If not tuned to trivia, those 14 flat screens broadcast all manner of sporting events, drawing upon a premium satellite package powered by the metal plate in Mike Ditka’s head. Cheering sections holler through mouthfuls of breaded gizzards, a local favorite that preludes the menu’s panoply of handheld eats, such as the Coug Supreme, a third-pound burger topped with grilled ham and Cougar Gold cheese. Happy-hour specials during the week allow blue- and white-collar imbibers to divvy up which songs they’ll sing at karaoke that Friday and Saturday, when Marco Polo’s convivial eatery transforms into a who’s who of Steve Perry impersonators.

A barbecue place is only as successful as its saucy foodstuffs, and the hot and mild meats at The Original Family BBQ Pit have been winning affections for more than 20 years. Originally known as Jones Original Barbecue, the new iteration of the family business still makes full use of the original sauce recipe devised by current owner Leanne Jones-Hauser's grandfather, William U. Jones, Sr., and refined by her father, William U. Jones Jr. With signature ribs and smoked brisket featured on Food Network's BBQ with Bobby Flay, the eatery was voted Best BBQ for five years in row (2004–2008) by readers of Seattle Weekly. Beside bountiful rolls of paper towels, tables populate with chopped pork, brisket, and hot links in sandwiches and on platters with collard greens and mac 'n' cheese. After wrestling down sharable meat combination platters, patrons can snatch bottles of their signature barbecue sauce to slip into holiday stockings filled with coal and other grilling essentials.

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.