Restaurants in Silver Firs

Owner Mike Salimi mans the counter at Nova Restaurant most days, opening and closing the cash-register drawer and handing over pizzas, homestyle burgers, sandwiches, and seafood to hungry customers. He has finely tuned his pizza recipe throughout the past 20 years, using trial and error to arrive at his current series of steps: hand-making pizza dough, homemade sauce, and toppings that are purchased each day. He also whips together an array of seafood dishes, including oysters, prawns, and Irish-style fish 'n' chips made with halibut or cod and coated in a specialty batter. He hangs colorful abstract paintings on the eatery's yellow walls, which is the closest humankind will ever get to decorating the sun.

Specializing in bombastic American fare, Chef Chris Nelson curates a menu of mouthwatering sandwiches, burgers, steaks, and salads. A bar remedies mouth droughts with a rotating selection of 12 draft beers, and big-screen televisions broadcast sports while the pool table extends hospitality to colorful balls.

Crafted to complement a selection of wines hailing from Washington and beyond, Village Wine Bar and Bistro's menu brims with gourmet appetizers and entrees made every morning with a retinue of fresh ingredients. While chefs ensconce baked salmon in a parmesan crust or slice up portions of turkey breast, havarti cheese, and avocado for the layered Wine Country club, smaller plates take on arrangements of toasty bruschetta or seasonal gems of fruit and cheese. Meanwhile, guests swirl local wines as they nestle into antique love seats in the warmth of the parlor’s fireplace, listening to a pianist tickle the ivories until they confess where they left the wine list.

The Scarlet Tree teems with energy. A live rhythm and blues band jams on the raised stage in the evenings, invigorating a crowd that noshes on eclectic small plates and sips local craft beers streaming from 12 taps. It took owner Pete Kolytiris four years to rebuild The Scarlet Tree to this former glory following a fire at the original site in 2005, and since then, Pete has revived the lounge—originally opened more than 50 years ago—filling it with live music, smooth cocktails, and reliable food.

Pete upholds The Scarlet Tree’s time-honored and ever-popular brunch menu by slinging staples such as eggs benedict and cubed house potatoes, along with freshly baked scones and corned beef hash. As the sun begins to sink, servers swap out eggs for ahi tacos and signature burgers topped with truffle pesto. DJs and live musicians drive the nightly line up, supplying soul, jazz, and even karaoke hits as patrons settle in for a night of drinks and relaxed entertainment.

Harissa Mediterranean Cuisine takes its name from a mountainside village in Lebanon that attracts visitors every year with a 15-ton bronze statue of Our Lady of Lebanon. Chef Walid Alabtan seeks to make his restaurant a destination as well, attracting diners with a hearty spread of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine and steadily gaining their loyalty. In her 2010 feature of the restaurant in the Seattle Times, Nancy Leson claimed, "If I lived in Ravenna, I'd add Harissa … to my list of neighborhood go-to joints."

The chefs grill skewers of lamb, chicken, and salmon over open flames, and they ladle helpings of seasonal vegetables and seafood into the kitchen's percolating stew pots. To counteract the menu's overwhelmingly hearty and savory cuisine, they also make baklava by hand and whisk herbs into yogurt and housemade cream cheese to serve them as refreshing appetizers. The dining room creates a slightly refined ambiance with crisp white tablecloths, gentle track lighting, and framed artwork along the soft-yellow and orange walls. Live belly dancing and jazz bands perform on select nights, entertaining diners even more than a jigsaw puzzle that reveals their inheritance.

Ensconced in a building dating back to the 1920s, Alexa’s Café & Catering’s dining room is flanked by brick walls and wainscoting, and is filled with pine furniture where guests cozy up to platters of guilt-free comfort fare for breakfast and lunch. The café’s hearty portions come compliments of owner Leigh Henderson’s deep-rooted love of feeding people, which is also the catalyst for the café’s ever-evolving menu. One visit might delight diners with lemon-poppy-seed buttermilk cakes; the next, a selection of 10 breakfast scramblers; and the visit after that, a chicken-curry croissant packed with grapes, almonds, and curry mayo. In the evenings, Alexa's pairs heartier fare such as burgers with wines and tap beers from local breweries such as Mac & Jack's. Alexa’s also totes its fresh fare to special events, from business luncheons to Batman-themed bat mitzvahs.