Crush, Seattle

How It Works: The dinner menu is made up of “tastes,” and Crush recommends each diner order four to seven items.

Sample Tastes

• Mint—peas, green apple, chawanmushi, dungeness crab, bacon
• Beets—bone broth, bacon, wild Sitka Alaska king salmon, horseradish, asparagus
• Maize—popcorn, grits, Ibérico pork loin, foie gras, peach, basil
• Kasusake—kimchi, maitake mushrooms, Snake River Farms wagyu beef, bok choy, consommé

A More Curated Dining Experience: Many diners opt for the chef’s tasting menu, which includes approximately 12 courses with optional sommelier-selected wine pairings.

Who’s in the Kitchen? Chef Jason Wilson

• Education: Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts
• Résumé: worked at Flying Saucer and Aqua in San Francisco before cooking and traveling in Southeast Asia and learning pastry techniques in Paris
• He and his wife opened Crush in 2005
• Won the James Beard Foundation award for Best Chef: Northwest in 2010

Inside Tip: Peruse the 17-page wine, beer, and spirits list. Thirteen of those pages are dedicated solely to wines.

If You Can’t Make It, Try This: Chef Wilson’s latest venture, Miller’s Guild (612 Stewart Street). Located in Hotel Max, the restaurant serves up brunch, dinner, and craft cocktails in a rustic environment, complete with a 9-foot-long wood-fired grill in the center of the room.