Seattle Kitchen recommends: Best take-out

Thierry Rautureau loves Saigon Deli’s many options for hot and cold take-out food. (Photo: Yelp.com)

By Jillian Raftery

From Chinese food to Texas barbecue, Seattle is full of great take-out restaurants, and the Seattle Kitchen Show has collaborated to bring together the city’s best selection.

While most people think of Chinese food as the most common option for take-out, co-host Thierry Rautureau loves the wide variety of Vietnamese.

One of his favorites is Pho Bac for their signature Vietnamese noodle soups.

“In general, it’s [Pho] actually a great easy to-go food. And Saigon Deli across the street, I love their sandwich and get [sic] some food to go from their hot table,” says Thierry.

Katie O also loves Vietnamese take-out and frequents Green Leaf in the International District and Belltown at their downstairs location in the old union hall.

“Specifically, I like getting Bun, which is that vermicelli salad. So it’s already kind of cold anyway, especially during these summer days it’s super nice to have something that has the cold rice noodles, the little pickled vegetables, plus a deep fried spring roll. I like to get the combo one that has shrimp and the pork and the spring roll in it,” says Katie.

One of co-host Tom Douglas’s favorite places for take-out is the Frontier Room, which serves hearty sandwiches, like pulled pork and barbecued beef or salmon, as well as catfish and ribs.

“I think that’s the other thing that I often think about is that a lot of people don’t utilize sit-down restaurants for their take-out,” says Katie.

Paseo in Ballard is another great Caribbean restaurant that’s known for its sit-down experience, but also serves great take-out. It’s known for its unique barbecue recipes that include a marinated pork shoulder and prawns.

The Seattle Kitchen Show staff agrees that, when ordering take-out from a sit-down restaurant, it’s important to think about how well any given dish will taste when it’s transported, cooled, and re-heated at home. For example, on order of pasta would hold up much better than a take-out souffle.

Katie loves the BLT sandwich from Dot’s Delicatessen, which she says travels well because Dot’s uses a rustic toasted bread that keeps sandwiches from getting soggy.

Katie’s Thai food go-to recommendation is Buddha Ruska in West Seattle for their garlic chicken with peanut sauce.

While take-out is common, food delivery seems rare in Seattle, except for pizza. Tom’s two favorite restaurants that deliver are Chinese restaurants on the north end: Fu Man Dumpling House and Chef at Wok, both near Greenwood.

“They [Fu Man Dumpling House] make their own dumplings, and it’s kind of got a spinach and pork filling. They make their own wrappers – they hand roll all their own wrappers, make their own filling, put the dumplings together,” says Tom.

Listen to the full Seattle Kitchen Show conversation:

Seattle Kitchen can be heard on 97.3 KIRO FM on Saturdays at 2 p.m., Sundays at 10 a.m. Available anytime ON DEMAND at MyNorthwest.com.