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The Infatuation
Restaurants Where You'll Really Want To Save Room For Dessert
By Kayla Sager-RileyAimee RizzoGabe Guarente,
17 hours ago
The world is split into two groups—dessert people and everyone else. Those who covet something sweet after a big meal and those who already have one foot out the door before the server even suggests such a thing. Though dessert people may seek out many of the city's best bakeries and scoop shops, there are plenty of sit-down restaurants in Seattle that are wizards with the sucrose. Here’s where even non-dessert people will suddenly develop a sweet tooth—how convenient. Best to order two just to be safe.
Beacon Hill’s Guamanian restaurant could have a menu completely sans dessert and still be one of our all-time favorites. But their sweet options just give us another reason to visit—particularly the buñuelos månglo served in an oil-specked brown paper bag. They are dense (and deep-fried) pockets of a not-too-sweet dough loaded with ripe mango chunks and even better when dunked in the spiced white peach coulis.
Kakigori sits on the menu at this fancy White Center restaurant like a tease: an “optional” add-on for $20. The price is a bit steep for an add-on, but it’s not really optional. You absolutely must get the heaping mound of Japanese shaved ice that quite literally melts in your mouth. The toppings change often, but you’ll often poke around and find seasonal fruit such as rhubarb or apple chunks hiding within the kakigori’s slopes, which seems as if they should have little figurines skiing on them. Go ahead and share, if you must—but a skirmish may break out over one last bite.
This Green Lake sandwich shop throws tons of delicious stuff on the flattop—we’re talking fried eggs, grilled cheeses, and banana bread. You heard that right: thick-cut banana bread slices griddled in olive oil and finished with a sprinkle of flaky salt. They’re warm, with toasty edges, and if the sandwiches weren't enough to have you crawling here on a Sunday morning, this will do it. Always check out what else Layers has going on in the pastry case. From malted macadamia cookies to mini canelé, something sweet here (plus, some salame) is always the right decision.
If you too have pondered whether the grilled corn bibingka at this Filipino restaurant is a dessert or a side—the answer is it's both. Which makes these griddled triangles some of the most delicious and versatile little sticky mochi cakes we’ve ever come across. Not only are they a fantastic after-dinner treat, but they’re also great when dunked in kare kare gravy. Order two rounds, one during the meal and one after—because why limit yourself?
It’s pretty much required to search within your soul and secret second stomach to get a post-pasta dessert at Spinasse. There are no clunkers among the ever-changing lineup of espresso-steeped semifreddo, olive oil cakes, bright berry sorbetto, and biscotti galore. But none are as captivating as the zuppa inglese. Keep watch in the winter for this little jar of ricotta mousse, zingy lemon curd, crème fraîche, and ladyfingers soaked in aqua di cedro. It’s like getting hit in the face with a bag of citrus—worth it.
Speaking of zesty desserts jammed into glass jars, this Fremont seafood spot’s key lime pie creation is a winner, with everything you love about a wedge of the stuff, only neatly layered like a trifle. If green custard is not your preferred pairing to graham cracker, their s’mores-inspired chocolate mousse is also satisfying after eating your weight in shrimp and grits.
Cornelly knows how to make an excellent pizza, and that exquisite knowledge has transferred to another delicious round thing: the chocolate chunk cookie. It’s a saucer-sized number with thick edges, a gooey middle, and, yes, plenty of chocolate chunks (but also some chunk-less bites too). And when they ask if you want a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, answer with an emphatic “absolutely.”
The giant layer cake slices from Deru Market have deservedly more lore in this town than the ghosts roaming Pike Place Market. Particularly the rich dark chocolate salted peanut butter flavor. And the carrot cake slice with thick smears of cream cheese frosting that conjures a sigh of relief after the first bite. You’re welcome to sit down with your cake after enjoying one of Deru’s many tasty savory dishes. But takeout works best—everyone knows cake tastes even better from the comfort of your own couch.
There are two very important boards to pay close attention to at this Beacon Hill pizzeria. The first is the specials with seasonal antipasti and pizza toppings like mortadella and chanterelles, and the second is the equally essential dessert board. A board that is constantly changing with things like a summer-coded peach polenta cake, buttermilk panna cotta, and ice cream made in-house that has never let us down.
It's an indelible fact of life that hot and cheesy dinners can only be followed by cold and creamy desserts. And out of the many pizza spots in Seattle that serve ice cream, Lupo does it best. Flavors rotate, but you can expect licks like a deeply salt- and nut-forward pistachio, custardy vanilla that’s precisely the shade of Irish butter, and cocoa accented with razor-thin shavings of dark chocolate.
When a pastry chef opens a tapas bar, the desserts are just as important as the bites of jamón-studded croquetas. That’s the case at Maripili, where you can have raspberry sugar-dusted churros dunked in white chocolate crème fraîche, bone marrow cake with rice pudding crema, or Galician almond cake with torched marshmallow and a turrón semifreddo we’d gladly slurp clean off the floor. Say what you will about fried potatoes and pan-seared fish—you could just as easily hop in here for a glass of cava and some sweets.
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