The menu gets written on a big chalkboard at this avowedly “edgy” bistro in an Eastlake strip mall, making changes of inclination and imagination easy for chef Charles Walpole.

Website: blindpigbistro.com
Number of seats: 28
Average per-person check: $30
Popular dishes: Bavette steak with charred eggplant, potatoes and cauliflower; rainbow trout with snap peas, capers, almond and kumquat; sand dab with cabbage and aïoli
What people come for: Dynamic menu amended at a whim, whole menu offering for $155
Address: 2238 Eastlake Ave E.
Phone: 206-329-2744

Chef-owner Holly Smith, winner of a James Beard Award in 2008, works over a self-styled sort of Northern Italian cuisine in a location inside what at least one commentator has called a “Brady Bunch house.”

Website: cafejuanita.com
Number of seats: 64
Average per-person check: $90
Popular dishes: Seared foie gras with spring onion, Sicilian pistachio, rhubarb and burnt white chocolate torrone; braised rabbit with porcini, pancetta and chickpea gnocchi; grilled octopus with smoked bone marrow, green sauce and chickpea crema
What people come for: Locally sourced sustenance, simple setting in a mid-century house
Address: 9702 NE 120th Place, Kirkland
Phone: 425-823-1505

After meeting in the kitchen of Alain Ducasse in New York, husband-and-wife team Seif Chirchi and Rachel Yang moved west with a mind to mingle Asian and Americans flavors at this beloved Ballard outpost.

Website: revelseattle.com
Number of seats: 60
Average per-person check: $30
Popular dishes: Short-rib rice bowl with sambal daikon and mustard greens; albacore tuna with fennel kimchi and escarole
What people come for: Eclectic Asian-inspired preparations and occasional cooking classes
Address: 403 N. 36th St.
Phone: 206-547-2040

The kitchen of Tamara Murphy takes an “earth-to-plate” approach to food that falls somewhere between deliberate rusticity and mindful fine-dining.

Website: terraplata.com
Number of seats: 140
Average per-person check: $50
Popular dishes: Roast pig with chorizo and clams; marrow bones with cherry mostarda and crostini; water buffalo burger with taleggio and house-made chips
What people come for: Updated craft cocktails, paella-only menu on Monday nights
Address: 1501 Melrose Ave.
Phone: 206-325-1501