3 Seattle spots to try local asparagus - spring's greatest thing
I love Washington asparagus in a way that might seem extreme. But: My grandmother raised Angus cattle out past Sunnyside in Yakima County, and I used to be in charge of harvesting dinnertime asparagus directly from the neighbor's field. We'd bring huge bags of it back to Seattle, and maybe because the time for local asparagus is fleeting, it always felt - it still feels - like a vegetable miracle.
First - yes! - make bunches of asparagus at home. It's the easiest and arguably best thing in the world just blanched or grilled. Or butter-braise it with a lemony sauce, or make an asparagus frittata, or Le Pichet's asparagus with pine nuts, scallions and chèvre vinaigrette. Save your asparagus ends and make asparagus soup!
Going out to eat asparagus might seem expensive, but to do so is to support both our Washington growers and our local restaurants, which is a pretty nice twofer.
Here are three spots making asparagus in great ways you might not venture into at home. Whatever you do, don't delay! The Washington Asparagus Commission predicts this season will end mid-June.
Roasted purple asparagus in ramp butter at Le Caviste ($17)
1919 Seventh Ave., Seattle; 206-728-2657; lecavisteseattle.com
This little wine bar downtown is offhandedly stylish in the best way, with its snug but high-ceilinged space, cream-of-asparagus-green walls and angular chandeliers featuring 102 incandescent light bulbs, 25 watts each. While proprietor David Butler's all-French wine list has been earning accolades for more than a decade, his short-but-perfect food menu - cheeses, charcuterie, fish en papillote, maybe beef tartare - has always deserved the James Beard recognition it finally got this year.
And in spring at Le Caviste, there is, always, asparagus. Butler favors the gorgeous purple spears, and right now the tiny kitchen is making a massively wonderful compound butter with ramp greens, delicately salty and allium-scented - the carefully roasted asparagus comes bathing in it, and they will keep bringing you hunks of baguette until you've mopped up every bright-green drop of it. A glass of Sancerre cuts through the butter while limning the asparagus like a birdsong across a field (sorry, but it's true!).
Espárragos with green romesco at MariPili Tapas Bar ($16)
1117 12th Ave., Seattle; 425-520-9539; maripili-tapas-bar.com
MariPili's chef/owner Grayson Pilar - a 2024 James Beard semifinalist - grew up on a farm in Eastern Washington, where neighbors would bring her family cases of asparagus. "My abuela loved it," she says, "and used to serve it as the main side dish at family meals all spring."
Pilar calls her restaurant near Seattle University a tapas bar, but she goes above and beyond the simple stuff - as with her espárragos, which has got to be the prettiest dish in town right now. She's blanching the asparagus and serving it chilled with a white wine vinaigrette plus multiple lovelinesses: a bed of spring-green romesco, a tangle of pickled fennel, peas, pea shoots and soft English-pea-and-tarragon mousse adorably molded into the shape of a pea pod. Just to gaze upon it - worth it. Then all the cool, contrasting and complementing elements keep you tasting and tasting until it's all gone.
"I had a dish like this on my opening menu, and it was my abuelo's favorite," Pilar says, "which is saying something, because you could barely get that man to eat anything besides jamón and crusty bread."
Tempura asparagus with lemon garlic aioli at Uneeda Burger ($7)
4302 Fremont Ave. N., Seattle; 206-547-2600; uneedaburger.com
It's always seemed best to avoid getting into deep-frying at home for health reasons, but you need someone to make you deep-fried asparagus, and Uneeda Burger is here. This order-at-the-counter spot housed in a former auto shop in Fremont has been making one of Seattle's best basic burgers since 2010, and they rotate in various special tempura-battered sides - voilà, springtime asparagus, encased in a crispy, light batter that also happens to be gluten-free.
As a foil for the vibrant chlorophyll inside, the golden-brown coating is great; likewise, the contrast in taste and texture, while the asparagus still keeps a hint of its snap. The tempura here could use more salt, so grab a little paper packet of it for sprinkling. But for $7 for a serving of at least a half-dozen stalks, this one's a relative bargain, even with an extra 75 cents for your choice of 15 dipping sauces - may I suggest the lemon garlic aioli?
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