Seattle's ever-shifting food landscape continues to adapt to myriad challenges, including rising costs and the devastating impact of the pandemic on the restaurant industry. As the number of pop-ups launched during the pandemic demonstrates, many businesses are increasingly opting for models that are more flexible and affordable than the traditional brick-and-mortar. And now, many of those pop-ups are finding long-term homes inside restaurants, so you don't even have to wait for a flash event to enjoy their specialties. (No more FOMO from missing out on a limited-time menu!) We've compiled a list of these pop-up residencies here, from Cookie's Country Chicken to Situ Tacos
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. For more ideas, check out our food and drink guide.
Cookie's Country Chicken
Last winter, the finger-lickin'-good fried chicken pop-up began a full-time residency at the Pioneer Square sports bar Quality Athletics
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, which is also currently home to the burger joint Burb's Burgers
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. Cookie's menu includes fried chicken sandwiches, tendies, fries, deep-fried cauliflower, a variety of dipping sauces, and side dishes like mac and cheese and mashed potatoes with gravy. According to the Seattle P-I, the business will also launch a trailer
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in Seabrook in mid-July, where it will be open from Wednesday-Sunday through the end of the year. (Don't worry, though: the pop-up will continue to maintain a presence in Seattle.)
Pioneer Square, Seabrook
Pickup, outdoor seating, or indoor seating
Dantini Pizza
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Garrett Fitzgerald's popular minimalist pizza pop-up, which specializes in 16-inch pies laden with local ingredients, found a permanent home inside Batch 206 Distillery
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this spring and is open Thursday through Sunday. Toppings range from garlic scapes to Calabrian chilis to honey bacon.
Interbay
Pickup, outdoor seating, or indoor seating
Ekéko
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Chef Jose Garzón of the Latinx street food pop-up Garzón is launching a new food cart called Ekéko this Thursday, with a menu of Latin American drinking snacks ranging from Colombian-style "perros calientes" (hot dogs) to pineapple paletas. The cart will take up residence at Fair Isle Brewing
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(which previously hosted Garzón's Mercado pop-up) each Thursday in addition to appearances at other venues and may eventually settle down as a full-time operation in a fixed location.
Various locations
Pickup or outdoor seating
Lobster Daddy
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This cheekily named, crustacean-loving pop-up, which currently takes up residence in the kitchen of Capitol Hill's Vermillion
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on Thursdays and Fridays, serves up creamy lobster rolls with ginger lemon aioli and chives as well as Chilean rock crab rolls (which they say approximates the flavor of Dungeness at a more affordable price point) with bonito flakes or Lao Gan Ma chili sauce and chives.
Capitol Hill
Pickup or delivery
Situ Tacos
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Wild Powwers, Tacos the Band, and LORBO drummer Lupe Flores' Lebanese-inspired taco pop-up Situ Tacos, which she launched during the pandemic and which previously operated out of the Tractor Tavern
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, is now open seven days a week inside Jupiter Bar
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in Belltown. The business pays tribute to Flores' grandmother Delores Flores, who was half Mexican and half Lebanese ("situ" means "grandmother" in Arabic). Stranger contributor Caro Myers previously wrote, "Lupe’s menu is simple and her tacos taste unlike anything I've ever tried. There are two flavor options, Lebanese-style ground beef and butter—called 'hushwe'—and a vegetarian option—'papas'—which are potatoes that pack a punch of flavor. The tortillas are fried and taste like crispy pillows. The meat is cooked in butter, so you can’t really argue with that."
Belltown
Pickup, outdoor seating, or indoor seating
Tio Baby's
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This "high-quality bar food" pop-up, which specializes in deluxe versions of snackable favorites like nachos, cheese-smothered waffle fries, hot dogs, and chicken wings, is now available at Rose Temple
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seven nights a week beginning this Thursday, July 8.
Capitol Hill
Pickup, outdoor seating, or indoor seating
Zuri's Donutz
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The Lynnwood-based donut shop Zuri's Donutz, which has quickly gained a following for its unique flavors like dragon fruit and ube mango, currently runs a weekend pop-up inside the vacant Ballard Blossoms building, which is set to be redeveloped into a seven-story hotel and is hosting several long-term pop-up vendor residents in the meantime.
Ballard
Pickup