Seattle’s 50 Essential Restaurants: Monsoon is No. 8

This capsule restaurant review is part of our ongoing Seattle’s 50 Essential Restaurants project. Find more at seattletimes.com/tag/restaurant-news and in print on Nov. 15, in a special edition of The Mix.

more 50 essential restaurants

• Our Seattle’s 50 Essential Restaurants rollout stretches up to No. 11
• At No. 10, this hot spot is the most fun you can have at dinner in South Lake Union
• Love it or leave: At No. 9, this tiny Seattle wine bar is unapologetically French

More

No. 8: Monsoon

Vietnamese

615 19th Ave. E., Seattle (Capitol Hill); 206-325-2111; monsoonrestaurants.com/seattle

This groundbreaking Capitol Hill bistro helped define neo-Vietnamese cuisine in the 21st century, as siblings Sophie and Eric Banh showed that their homeland’s cuisine, done expertly, deserved the same white-tablecloth treatment afforded to French food or any other “highbrow” tradition. 

The Banhs also embraced the “eat local” mantra long before it became a buzzword, implementing Dungeness crab and organic produce into their traditional Vietnamese fare and Indochine takes. 

Dishes like the caramelized catfish claypot and the rice-wine-soaked drunken chicken have become synonymous with the Monsoon brand over the last quarter-century. And Monsoon was the first Vietnamese place in Seattle to advocate wine pairings such as luc lac shaking beef with a light pinot noir. 

The Banhs’ menus have spurred many copycats and inspired many aspiring Southeast Asian cooks around the Northwest.

The family now owns a constellation of restaurants: two Monsoons and three Seattle branches of their sibling cafe, Ba Bar.