Junebaby - Seattle

Junebaby has gotten a lot of great press lately.  I first heard an interview with chef Edourdo Jordan on The Splendid Table podcast back in 2017 and then in spring 2018, he won the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant and Best Chef:  Northwest.  And since Junebaby is in Seattle, I knew I wanted to go there on my recent weekend visit.

We went for Saturday lunch and arrived just before opening, to a line down the street.  However, they were able to seat everyone, and the restaurant was busy the whole time we were there, but never too crowded.

There were some interesting innards that we have never tried on the menu, like chicken gizzards and hog maw, so we decided to give the chicken gizzards a try.  Fried and served with a buttermilk dressing that had lots of tarragon in it, they were pretty tasty.  They were kind of chewy and like really dark chicken meat.

Well, the shrimp and grits was so pretty looking with fiddleheads, grits, and shrimp, but I couldn't eat it, so I had to just enjoy looking at it...

I love fish sandwiches.  There's something about fried fish on it's own that, for me, often gets overwhelmingly too much fried-ness after a couple bites, but if you put that piece of fried fish on a bun with some condiments and lettuce or tomato, I enjoy it immensely.  This fried catfish sandwich was just great with crispy fish and a tartar sauce.

And, I was too full for dessert, so perhaps another time for the beignets or shortcake.