Chinook’s: a tucked-away Seattle gem

A coworker who had lived in Washington state recommended my wife and I try a restaurant called Chinook’s while we were there. It’s away from the touristy downtown area of Seattle, but was easily reachable by car and proved a fun night out eating among the Seattle locals.

The place is massive and on the water, as so many restaurants seem to be in Seattle. It’s located at a place called the Fishermen’s Terminal so you can eat and look out the windows at real fishing boats.

I had salmon, as usual on this trip, and enjoyed it. But the real treat here was the unexpected dessert. I say unexpected because I was trying to maintain my low-salt, low-fat, low-sugar diet on this vacation and was succeeding, mostly, until our night at Chinook’s.

Our server broke some wine glasses at a nearby table and so needed to clean that up, delaying our service a bit. Once he did come over, he immediately apologized for the delay and said we would be receiving a free dessert to compensate for the delay. I found that really thoughtful, especially since we hadn’t even complained about the wait.

So we ordered the chocolate cake, something I love but have rarely had since my surgery. It came covered in a thick slab of ice cream with chocolate sauce. It was heaven on earth for me. To those people who think I will lose my taste for chocolate from not eating it, I say you’re barking up the wrong tree. This tasted better than I remembered any chocolate cake tasting. The one slice was plenty for my wife and I to share, although truth be told I could have downed the whole thing.

Thanks Chinook’s for some great food and especially thoughtful service.
John