"“Don’t fill up on the bread.” It’s a warning that’s been passed down from generation to generation, programming our brains to ignore the basket in the middle of the dinner table. But at Samara, an American restaurant in Ballard, forget all of that and just eat the damn bread. The housemade baked goods at Samara are the main event, from the potato loaf that comes with whipped pork fat to the assorted cookies you can order for dessert. Beyond just the bread service, you should get anything that comes out of their medieval-looking hearth, including grilled sausages and fish. Even though the best things here seem like simple stuff—the grilled entrees and incredible bread—Samara is a restaurant that isn’t afraid to lean into what it does well." - Aimee Rizzo, Kayla Sager Riley
