Ben Paris
Restaurant · Pike Place Market ·
Hearty PNW fare, custom cocktails, graphic wallpaper, brunch, and dessert.
Hearty PNW fare, custom cocktails, graphic wallpaper, brunch, and dessert.
"Ben Paris may arguably have the most local draw of any hotel restaurant/bar in Seattle, and accordingly, they’ll have a wide range of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day options. Here’s the whole rundown: It will be open on Christmas Eve from 4 to 8:30 p.m., offering the full menu or a $75 surf and turf prix fixe featuring an 8 oz. New York strip with grilled broccolini, roasted fingerling potatoes, red wine demi-glace, grilled shrimp over chili oil-spiked polenta, a house salad to start, and carrot cake for dessert. Then it will be open for breakfast on Christmas Day starting at 9 a.m., with a $29 steak and eggs special that gets you a 7 oz. Hanger steak, Yukon gold potatoes, demi-glace, and two eggs. Once dinner rolls around, you can again choose between the surf and turf prix fixe or order from the regular menu until 8:30 p.m. Make your reservation here." - Mark DeJoy
"The Deal: Inquire when you get there This all-day restaurant on the ground floor of The State hotel serves such great food that you’d want to eat here even if you weren’t reluctantly sharing a deluxe queen room with your parents upstairs. Stop by the big marble bar for a cocktail and a plate of truffle fries." - aimee rizzo
"When about seven out of every ten Seattleites are transplants, it’s no surprise that few of them seem to know the history behind Ben Paris. Fun fact: It’s the fancier resurrection of Ben Paris Cigars, Lunch & Cards, which once inhabited the very same space between 1914 and 1950 — and got reanimated when the Eitel Building was overhauled into the State Hotel in 2019. With its splashy muraled dining room, beautiful Ben Paris does modern takes on comfort food classics, like lamb tagliatelle and buttermilk fried chicken, but these folks really cut loose on the desserts. The lemon mousse sounds innocuous, but don’t believe it — it’s a gorgeous constructivist food sculpture that was born to be Instagrammed. The smooth ball of light lemony crème is encased in poppyseed-flecked white chocolate, then accented with citrus suprèmes, grapefruit gelée, edible flower petals, and finally a shard of sesame brittle is stabbed into the top. All the desserts at Ben Paris are unexpectedly breathtaking in this way — like the towering and multilaminous carrot cake that’s dotted with pastel mini-macarons — and helpfully, everything tastes just as great if you don’t know the cool story behind it. But now that you know, you should go." - Meg van Huygen, Dylan Joffe, Harry Cheadle
"An homage to Ben Paris Cigars, Lunch & Cards, which was located in the basement of the Eitel Building (now the State Hotel), Ben Paris feels airy and effervescent — maybe because of the abundant natural light or the stylish, Accidentally Wes Anderson–worthy wallpaper. It’s the best indoor spot to have a drink while it’s still light out: happy hour runs 4 to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday with $10 martinis and Old Fashioneds and select wine bottles for $25. My favorite day drink is the Gin Griffey Juniper, a bold Spanish-style gin and tonic with a touch of berry shrub and a whole lot of actual berries and botanicals as garnish, served in a large goblet that’s indulgent yet refreshingly light." - Mark DeJoy
"I’ve liked supporting restaurants to stock up on essentials in my kitchen during the pandemic, and I’d also like to see the current energy of off-hours pop-ups continue — I’m thinking of examples like Baon inside Ben Paris." - Gabe Guarente