Off The Rez Cafe
Native American restaurant · University District ·
Fry bread tacos, wild rice bowls, bison, and cedar tea
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71632516/image3.0.jpeg "Off The Rez Cafe by Off the Rez Cafe")
Fry bread tacos, wild rice bowls, bison, and cedar tea
"This all-day cafe located inside the Burke Museum of Natural History serves tasty Indigenous food centered around homemade frybread. Puffy on the inside and crunchy on the outside, the fried dough is a perfect vehicle for various savory or sweet fillings. We’re talking about shredded chili verde chicken and sweet and tangy BBQ pulled pork tacos, or served simply with a generous dusting of cinnamon and sugar as dessert. Whether you’re visiting an exhibit or not, Off The Rez works well for a casual lunch." - aimee rizzo, kayla sager riley
"Seattle’s first Native-owned food truck–turned–cafe at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, opened as a museum cafe in 2019 but grew out of a food-truck project that began in 2011, was founded by Mark McConnell (a member of the Blackfeet Nation) and his partner Cecilia Rikard with chef Donovan MacInnis, and serves pre-Columbian Indigenous cuisine of the Americas using tribal ingredients and local partnerships. Menu highlights include fry bread tacos filled with braised bison and barbecue pulled pork and dessert fry bread finished with cinnamon sugar, honey, or lemon curd; the cafe helped introduce regionally rare offerings like wild rice bowls and sweet potato salads. The design blends cherry wood and Indigenous artwork with seating for about 30 and a pivoting window wall designed by Tom Kundig that invites natural light and enhances the earthy, welcoming ambiance. McConnell has sourced bison from Montana and salmon from the nearby Muckleshoot tribe, reinforcing commitments to Indigenous foodways; he initially brought family recipes to the food truck in 2011, and those roots inform the cafe’s menu and mission. Beverage innovations include cedar tea made by steeping white or red cedar tips (here blended with blackberry leaves as a cedar blackberry tea latte) and a maple latte made with the house espresso blend Naato, which Rikard says is named after Mark’s Blackfeet name, Naato Óóhkotok ("Holy Rock"). Consulting by Indigenous food practitioners helped align the cafe with the museum’s mission: "Every ingredient tells a story about our connection to the land," Valerie Segrest (Muckleshoot Indian Tribe) says." - Mary Ladd
"Off the Rez is a Native American food truck that serves tacos on handmade frybread. Filling ingredients include beef chili, chicken chile, verde, and veggie chili topped with cheese, pickled red onions, and lettuce. If you’re not feeling a taco they also serve burgers, quinoa salad, and fries, but the cinnamon sugar frybread also makes for a great sweet treat." - anne cruz
"What began as Mark McConnell’s Off the Rez food truck—rooted in Blackfeet fry bread traditions—still serves Indian tacos and sweet frybreads and has expanded into a brick-and-mortar at the Burke Museum that adds items like cedar blackberry iced tea, braised bison and wild rice bowls, and frybreads topped with seasonal berry jams." - Andrea Cooper, Mae Hamilton
"Seattle’s first Native American-owned food truck opened its brick-and-mortar in 2019 at the Burke Museum on the University of Washington campus. Its menu is vibrant as ever, offering fluffy fry bread tacos topped with 12-hour smoked pulled pork, braised bison, or vegetarian chili, plus wild rice bowls." - Mark DeJoy, Eater Staff