Highway 99: The restaurant gift that keeps giving

Highway 99 is the gift that keeps on giving when it comes to cuisine. From tradition to fusion restaurants and food trucks to markets, the stretch of Aurora Avenue in south Snohomish County offers a range of innovative and different cuisines.

In a few minutes, you will pass Indian, Mexican and Central American, Japanese, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean, Korean, and so many beloved Vietnamese restaurants.

Edmonds’ Nancy Leson, former Seattle Times food critic, KNKX radio personality, and PCC cooking instructor, has long sung the praises of the wide world of restaurants and markets along our state highway.

“I can hit most any strip mall on Highway 99 – north or south – and in minutes explore a wide world of international cuisines,” Leson said. “If I need Ethiopian injera, Mexican mulitas, Taiwanese pastries, Eastern European rye bread, or Malaysian paratha, I don't have far to look.”

Leson is so enthusiastic about the Edmonds International District that she has even donated a personal tour of the restaurants and markets as an auction item for Edmonds Center for the Arts. The chauffeured journey took guests to several spots along Highway 99 to taste Thai boat noodles, Korean banchan, Chinese dim sum, and more.

I work hard (the tough job of eating lots of delicious food) to find as many these great spots on Highway 99 as possible, while also reviewing restaurants throughout the Beacon communities of Edmonds, Mukilteo, and Mill Creek.

Lucky for me, I have a new partner in the appreciation of the dining scene along Aurora: The Eat99 Blog (https://eat-99.blogspot.com/). Edmonds resident Marjie Bowker started her blog because, “To me, Highway 99 is six lanes of deliciousness.”

Bowker was inspired to share the stories and dishes of the hundreds of remarkably good restaurants nearby. “This road offers endless creations made by people who hold generational knowledge of how to make things taste the way they are supposed to taste,” Bowker said. “It is a place filled with the richness of other cultures and stories, the experiences of lives lived there and now here.”

Leson moved here nearly 30 years ago and can recount her discoveries of local spots for good sushi and Hong Kong-style noodles, as well as a Korean market and Middle Eastern grocer. Like Leson, Bowker knows where to go to find some of her favorite things, from Vietnamese steamed tapioca dumplings to Guadalajara-style birria tacos. “I live near bibimbap, pupusas, yassa, and shish tawook,” she says proudly.

To use an overused metaphor, finding and sharing fantastic restaurants is our love language. Many an “Arts & Appetite” column has been written with Marjie Bowker on the other side of the table, as she has recommended several of the restaurants.

Leson and I have shared many a meal, as well, and it was she who told me about taking her toddler (who is now 26) to Hosoonyi for the soft tofu soup, and the Korean restaurant is now a favorite spot for dinner with my mom.

Leson, Bowker, and I agree on many other spots along Highway 99. Peruvian restaurant Rinconcito Peruano is my favorite spot for all things potato; Bowker says their Chaufa de Mariscos (Peruvian fried rice) “has a gravitational pull for me,” and Leson “can't get enough of their ceviche mixto.”

We agree on the phenomenal Vietnamese restaurant (with legendary bánh mì and much more) Rise & Shine Bakery. Bangkok Boulevard got raves here in the Beacon and on Eat99.

Leson is a renowned food writer, and Bowker’s writing chops are also verified. She is well-known in Edmonds for her role as a teacher, storyteller, and book publisher at Scriber Lake High School. All three of us write about food not only because we enjoy a good plate of food but because of what is cooked into them – the family legacies, the stories of joy and struggle, and, of course, the love.

When thinking about all we have to write about just along Highway 99, perhaps Leson says it best: “Living here you can travel without a passport, eating and shopping locally while expanding your culinary education globally.”