| The Whale Wins | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Restaurant information | |
| Food type | |
| City | Seattle |
| County | King |
| State | Washington |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 47°38′58.5″N122°20′32.5″W / 47.649583°N 122.342361°W |
The Whale Wins (rebranded The Whale Wins Cafe and Larder in 2020) is a restaurant by Renee Erickson in Seattle's Fremont-Wallingford area, in the U.S. state of Washington. It is slated to close permanently in late October 2025. [1]
The Whale Wins is a restaurant in the Fremont Collective building in Seattle's Fremont-Wallingford area. [2] [3] The vegetable-focused American and French menu has also included roast chicken, trout, rabbit terrine, [4] sardines on toast, [5] and butter-roasted zucchini bread. [6] [7]
Erickson opened The Whale Wins with partners Chad Dale and Jeremy Price in 2012. [8] [9] [10] The restaurant's interior was designed by Heliotrope Architects. [11] The business has shared a space with Joule. [12] Erickson eliminated tips in 2015 [13] and removed chinook salmon from her restaurants' menus in 2018. [14] Like many restaurants, The Whale Wins closed temporarily in March 2020 upon the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. [15] The Whale Wins became The Whale Wins Cafe and Larder, described by Eater Seattle as "a hybrid cafe and retail shop with counter service only". [16] [17]
In 2013, The Whale Wins was food writer Andrew Knowlton's selection for the ninth best restaurant in the United States. [18] [19] The Seattle Times said the restaurant offered the city's happy hour in 2014. [20] Bill Addison included The Whale Wins in Eater 's 2015 and 2016 lists of 38 restaurants which "define American dining". [3] [21] In 2022, Matthew Lombardi, Gabe Guarente, and Jade Yamazaki Stewart included The Whale Wins Larder and Cafe in Eater Seattle's list of 15 "fantastic" Fremont restaurants. [22]
Aimee Rizzo of The Infatuation wrote in 2022, "The menu has a ton of vegetables, and the portions are so small that you’ll spending a lot of money only to likely be hungry in an hour—but we can't deny that this place works incredibly well for a light snack and glass of wine." [23] Seattle Metropolitan included the restaurant in 2023 list of Seattle's best lunch destinations. [24] The magazine's Allecia Vermillion also included the business in a 2023 list of restaurants with "perfect patios for sunny days". [25]
Fodor's says, "The vegetable plates are unfailingly excellent, but everything that comes out of the kitchen seems blessed... A plate of sardines on toast for the table is a must, even if you don't think you like sardines. Order family-style so that you can sample as many dishes as possible." [4]