Street food in SLU

Did you know there is a fantastic food tour in our neighborhood? The Street Food Tour of South Lake Union is put on by popular touring company Eat Seattle Tours, which is based in Pike Place Market.

The chef-led company, founded by industry vet Liz Philpot, runs its public SLU tours on Fridays and Saturdays at 1 pm. You can also schedule private tours Wednesday through Saturday depending on availability.

“Operating in Pike Place Market for the past seven years has really taught us how powerful a community can be and our team’s ability to positively impact our partners by telling their story and sharing their food. The restaurant industry was hit hard with COVID, and we started to look around for neighborhoods that were safe for our guests and had delicious local food businesses whose stories we wanted to tell and businesses we wanted to support,” explained Philpot.

Corey Reed, the general Manager at Jack’s BBQ, reached out to Eat Seattle encouraging them to do a tour in the SLU area. This prompted Philpot and her team to learn more about the food businesses in the neighborhood.

“We didn’t want to do a traditional restaurant tour where we sit at each spot, so we applied our market tour approach of casual bites, restaurant stories, and walking. This allows our guests to try many items, discover the neighborhood, and learn about local restaurants,” she said.

The tour is two hours long and includes six stops. The Friday and Saturday routes are slightly different. Friday includes Marination, Mamnoon Street, Rubinstein Bagels, Rachel’s Ginger Beer, Ma’ono, and Jack’s BBQ. Saturday includes the same restaurants except Lady Yum takes the place of Mamnoon Street. Eric Olinsky is the guide currently running the tour in SLU.

The tour is $56.99 per person, and reservations are required. In addition to the tastes, you get expert knowledge of the neighborhood, including its extensive history. Plus, the tour lets you skip the lines at participating restaurants. Check out Eat Seattle and get touring and tasting.