A non-descript office building just off the highway plays host to a restaurant which, on its surface, could be just another corporate café. But sit down for lunch at Island Crust Café, and you’ll see that something here is different: there’s the constant background noise as the counter fields catering calls from around the region, the Rabbi wandering in to check that everything is in order (and leaving with a pizza), and the notable absence of meat from the menu. That’s because Island Crust is one of the few certified kosher restaurants in the greater Seattle area: even when the café seems empty, the kitchen is busily turning out catering orders for the city’s resident and visiting observant Jews.
For most people popping in for fish and chips or an egg salad sandwich, the kosher certification means little. But for the community who cares, it becomes a special place, where they can enjoy their Caesar salad and salmon burger in the red chairs on the patio or alongside one of the beers on-tap inside.
Because of the catering, the kitchen can field a far larger menu than most office-building cafes, which is why you’ll find more than a dozen hand-tossed pizzas cooked in the brick oven, along with everything from enchiladas to seared albacore. The setting may lack much of the charm of the Island’s other restaurants, and the service can be a bit bogged down by those catering orders, but for those with limited options, this place offers a peace of mind and a place to enjoy a meal, and for anyone else, it makes for a perfectly serviceable and extremely convenient restaurant.
Island Crust Café is located in the Island Corporate Center at 7525 SE 24th St #100. Learn more at: islandcrustcafe.com
