Familyfriend

Review Highlights

Familyfriend is a pan-Pacific newcomer on Seattle’s Beacon Hill, opened by Guamanian owner Elmer Dulla and selected for the New York Times’ 2024 list of the 50 best restaurants in America. Self-described as a “Vibe Dispensary on Beacon Hill,” the restaurant draws from Dulla’s Guam heritage and a diverse kitchen team to create a menu that spans smash burgers, Filipino noodle soups, and Pacific Island-inspired cocktails. The NYT review by Brian Gallagher frames it as a neighborhood spot where the burger may be the headliner, but the deeper menu is the real draw.

• ·Smash double-cheese burger — a “paragon of the smashed double-cheese form,” loaded with Kewpie mayo, chopped pickles, and onion; described as already getting national renown
• ·Chicken adobo tacos — piquant and representative of the menu’s pan-Pacific reach, balancing Filipino adobo flavors in taco format
• ·Batchoy “La Paz Style” — an “envelopingly unctuous” noodle soup made with pig offal and fermented shrimp broth, a deeply savory dish from the Filipino canon
• ·Typhoon Donuts — fried-to-order donuts served with white-peach coulis; Gallagher writes that skipping these means you’ve “left your meal unfinished”
• ·Pacific cocktails — drinks laced with calamansi and salted Chinese plum, extending the pan-Pacific theme to the bar program

The New York Times named Familyfriend one of America’s 50 best restaurants in 2024, singling out its smash burger as a nationally competitive version of the form while making clear the broader pan-Pacific menu is what makes the restaurant special. Gallagher’s review emphasizes that this is more than a burger spot — it’s a full expression of Guam-meets-Seattle cooking where the cocktails and desserts are just as considered as the mains.

About

A pan-Pacific restaurant on Seattle’s Beacon Hill from Guamanian chef-owner Elmer Dulla, blending the flavors of Guam, the Philippines, and the broader Pacific with American comfort food. The menu moves fluidly from a nationally acclaimed smash burger to Filipino batchoy and chicken adobo tacos, backed by a cocktail program that incorporates calamansi and salted Chinese plum. Named one of the New York Times’ 50 best restaurants in America in 2024, it’s become one of the harder tables to land in Seattle.