Atoma

Atoma opened in November 2023 in a hundred-year-old Craftsman house on North 45th Street, and it took on a considerable inheritance: the building had been Tilth, one of the first all-organic restaurants in America. It has more than held the address. Eater Seattle named it Restaurant of the Year for 2024, writing that there are dozens of new American or Pacific Northwest restaurants in Seattle putting local and seasonal ingredients first, but that Atoma just raised the bar. Chef Johnny Courtney, previously of Canlis, runs it with Sarah Courtney as operations director, with Oscar Galvan on wine and Dillon Raaz behind the bar. The awards deserve stating exactly, because two separate things are often collapsed into one: Atoma the restaurant was a national finalist for Best New Restaurant at the 2025 James Beard Awards, and Courtney himself was a finalist for Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific in 2026. Finalist both times, not winner. Courtney's response to the second was that it was incredibly humbling, that he had dreamed about it since he was a kid, and that more than anything it gave them a bigger platform to keep celebrating their team, their farmers and the simple joy of sharing a great meal. The food runs from a $7 rosette cookie with farmer's cheese and onion jam to a $135 duck pot pie built for a table.

The zero-proof drinks are printed as their own section of the bar list rather than tucked under the cocktails, and there are four. It's Grape(fruit) to See You pairs a house-made grapefruit soda with DHOS Bittersweet — DHOS being a French zero-proof aperitif range, botanical and genuinely bitter, which is what makes the drink work with food. Forlorn George uses DHOS Vodka Free with a "Tang" cordial and a house orange-vanilla soda. Starr Pupil is the bright one, on DHOS Vodka Free with pineapple syrup and lime. The Phony Espresso Negroni is St. Agrestis's bottled version. The shelf also carries DHOS Bittersweet and Orange at $9 and Pathfinder Amaro at $10 by the pour, so the bar can build beyond the printed four. Two practical things worth knowing before booking. No cocktail prices are published anywhere — that is true of the alcoholic list as well, so it is not a slight on the zero-proof drinks, but you will not be able to plan a spend. And the restaurant is not wheelchair accessible: every entrance requires a full flight of stairs, with another step to the patio. Reservations open on the first of each month for the following month.