
Dinner at Matt’s
More often than not at restaurants, the kitchen is invisible, its colorful banter, fast pace, and delicious cooking aromas all hidden behind a thick swinging door. But eating at Matt’s in the Market, a well-loved hideaway on the top floor of the Corner Market Building in Pike Place Market, is like attending a dinner party where everyone crowds into the kitchen, no matter how small a space that happens to be.
On any given afternoon, the 23-seat restaurant’s long, narrow room, dominated by its open kitchen, bustles with activity and noise. There’s the hiss and spit of pan-frying fish, lunch-counter regulars reaching across their neighbors for more hot sauce, and servers doling out the fare that has turned this place into a local mecca. Customers can’t get enough of dishes like wasabi-crusted seared albacore tuna sandwiches, smoked catfish salad, and hearty daily specials like duck and green lentil soup.
Matt Janke, the restaurant’s self-described “owner and dishwasher,” is right at home in the middle of the hubbub, turning up the volume on his favorite tunes (polka), joking with the cooks, planning menus, and greeting everyone. “I like this place, because everything’s within reach,” the Washington native says with a laugh.