20 Spring 2025 | edibleseattle.com ON THE TRAIL OF NOSE TO TAIL These Seattle restaurants still celebrate every part of the animal WORDS BY JESSE KOJI FUKUMOTO IMAGES BY TROY OSAKI Image courtesy of Local Tide At the turn of the 20th century, the Butler Hotel was the place to be. The popular downtown hotel, on the corner of 2nd Avenue and James Street, was where Jazz Age Seattleites came to see and be seen. There was dancing, fame, crime and extravagant food. In addition to a long list of champagnes, a New Year’s Eve menu from 1914 prominently featured a variety of caviars, pickled pig’s feet, lamb tongue, grilled calf sweetbreads and goose livers fried in butter. This menu attracted a clientele of railroad executives, actors and politicians of the time. It also celebrated the variety of cuts that each animal had to offer. Over the course of the last century, these ingredients have fallen out of favor as more prime cuts of meat, the muscle of the animal, became more affordable. However, for every cow that is turned into steak, there is a trove known as offal—heart, liver, kidneys, tongue. The Butler Hotel may have closed in 1933, but in the Seattle of today, there is a strong contingent of chefs still championing offcuts and offal for their flavor, nutrition and cultural significance.
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