We live within walking distance of downtown Kirkland, WA, which means we are blessed to be within walking distance of LOTS of great restaurants. During the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve been doing what we can to support those restaurants. We get takeout once a week, pizza delivery twice a month, and occasionally walk into town for a takeout treat from a bakery or café or boba shop.

But there are SO MANY restaurants within walking distance, that despite these best efforts, we have not yet managed to visit them all during pandemic! So, we decided to make a checklist and a spreadsheet to track who we have not yet supported. I’m sharing it here to encourage other folks to support all these great businesses. Every one of these 61 (!) eating establishments is in the downtown core between Kirkland Urban and Marina Park.

Here’s the PDF checklist

And here’s the Excel spreadsheet, if you like being able to sort your list by cuisine, or by cost (according to Yelp ratings), or by whether you’ve visited them yet.

In the spreadsheet, I made notes about seating options during COVID. All these restaurants do takeout. Some have uncovered outdoor seating. Some have outdoor seating that is heated and/or covered. Some have “garage door” style windows that roll up for lots of ventilation and may allow indoor seating in phase 1. (Some restaurants will allow indoor seating up to 25% capacity during phase 2, but I have not made note of this option.) There are also some restaurants who participate in the “Dine in Your Car” option at Marina Park.

For our family, we only do takeout, and we always wear masks when we pick up. We don’t eat at the restaurants, either inside or outside, because we want to minimize any risk to the workers. And we always tip 20 – 30% on every order.

Also, we order directly from the restaurant, and pick up there. We do not use GrubHub, DoorDash, UberEats, PostMate… They take substantial cuts out of the restaurants’ earnings. If your goal is to support local restaurants, it’s best to pay them directly so they get the full amount.

If you’re looking for recommendations on the best restaurants to try first, check out the Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/EastsideRestaurantSupport. It’s a great resource.

Thanks for supporting our local eateries!

For more ideas of COVID compatible activities, check out my posts on:

• Low Contact Parks, which lists great less-crowded options all over the Eastside.
• Online parent-child classes for families with children from birth to age 5, offered through local community colleges.
• Screen Time in Coronavirus Time – managing this for kids 12 and under.
• And Connecting to the Outdoors During Coronavirus.