Sushi Kappo Tamura is one of Seattle’s finest sushi restaurants, but it’s also my favorite place for ippins—small plates, both hot and cold, that I typically eat before ordering sushi. SKT’s quality comes partly from its rooftop garden, which supplies greens for small salad plates (like mustard greens with Washington albacore tuna) and vegetables for dishes like tempura. At higher prices those ippins get more sophisticated, featuring a lot of traditional Japanese seafood preparations like kinki no yakimono (grilled rockfish) and kinmedai no nitsuke (simmered golden-eye snapper). This Eastlake restaurant’s ippin menu lets you enjoy high-quality seafood in a variety of ways.

2968 Eastlake Ave. E., 547-0937, sushikappotamura.com

Read all of our picks for Food & Drink, and explore the rest of this year’s edition of Best of Seattle.