Another affordable favorite is Thai Basil (2537-4682), which manages to exude cool even from the basement of the Pacific Place mall.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Travel Watch | Hong Kong's Palate Pleasers

At Perilla, where the cuisine tends to skew toward Italian-American and Eastern European influences, I serve a spaghettini with crab gravy studded with crushed red chili flakes, fennel seed and Thai basil.

WSJ: Endless-Summer Baked Blue Crab