Editor’s note: Skagit Landing closed its doors on Feb. 6, 2024 and will be consolidating with sister business Skagit Acres. A new cafe, The Landing at Skagit Acres, is expected to open in late February 2024.
If you have an airplane buff in your family, you may have already visited the Skagit Regional Airport, perhaps to visit the Port of Skagit’s Heritage Flight Museum. But did you know there’s also a restaurant right on the runway where you can eat while watching small planes come and go?
Skagit Landing is a small cafe frequented by pilots flying in and out of Skagit, but is also a handy dining spot for people working at the Port, walking the nearby nature trails or just looking for lunch or dinner with a unique view.
Owned by Spinach Bus Ventures, the group that has taken over Tulip Town, Skagit Acres and Fairhaven Mill in recent years, Skagit Landing opened in 2021 as part of the group’s effort to promote local products. The group has also opened a sister cafe at Skagit Acres with coffee, drinks and sandwiches.
The kitchen is led by Chef Josie Urbick, a Skagit native who has returned to the area after working for high-end restaurants around Seattle, including a stint as executive chef at TASTE at the Seattle Art Museum.
Because Skagit Landing is also a catering business, the restaurant has limited hours and is mainly open for lunch, plus dinner Thursday through Saturday. The dining room is small, but tall windows line one side of the room and look straight out onto the runway.
Visitors will find an upstairs dining area as well, which sometimes gets opened when things are busy, or when rented for a private party. It has its own bar and more windows looking onto the runway, and seems like it should feel cozy, but instead feels overly bright and empty, so I prefer downstairs.
Lunch here is mainly salads and sandwiches (plus a couple of burritos if you’re still in a breakfast mood). I’m a fan of the roasted turkey sandwich ($18), which combines a lightly sweetened maple cream cheese with cranberry relish, lettuce and onions on perfectly toasted sourdough.
Their classic Don burger ($19) is juicy and excellent, and the steak grinder ($20) is really impressive, being thoroughly swamped in cheese, onions and peppers. Our order was a little light on actual steak but it was still a hefty sandwich, and had to be eaten with knife and fork because it threatened to explode if picked up. Side salads are green and crisp and come tossed with a generous amount of dressing, which I appreciate.
Appetizers are served all day — and they have a fun selection. I liked the heavily breaded and deep-fried cauliflower nuggets served with a sweet and spicy honey garlic glaze ($12). With this treatment, resemblance to actual cauliflower is minimized, but they’re great fun to eat. They also have polenta fries, glazed Brussels sprouts and some good old-fashioned shrimp toast.
To go with the cauliflower bites, I tried the frosted fig martini ($13) off their seasonal cocktail menu and was pleasantly surprised by it. Fig vodka was paired with elderflower, lime juice and white cranberry juice, making a very balanced, lightly tart drink that wasn’t too floral. They also have a good draft list of local beers, with a helpful description of each beer’s primary flavors (big points for this).
In addition to most of the lunchtime sandwiches, the dinner menu includes some comfort food. A standout was the Meat & Mac ($28), a bowlful of gooey, creamy pasta topped with a slab of seared, crispy-edged meatloaf. This sounds over the top, but it was restrained in just the right ways so it wasn’t overwhelmingly rich. The meatloaf itself was relatively light, and charred broccolini on top was a good counterpoint.
One of the best things I’ve eaten here is the roasted chicken salad ($20). Details seem to change seasonally, but when I tried it the mix was fresh greens, tender and flavorful roast chicken, blackberries, cheese and candied walnuts, with Water Tank Bakery bread on the side. Not many restaurants can pull off a good chicken salad, but this one was exceptional.
Prawn pasta ($30), on the other hand, was a little disappointing. Although the pasta was nicely al dente and tossed in a light sauce with roasted tomatoes and broccoli, the local Lummi prawns were rather mushy. I also couldn’t really taste the poblano cream and lemon gremolata listed in the menu description.
Desserts are simple, based around local products such as Water Tank Bakery cookies and Lopez Island Creamery ice cream. They also have a couple of different flavors of Whidbey Pies on any given day. Their other location at Skagit Acres has a larger selection of baked goods, including a Southern bread pudding and house-made cinnamon rolls, but those don’t seem to be available at the main location.
While Skagit Landing may not be a destination restaurant, it’s doing some nice work and you can’t beat the view if you like planes (or sunsets). Go for lunch if you’re in the area, or for happy hour if you want a drink and a fun nibble after an afternoon outing.
Skagit Landing is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at 15426 Airport Drive, Burlington. Info: skagitlanding.com.
A previous version of this story misstated the hours appetizers are served. The story was updated to reflect this change at 3:50 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 13. Cascadia Daily News regrets this error.
