Archipelago

Last Saturday, Aaron took the stage closing out the first-ever TEDxIssaquah, themed Roots & Rise, a celebration of what we see and what made it possible. His talk was about what our food carries: the people, histories, and communities behind every plate, from Uncle Bob Santos to Maria Orosa to Auntie Dorothy Cordova. We couldn’t be prouder.

We left just as moved by the speakers around him, each asking us to look again at what we take for granted: how we age, how we compete, how we stay safe, how we design for everyone, how we care for our local news, and how everything, from soil to gut, is connected. Every idea on that stage had roots of its own.

Thank you to our fellow speakers:
Healthy Active Grandparenting™ Wellness Coach Grandparents|
Ruchika T. Malhotra | Uncompete
Cheryl Yamamoto
Martha Rodgers Carlin
Adam Pinsky
Anthony A. Oren
Krishiv Goswami

And a huge thank you to Priscila “Pree” Silva and the TEDxIssaquah team and volunteers who built Issaquah’s first TEDx from the ground up.

The talks are being edited now. We’ll share Aaron’s as soon as it’s live.

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Thank you Chris Roberts Photography for capturing the night.

“It’s good! I like it!!!” — Tita cut Aaron off before he could finish describing the dish, and sometimes that’s the highest praise.

We’re closed but far from idle — there’s constant work behind the scenes. Though reopening is our focus, we also know it’s because of our community, our elders, that we can exist. A day like today was worth the intentional time. When Georgina and Tanya, registered dietitians with Tilth Alliance, invited us to build lunch for a group of Filipino elders visiting Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetlands, we said yes. The day they built was about cultural relevance, nourishment, dignity, and joy.

Aaron has always cooked to include — finding a way to feed anyone safely, regardless of allergy or restriction. As we get older, a lot of us lose access to the foods we grew up loving. He built this menu around giving that generation the taste they remember, without the risk the traditional ingredient might carry now.

We cooked with produce grown on that same soil, while our elders wandered the u-pick rows and visited the farm stand — walking, touching, and eating from the same ground felt like getting back to our roots, literally and figuratively.

Grateful to Georgina, Tanya, and the rest of the Tilth Alliance team for trusting us with that part of the day. Truly a gift.

Our chef and co-founder Aaron Verzosa is taking the TEDx stage.

On September 19, Aaron joins the lineup at TEDxIssaquah 2026 — Roots & Rise — sharing the ideas that have shaped Archipelago since we opened our doors in 2018.

For Aaron, a menu is never just a menu. It’s a living archive — locally sourced, research-driven, built to surface the histories that got left out of the history books and keep the Filipino American experience alive at the table. We’ve always called Archipelago a community classroom, and this fall, that classroom gets a bigger room.

He’ll bring this same thinking to Issaquah as a 2026 James Beard National Semifinalist for Outstanding Chef, speaking on food as archive, as gathering place, and as a way of understanding where we come from.

Roots & Rise
September 19, 2026 | 3:30–5:30pm
The Fleming Arts Center, Issaquah
Tickets at tedxissaquah.com — link in bio. Come cheer him on.

A quick but important update: we’re postponing Heritage Grains & The Open Flame at Chimacum Valley Grainery.

With burn bans in place across the region this wildfire season, we explored shifting to cook over coals — but even that felt both irresponsible and disrespectful given how serious this fire season has been and the terrible loss our region has felt. It was a difficult decision to make — we know many of you had planned weekend trips — but being good stewards of the land we work with, and of each other, is so important to us.

If you’d already signed up, Chimacum Valley Grainery reached out to you directly last week — thank you for your patience. For everyone else who was hoping to join, we’re looking at bringing this workshop back in October, just in time for Filipino American History Month, once conditions are safer. We’ll share details as soon as we have them.

Thank you for understanding. We’ll see you at the source soon.

People often think that running a special-occasion restaurant means you can’t build community when you only see guests once a year. If there’s anything we’ve learned over 8 years of running one, it’s the complete opposite. Being part of people’s special moments — for some, major life events — is an absolute blessing that connects us for years. We’ve fed expecting parents who now send us photos of their growing children. We’ve met more and more of our guests’ extended families. We’ve witnessed promotions, career changes, whole life transitions.

Earlier this year, returning guests reached out to see if they could reserve a table for their wedding dinner. We said of course, it would be an honor — what we didn’t realize is that they’d let us into their celebration, ending the dinner by making it official right at their table. Our team, Isabelle and Paula, signed as witnesses. We can’t stress enough how lucky we are to share in these experiences, and to have the trust and friendship of our guests.

Nicole shared these photos on the day of our last service before we close for renovations. They serve as a reminder for why we do what we do, and motivation to get the doors back open soon.

Nicole and Justin — congratulations, and thank you, thank you for bringing your love and joy into Archipelago. Sending you both so much love.

come join us for...

Heritage Grains & The Open Flame with Chef Aaron Verzosa
Sunday, August 16
12 - 3 pm

In this workshop, we will work with the local grain berries themselves, learning to manipulate their texture and earthiness through the primal control of charcoal-fired cooking.

Tracing the roots of Filipino-American resilience from the soil of the Northwest to the embers of the hearth, Chef Aaron Verzosa of Seattle’s Archipelago brings his unique lens of progressive cultural cooking to the Chimacum Valley Grainery.

Simultaneously, we will integrate the grains into a wood-fired sourdough, mastering the techniques required to craft a crust and crumb that honors both traditional fermentation and contemporary regional agriculture.

As the fires burn, we’ll ground our practice in the narratives of Filipino-American farmers in the Northwest and the immigrant journey of my own parents.

This class is an invitation to feed both the body and the spirit, exploring how the simple act of breaking bread can serve as a vessel for history, memory and the evolving story of our food system.

Space is limited, sign up today!

Heritage Grains & The Open Flame with Chef Aaron Verzosa — Chimacum Valley Grainery Sunday, August 16 12 - 3 pm In this workshop, we will work with the local grain berries themselves, learning to manipulate their texture and earthiness through the primal control of charcoal-fired cooking. Tracing the roots of Filipino-American resilience from the soil of the Northwest to

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