Archipelago

10/17/2026

Last chance to order, ordering closes at midnight tonight. We are only ordering the sweatshirts that have been paid for. We are not ordering extra. The interest form does not reserve you a sweatshirt, it was only for us to see if there was enough interest to do this. Use the link below to order.

A classic crewneck in heather navy, featuring an embroidered Archipelago logo on the front and a screen print of our Archipelago PNW jungle art on the back. FREE SHIPPING Archipelago is closed for renovation, and every sweatshirt helps support us through it. Your purchase goes directly toward keep

10/15/2026

Preorders close Sunday, 10/18!

First, a huge thank you to everyone who’s already ordered. The support to help us get through our closure has been overwhelming. We appreciate you all so much!

If you’ve been meaning to grab an Archipelago team sweatshirt, now’s the time. We’re only making what’s ordered, so there won’t be any extras. We’re sending the final order to our embroidery shop on 10/19, with delivery expected mid-November.

That’s plenty of time for the holidays if you want to gift any.

Preorder link in bio. Know someone who’d love one? Share this with them! Maraming salamat! 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

10/14/2026

Preordering is now open. It will close October 18. We are aiming to get orders out by mid November, more than enough time if you'd like it to be a holiday gift!

A classic crewneck in heather navy, featuring an embroidered Archipelago logo on the front and a screen print of our Archipelago PNW jungle art on the back. FREE SHIPPING Archipelago is closed for renovation, and every sweatshirt helps support us through it. Your purchase goes directly toward keep

10/07/2026

At the Hillman City Block Party, we brought a handful of our team sweatshirts to help clear out the restaurant… and they went fast. Since then, so many of have asked about them that we’re considering making a set in a new color, heather navy, to help support Archipelago through the renovation closure.

Since storage and funds are limited right now, we’ll only make what’s needed. Interested? Fill out the quick form at the link below. No payment yet, we’re just trying to see if there’s enough interest to move forward. If there is, we’ll open preorders and reach out to everyone who signed up.

Form closes 10/12/26

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdgb-M8enPK-zgxEtrFDHNnoeDMTrfjU1z6SvFl2iQThXML5A/viewform?usp=header

10/02/2026

2026 Summer Experience. Our last tasting menu in the space where we started. Big thank you to Chris Roberts Photography for documenting this final week of service 🙏🏽❤️🍻 Swipe through to see not only the oral histories represented, but the stories consumed and carried home with each guest, mind and body.

Though every day is Filipino American History Month at Archipelago, we’re excited to use this year’s pause to join you all out in the community to learn, remember, and celebrate. Happy Filipino American History Month!

Portal to the Pacific

The Cable Layers

Strawberry Queen of Bainbridge

Two Marias

09/25/2026

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.

————

Thank you Chris Roberts Photography for capturing the night.

09/16/2026

“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.

09/08/2026

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.

08/15/2026

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.

08/10/2026

When we chose this stretch of Rainier Ave back in 2017, many didn’t understand why. Some of the early press we received focused in on this as if it were a puzzling choice. But it was never a question for us — it was very clear, our community was here.

To everyone in the South End who has shown up for us — when we opened our doors, through the pandemic and now through this transition — thank you. Getting to finally serve you at the neighborhood block party meant more than you know.

Big thank you to Oli for helping us moving this forward each year, your love and care is felt in all you do. Thank you so much to Daniel for organizing prepping this during the craziness of closing up shop. Thank you to Jon for DJing and to our team for jumping in to lend a hand.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to the Hillman City Neighborhood Association for all that you do for us. It was a beautiful day to reconnect with old friends. In the words of Hillman City “Because together, we’re what’s good.”