10 day trip to Seattle in July

[amccomb]

Hello!

We are taking a 10 day trip to Seattle to visit friends this summer. We have a three-year-old, as do our friends, but we would love to eat some great food while we are out and about. Obviously, we don't want to disrupt other diners, so kid friendly places that are also tasty for adults would be great!

We love all sorts of cuisine - pretty much any ethnicity, greasy dives, fresh and local, and fine dining (although we'll probably save our fine dining for our one child-free night out - open for suggestions on that, as well!).

Can you point us to some ideas?

We would also just love some fun and unique ideas, in general. Ice cream, donuts, little goodies like that. Cocktail places and something really special for our night out. Anything you enjoy that you would want to show your friends!

In fact, our friends have just moved there, so being able to show them some awesome local options would really be wonderful.

We've been to Seattle in the past and done Lark and Licorous - both wonderful!

We had Top Pot donuts (which I insist we get again) and pho at a few places as well, as well as Lunchbox Laboratory, which was fun.

We wanted to go to Matt's in the Market last time, but they were full, and Salumi, but they were closed. Are they still around, and would you still recommend them?

[amccomb]

nuthin'?

[pastrygirl]

Where will you be staying? Will you have a car?

I can't speak to the child issue, but recently I've had great food at Bar del Corso on Beacon Hill (wood oven pizza and small plates), Walrus & Carpenter in Ballard (oysters/fish, small plates), Restaurant Zoe on Capitol Hill (new american). If you are into sushi I highly recommend Mashiko in West Seattle. Had a good but not amazing dinner at Staple & Fancy in Ballard (Italian). Best bakeries in town are Cafe Besalu, Honore, (both Ballard), Bakery Nouveau (w. Sea), Columbia City Bakery, and Fuji Bakery (international district). Chowhound has a much more active local board than eG, you might want to check recent reports there.

[SylviaLovegren]

Well, these are old-timey but still good, I think, and fun for kids. Ivars Acres of Clams down at the waterfront is a real tradition. Get some good fried clams (or other fish) and chips, sit on the dock and feed yourself and the gulls. You can find plenty of cheesy touristy waterfront things to do while there -- and I highly recommend the Seattle Aquarium, which is easy walking distance from Ivars'.

And then there's Dick's Drive-In burger joints. The original Dick's (near Elliott Bay) is still there, but they're all over town now. Excellent old-fashioned burgers and delicious shakes. Here's the website: http://www.ddir.com/ People may try to entice you to the Red Robin for burgers but unless it's the original one at the foot of Capitol Hill, they're not particularly good anymore.

Also look for donut shops or bakeries to get maple bars -- a long baton-shaped donut with creamy maple frosting. Yummy and a northwest tradition.

I'll ask family for recommendations for more fancy places and report back.

[SylviaLovegren]

OK, my niece who lives in Seattle came through big time. I'll just copy and paste what she sent me. Take it away, Curtis:

There are so many places outside of downtown that I can think of but if they are staying in the downtown area I would say the Tom Douglas restaurants are all really good. They are a bit pricey, but the quality and service makes up for it. The kid freindly places are both Serious Pie locations (pizza), but they can be crowded. Seatown in the Pike Place Market, they are open for dinner but also serve breakfast till 3 which would keep younger kids happy. Serious Biscuit in the South Lake Union area is great for kids. And Ting Momo has great noodle dishes. His other restaurants are more adult oriented but Dahlia Lounge is a good place if they want to have a fancy dinner.

Also the Virginia Inn at the Market is great for lunch (kids). Dinner more of a loud bar crowd. Pink Door is also great for lunch but dinner maybe not with kids. Il Fornio is great for the whole family. It is up at Pacific Place. And Lecosho at the Harbor Steps is a great place. The staff is nice and if called in advance could tell them if the menu has somthing good for kids. They serve lunch and dinner.

If they want to roam the city...Northhill Bakery (Cap Hill 15th). All Cupcake Royale locations (Cap Hill, Madrona, Downtown). Hi Five Pie (Cap Hill – savory and sweet). Skillet Diner (Cap Hill – casual, great, but crowded). La Spiga (Cap Hill - Italian – fancy). Oddfellows (Cap Hill –fancyish-but not good for brunch or lunch if kid is tired, dinner the seating is odd but they have mac and cheese and take reservations. My favorite place). Elliot Bay Books Café (Cap Hill). Essential Baking Co (Madison Valley – casual), Café Flora (Madison Valley – Vegetarian, great for kids, fancyish for dinner, weekend brunch and weekday lunch casual), Hi Spot (Madronna – breakfast & lunch only, causal, highly recommend but long wait), St Clouds (Madrona – fancyish - very kid friendly, sometimes they have choco chip pancakes and kid friendly dinner menu. Probably the best nicer restaurant in Seattle to take kids). Café Lago (Montlake, fancyish). Ivar’s Salmon House of course. Cloud City Coffee (Roosevelt). Ten Mercer (lower Queen Anne-fancy), Betty or Crow (upper or lower Queen Anne – fancy), Both Chaco Canyon locations (U Dist and West Seattle – hippie food but really good), West Five (West Seattle – casual with great historic Seattle kitsch all over), Hangar Café (Georgetown-casual break and lunch only), American Pie (Georgetown – savory and sweet and really good), Lottie’s Lounge (Columbia City – not too casual), Julia’s (Wallingford, Issaquah, Cap Hill, casual, they also have a great dinner drag show on Cap Hill but I don’t know if kids can go).

[SylviaLovegren]

And, not to shut up here , but two more fun places that I know myself. The first is a great and unusual trip for kids anyway, to visit the locks (Hiram Chittenden Locks, to be exact) where they raise and lower the water level and boats passing from the lakes to the Puget Sound. There are fish ladders, big boats maneuvering, water doing stuff, very cool to visit. There's also a very good fish and chips place there, the Lockspot Cafe. Best fresh halibut I've ever had.

Another fun fish and chips place, and very old Seattle, is out at Alki Beach, which is also a nice beach to visit in West Seattle -- Spud Fish and Chips, 2666 Alki Ave SW.

[mukki]

I was in Seattle not too long ago.

Highlights:

Dahlia Bakery: English muffin sandwich, doughnuts with huckleberry compote and mascarpone cream, chocolate pecan cream cookies (looking forward to their cookbook this fall so I can make these at home)

Salumi: porchetta sandwich is delicious. Long line unless you get there before 11AM opening time.

Spinasse: excellent pasta dishes (dinner only)

Elliott Bay Books: if you love bookstores, make sure to stop here!

[SylviaLovegren]

Here's another friend who lives near Elliott Bay (the water, not the restaurant/book store!):

Etta's is in the Public Market and great for fish and sit in a booth and get the coconut pie also. Red Mill for burgers on Phinney Ridge. Piecora for pizza close to the Seattle

University. Monsoon, asian and local ingredients, really good on 19th on Capitol Hill across the street from Kingfish a place owned by black sisters with southern/soul food and no reservations, and kids can't be in big room where they have alcohol, so check out times and come in right when it opens so you can sit at a front table, gets

too hot and uncomfortable in the back. Great family photos and go check out the bathroom ! At night the trout and chicken is good and soup whenever and known for huge pieces

of cake and other big desserts. Tamarind Tree is a thai place in a funky mall at edge of chinatown. Dim sum in Chinatown. Lola's downtown is Greek and terribly busy right

at lunch and dinner so go a little off hours.

I'm ready to come visit now, too!

[Judy Wilson]

Well, I can't speak for the rest of the MC team, but I can give you some personal recommendations:

If you've already tried Lunchbox, try Red Mill for burgers. Tom Douglas just did a post for Serious Eats about his favorite burger joints in town (http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2012/04/burger-city-guides-tom-douglas-five-favorite-burgers-in-seattle-wa.html) but many places use his buns, so he might be biased.

I second Ivar's just because it is so very, very kid friendly.

If you like pho' the best in town is at Pho' Ba (cash only) in the International District, right across from Jade Garden, which has the best Dim Sum in town (but get there early as it can be a wait otherwise). For family-style Chinese, go to Kau Kau.

For more breakfasts, get crumpets at The Crumpet Shop (on 1st & Pike right by the market); try 5 Spot in Queen Anne, which has a different menu theme every couple of months as well as their stand-bys; and if you want to splurge on brunch, go to Salty's on Alki on West Seattle for basically all-you-can-eat seafood.

Top Pot is great, but you might try switching it up and going to Mighty O instead. They are vegan donuts and you can't tell the difference (at least I can't). It's close to the part of Green Lake where there's a big playground, so that's another plus.

I haven't been to Canlis since they've become more Modernist, but hear it's worthwhile if you want a fancy, no-kids kind of restaurant. I also just had the tasting menu at Spur, which was a lot of fun. On the much cheaper side for a nice romantic dinner is Machiavelli.

For cocktails, go to ZigZag, or, where the former head bartender of ZigZag now is, Canon. If you go to Canon, get the cocktail where basically you just tell them the liquor you want and they make you something fantastic. Actually, you can do that at ZigZag, too, it's just not featured on the menu.

One of our R&D chefs used to be the executive chef at Monsoon, and back in the 90's NathanM staged at Rover's. Off the top of my head, we've had chefs stage with us for our Lab Dinner events from Crush and Zoe.

If you are interested in farmers' markets besides the obvious Pike Place, we get quite a bit of our produce from the one in the U District, which is held every Saturday until 1 PM.

I hope that gives you a few ideas!

[LEdlund]

Here's another friend who lives near Elliott Bay (the water, not the restaurant/book store!):

Etta's is in the Public Market and great for fish and sit in a booth and get the coconut pie also. Red Mill for burgers on Phinney Ridge. Piecora for pizza close to the Seattle

University. Monsoon, asian and local ingredients, really good on 19th on Capitol Hill across the street from Kingfish a place owned by black sisters with southern/soul food and no reservations, and kids can't be in big room where they have alcohol, so check out times and come in right when it opens so you can sit at a front table, gets

too hot and uncomfortable in the back. Great family photos and go check out the bathroom ! At night the trout and chicken is good and soup whenever and known for huge pieces

of cake and other big desserts. Tamarind Tree is a thai place in a funky mall at edge of chinatown. Dim sum in Chinatown. Lola's downtown is Greek and terribly busy right

at lunch and dinner so go a little off hours.

I'm ready to come visit now, too!

A correction to the above - Tamarind Tree is Vietnamese, not Thai.