Acting Like A Tourist

[lemony]

i had some friends in town from l.a. last weekend and had the pleasure of shopping, poking around neighborhoods i often ignore, and eating a tremendous amount of good food. as a longtime resident of seattle, i often get tired of the "same old choices" but being able to see them through the eyes of a non-resident was a real treat.

a brief re-cap of the places we went:

-matt's in the market: lunch. catfish sandwich, of course. still one of my all time faves.

- kingfish: dinner. had the mac & cheese for the first time ever. still swooning.

-dahlia lounge: dinner. a meat lover's paradise on our table that night (duck, steak, lamb). couldn't resist the doughnuts, which our server brought us to try (at no charge) after hemming and hawing over dessert. TOM DOUGLAS FOR MAYOR.

-macrina bakery: breakfast. that french toast should be illegal.

- viceory: drinks. it may be a bit sweet but i still love the seersucker.

-garage: bowling & snacks. they also make a hell of a bloody mary.

-mirabeau room: drinks. fantastic lemon drop.

the only stinker of a meal was the burger at red robin out by the airport, but i knew what we were getting into. anyone have a similar campaign of eating they would like to share?

lemony

[elswinger]

I would recommend going back to The Garage and getting a burger or pizza. It's been awhile since I've been, but I've never had a bad meal there.

Yesterday I went to Saito's for the first time based on a thread on this board and was very impressed.

A few weeks ago I found myself downtown in the a.m. after an early doctor's appointment and wanted breakfast so I wound up at the Sheraton. It was expensive but they make a pretty good waffle.

[birder53]

This is great! I'll be heading out to Seattle next week - first trip to the PNW. Four days will be spent on the Olympic Penninsula then four in Seattle. We're staying at the Marriott in Seattle and hope to really get a feel of the city and it's awesome surroundings. The Zig Zag Cafe is on the list for cocktails, Matt's sounds like a must and anything run by Tom Douglas will be a winner. I've even decided to taste salmon and oysters which I don't like, but maybe it tastes better in Seattle. We will see. Any other suggestions?

Big question - how to pack/dress?? Will turtlenecks be a good idea? I've got the goretex - just not sure of the temperature ranges.

[elswinger]

The weather in Seattle is very unpredictable. Right now they are saying sunny and warm for the next week, but tomorrow they could say “Oops, it’s going to snow.” (Slight exaggeration.) The Olympic Peninsula will be a bit colder and wetter than Puget Sound so I would recommend sweaters and a light weight water proof jacket, which you’ve got covered. No matter what the weather, the range should be between mid 50’s and mid 70’s.

There are many good places for oysters and salmon in Seattle, I guess it depends on what atmosphere you want. Personally I like the Brooklyn and Waterfront if you are only going to be in the downtown/Seattle Center area, or if you get slightly out of town, go up to Ray’s Boathouse in Shilshole/Ballard.

[tighe]

I've even decided to taste salmon and oysters which I don't like, but maybe it tastes better in Seattle.  We will see.  Any other suggestions?

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For salmon and oyster (crab too), definitely Elliott's on the waterfront.

[kiliki]

It's been nippy in the mountains-there's been snowfall already-so if you're heading up to Hurricane Ridge (and if you are not, you should) in the Olympics dress warm. Also, the dampness makes it feel a lot colder than it is, so if you're heading to the coast/rainforest, also dress warm.

Salmon IS better here.

[kayswv]

Birder 53, where are you going in the Olympics? Perhaps we can guide you to some good places there. Kay

[birder53]

Birder 53, where are you going in the Olympics? Perhaps we can guide you to some good places there. Kay

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We're spending Saturday night at Paradise Lodge at Mt. Ranier. Sunday we head to Lake Quinault lodge, Monday we at Crystal Lake lodge and Sunday at a Best Western in Port Angeles. We plan to get to Ruby Beach, Hoh Rainforest, Hurricane Ridge and Dungeness Spit. All suggestions are gratefully accepted.

[birder53]

It's been nippy in the mountains-there's been snowfall already-so if you're heading up to Hurricane Ridge (and if you are not, you should) in the Olympics dress warm. Also, the dampness makes it feel a lot colder than it is, so if you're heading to the coast/rainforest, also dress warm.

Salmon IS better here.

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Snow! I hope we can get by by layering light clothing along with the gortex outerwear. We weren't planning to bring down jackets along.

[kiliki]

This week's forecast looks great, even for the mountains, so you'll be fine.

[mb7o]

Snow!   I hope we can get by by layering light clothing along with the gortex outerwear.  We weren't planning to bring down jackets along.

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Paradise is at 5400 feet or so, so yes, there's a chance of snow there. But the current forecast is sunny and warm, and the snow from a week ago has all melted. Layers will be fine, even if it snows it won't be truly cold. (forecast)

I see you're up for a driving vacation... don't know the best places to hit along your route, but the food in the Quinault lodge is what you'd expect of a place run by ARAMark. There are a few other restaurants in the area, perhaps one is better (the Salmon House up the road perhaps). The rainforest at Quinault is quite nice and has very nice easy trails and also access to difficult ones. Given you'll be in Quinault, I'd skip the Hoh and go to Cape Flattery instead.

Edited September 28, 2004 by mb7o (log)

[birder53]

I see you're up for a driving vacation... don't know the best places to hit along your route, but the food in the Quinault lodge is what you'd expect of a place run by ARAMark. There are a few other restaurants in the area, perhaps one is better (the Salmon House up the road perhaps). The rainforest at Quinault is quite nice and has very nice easy trails and also access to difficult ones. Given you'll be in Quinault, I'd skip the Hoh and go to Cape Flattery instead.

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[birder53]

- viceory: drinks.  it may be a bit sweet but i still love the seersucker.

lemony

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Okay, what is the seersucker??

[lala]

We're spending Saturday night at Paradise Lodge at Mt. Ranier.  Sunday we head to Lake Quinault lodge, Monday we at Crystal Lake lodge and Sunday at a Best Western in Port Angeles.  We plan to get to Ruby Beach, Hoh Rainforest, Hurricane Ridge and Dungeness Spit.  All suggestions are gratefully accepted.

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Crystal lake Lodge? Where is that? Or do you mean Lake Crescent Lodge?

[kayswv]

Birder 53, when you get to Port Angeles there are two excellent restaurants ( in our opinion)-very different in style and type of food.

Downtown on N. Lincoln St. very near to the ferry to BC is Thai Peppers Restaurant. Casual.

4 miles east of PA on Hwy 101 is C'est Si Bon, a french restaurant open for dinner only. http://www.c'estsibon-frenchcuisine.com . Dresser but still "nice casual" would be comfortable. Romantic atmosphere as well as great food.

Hope you enjoy your time in the area. We live in Port Ludlow, about an hour away from PA. If you have time for a visit to Port Townsend on the way to Seattle, highly recommend Silverwater Cafe for lunch or dinner, Wild Coho (dinner only), Ajax Cafe in Port Hadlock (dinner only). For a very casual diner type place but with good food try the Chimacum Cafe on Rt. 19 in Chimacum on way into Port Townsend. Known far and wide for their pies. Prices are very reasonable and servings huge. Have fun. Kay

When you go to the Dungeness Spit don't bother going to the 3 Crabs Restaurant. Overpriced and not very good. Touristy. IMHO.

Edited September 28, 2004 by kayswv (log)

[mb7o]

What is at Cape Flattery?

Cape Flattery is the northwesternmost point of the continental US, and is a spectacular setting.

[birder53]

I'm not back in NJ even 24 hours yet and I miss Seattle! We had a wonderful trip and ate pretty well thanks to the recommendations of the PNX forum. We landed in Seattle on October 2 to great views of Mt. Baker, Mt. Ranier and that feisty Mt. St. Helens. We drove straight to Mt. Ranier and stayed at the Paradise Inn. The hiking at the mountain was terrific and the clear weather provided great views of all the wonderful scenery. Dinner at the inn was okay, but we didn't expect too much to begin with. The next night was at the Lake Quinnault Lodge, quite nice, and I had my first taste of salmon at The Salmon House. The weather was wonderful so we enjoyed drinks on their deck before dinner. Both the smoked and blackened salmon were wonderful. I find east coast salmon to be very oily with a distinctive taste I do not enjoy. I'm very glad I decided to give salmon another try on this trip. Breakfast at the lodge was good but I can't remember the details anymore.

The Crescent Lake Lodge was lovely. Great bar in the beautiful lobby, where we had drinks before dinner. The dining room is lit like a breakfast joint, which took away from the ambience, but my halibut was very good and hubby enjoyed his smoked salmon.

The next night was in Port Angeles where we ate at Thai Peppers. Service was excellent and we enjoyed two specials of Dungeness crab fried rice and a scallop dish after starting with an appetizer of sauteed squid. The ginger ice cream was excellent and is from a small ice cream shop in Port Townsend.

On to Seattle, well almost. We stopped for lunch in Townsend. We ended up in Water Street Brewing on a corner of the main drag. The bar is awesome! It is a huge carved monster that absolutely owns the room. We ate outside at the back of the place (take advantage of nice weather when you find it )and enjoyed burgers and a grilled veggie sandwich, huge onion rings and fabulous french fries that must have been dredged before frying. Good selection of beers too. Our waitress had a great shirt that said "Save the Ales". We tried to get something to remember the name of the place, matches or the like, but they haven't been open long enough to get that kind of stuff in. The bar looked like a great place for a drink, if the sun wasn't beckoning us to sit outside.

Okay, Seattle. We arrived by the 6:30 PM ferry from Bainbridge Island. Beautiful views of the area with the last hints of sun and the lights of the city taking over. We headed to Flying Fish for our first meal. Dinner began with a glass of pleasant bubbly. Appetizers were a fabulous foie gras with candied apples and Halibut for the entree. Their selection of white wines by the glass included a very nice Austrian vetliner. No room for dessert, which happened most evenings.

Next, big mistake. Our waiter at Flying Fish asked what other restaurants we had on our list. He said to avoid Elliots in favor of Chandler's Crab House. He agreed with most of our other choices. So, we went to Chandler's. It wasn't bad, but it had not personality. We had a 1/2 dozen oysters and dungeness crab leg cocktail to start. These were my second attempt at raw oysters, first on the west coast, and they were wonderful. The crab was sweet as can be. Dinner was halibut cheeks and we forgot hubby's choice. (He is not very good about remembering these things!) The food was well prepared, our waitress was pleasant, the view of the lake was lovely, but we were tucked away in a booth far from a view of the room that would give us the feeling of being someplace different.

More, and the best, to follow!

[birder53]

Seattle, continued... We headed to the Pike Place Market the next morning. What a fun place! All that great energy, color and aromas. The flower stands were loaded with dahlias of every imaginable color. I cried to see such lovely produce that I could not take home with me. I was horrified to see a real monk fish - what a nightmarish thing that is. I envied those who can buy halibut for $7.99 a pound while I pay $17 - $19 in NJ! After taking in the sights we went to Matts in the Market for lunch. We were able to snag two seats at the bar after only a 10 minute wait on a Thursday afternoon. Catfish and pulled pork sandwiches were fabulous. It's amazing to watch the young woman doing all the cooking on just two burners in that tiny place. It's a wonder that anyone thought of putting a restaurant in that spot. The counter sits about 8 and the 8 or so tables can handle about 20 more. Service was friendly and the banter at the counter was very entertaining.

We spent most of Friday at the Museum of Flight. Their new building dedicated to WWI and WWII was amazing! Lunch in their cafe was forgettable. But we made up for it soon after. We headed to the Zig Zag Cafe in search of an Aviation cocktail. We found that and much more! The drink list was impressive. We didn't know where to start, except by announcing we heard that they made Aviations and we had come from NJ to try them. Our hosts, owners Ben and Kacy and super star bartender Murray Stenson took good care of us. In addition to fabulous drinks they steered us back to Elliot's the following night. (More later) We had an Aviation, Brandy Crusta, Trident, Last Word and a bit of gin sampling to boot. We had dinner reservations at Dahlia Lounge, so we left but promised to return the next night.

Dinner at Dahlia Lounge was excellent. We started with smoked salmon and crab. Entrees were lamb and dungeness crab cakes. Service was excellent.

Saturday, last day in Seattle started with early brunch at Cafe Campagna. Good coffee, especially the Americano, outrageous french toast, fruit and chicken sausage, an herb omelette filled with gruyere. Lunch was a quick stop at a coffee house in Magnolia. 5:00 PM - We headed to Elliot's for oysters. We sat at the oyster bar and David introduced himself as our shucker. After explaining that I had just discovered oysters, we asked him to pick a dozen for us. He shucked a few kushis and kumamotos for us and we were putty in his hands. It was great to have him describe each oyster and guide us through the many kinds they had available. Since we also came for crab, we had a dungeness crab claw sushi roll, crab cakes and several crab claws that David cracked for us. We ordered another 1/2 dozen oysters for good measure. They serve the oysters with a wonderful "sorbet" of champagne, mirin, wasabi and, maybe, a bit of soy. It was very refreshing and didn't overpower the sweet oysters. It seemed almost a sin to put anything on them but a sqeeze of fresh lemon.

We left Elliot's and headed to Zig Zag for drinks and dinner. We were greated by Kacy at the bar and then by Seattle's own Drinkboy, Robert Hess! Since we found out about Zig Zag via Robert's site, it was pretty wild for him to be there and know who we were. (Kacy just shrugged his shoulders when we asked how Robert managed to show up.) Murray was off that night - our great loss - but Eamon and Kacy, along with Robert, kept things rolling along. We did finally remember to eat something - wonderful sauteed calamari with kalamata olives, garlic, tomato and lemon and a spicy pasta dish with sausage. We must try their Martini Steak Sandwich when we get back to Seattle. Zig Zag was very busy that evening. The bar was filled with people serious about their cocktails. Drinks that evening included Pegu, McKoy, Last Word, an Old Fashioned (in honor or Robert), another Brandy Crusta, Absinthe (flamed sugar cube over the glass, doused with water to fall into the lovely green liquor) a taste of strega and chartreuse! We were able to make our way safely back to our hotel and get up in the morning to make our flight.

It was a wonderful vacation and there is so much more to see and do in Washington state. I can't wait for my return trip!

[little ms foodie]

I'm so glad you enjoyed your Seattle trip so much! You sound so enthusiastic, I love that!!!

Murray is definately a staple to Seattle cocktails. He use to serve quite a few of us at Il Bistro under the market years ago and still has a following now at Zig Zag!

It sounds like you really did Seattle proud!!! Great job

[birder53]

I guess I should add that we did hike Mt. Ranier (not to the top!), Ruby Beach, the trail to Maryville Falls, the Hoh Rainforest, Hurricane Ridge (in the rain, fog and wind!), a bit of Dungeness Spit and the loop trail at Discovery Park to see the lighthouse. We went to the locks and saw some sailboats come through and watched the salmon in the fish ladder. We have to return in better weather to see the Olympic Mountains from Hurricane Ridge again. The Olympic Penninsula is magnificent! It wasn't all food and drink, but it's hard to beat the great crab, oysters, salmon and cocktails you folks have right at your front door.

[ScorchedPalate]

Birder53:

Glad you made it to some of our favorite places!

Thanks for posting the recipe for The Last Word. Ms. Ramsey and LEdlund and I tried one of these a few weeks ago, and it was really interesting and tasty (as all of Murray's concoctions are...)

~Anita

[chefpeon]

We stopped for lunch in Townsend. We ended up in Water Street Brewing on a corner of the main drag. The bar is awesome! It is a huge carved monster that absolutely owns the room. We ate outside at the back of the place (take advantage of nice weather when you find it )and enjoyed burgers and a grilled veggie sandwich, huge onion rings and fabulous french fries that must have been dredged before frying. Good selection of beers too. Our waitress had a great shirt that said "Save the Ales". We tried to get something to remember the name of the place, matches or the like, but they haven't been open long enough to get that kind of stuff in. The bar looked like a great place for a drink, if the sun wasn't beckoning us to sit outside.

Glad you made it up here to Port Townsend. You're right.....Water Street Brewing hasn't been

open that long.....it was formerly the Town Tavern, and the backdrop for the bar fight scene in

"An Officer and a Gentleman". You sat on a movie set and you didn't even know it.

It's too bad I read this thread after you'd come and gone.......I would have recommended that you go to the Tyler Street Coffee House for great espresso, soup and pastries! It's the most popular coffee house in PT.

Glad you enjoyed your vacation!

Cheers!

[birder53]

Glad you made it up here to Port Townsend. You're right.....Water Street Brewing hasn't been

open that long.....it was formerly the Town Tavern, and the backdrop for the bar fight scene in

"An Officer and a Gentleman". You sat on a movie set and you didn't even know it.

It's too bad I read this thread after you'd come and gone.......I would have recommended that you go to the Tyler Street Coffee House for great espresso, soup and pastries! It's the most popular coffee house in PT.

Glad you enjoyed your vacation!

Cheers!

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Wow! I'll have to check out that movie the next time I see it on TV and look for the bar. We really did a quick hit and run in PT and didn't even get a chance to stroll the neighborhood. We didn't even have enough time to find the recommended Silverwater Cafe, but we enjoyed our lunch just the same. I'll keep the Tyler Street Coffee House on my list for a future visit. Thanks!

[malarkey]

Great report Kathy, glad you have such a great time here!