First ya gotta like a city that keeps its snow tied up in one place so that the residents may visit it whenever they feel the need. Snow-covered mountains surround the place, and a visitor may go see them at will. But snow is not forced on anyone. Right now, that counts for a lot.
Restaurants cover the place. Most are exceptional. For a foodie, it's a great place to visit. More on the restaurants later.
I was quite surprised by the hills. I believe Seattle is the origin of the joke about a parent telling his child how difficult it was in his day when students walked uphill to school both ways. I guess if I'd thought about the proximity of the mountains, having lived in foothills myself, I'd have figured it out. It just didn't occur to me. That was killer. I didn't really need to discover how out of shape I am while visiting a new city.
The restaurants we chose were mostly fabulous. Our first dinner was at Tulio. I had heard of it, but didn't realize it was on the same block as our hotel. It was fabulous. I had the best duck I have ever put in my mouth. The duck was served with kumquat, obviously a take off of orange, but the kumquat had a more robust, less sweet hit than orange usually does. YUM. We had homemade sausage for appetizers. They were also wonderful. We were both tired, so we passed on dessert.
We next ate at Etta's Seafood. The appetizers were sort of uneventful, but my salad was a work of art. It was a huge plate of frisee and baby greens with apple, bacon, goat cheese,etc. It was so good. I could have eaten a ton of it. My dinner was the special which was black cod and mussels. The mussels were like candy. Very Yummy. My eating companion stuck with Tom Douglas's crab cakes which lived up to the hype. I had a tart for dessert. The rest of the meal overshadowed dessert. I liked it, but I really don't remember much about it.
The surprise find was Palomino. We saw it on the sign for City Centre as we walked back and forth to the convention center. It seemed intriguing. We looked up info on it and decided to give it a shot. It's a very bustling city kind of restaurant. It occupies the third floor of City Centre and looks out over the atrium. We had lovely salads. I had salmon, and my companion had scallops. Both were fabulous. My salmon actually tasted like salmon. The scallops, which seemed like they might be overwhelmed by the sauce and side, held their own quite well thank you. Very good food, very good waiter.
We had two sorta disappointing meals. I'm not sure I'd say they were bad, but they certainly didn't live up to their advance hype or to the other restaurants we ate at. The first was Wild Ginger. We went with a large group (6), so we tasted a lot of dishes there. We ordered spring rolls and pot stickers as appetizers. Very pedestrian. All the main dishes were all right. But nothing stood out or had a memorable taste. We had duck, lamb, chicken, shrimp, scallops, and beef. I wouldn't send anything back, but I wasn't in love with any of the dishes. I had a serviceable panna cotta for dessert, again not awful, but not memorable.
The other disappointment was Matt's at the Market. This was lunch and so we went for soup and sandwiches. Again, not horrible, but very what you would expect soup and sandwiches to be. And since we didn't get a table by the window to look out over the market, it was a wasted trip as far as I was concerned. I had oyster sandwich, which was fresh and nice, but in Seattle that is kind of the given. The soup was butternut squash and pear and a little too sweet. Again, not horrible, but not to die for either. And not worth the premium prices you pay here.
Our quest for coffee and breakfast led us first to the original Starbucks to at least check out the original logo. There are no seats or bathrooms there, so we moved on. Down the street we found Local Color, an art gallery/coffee shop. I had a croissant and the prettiest cup of coffee I'd ever seen. I hated to mess it up. But I perservered. It was very well done.
We toured the market and rode the monorail. That trip is fun and worth the 4 bucks it costs you. Experience Music is not. 15 dollars for one to see old concert tape and Jimi Hendrix's guitar is way over the top. It is nice to go out to the Space Needle since you can see it from everywhere. We did not spend another 30 dollars for 2 to ride the elevator to the top.
We visited the Mystery Bookstore while we were there. Very large selection in a small space. Lots and lots of autographed books. The clerks are fabulous, and we enjoyed this place a lot. If you read mystery books, check this place out.
One thing I consistently disliked about Seattle was its overly aggressive panhandlers. I was sick of them after our walks around, but I was particularly annoyed by one who cursed us for not giving him a quarter. I'm not used to being assaulted for money, and we call that extortion in some places. I'm not under an obligation to give you money because you ask for it. New York leaps to mind as a place where I didn't feel nearly as put upon as Seattle. And I'm more likely to respond positively to less aggressive and abusive treatment.
Our actual reason for being in Seattle was the Northwest Flower and Garden Show. It was such a beautiful display. The gardens were inventive and gorgeous. I loved the container gardens which lined the connecting spaces. Food and places to sit were abundant. It was easy to come and go with a hand stamp. Very nicely done.
Overall, a nice city. Very pedestrian friendly because crosswalks are respected by the drivers here (a nice change from anywhere else I can think of). I'd go there again.
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