Foods of Seattle

I recently took a trip to Seattle with my wife and Brother-in-law to see the Progressive Nation 2008 tour and interview the band Opeth. We went a day early and stayed a few days after, so we got the opportunity to sample the many culinary delights of the rainy city.

While wandering the downtown area on foot (don't drive in Seattle - seriously. I spent about an hour attempting to drive there and after realizing that it was actually the worst experience of my life I vowed to never do it again) after checking into our hotel we found ourselves in a quaint little English style pub and restaurant called Elephant and Castle, which has great atmosphere and decor. The restaurant section is setup to look like a den or reading room, complete with bookshelves and soft lighting. We indulged in Guinness straight from the tap, which is much better than from the bottle (it's all about the thick foam head!), and had traditional English pub fare. I had a chicken breast cooked in a cream sauce with Jameson whiskey, and it was delicious.

Seafood is king in Seattle, and nearly every restaurant has some sort of fresh seafood entry, if not an entire section of the menu devoted to it. Lowell's Restaurant in the famous Pike Place Market has an awesome Dungeness Crab cocktail and a pretty good calamari steak appetizer. The view from the second story lounge really rounds out the experience, as you can watch ships in the bay while munching on fish.

Pike Place Market is like a giant restaurant all it's own, not even counting the actual restaurants in it. Almost every other store has some kind of fresh produce, candy, seafood, pasta, or baked goods for sale. The "Very French Bakery", just a few stores down from the original Starbucks, has some to-die-for Brioche that's perfect for eating while exploring the Market.

Not too far from the Market is a famous sushi restaurant called Sushi Kyo. Fans of sushi should definitely try this place, as it's absolutely great! I had the Scorpion Roll, which had deep fried salmon, something that is an oddity in sushi. The rolls themselves were huge and there were plenty of them for a decent price.

Even the take out places are exceptional. Most hotels there have brochures for restaurants that deliver to as late as four in the morning for travelers getting back in late. We tried two different pizza places that also had pasta and calzones, and we were not disappointed!