Really? No other threads about Seattle in the Lounge?

Anyway, I'm heading out there in July and as a bridesmaid I have been tasked with finding a delicious place for Saturday brunch. Any suggestions? I've been told International District, Queen Anne, Discovery Park, Bellevue, Pike Place, Mercer Island, and Uni District are all fair game.

5/9/2012 9:29:37 PM

[Edited on May 9, 2012 at 9:46 PM. Reason : too big - twss]

5/9/2012 9:44:10 PM

The best dinner I've had in my entire life was at a place called Elemental

http://www.elementalatgasworks.com

[Edited on May 9, 2012 at 11:04 PM. Reason : they aren't open for brunch, but fuck it, who cares? ]

5/9/2012 11:02:09 PM

i'm actually thinking about going at the beginning of october but havent done a ton of research other than just checking out the light rail lines and figuring out how to get around. i hope you get some good suggestions cause i could use some ideas too.

5/10/2012 12:20:35 AM

The rotating Space Needle restaurant has the biggest gear ratio in the world.

5/10/2012 12:51:17 AM

^^ Every time I go one of my friends brings me to this kick ass amazing sushi restaurant. I will ask him the name of it.

5/10/2012 9:13:29 AM

?topic=612593

[Edited on May 10, 2012 at 9:33 AM. Reason : chit chat but there is some useful info in there]

5/10/2012 9:33:33 AM

Steelhead Diner in Pike Place

http://www.steelheaddiner.com/menu.htm

Best meal we had in Seattle. We ate there twice.

[Edited on May 10, 2012 at 11:50 AM. Reason : f]

5/10/2012 11:49:19 AM

I went to Seattle last summer, you can read my travel blog post about it at http://mikeallover.travellerspoint.com/100/

5/10/2012 12:14:21 PM

No idea how their brunch is, but we had some great seafood here when the wife and I went in March:

http://www.elliottsoysterhouse.com/

5/10/2012 12:31:16 PM

Pesos in Queen Anne Hill had amazing breakfast. Most locals would agree.

5/10/2012 3:07:44 PM

Seriously though, you're a sucker if you eat at a seafood place on the Piers. They are okay, but they are ridiculously expensive and there are SO many better places to eat in the city.

Outside of Alaskan salmon when it's in season (for 6-7 weeks a year), and crab when it's in season (2-3 months), Seattle isn't really a seafood city, and pretty much everything you eat at a seafood restaurant comes from the Atlantic or Gulf Coast.

My biggest piece of advice: USE YELP. There are so many tourist trap restaurants and bars that are garbage, but often they sit right next door to some of the best gems in the city.

Seriously, go on Yelp, and just peruse through the top 20-30 rated restaurants. There is a huge variety of cuisine, price, location, atmosphere just in that list.

Seriously, this link
http://www.yelp.com/search?cflt=restaurants&find_desc=&find_loc=Seattle%2C+WA

Is all you need for food in Seattle.

5/10/2012 4:36:10 PM

^ Yes, why ask for personal recommendations on brunch when I can just use Yelp I'll make sure to direct people to Yelp every time they ask for restaurant recommendations in the Triangle from now on.

5/10/2012 4:46:08 PM

5/10/2012 4:50:54 PM

^^because asking for recommendations from strangers on tdub is different than reading recommendations from strangers on yelp?

and when I went to Seattle to visit Noen, we went to some place for brunch that had an amazing dungeness crab eggs benedict - I don't remember the name, maybe he will

[Edited on May 10, 2012 at 4:55 PM. Reason : bawls]

5/10/2012 4:52:35 PM

And to the OP's question about Saturday Brunch.

These are the best damn places for brunch in the city:

Salty's On Alki Beach (Seafood, buffet style) - Alki Beach/west seattle
Toulouse Petit (Louisiana, mid-range price) - Lower Queen Anne
Peso's (Tex-mex, mid-range price, LOUD) - right next door in Lower Queen Anne
5 Spot (Americana, mid-range price) - Upper Queen Anne
Beth's Cafe (Old greasy spoon diner, cheap as hell) - Green Lake
Chinooks (seafood, mid range) - Fisherman's Terminal Ballard/Interbay
Bay Cafe (americana diner, fairly cheap) - Right next door to Chinooks

Quote :

"^ Yes, why ask for personal recommendations on brunch when I can just use Yelp I'll make sure to direct people to Yelp every time they ask for restaurant recommendations in the Triangle from now on."

Because after living here for 4.5 years, and going to hundreds of restaurants around the city based on personal recommendations and yelp, and tons of other sources, I can 100% say that yelp is BY FAR the best way to find a great place to eat.

And you realize that Yelp ratings ARE all personal recommendations, right?

^That was Pesos

[Edited on May 10, 2012 at 4:56 PM. Reason : .]

5/10/2012 4:54:54 PM

Quote :

"^^because asking for recommendations from strangers on tdub is different than reading recommendations from strangers on yelp? "

I trust you guys more

5/10/2012 4:56:39 PM

Honestly go to the main market where the original starbucks is and walk around trying out all of the farmers market samples. fresh donuts, fresh milk all sorts of things. theres a restaurant on the water but walking through the open air market is a great experience.

5/10/2012 5:12:22 PM

great vague suggestion there

have you ever even been to Seattle?

5/10/2012 5:22:29 PM

It is too bad you are not a dude, as all the women in Seattle are easy and whores.

5/10/2012 5:48:12 PM

^^vague? The market is relatively small and a great experience just walking around eating stuff. Yes I've been to Seattle three times and that is the best thing about it. Capitol hill is pretty cool.

5/11/2012 1:02:45 AM

Does anyone have updates for Seattle recommendations? I'm going to be there with my girlfriend next week. Arrive late on the 26th and leave midday on the 2nd. Mostly want food recommendations but any site/event recommendations will be noted. The only thing I'm dead-set on is the EMP museum and the obvious market destinations. Not sure about the Space Needle observation deck yet. We're staying in a Homewood Suites next to the convention center.

2/23/2014 1:24:52 PM

Funny to read this again after living in seattle for over a year.

Space needle is worth it because its not just going up seeing another city from high, seattle has an awesome natural scene and the wind and birds up there can get gnarly.

Theres lots of good food around but MAKE SURE you got to BISCUIT BITCH early and often in your trip.
http://biscuitbitch.com/

2/23/2014 2:10:55 PM

^Agree Space Needle is absolutely worth the price to do once. If you eat at the restaurant, it's free to go up (but restaurant is expensive). Food there is really good though and worth it for a sunset dinner.

If you're going to be staying downtown, there's an amazing number of place to eat for your 6 days in town. We recently went to Place Pigalle in the Pike Market, fucking amazing (but can be a little hard to find it).

Beecher's (Cheeeese) is great for a lunch snack. Mac and cheese, but get the small size.
Pink Door (italian) is what Italian food should be, rich but not disgusting, no monster pasta portions.
Boat Street Cafe (french) - Really really good unpretentious french food, fairly expensive.
Paseo's (Cuban) has literally the best Cuban sandwich you will have in your life. Go for lunch, be prepared to wait. The lunch line is often 40-50 people deep.
Spinasse - Little pretentious, small plates, expensive, but fuck its good
Duk Li Dim Sum - Bring cash, don't be put off that no one can speak English.
Purple Cafe - Incredible Wine Bar, perfect for a drink-heavy dinner. You can spend 30 or 300 here and have a great time.
Umi Sake House - Sushi and Sake done right.

Those are the places downtown that I've been to personally and highly recommend. You should absolutely try to eat at a Pho restaurant (I recommend Pho Big Bowl in Ballard), a Mexican food truck (El Camion in North Seattle, or their new retail location at 15th & 65th). Use Yelp to find a food truck if you need to. Find a way to get a meal from this guy http://jemilsbigeasy.com/index.html. Find a place to get Korean BBQ.

There are another 50 or 60 restaurants in Seattle proper that are universally acclaimed and I just haven't eaten at yet, but a lot of them are super expensive and pretty pretentious. I have a lot of personal favorite places (like Bimbo Burritos - get the stoner nachos, Tin Hat, The Viking, Thaiku, Ezell's Chicken, Catfish Corner and others) but they aren't really defining places to eat, just really good food.

Seattle has a ton of diverse food. Like insanely diverse. It's not as big or diverse as NYC, but outside of that, it's probably the 2nd best food city in the country. Don't get sucked in to the bullshit tourist restaurants (stay away from the piers for food), don't waste a meal on subway or mcdonalds. If you want to go cheap and quick, find a food truck.

And if you go out one night, make sure to get a cream cheese hotdog. NW staple, sounds awful, but it's fucking delicious.

Also, all my previous recommendations still stand

[Edited on February 23, 2014 at 7:39 PM. Reason : .]

2/23/2014 7:39:06 PM

I'm pretty good about picking my meals wisely and avoiding the tourist traps. Probably will spend way too much, but it's worth it. I will definitely have more than one Seattle dog during my time there.

If you're a coffee snob and have any roasteries you love, I'll take those recommendations too. Will be hopping around for those.

2/23/2014 8:55:47 PM

Quote :

"It's not as big or diverse as NYC, but outside of that, it's probably the 2nd best food city in the country"

You are nuts if you think Seattle has better food than SF, New Orleans, Chicago, Boston, Charleston, or LA.

It's good, but come on

2/23/2014 10:32:57 PM

^Having spent time in all of those cities except New Orleans, with the possible exception of SF (which is super diverse and awesome, just a lot smaller geographically), the rest are not even close.

^^Sorry dawg, I don't even drink coffee.

2/24/2014 12:34:38 PM

Believe whatever you'd like, as you're entitled to your own opinion. Travel writers, the hospitality industry, the wine industry, and even user-based sites like TripAdvisor total disagree with you though.

2/24/2014 1:13:13 PM

But he's "spent time" in those places.

2/24/2014 1:59:23 PM

Clearly, Microsoft is running the industry up in Seattle. That's why it's the #2 restaurant city in the US, only slightly behind NYC. It's not really even debatable.

2/24/2014 2:15:18 PM

^hey dickhead, what have contributed to this thread? I could give a shit about travel writer and magazines. I've been to all but New Orleans, and I'll stand by my comment. I believe Seattle has a more DIVERSE food scene.

Folks asked for firsthand suggestions, not some bullshit foodie blog or travel guide. My experience with such sites and guides is they steer you to the same shit: tiny boutique restaurants with insane prices, good food and a bunch of shit no one can pronounce but they all pretend to understand.

When someone posts a thread asking for food suggestions in any of the cities you're all butthurt about, feel free to chime in.

And yes I've spent a lot of time around the country.

2/25/2014 8:07:12 AM

So is it the 2nd best food city or the 2nd most DIVERSE food city? Big difference. And I think you have to go by what multiple publications say because that's their job. There are so many restaurants in each city that it would be impossible for someone who has "just spent time" in those places to be able to definitively say that one is better than the other. Charleston is probably one of the smaller great food cities in America and when I talk to people who visit, most of them go to restaurants that I would never recommend.

2/25/2014 8:23:36 AM

Please take all bickering to the "Why <city> where I live is clearly better than the city where you live" thread. This one is about Seattle.

2/25/2014 9:05:19 AM

I'd actually really like to do a Portland/Seattle for a week vacation sometime soon. I've got a chef friend working in Portland now who is raving about the food there.

2/25/2014 9:15:10 AM

I went to Seattle 2 years ago for a sales conference. We were only there for 2 days so I didn't get to really do anything. The flight back and the following day were brutal.

2/25/2014 9:34:02 AM

2/25/2014 10:44:34 AM

Quote :

"^hey dickhead, what have contributed to this thread? I could give a shit about travel writer and magazines. I've been to all but New Orleans, and I'll stand by my comment. I believe Seattle has a more DIVERSE food scene. Folks asked for firsthand suggestions, not some bullshit foodie blog or travel guide. My experience with such sites and guides is they steer you to the same shit: tiny boutique restaurants with insane prices, good food and a bunch of shit no one can pronounce but they all pretend to understand. When someone posts a thread asking for food suggestions in any of the cities you're all butthurt about, feel free to chime in. And yes I've spent a lot of time around the country."

Hey fanboy, take your fucking blinders off for a second. My very first post in this thread was a recommendation. Perhaps you should re-read it and treat yourself to a great meal. When you state controversial opinions as facts, people have the right to call you out on them. I've also 'spent time in Seattle', and I've traveled around the country too. You are one of the biggest know-it-alls on this board and nobody wants to take anything you say seriously.





[Edited on February 25, 2014 at 1:39 PM. Reason : .]

2/25/2014 1:36:25 PM

2 things.

Fuck Boston.

Also, for thee who asked about roasters, go to Slate in Ballard, but don't tell anyone else. Not trying to blow up the spot. Yelp also loves it so it must be good.

2/25/2014 7:13:47 PM

I'm moving to Seattle this year. That is all...

2/25/2014 7:28:25 PM

Are you being transferred out there or did you take a new job. I'm seriously thinking about it but trying to decide if the rain would be WAY to much of a buzz kill.

2/25/2014 9:53:39 PM

Seattle is a beautiful city. I thought about moving there many, many times, but ultimately, it would be about as expensive as living in the Bay Area, only with shitty weather 9 months out of the year. The common excuse they make for the weather up there is that it rains more in New York and Miami or that it just drizzles all the time. The problem is that it's gray and gets very little sunlight outside of summer, so I don't think I could handle it. If ever moved to the Pacific Northwest, I'd probably end up in Portland, even though it's a lot duller. At least it's semi affordable there and I could buy a nice house.

[Edited on February 26, 2014 at 1:15 AM. Reason : .]

2/26/2014 1:12:10 AM

Quote :

"Hey fanboy, take your fucking blinders off for a second. My very first post in this thread was a recommendation. Perhaps you should re-read it and treat yourself to a great meal. When you state controversial opinions as facts, people have the right to call you out on them. I've also 'spent time in Seattle', and I've traveled around the country too. You are one of the biggest know-it-alls on this board and nobody wants to take anything you say seriously. "

Perhaps you shouldn't have made a rolley-eyed sarcastic reply that didn't have shit to do with this thread or add anything to it. And stop with the "controversial opinion as fact" bullshit. "BEST FOOD" is subjective, period. There is literally no "fact" around subjective opinions of taste and quality across tens of thousands of restaurants.

I made a comment, you wanted to pick a fight (why? apparently because you get butthurt when I try to help other people), and now you want to backpedal by saying you have "the right to call people out"? Hahahaha. Feel free to never take me seriously, your loss.

-----------

Back on topic ^ is right on. Depending on where you live though, it can be significantly less expensive than the Bay Area (was just down there in October, and rent/buy was a solid 30% higher than Seattle). Seattle is amazing for 3-4 months a year, and fucking miserable the other 8-9. Skiing and an engaging job help, but both my wife and I know we won't be living here for the long term. Love everything about Portland other than the same dreary climate.


[Edited on February 26, 2014 at 1:28 AM. Reason : ^Yep]

2/26/2014 1:22:42 AM

Looks pretty sunny outside to me...

2/26/2014 1:38:30 PM

weather.com says it's mostly cloudy right now and 50 degrees. i guess you aren't used to sunshine, so to you it's sunny.

[Edited on February 26, 2014 at 2:23 PM. Reason : .]

2/26/2014 2:21:36 PM

Well, if weather.com says so, I guess I should just get glasses. Unfortunately I can't leave my house because all the streets are flooded

2/26/2014 2:39:41 PM

You probably should, since the forecast says it's going to be cloudy or rainy the rest of the week. Maybe they are wrong though and I've completely been mislead. Seattle's reputation for gray skies and drizzle is an unfounded myth, apparently.

2/26/2014 2:52:45 PM

It's an exaggeration that seems to be far more of a concern for non-residents than residents. We don't really need any more people moving here anyway.

2/26/2014 4:08:55 PM

Yeah it was gorgeous outside today. Sunny and mid 50's. But it's the first not-shitty day in at least a week.

2/26/2014 9:29:31 PM

It's fucking beautiful and clear right now. Probably not later.

2/27/2014 2:49:12 PM

Not possible. Please refer to weather.com, as cited above.

2/27/2014 4:12:52 PM