Nell’s is a great suggestion that often get’s forgotten about. high quality food, and you can actually hear your table mates. He keeps a good list of burgundies in a drinkable range all the time, which is unique in Seattle. Other options–Salare a great choice. Copine I would highly recommend. Lastly, new place that has been very good–L’Orsin, although you have to sort of like natural wines.
I can echo what has already been said for restaurants, bars, wineries, etc. If you’re looking for a big slice of pizza and a good cocktail in Belltown stop by Rocco’s.
I look forward to hearing about your explorations of the city.
Hi Alan,
Adding another plug for SODO wine district. I first visited there not long after Full Pull first moved there and it was a sleepy industrial warehouse district. It is now a hopping wine scene. Recent additions include Den Hoed, Latta (try them both if you never have), Nine Hats (from Long Shadows). It’s really a two day trip now to visit all the tasting rooms within a 1 block radius. I still enjoy Full Pull and their tasting line-up, usually varied and including some of their Block wines, as much as any of the others.
A couple of other food choices, Roxy’s Diner in Fremont has best bagels and lox I’ve had west of Brooklyn. For good Vietamese, Tamarind Tree in Chinatown, or their sister restaurant downtown, Long. A new one on us from a recent CT dinner was Orfeo, downtown.
Have a fun trip!
That is awesome! I am a big fan of Latta. I actually went to one of few tastings they held in the famous munitions bunker last year during Walla Walla spring release. It is looking like SODO is the place to go!
Scott - I am in town from the 29th - 3rd.
Positive echos for Adana, Stateside, Joule, Revel, Cascina Spinasse, and Copine. The first four are Asian-influenced, the latter two are not. In my experience, Wild Ginger (also mentioned by others) always has something good and/or interesting by the glass, often for less than you’d expect to pay at a restaurant and sometimes with a nice bit of bottle age on it.
I also really like Kedai Makan (in Capitol Hill) which has excellent Malaysian food, but I wouldn’t say it’s a wine destination.
Lots of great recs above but you’d be remiss if you didn’t snag some oysters at Taylor Shellfish. That’s it: eat 2 of every type they have, don’t put anything on them, move along.
Matt’s in the Market is always consistent too and a great excuse to get to the market.
If you’re in to sweets, just below Matt’s is Choukette which is an éclair shop. Owner/chef was on the US Baking team for a while.
Yes Taylor’s, then have lunch next door at Sitka and Spruce.
Maybe i should revisit Sitka and Spruce. On past visits it hasn’t stood out from the fairly mediocre Seattle scene. Spinasse used to be can’t miss but that’s faded recently. Dishes out of balance.
Yeah. I’ve only been to Spinasse once and it was brilliant. The memory faded though after going to Jason’s other project Vespolina, I think that is the name. As bad an experience as one could imagine.
I wouldn’t pin Vespolina on Jason…
A high end Spanish restaurant doesn’t fly in Seattle…
vespolina has been closed for two years, and Jason isn’t associated with Spinasse any more. Actually, his new deal is MBar, which is a highly recommended view bar/restaurant in south lake union.
Really? Harvest Vine was the best restaurant in the city for quite a long time.
Pretty much every French restaurant in the city is worthy; for lunch our favorite is Cafe Campagne near the market.
The downtown Purple Cafe is always vibrant at night, and no corkage on 1st bottle a huge plus. If you have an entire evening to kill [and gullet to fill] I’d highly recommend spending one at The Herb Farm.
As others have said: Wild Ginger is overrated, and gets quite trashy on evenings in the bar. I’ve also found RN74 to be awfully sub-par the handful of times we’ve tried it.
Some final plugs for: Joule, Quinns, Il Terrazzo Carmine, any of the Tom Douglas restaurants, or Pink Door for late-night dinner/caberet.
My wife and I are going out to Lark (Capitol Hill) next weekend, and plan to grab drinks at Canon and walk to the restaurant (Canon, thanks to this thread). Lark has been around quite a while and is always great.
Brandon, love to see what you think of Lark this time. We went there about 4 or so months ago and was very disappointed in the food for what we paid.
be aware it can be near impossible to park near Canon and you might have an hour wait. They don’t have a list and instead just ask you to return every 30 minutes until they take pity on you. They have a “secret” back patio you might ask about if you are OK sitting outside. consider making a reservation if they aren’t taken yet. It’s $25 a head, I think. credit toward drinks.
Interesting, I almost never have a problem parking along 12th just past Canon, and we go relatively often. We always go around 5, though, right when they open up. That helps avoid the wait!
We’ve stopped going to Lark too… we like the food, but end up spending way too much money and still end up hungry at the end. Their plates are just too small, IMO. I still haven’t checked out Bitter/Raw, but would like to do that at some point.
For Canon, why not just park at SU which is right in front? Public can park in the parking right in front or their multi-level parking lot (E James St I think?).
Good to know, Guys. Haven’t been to Lark in a long time. We might reconsider.