November 2011

Best New Restaurants 2011

Best New Restaurants 2011

Just when you think you’ve got Seattle restaurants all figured out, a new batch opens.

We’re all about noise, fun and affordability, if you take the crowds packing the Brave Horse Tavern and Revel as evidence. But then the Madison Park Conservatory and the elegant Book Bindery come onto the scene to up the sophistication quotient. And don’t forget our never-ending love affair with pizza and burgers, food trucks and…

6 Food Trends We Love

6 Food Trends We Love

From cocktails to pickles: the sharp, unabashed flavors Seattleites want now - and where to get them

Booze of the Moment: Tequila Don’t be like me. It took me years to recover from cheap-tequila-drenched trips to Mexico in college. And so I came late to the nuanced aromas of reposado, and I’m slowly exploring the smoky flavors of good anejo (they are pricey, after all). All over town, bartenders are harnessing the…

7 Restaurants to Watch

7 Restaurants to Watch

We have high hopes for these just-opened (and yet-to-open) eateries.

>>Modern comfort food (with menu consultation by Poppy’s Jerry Traunfeld!) makes Grace Kitchen at the U Village intriguing. Great food at the mall? Here’s hoping. >>Former Canlis chef and cookbook author Greg Atkinson will take the plunge later this year and open his first restaurant, Marché, on Bainbridge Island. Northwest bistro is the genre; seafood,…

Best New Restaurant Decor

Best New Restaurant Decor

Our new crop of restaurants is reversing the overdone Ikea-meets-thrift-store trend with eye-catchin

Staple & Fancy’s wall with an old cigar advertisement (see photo above): When crews were renovating Ballard’s historic Kolstrand Building, they unearthed a painted sign proclaiming a former tenant as a “dealer in Staple & Fancy.” Though those words are on the second floor of the building, Ethan Stowell named his newest restaurant after the…

The Next Wave of Tastemakers, 2011

The Next Wave of Tastemakers, 2011

A roster of men and women who are poised to become the Seattle dining scene’s next notable names.

Neil Robertsonpastry chef The man whose subtlety with flavor and illustrious stints at both Canlis and Mistral Kitchen made him Seattle’s biggest name in pastry, left his post at Mistral Kitchen earlier this year to go out on his own. But he’ll be back soon: Robertson (here, munching on one of his specialties, the French…

Who's Serving Who? The State of Service in Seattle

Who’s Serving Who? The State of Service in Seattle

The customer may not always be right, but don't we have any rights?

There’s an American Express poll that repeats like a broken record inside my brain. It’s dated by now—a restaurant critic mentor quoted it to me a decade ago—but the gist is that the majority of people make the decision of whether to return to a restaurant based on the service. Not on the food. Not…

Seattle's Most Influential People of 2011

Seattle’s Most Influential People of 2011

Love them or hate them, there’s no denying theimpact these major players have had on our city.

[person of the year]Dan SavageThe It Gets Better ProjectSometimes life’s most fleeting moments are the ones that have the greatest impact. Take, for example a distinct memory Dan Savage recalls from his Chicago childhood: “I was 8 or 9, and my family was in line for a movie, and we saw two gay people holding…

Soldiering On: New Methods for Battling PTSD

Soldiering On: New Methods for Battling PTSD

From mobile apps to meditation, local practitioners are pioneering fresh ways to fight back against

Beyond two locked security doors on the seventh floor of Seattle’s Veterans Affairs hospital (VA) on Beacon Hill, patients are treated for some of the more severe cases of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and a web of other issues. Some of them are depressed, some are suicidal, and some are simply not functioning because of…

The Year of the Underdog

The Year of the Underdog

Our fearless editorial director reflects on the decision-making behind our Most Influential People l

I look forward to the meetings we hold each summer to discuss our end-of-the-year issues, even though they keep us inside on some of the nicest days of the year. For our annual Most Influential People of the Year story, we hole up in our conference room with a diverse cross section of community leaders,…

Northwest Home November 2011

Northwest Home November 2011

The latest issue of our home design publication, found inside every other issue of Seattle magazine.

The latest issue of Northwest Home (found inside the November issue of Seattle magazine) reveals local home shopping finds, such as the green goodies at Capitol Hill’s NuBe Green, style pointers on creating a chic chalet and how a little coaching helped one bachelor design his dream pad. Plus, our Home of Month tells the…

Pike Street Press

Pike Street Press

Or how Sean Brown went from cattle ranching to custom printing.

Talk about a career change: A year ago, Sean Brown was working a cattle ranch in the southern Utah mountains; today, the Kirkland native is the proprietor of new Pike Street Press, an all-in-one letterpress design studio, custom-print shop and gallery tucked under the bustling Market hillclimb. “I learned how to letterpress while in Utah…

Wood Grain for the iPhone

Wood Grain for the iPhone

Lazerwood skins are almost more exciting than the new iPhone itself.

You might want to change that setting to “sent from my iPlank” after snapping your constant companion into a new Lazerwood iPhone skin. Working with graphic designers and artists (such as fashion illustrator Lisa Lee) on limited-edition design runs, Squire Park husband and wife Apryl and Erick Waldman accent their stylish iPhone 4 veneer covers…