February 2013

Field Guide to Seattle Chocolate & Candy

Field Guide to Seattle Chocolate & Candy

The complete compendium of Seattle’s best sugary treats including plenty of chocolate.

No gift rings more cliché than a box of chocolate or candy for Valentine’s Day—except maybe in Seattle. Our city harbors a mind-blowing array of amazing boutique chocolate producers, from purveyors such as Fran Bigelow, whose famous brand Fran’s is now in its 30th year, to sourcing experts such as Theo Chocolate, which is now…

Best Brioche at Seattle Bakeries

Best Brioche at Seattle Bakeries

The buttery shape-shifting dough, somewhere between bread and cake, appears in local bakeries as rolls, buns and shells filled with a delicious array of the sweet and the savory. Inès PatisserieNohra Belaid’s crème fraîche brioche hails straight from her home region in France and arrives as a crimped, tart-like shell with a warm crème fraîche…

It's Not Easy Building Green

It’s Not Easy Building Green

A Seattle neighborhood's complaints about a "deep green" building raise key questions about zoning.

She is nine months pregnant on this sunny fall day. But that doesn’t stop Katherine Bragdon from taking a walk (more like a waddle) from her picture-perfect, red-shingled Wallingford bungalow to the nerve center of the neighborhood where Stone Way rolls down to the north shore of Lake Union. “South Wallingford is a special neighborhood,…

Try the Tropical Flavors of Rumba

Try the Tropical Flavors of Rumba

A block east of Pike and Boren’s clamorous intersection, Rumba offers a brief Caribbean idyll.

Island DrinksFrom the lovingly displayed 250-ish brands of rum and rhum behind the bar, it’s immediately evident that owner Travis Rosenthal and manager Kate Perry (both of Tango restaurant, Rumba’s next-door neighbor) want the spot to be a shrine to these sun-infused spirits. If you aren’t familiar with it, rhum is distilled from fresh sugar…

Unlocking Lake Union's Underwater Mysteries

Unlocking Lake Union’s Underwater Mysteries

Unlocking Lake Union’s waterlogged secrets—one sunken treasure at a time.

The beam of a scuba diver’s flashlight cuts through murky water, illuminating sediment that resembles an ash storm at night, until the glow catches on something white. It’s the hull of a World War II minesweeper, coated in algae and mud, completely intact, with rooms and corridors, even a mess, you could still walk around…

Meat-focused Bars Are the New Black

Meat-focused Bars Are the New Black

Serving cured, smoked and sliced meats seems to be a hot trend around Capitol Hill bars.

If three of a kind constitutes a trend, then bars that serve cured, smoked and sliced meats are the new black, at least on Capitol Hill. First came Cure, the wee bar in an alley behind Broadway, which opened two years back. There charcuterie and cheeses, olives and pickles, Euro wines, several beers and cocktails…

Searching for Sasquatch

Searching for Sasquatch

A Seattle scientist plays skeptic on Animal Planet' shit show 'Finding Bigfoot'.

Let’s be clear: Scientist Ranae Holland, who can be seen on the Animal Planet reality show Finding Bigfoot tromping around various woods, sporting night-vision gogs and listening carefully to weird sounds, absolutely does not believe Sasquatch exists. Nevertheless, the 42-year-old research field biologist, who attended the University of Washington’s School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences…

The Perfect Leather Tote

The Perfect Leather Tote

We love this bag collection from Tacoma-based designer Laurel Dasso.

A simple leather tote bag, reliably versatile and able to carry almost anything asked of it, can weather the winds of time. In fact, a little bit of weathering, over years of use, is exactly what makes classic leather bags so perfect. It is in that spirit (simple, durable, affordable) that Tacoma-based designer Laurel Dasso…

The Diverse Pleasures of Red Mountain Wines

The Diverse Pleasures of Red Mountain Wines

The petite Red Mountain AVA packs a punch when it comes to flavor—and diversity of wines.

For years, Red Mountain has been known for its intense red wines, produced by wineries all over the state that gain high scores and fetch high prices. But as the 12-year-old American Viticultural Area (AVA) develops, people are also starting to talk about its growth, diversity of vineyards and uniqueness of terroir—right down to the…

Seattle Sniffs: Where Smart Noses Gather

Seattle Sniffs: Where Smart Noses Gather

Seattle is home to a blossoming group of sophisticated schnozzes.

Seattle has long been a hotbed of airplanes, coffee and technology, and now fragrance may be added to that illustrious list. Last summer, perfumer Christi Meshell created Seattle Sniffs, a community of more than 30 olfactory artisans who use oils in the pursuit of perfumery. Meshell, whose hand-blended House of Matriarch fragrance line is sold…

She She Pop's Testament

She She Pop’s Testament

A German performance group tests the bonds between dads and daughters.

Imagine having a frank conversation with your elderly father about familial guilt, parental love and impending death. For some, that prospect is terrifying enough. Now imagine having that discussion in front of a couple of hundred people. Further imagine that at some point during this conversation, your septuagenarian father is stripped to his underwear. The…

Eastside Politics: Understanding the Powerhouse Next Door

Eastside Politics: Understanding the Powerhouse Next Door

Knute Berger ponders the Eastside’s potent pragmatism.

I recently talked over coffee with Jim Vesely, the retired editor of The Seattle Times’ editorial page and a longtime Eastside observer. We met at the Tully’s on Mercer Island in “The Rock’s” dense new business district. Even affluent, single-family Mercer Island has done its share of taking on growth, building up, and becoming transit-…