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 pastries.
>>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.
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 n
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.
[person of the year]
Dan Savage
The It Gets Better Project
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 substance abuse or other psychological disorders.
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.
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
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.
You might want to change that setting to “sent from my iPlank” after snapping your constant companion into a new Lazerwood iPhone skin.
WHY WE LOVE THE LOOK:
When in doubt, put on another layer. That is style dogma according to Frazier, who layers (multiple) timeless, classic men’s silhouettes at a time to suit life in all-over-the-map Northwest temps.
MOST PEOPLE AGREE THAT dieting is easier when you do it with a buddy. If you live on Vashon Island, diet buddies are everywhere. That’s because a new diet plan—called the “TQI Diet” (“to quiet inflammation”)—has become so popular on the island that an estimated 15 percent of the adults there have signed up for diet classes.
“My sixth-grade son’s report card came home, and he got almost all A’s,” recalls Seattle parent David Price. But what seemed like a cause for celebration quickly turned to concern.
“Later, when I asked him how hard his classes were on a scale of one to 10, he said, ‘Four.’”
A few crumbling $20 bills. An airline boarding pass. A pink parachute. A black, clip-on necktie from J.C. Penney. This is all that remains of a legendary highjacking, and it fits neatly into a cardboard box at the FBI office in Seattle, part of a long-dormant investigation.
At Seattle’s Canlis restaurant, great wine is as essential as great food. With 14 consecutive Grand Awards for its wine list from Wine Spectator, an 18,000-bottle cellar and 2,500 selections on its 100-page wine list, Canlis has a dedication to wine that reaches far beyond that of most fine dining restaurants.
Owners and brothers Adam Cone and Aaron Crosleycone (a mash-up of his and his wife’s last names) told me they’d painted the second coming of World Pizza a bright tomato red to combat the gray Seattle sky.
When “celebrity chefs” open restaurants in Seattle, it’s newsy, exciting and mostly disastrous. Our underdog complex (we’re worthy?) rears its ugly head alongside our locavore stubbornness (we only like local chefs!), and “name” chefs from other cities usually don’t last long.
Most of us don’t need the census numbers to know that the largest concentration of Jewish households in the state is on Mercer Island. The puzzler is why it took this long for a good Jewish deli to open there.
Demand, meet supply: Stopsky’s, which opened in May and aims for a modern take on traditional East Coast deli fare, is the answer to those longings.
Seattle’s food scene enjoys a bit of friendly (or fervent) competition with Portland.
Downtown food-cart clusters, like the mighty pod at SW Ninth and Alder, have been around since the 1980s, but new pods with names like Cartopia and Good Food Here bring fusion fare and fries to parking lots in more remote neighborhoods.
In the oh-so-civilized space that once housed chocolatier extraordinaire Claudio Corallo, Marie & Frères lives on in similar, elegant style.
MAGGIE BLUFFS MARINA GRILL
The only thing better than the view of Elliott Bay here may be the prime rib chili, made with high-quality prime rib, then layered with sour cream and cheddar cheese. $5.59/cup, $6.99/bowl. Magnolia, 2601 W Marina Place; 206.283.8322; maggiebluffs.com
My first priority as a forager is to enjoy the fresh air. Second is a good meal. Third—and not a distant third, mind you—is the inherent health benefits of wild foods. Nature will take care of us if we let her.
“A salad a day keeps the doctor away” is the philosophy at Molly’s Salads, a local artisan salad and sandwich eatery that packs a rainbow of veggies, herbs and protein into its flavorful to-go lunches.
At age 10, he was reciting Shakespeare on the stage of a community theater, and ever since, Egan Orion (shown in bullseye tee) has been commanding attention.
With a background in theater and extensive experience producing mondo-scale parties (hello, Seattle PrideFest!), the 40-year-old Central District resident has become the name in the Seattle flash mob scene.
It’s a nerdy dilemma: Stay true to old-school video games or follow your fever for high-tech gaming gadgets?
Pioneer Square–based company Discovery Bay Games (discoverybaygames.com) feels your pain, and in response, has invented a device representing the best of both worlds.
We love it when Internet trends encourage people to desert their computers, head out into the city and do something—even if that something is pretty inane.
Last summer, “planking” (getting your photo taken while lying stiffly face down in public places) became an online sensation and led to a wave of imitator trends.
WHERE:
Western Washington Fairgrounds in Puyallup, Washington.
The beard is back, and it’s not just for men anymore. The lumberjack’s trademark style has been heartily embraced by Northwest indie rockers and trendsters—and now even the follicularly challenged can jump on the burly bandwagon.
Ski bunnies and snowboarders, prepare to be totally stoked: This month marks the opening of Crystal Mountain Ski Resort, where the new Mt. Rainier gondola awaits.
So much for secret recipes. Seattle cooks are letting it all hang out with new books detailing how to concoct treats as tasty as their own. (In the process they reveal a common love of lengthy subtitles.)
BD: Why did you start the Seattle Jewish Theater Company?
We’re all familiar with the mutual benefits of community supported agriculture (CSA): Farmers get a guaranteed customer base, and subscribers get a box of fresh, locally grown produce delivered on a regular basis (and along with it, the satisfaction of eating sustainably). It’s a win-win.
So what if the A in CSA stood for art?
Don your tutu, develop a deranged doppelgänger and sprout unwanted epidermal plumage—“Black Swan” is taking flight at Pacific Northwest Ballet, along with several other besotted ballet masterpieces.
Ever since the economy tanked, savvy parents are looking into the most affordable way to keep kids’ wardrobes up to date: consignment shops.
But visiting those stores can seem daunting when you have to drag the kids along, and many stores have strict policies, e.g., “You cannot return anything. Ever.”
November’s gloomy weather can bring out couch-potato tendencies in kids. Not yours, though, because you, smart parent, have signed your child up to run the Seattle Marathon.
You don’t need $250 running shoes and a CamelBak; this is a marathon your kids do a little at a time, at a place near home.
Is your living room awash in a sea of plastic toys? It doesn’t have to be that way, thanks to this line of handmade wooden toys from MANZANITA KIDS (etsy.com/shop/manzanitakids), made by Seattle dad David Minnery and his wife, Adrienne, a teacher at Ballard’s Adams Elementary School.
Bordered by the sprawling Washington Park Arboretum to the north and Lake Washington to the east, Madison Valley is Seattle’s Parisian gem. Known for its distinctive upper-crust vibe, this walkable nabe, along East Madison between Martin Luther King Jr.
When civic disputes get down to arguments over numbers, the point has usually been lost. Debates this year over building heights near the planned Roosevelt light rail station and in Pioneer Square heated up because the numbers symbolize an approach: density versus single-family homes, sustainability versus sprawl, high-rises versus history.
Skillet Diner may share a name with owner Josh Henderson’s popular Skillet Street Food Airstream, but the brick-and-mortar version has a personality all its own.
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