Four Low-Key Seattle Restaurant Winners

I totally forgot to even mention where we went out to eat in Seattle. A few of the nights Genia cooked, but one of the first nights I was there we went out to Serious Pie, an excellent (albeit very busy) pizza place a couple blocks in from Pike Place. They don’t take reservations, and when we went in at about 7:30 on a Friday night there was quite the line outside. But we got our names on a list and went and wandered around for 45 minutes or so until they called us to tell us our table was ready. It was most definitely worth the wait for the absolutely delectable, freshfresh baked, crispy crusted, olive oil sprinkled so-called serious pies. We ordered the yukon gold & rosemary pizza and the salami & walla walla onion pizza. The yukon one had really interesting textures and flavors and all, but the salami was a sure favorite on my part. We tried to take leftovers home, but I ate them all on the walk to the bus stop. Oops. (And I forgot to charge my camera beforehand, thus, no pictures. Fail.)

Another evening dining experience of note was in the International District, a place called Harbor City Restaurant. I had gotten a little lost earlier that day after my cooking class and ended up exploring the International Area for quite a while, ending at Uwajimaya, a giant Asian grocery store that totally rocks. I seriously spent 45 minutes in there. In a grocery store. Looking at noodles. They have a whole aisle for noodles! And a whole aisle for the cutest cookies on earth! And a food court! (A food court in a grocery store, a little weird. But they had good “Chinese” (I noted no difference from regular doughnuts ?) doughnuts at the food court, so I’m ok with it). And they have a bookstore! Anyways, I left with some good stuff. Sweet Chili sauce, which we used in both the Market Cooking class and the Thai one. I was told Mae Ploy is the best brand, and I think that’s true, because I got the very last bottle. I also got longanisa, this awesome Filipino sausage the Filipino-backgrounded part of the family got me totally hooked on, and cannot be found anywhere near Moscow. And last but not least, this really adorable owl jukie key fob thing. I’m totally a sucker for both jukies and cute little Asian stuff, so I really couldn’t resist. Anyway, Uwajima rocks. Back to Harbor City restaurant. So I was walking around this area and had the idea that we should go to dim sum for dinner. So I Urban Spoon-ed it and found Harbor City.

Apparently there are a few famous dim sum places around the I. District that are really famously busy (and not really particularly good) but Harbor seemed to have really good reviews. After multiple buses and the regular public transit induced confusion, we finally found it. And we were the only ones there. So naturally we were a bit concerned. But we were starved and too tired to look for a new place, so we went ahead and ordered. We got egg rolls, pork chow mein, and shrimp cilantro dumplings. So good. (I find myself saying that a lot. I must either have low standards or just luckily pick really good stuff.) Really though, everything was so tasty. The egg rolls were the deep fried kind, but they weren’t too heavy. And the chow mein was the kind with the skinny noodles, which I like way better. Easier to handle chopstick-wise. And the dumplings were most definitely the best part. The cilantro was an interesting addition that gave them a livelier taste than most dumplings. And Genia especially loved the green tea they served with dinner. So both of us were rather pleased and plan to make a return trip to Harbor City.

On my last day we decided to go out for breakfast (well, we were kind of forced, seeing as we had eaten everything suitable for breakfast and it was leftover chow-mein or restaurant) and once again we were aided by Urban Spoon, deciding upon The Blue Dog Kitchen in the U District. I had blueberry pancakes and Genia had apple pancakes, hers accompanied by bacon, mine by eggs. I loved the thick pancakes, but Genia is more of a fluffy-pancake girl and wasn’t delighted with them. But it’s a cute little breakfast place with a LOT of vegan options. Which I think all sound gross, but to each his own I guess. And you can get pretty much any kind of pancakes your heart desires. Overall, B minus ish.

And we went to a good sushi place in Lower Queen Anne, Shiki Sushi. Really good. Good rolls. And good gyoza & edamame too. This place was discovered out of sheer desperation, after we took the bus way too far into Queen Anne, getting off at the last stop where there were only houses. We decided we could make the half-hour walk back down to where there would be food, but by the time we made it we were both crumbling a bit. We thought we found the perfect place, this little Euro-bistro spot, but it turns out it was a bar.

So we got kicked out. Which did not help with the crumbling. So, about to pass out on the sidewalk from starvation, we agreed on the next restaurant we saw, Shiki. It worked out well, as we sat right down at the sushi bar and started ordering our favorites, which were made by this too-cool sushi dude. (Where do they get those sushi-maker headbands? They look so cool.) A really friendly place with fresh, delicious sushi. And afterward we went to the best movie, Paper Heart. It was documentary-ish, but just so charming. I found myself beaming like a goon and giggling like a little kid throughout the whole thing. Charlyne Yi is so awesome, and Michael Cera is so adorable. I totally recommend it, if you don’t mind having your heart melted just a little.

Anyways. There you are. A few low-key but good Seattle places.

Serious Pie- seriously good. Harbor City- tasty tasty dim sum. Blue Dog- easy breakfasts. Shiki- yummy sushi with cool sushi dude.

We also did a couple gyro places, sandwich places, and pizza places. And about 256 coffee places. All decent, nothing of much note though.