Seattle in mid-December

We are booking our first trip to Seattle, we’re looking at arriving late evening 12/11 and leaving the evening of 12/13.

Looking for casual dining, no dress codes, reasonably priced wine and beer…you get it. We’re into oysters, Asian food, rustic Italian, bistro, simple burgers, etc. Somewhere we can get into without much fuss wearing jeans and sneakers.

We haven’t booked airfare or lodging yet, so if there are any suggestions for affordable hotels it’d be awesome, too. We might try AirBnB for this one.

I’m looking for pretty specific beer tips as I don’t know much about PNW brews, if there isn’t much discussion on that here I’ll post another thread in the beer forum.

Serious Pie if you like pizza!

http://tomdouglas.com/index.php?page=serious-pie

Gotta visit my 'hood - Fremont. For beer you have Fremont Brewing (must visit), the Sixgill (a beer bar with good food - focus on Pacific NW beers) and Brouwer’s (large beer selection from all over; good food). For food, check out Agrodolce or Brad’s Swingside Cafe (Italian), Joule or Revel (Asian fusion), Chiso (sushi), Whale Wins (Pacific NW), Via Tribunali (pizza), Rock Creek (seafood) and Uneeda Burger. A great coffee shop called Milstead & Co. There’s also a cider bar with 30+ taps. A lot of choices all within a mile radius.

I’ll second Ed’s Serious Pie recommendation - the South Lake Union location had a good NW tap list last time I visited. Taylor Shellfigh Farms for oysters and geoduck. Cantinetta is good Italian not far from Fremont in Wallingford.

Other beer spots - Ballard has about ten breweries all within 20 minute walk of each other. The best IMO are Stoup and Ruben’s Brews. The Pine Box in Capitol Hill is a really good beer bar. Although a bit out of the way in Interbay, Holy Mountain’s tap room should be open by then. They are intriguing because they are trying to fill a big hole in the Seattle beer scene - sours, barrel aged and farmhouse ales.

Not sure about hotels other than don’t stay downtown. If Fremont interests you, there is a hostel called Hotel Hotel that has private rooms. You’d be able to enjoy Fremont and take short cab ride/Uber to Ballard, Green Lake (Check out The Burgundian beer bar and Mighty O donuts) and Wallingford.

If you more specific questions, especially regarding beer, let me know.

Independent Pizza if you love pizza. Serious pie if you just like pizza.

Brad’s Swingside is closed. Monsoon for Vietnamese fusion. Spinasse or Salvatore’s for Italian. Taylor’s Shellfish, Flying Fish or Walrus & Carpenter for oysters. Le Pichet for bisto.

Almost everywhere will let you dine in jeans and sneakers

Brad’s was still open two weeks ago. I read they aren’t closing until early next year.

Chuck is right - jeans and sneaker should fly almost anywhere you go.

Scott, you’re probably right about timing on the Swingside, but I no longer would recommend it. Too many ammonia smelling seafood items covered up by agressive spices. Loved a lot of dishes, but I thought he cut some corners on freshness. Regardless, it was one of the most wine unfriendly menus around, just too spicy.

I have to confess to being surprised by the love for Seattle pizza… I personally think pizza is something that Seattle does very, very poorly. But, I haven’t had Independent Pizza, so maybe I’ve just been going to the wrong places all this time.

I really like all of Ethan Stowell’s restaurants for Italian, and especially Staple & Fancy. their tasting menu is fun and relatively cheap for what it is. Altura and Spinasse are also very good, although quite pricey. I’ll definitely second Scott’s suggestion for Cantinetta… very tasty. Il Corvo is fantastic for lunch, IMO. Limited to three different, fresh pastas every day… my wife and I go and share all three of them.

It’s not that I love Seattle pizza. Rather I love pizza and live in Seattle. Gotta live with what we have. I still think Delancey, Serious Pie and Via Tribunaliare all good, albeit not great by any stretch. Never heard of Independent Pizza, probably because they are in Madison. Adding them to my list.

Take Chuck’s word on Brad’s. I have not been there in a few years and only mentioned it if you were going to be in upper Fremont and wanted Italian. The other Italian recs would all be better.

More options here than we can fill our 48 hours with.

Now, probably a very opinionated topic…best spot for morning coffee and pastries?

Bakery Nouveau for pastries. Nothing else comes close in my opinion.

Bistro is easy. Le Pichet, downtown - or Cafe Presse, on Capitol Hill.

Michael

Asian - Tamarind Tree, in the ID.

Michael

+1

Besalu far surpasses. Best croissant in the city hands down.

Michael

Hi Nolan,

For croissant, I think it’s a toss-up between Honore on 70th and Bakery Nouveau, with Honore taking the better croissant, but Bakery Nouveau having a much broader selection of pastries. Crumble and Flake is also good, but not as good, I think. (Besalu is unremarkable, I find). Re coffee, that’s a tough choice, thankfully because Seattle has an abundance of riches. It really depends on what neighborhood you are in. If you go to Bakery Nouveau on Capitol Hill, Victrola coffee is good about 3 blocks away. There also is a very good place for breakfast between the two, Wandering Goose, and an excellent bookstore for the computational/AI/hacker cognoscenti, Ada’s (it’s actually a beautiful, fun place), 4 or 5 doors down from Victrola. (And across the street down another 2 blocks is European Wine Selections, with a few well-priced Barolo, etc.) Depending on the areas where you’re staying & going to, I’m sure people can make plenty of coffee, etc., suggestions.

Theo

Hi Nolan,

Following up on your other requests -

Re oysters, Taylor Shellfsh supplies the oysters to Walrus & Carpenter (& Zuni Cafe & Per Se) - they have I think 3 locations now in Seattle and are excellent. The one I go to - on Capitol Hill - also let’s you do corkage, so with those stunning oysters, it is pretty hard to beat…

Re pizza, I have not been to Independent, but I’ve found the best Napalitano pizza to be Verace (Serious Pie is good but not as good, Tribunali, etc., not even close); Verace also does a Salumi pie which is pretty crack-like. They recently raised their prices, and I’m not happy about that, but they have the real deal (short of Naples). For NY Pizza - don’t waste your time; there is nothing to be had here.

For burgers, there are a couple of good places, but +1 on Uneeda Burger. The owner went to Napa, and to Taylor’s Refresher specifically (now renamed), and LOVED the concept, so he stole it, and brought it here. But, he also had a fine-food background from his other capitol hill restaurant, so frankly, he blows Taylor’s Refresher away - it is very good, and precisely cooked to order.

For Asian, +1 on Eric Banh’s Monsoon. Monsoon is basically the Slanted Door from 20 years ago (i.e, before the move to the Ferry Building, and general bloat) - tiny (although they just added a new bar), and very, very good. Ask for the Reserve List - plenty of excellent Alsatian & German white choices. Also 100% corkage friendly. Also +1 on Revel in Fremont, very, very good (although very different from Monsoon).

French bistro - +1 on Le Pichet. If you find yourself eating at 1 or 2am (or want a very casual place), +1 on Caffe Presse. Cafe Campagne, 2 blocks from, Pichet, is also good.

Finally, for something very different, consider Mamnoon - beautiful restaurant, outstanding middle eastern cuisine (and a list deep in Chateau Musar); 2 doors down across the street from Taylor Shellfish Capitol Hill.

Theo

Espresso Vivace to start off the day. Dahlia Bakery is fantastic, as well.

Before hitting dinner, especially if you’re ending up near the market, I’d pre-party for great cocktails at either Radiator Whiskey or Zig Zag. If you’re out near Lark, and want cocktails, Canon is a must-hit - it’s one of the top cocktail places in the country and the center of all that is Seattle Hipster-mustachioedness. “Campfire in Georgia” cocktail is crazy and involves oak chips and a blow torch

After dinner snack - donut holes at Dahlia Lounge. I could eat 30 of them.

For beer, Fremont is one of my favorites. Their IPA shows well, as does their DIPA (The Brother) and if you can find the Kentucky Dark Star, god is smiling on you. I would not drive out to Georgetown, but you can get their Lucille pretty much everywhere and it’s one of my favorite IPAs. Another up-and-comer that you can generally find on tap is the Bale Breaker Top Cutter. Keep an eye out for anything by Boneyard (Hop Venom is spectacular and Notorious > Pliny the Younger). Finally, you should hit up a Total Wine while you’re here. They’ll have a lot of the local beers (Oregon, too) at a cheap price.

FWIW - just saw this today → http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/travel/things-to-do-in-36-hours-in-seattle.html?_r=0

I can’t recommend Renee Erickson’s trio of restaurants highly enough: Walrus & Carpenter, The Whale Wins and Boatstreet Cafe. While Walrus & Carpenter is notoriously busy (no reservations), I recommend getting there early. No reservations there, but the vibe, food and wine is amazing. Super casual. Laid back. She opened up a little bar in front of Walrus & Carpenter called the Barnacle - a great place to wait for your table. Everything on that menu is divine. So fresh. Exactly what you’re looking for in the PNW.

I might get into Seattle late tonight, best options for late night food? Any genre works.