City Market. Home of the highest prices, rudest service, and most expiredest food in all of Capitol Hill. Despite it all, however, I love the place. It’s like the abusive stepfather with a heart of gold that I never had. Sure, it slaps me around, calls me a worthless sonofabitch, and makes me scrub the toilet with a toothbrush … but it always makes up for it by giving me the last...

Sunday morning usually means brunch at Pike Place Market, and yesterday was no exception. Shortly after 10, I headed over to Piroshky Piroshky, and this time, I decided to try something different. While I usually get Oscar’s Star or some kind of breakfast concoction, on this day, I decided to broaden my horizons. After eyeing the menu for a few moments, I decided on the mozzarella,...

Last night, to “celebrate” the completion of a certain project, we headed up to Ballard for a bowl of Mike’s chili. Some people celebrate with champagne, others with cocaine, but that high-brow, pretentious stuff doesn’t fly with me. If ground beef and kidney beans are good enough for cowboys and hobos, then it’s good enough for me dammit. On the way up 15th Ave,...

I’m a creature of intermittent habits. Once I get into a routine that works for me, I tend to stick with it until it either becomes a hassle, or until something better comes along. Take, for instance, lunch. For most of February, I’ve been getting two slices of pepperoni pizza from Pagliacci daily. For the most part, they have pretty decent pizza, and the price is right. Yesterday,...

Of delicious donuts! Although I’ve greatly reduced my intake of refined sugar products, tonight, I gave into temptation. I dropped $5 at the Westlake mini-donut stand, and I’m glad I did. Each bag of donuts contains roughly 15 sugar-covered donuts, they are handed to you fresh and warm, and they taste quite good. If you have yet to try the stand, I encourage you to do so. One bag...

Olympia, Washington. Without a doubt, home to the best burgers in the USA. Big Tom’s, Eagan’s … if you like hamburgers, this is where you should be. Almost. In Thurston County, south of Olympia, literally in the middle of nowhere … sits a small shack that serves the best hamburgers in the world. Not the best hamburgers in the county. Not the best hamburgers in the...

For some bizarre reason, Western Washington has the greatest hamburgers in the USA. The best hamburger I have ever eaten in my life was in Thurston County (which reminds me, I need to write a post about that place), and when it comes to decent burgers, this area of the country is about as good as it gets. Why this is, I do not know. You would think that a green, vegetarian place like the PNW...

My never-ending quest for the best, cheap food in and around Downtown Seattle has caused me to stumble upon a new reigning champion. Something only a local could discover. Now, when I reveal the source of my new culinary delight, some of you will laugh … but before pretentiously dismissing it out of hand, I urge you to try it before you scoff. Yesterday, I went grocery shopping at Kress at...

Is now open. Free ice cream for kids until 5pm. I wrote a post about my visit to their grand opening here: http://www.downtownseattlenews.com/2011/molly-moons-grand-opening/

You know, if they wanted to, local news stations could really mess with me. They could send me out on one wild goose chase after another, and keep me chasing my tail indefinitely. Take this morning for instance. Q13 Fox, terrorist fighters extraordinaire, mentioned that Disney had a promo running. The studio was going to take to the streets of Downtown Seattle in cartoon vehicles (modelled...

About an hour ago, I was walking through Westlake Park when I noticed a crowd gathered near the corner of 4th & Pike. I walked toward the group, and when I arrived, I found that a brand-spanking-new eatery had opened up on 4th Avenue. It’s called “Potbelly Sandwich Shop”. I entered the store, surveyed the scene, and even though I was not hungry, I realized that I had a...

A few weeks ago, I flipped on the television to watch Lisa Van Cise gripe about the weather (“I wanna kill myself cause it’s sooo clowww deeee!”) when something unexpected happened. The newscast cut to a live feed of an airplane landing, and I assumed that a VIP was arriving. Was it Barack? Was it Sarah? Was it Anthony Weiner coming to do damage with his massive johnson? No. ...

I grew up eating pizza. A lot of pizza. Tons of pizza. I also grew up on two distinct styles of the food. Not a lot of people realize this, but “DC-style Pizza” does exist. It can be found in places like Trio Pizza at 18th Street & Columbia Road. DC-style pizza is pizza which has little or no uncovered crust at the edges, has a thin-yet-firm crust underneath, and is generally heavier...

Because I am so fond of Pike Place Chowder’s clam chowder and seafood bisque, I often don’t bother to try other soup offerings in the Pike Market environs. Yesterday, however, I decided to expand my horizons a bit. While walking through the market, I decided to get a 16oz cup of clam chowder ($6.50) at the Market Grill, and I am certainly glad that I did. Like most Seattle offerings,...

Located on the grounds of the Seattle Central Community College at Broadway and Pine Streets, the Broadway Farmer’s Market will run between 11am – 3pm every Sunday from today until December 18th. True to my word, I arrived at the market this morning, and I was even there for the ringing of the opening bell which officially launched the 2011 season. As you can see, I was not alone....

On Saturday afternoon, I decided to head down to Pike Place Market to eat lunch at a favorite stand … Mee Sum Pastry. Usually when I go to Mee Sum, I order the corn and ham bun or the BBQ pork bun, but this time something else caught my eye. On the counter and to the left of the pastries sat a large container full of meat sticks, and at only $2.97/each, I had to try one. I’m glad I...

Late Saturday morning, before heading up to Cal Anderson Park, I decided to snag a couple of slices of pizza. Since it had been a long time since my last visit (I think the last time I ate here was sometime in the 90’s), I decided to re-acquaint myself with Hot Mama’s Pizza on Pine Street. I tried to have lunch here a couple of weeks ago, but when I walked through the door at 11am, the man...

For lunch yesterday, I decided to patronize two businesses on Broadway … one of them new, one of them brand new. Z Pizza opened up on Capitol Hill last August, and I finally got around to checking out the joint myself. I ordered the lunch special consisting of two slices and a fountain drink for $6.26. My first slice was a pepperoni, and my second slice was a tomato basil creation. If you...

Over the past two days, I have consumed the best donuts I have ever eaten in my life. I say this without an ounce of hyperbole. I like Krispy Kreme, and Dunkin’ Donuts are just fine, but both Top Pot Hand-Forged Doughnuts and Mighty-O Donuts are true “gourmet” doughnuts that stand head and shoulders above the national chains. After eating both, I realized that they do have a...

Another day, another donut shop. Today, my goal was to complete the shootout for best donut in Seattle … and by proxy, best donut in the solar system. After yesterday’s trip to Top Pot Hand-Forged Doughnuts, it was time to go to the Food Channel’s winner for Best Donut Shop in the USA … Mighty-O Donuts. At around noon, I hopped on my Humvee and headed north to...

Not long ago, two donut shops in Seattle were in the running for Food Network’s “Best Donut Shop in the Nation”. Those two shops were Top Pot Hand-Forged Doughnuts and Mighty-O Donuts. Mighty-O prevailed. Story: http://www.q13fox.com/news/kcpq-mighty-o-donut-duel-20110411,0,4776001.story Now, personally, I don’t eat a lot of sweets. At least not anymore. It’s hard...

Even though Seattle is the greatest city in the country, it does have some peculiarities that make it lacking in some areas. One of these areas is a vibrant street food culture. In most large cities, street vendors are part of the landscape; a landscape that really helps add to the “energy” of the streets. Seattle, however, only has a few street vendors (such as Dog Japon), and they...

I’m not a big hot dog fan. I’m not sure why, I just never developed a taste for tube steak, but there was one exception. When I used to go to Toronto back in the 90′s, there was a hot dog cart downtown that made what I thought were the best hot dogs on earth. They put a dog in a pretzel bun, smothered it in sauerkraut, and laced it with crack cocaine. At least this is what I...

Yes, Seattle, there is such a thing. At least there will be when the proclamation is made in a couple of hours. Today, at noon, Councilmember Tom Rasmussen will make the “Starbucks Day” proclamation to Howard Schultz at a Greater Seattle Chamber’s “Legends & Leaders” event at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel. Will this proclamation be silly? Of course, but most of them are. In...