Field Report: Seattle
Four days, two awesome sandwiches, one tasting menu, and an unknown amount of rain.
Before I get into the details of the splendid dinner I had on my last night in Seattle, I want to pose a question to everyone out there more familiar with the city than I am: Why does this rainy city do sandwiches so damn well?
I live in Brooklyn, and one thing New York City is known for is a bodega on every corner where you can get a serviceable, if not amazing, hero. You can snag average breakfast sandwiches on basically any block. And of course, there’s a new generation of sandwichiers opening shops like BEC or Court Street Grocers to take the humble sandwich to the next level.
But Seattle, whoa. They punch above their weight in the sandwich department. And I’m not even talking about sandwiches like a King Crab roll or something that would make sense. I had perhaps the most delicious Cuban-inspired sandwich of my life at Paseo. I had perhaps the best breakfast sandwich of my life at Homegrown. These places reawakened my hope for a good, humble food breaking into the fast casual space without sacrificing quality. So anyway, the next time you find yourself in Seattle, get sandwiches. They’re good.
The other thing Seattle does better than a lot of other places is less surprising: craft beer. On a drizzly Saturday — yes, it’s rainy, but it’s not driving rain; it’s more of a lazy drizzle — I walked all over the Fremont neighborhood with my friend, Seattle resident, and This There That member Fred, where we hit three separate breweries each with its own unique charm.
First was Stoup Brewing, a cool spot with a nice range of beers and plenty of little mini-counters so we could grab a spot to sit and drink. I’m basically an IPA-all-day person, so I’m afraid I don’t have a lot of beer nerd intelligence to offer other than: the beer was good.
Next was Reuben’s Brews, which was approximately the same size as Stoup (maybe a smidge larger) but with a significantly longer list of beers and also a significantly larger population of dogs. No, seriously. There were dogs everywhere. It was heaven.
Reuben’s had a food truck outside, but two of Fred’s friends recommended another taco truck a short walk away call El Camión, where they had a few tents popped up to shield the rain, and where I ate a tremendous tongue taco. Lengua. My tongue liked it. Also, there was a older gentleman also getting tacos, and he was eager to share his wealth of knowledge about acid rain. How very Seattle.
After tacos, we hit a spot called Populuxe, which was allegedly not as good as the others, but they had games to play, and so we went. Apparently they have a new taproom under construction, but in the meantime there’s a gravel yard between the hut with the bar (and a tasty “New England-style IPA”) and the garage with the games, and the yard had a few fire pits which were a welcome accommodation on the (presumably non-acid) drizzly day.
After a hefty day of drinking and walking and snuggling inside of a Gore-Tex shell—Patagonia is truly high fashion in the Pacific Northwest, and I love it—we spent the evening drinking more beers at the friends’ house, and of course, walked around the corner to check out the Troll.
The last night, though. Whew. There were a lot of big ticket restaurants on my list, and it was hard to pick which one to splurge on. Remember how I said I had that sandwich at Homegrown? The location was inside of this cool little space called Melrose Market, and when I was there early in the morning, I meandered to the back where I noticed something very familiar: the chef’s table at Sitka & Spruce, one of the original TTT picks for Seattle. I couldn’t pass up the chance to sit at that table, so I made a reservation and that’s where we ate before I had to hop on a redeye back to JFK.
The menu is set up for sharing small dishes rather than entrees, and we can get into whether or not that’s a bad thing for dining another time. Fred and I ordered well: some crispy potatoes with smoked fish and a mussel emulsion, a hunk of cod bathed in seaweed broth and wrapped in kohlrabi, roasted quail, and their unbeatable fresh bread with even-fresher butter speckled with salt flakes. If you’re in Seattle, and you’re looking for a transcendent meal, this has to be on your shortlist.
Alas, all good vacations come to an end. Personally, I’m eager to get back to the Pacific Northwest to spend even more time outdoors. As for you? Well, if you intend to spend time in Seattle soon, and you want to get off the beaten path, join the TTT community and I’m sure someone would be happy to lend you their recommendations.
Safe travels!
