ramblings of a Seattle travel, food and photography hound
Amid the current craze to start ramen restaurants, it's refreshing to find a restaurant that serves only soba. Sobaya (restaurants that specialize in soba) are not common in the States, though many Japanese restaurants have it on the menu among their other offerings. Seattle has a sobaya (and izakaya) in the form of Wallingford's Miyabi 45th, which began business... Continue Reading →
Today, Sustainable Ballard, in its tenth year of operation, is an all-day (11am-6pm) festival in the Ballard Commons Park extolling the virtues of living sustainably and responsibly in a world ever more consumptive and wasteful. As you can imagine, the booths (canopies, actually) promote everything from energy efficiency, solar power, alternative medicine, local farming, sustainable... Continue Reading →
For all the restaurants that Ballard boasts having, none has been Korean. Until now, that is. What used to be a sushi restaurant on 24th Avenue only a few weeks ago is now Kimchi House. There was no change in ownership, just a change in the chef and menu. After the father retired, the rest... Continue Reading →
There seems to be general agreement that Café Besalu in the Ballard neighborhood is the best croissant bakery in town. James Miller consistently has been a semi-finalist for the James Beard Award for outstanding pastry chef. There have also been some claims that Besalu ranks right up there with France's finest. I'm not in a... Continue Reading →
This week's excursion was to the International District in Seattle, a residential and commercial area of Asian Americans which is roughly bounded by 5th Avenue to the west, Yesler to the north, 8th Avenue to the east and Dearborn to the south. And, like many other Seattle neighborhoods, my wife and I had never taken... Continue Reading →
Mon Hei Chinese Bakery is the oldest in the International District, having started business in 1979, the same year that I moved to the Seattle area from Southern California. We had never been customers here until we came with friends only a few years ago. I have to admit that I don't remember much from... Continue Reading →
Not many realize that the Panama Hotel in the International District has a tea and coffee shop. Though it was set up to serve its clientele, it is open to the public. The space is not very large but is nicely decorated with old historic black-and-white photos on the walls and memorabilia of the Japanese... Continue Reading →
In a place like the Pacific Northwest, good weather poses certain problems. If you're the type who enjoys the outdoors, a sunny day might force you to consider postponing chores or indoor activities, even running errands, in favor of doing something outside. The Seattle area continued to have the longest streak of warm weather in... Continue Reading →
After 4 hours of trekking in warm and humid weather on our urban walk in West Seattle, I was ready for a cold beer. Already 2:00 in the afternoon, we hadn't yet had lunch, actually nothing since breakfast at Marination Ma Kai at 9am. It wasn't that we were hungry so much as we needed... Continue Reading →
As soon as you step off the water taxi at Seacrest Park, Marination Ma Kai is directly in front of you, slightly to the right. It's hard to miss since it's the only building on the dock. The two women (Kamala Saxton, who hails from Hawaii, and Roz Edison) responsible for this restaurant first began... Continue Reading →
zoomeboshi 