Seattle
We love food, so we LOVED Seattle. We had less than 4 days to explore, so we hit as many food spots as possible.
How did we do that? Easy, we split everything.
Yup, we were those people.
Mind you, we always sat at the bar and tipped well. We both come from a food and beverage background and know what it’s like to have a couple come in, order the bare minimum and then barely tip on that. If you use this method to conquer as much food as possible, please be mindful of your servers.
In short - don’t miss these places
Pike’s Place Market
Molly Moon Ice Cream
Kerry Park for the view of the city and Mt Rainier on a clear day
Taylor Shellfish
Seattle Great Wheel
Pie Bar in Ballard
Thursday
We decided to rent a car the first day because we couldn’t check into or Airbnb until the afternoon and we wanted to explore outside the city for a bit. Renting a car for a day solved our problem of what to do with our bags until we could check in and transportation to some nature outside the city center.
We flew in stupid early and stopped at the first place we could find that was open and we could sit down and have a cup of coffee. That happened to be this great diner called Shelly’s.The coffee was strong and the food was exactly what we needed after a red eye flight.
Next stop was at East Ridge to do some hiking. We were hoping to get some nice views but we either picked the wrong trail or didn’t hike long enough. We hiked for about an hour before we decided to turn around. It was still a beautiful hike and very peaceful. If you decide to check this trail out BEWARE of all the slugs!
We then drove on to Seward Park. We took a nice walk around the lake. The paths were paved and the scenery was pleasant, but there were signs EVERYWHERE not to leave valuables in your car. We didn’t see anything sketchy but we were there a little early in the morning and it made me a bit nervous to be so far from the car with everything in it. It was a nice area though, lots of green space, a spot for swimming, and nice walking paths.
Burien Fish House was our next food stop. We ordered fried salmon, cod, and halibut (our favorite), and clam strips. Everything was delicious! If you’re in the area, don’t miss Burien Fish House.
A combination of jet lag and food coma set in, so we decided to take a break at Seahurst Park. We intended to walk the trails after a short break on the beach, but it was quiet and warm, and we both ended up falling asleep.
When we woke up it was time to return the rental car, which we mistakenly did at rush hour (DON’T DO THIS!)…. That was a whole ordeal, but we eventually made it to our Airbnb and settled in. A couple friends picked us up to go grab drinks and show us around a bit. We stopped at Fremont Brewing (don’t miss this if you like beer!), Schilling Cider House, and ended the night at Beth’s (not pictured). Beth’s was a fun experience once. It is not somewhere we need to go to again. However, if you’re up late and want cheap food and good people watching, you might consider this hole in the wall diner.
Friday
You can’t go to Seattle and not go to Pike’s Place Public Market. There was everything a good market needs; food, crafts, flowers, fish throwing. Yup, you read that right…. It draws quit the crowd, but it’s worth squeezing your way in to see.
We had a ham, pimento cheese, and pickle sandwich from Cycene. Oysters from Jack’s Fish Spot & Crab Pot. We visited the infamous Gum Wall. It really is gross, but you have to admit, it’s pretty impressive…. Pike’s Brewing was ok. It was a bit crowded when we were there on a Friday afternoon, so we had one beer and moved on to the Seattle Great Wheel - YESSSSS. We surprisingly LOVED the Great Wheel. We usually enjoy activities like hiking, surfing, rock climbing…not sitting in a glass sphere and teetering in a circle, BUT this we would do again. Maybe because we don’t go on many traditional dates and this kind of felt something like that. I’m not sure what it was that we loved so much but this was a highlight.
Starting to drag at this point we needed some caffeine or sugar….sugar won at Unicorn Bar. If you have a sweet tooth and enjoy a funky cocktail you need to check this place out. It really feels like you’re walking into a carnival. We had a couple cocktails, Arthur took a jello shot (I only judged him slightly), a corndog, and unicorn croppings (fried peanut butter cookie dough). It was as good as it sounds!
We ended the night at our Airbnb. Of course we couldn't stop eating at this point, so we stopped at a small grocery store called Pete’s Wines that our host suggested. They had a great selection of wines and essential grocery items like prosciutto, blue cheese, and mozzarella. Our kind of grocery store.
Saturday
We hopped on a couple ride share bikes (we highly recommend using this if the weather is nice) and grabbed a breakfast sandwich from Grand Central Bakery. Local pork sausage and eggs. It might not look like much but it was GOOD.
We hopped back on the bikes and rode across the city to Fremont to snap a pic of the Fremont Troll. Since we were on that side of town we had to stop at Fremont Brewing again to try a couple more beers.
Back on the bikes to Ballard for a Burrito Fest where we ate ZERO burritos. We had a burrito bowl from Cocina Buena food truck. It was good, but we felt it was overpriced. Next up, zucchini on a stick (fried zucchini rolled in parmesan and garlic) from ToPos food truck. That is what food porn looks like my friends!
We decided to kick around Ballard, which we fell in love with! I have dreams of living in Ballard after that day! We found Strawberry Rhubarb Pie sitting in the window at Pie Bar and couldn't resist.
We then went to Hiram Chitenden Locks to see what the attraction was. It was pretty neat to see the locks and watch the boats go through since we had never seen that before. BUT, what really caught our attention was the hundreds of jumping salmon! I don’t know if we got lucky or if there’s always that many but it was pretty exciting!
We then headed to Kerry Park to catch the sunset and a glimpse of Mt Rainier. Of course we stopped at Molly Moon ice cream on the way. YOU NEED ICE CREAM FROM MOLLY MOON. It will make your life significantly better, trust me. Sadly I lost the picture of the beautiful ice cream cone from here, but just listen...It's really good, and you need to go.
We ended the night at Taylor’s Shellfish. This was the most expensive meal we ate, but we figured since we had been splitting everything (like that meant we were eating less...ha!) and we were in the Pacific Northwest, we needed to eat more seafood. We really did it up here. A dozen raw oysters in the half shell, salad, bread, dungeness crab with a crab fat mayo sauce, and mussels with cheese, spicy mayo, and fish eggs on top. If you want to make me really happy, feed me seafood! I was a happy girl that night! If you love oysters this is a great place to try different types. The staff was very knowledgeable about their oysters and told us where each one was from and why they all tasted a little different. It was a fantastic dining experience. We will surely be returning here on our next trip!
Sunday
This was a sad day because we had to leave… We went to Melrose Market first thing in the morning and was surprisingly disappointed. It’s a cute building but there were much less vendors than we anticipated. We were also there relatively early and many places had not opened yet. I guess after going to Pike’s Place our expectations were a little high. We grabbed a quick breakfast and went back to Pike’s Place to grab a few gifts. We spent our last few hours at Old Stove Brewing. I found a sour beer I really liked, so we ordered a charcuterie board and just hung out. We caught the train to the airport and back home we went.
Overall it was an AMAZING trip. We loved it so much we were seriously considering moving there. We later found out that we had some of the best weather they had in months and it’s not always sunny and perfect. Despite what the typically weather is, we’ll always remember it as sunny and perfect and dream about our next food vacay to Seattle.