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seattle-dos_and_donts.md

Anthony's Dos and Don'ts of Seattle

Downtown

Despite the fact that Seattle is a neighborhood-oriented city, you will probably end up downtown at some point. If you want to go shopping, this is where that would be.

  • Places
    • Seattle Art Museum: If you're feeling artsy.
    • Pike Place Market: It's kind of just something you have to do.
  • Food
    • Family Pizza: New York style, grease fest! Right next to the Seattle Art Museum (SAM)
    • Alibi Room: Good happy hour, good pizza. Underneath the Pike Place Market (next to the gum wall)
    • Okinawa Teriyaki: Best teryiaki in Seattle. Which is crazy because every other restaurant in Seattle is a teriyaki joint. More of a lunch place.
    • El Puerco Lloron: Legit mexican food. Close to the market. Casual lunch place. CLOSED
  • Bars
    • Pike Place Brewery: Good beer. Food isn't that great. Right next to Pike Place Market.
    • Zigzag Cafe: Good cocktail bar.
  • Don't
    • Don't ride the ferris wheel. I've never done it, but I heard it's kind of dull.
    • Don't go to the first Starbucks at Pike Place Market.

Pioneer Square

This is at south-eastern end of downtown. It's kind of sketchy and mostly has nightclubs or bars catered to the sports crowd.

  • Bars
    • Elysian Fields: Decent mega-bar (think Craft) next to the stadiums, but you're better off going to the actual Elysian Brewery in Capitol Hill.
  • Don't
    • Everything. Just avoid this neighborhood.

Belltown

This is the north-western end of downtown. A nice mix of wine bars and pan-handling.

  • Places
    • Seattle Center/EMP: People say good things
  • Food
    • Le Pichet: French cafe, good for lunch.
    • Local 360: Organic, locally sourced, blah blah. People say this place is good.
    • Shiro's: Supposedly the best sushi in Seattle. Pretty traditional (think less dragon roll, more nigiri). Expensive.
    • Top Pot Donuts: Good donuts.
  • Bars
    • Black Bottle: Wine bar, it's apparently good.
    • Shorty's: Dirty bar. Face tattoos. Coney Island theme. Pinball machines in the back. Hotdogs. Cheap drinks. What's not to love?
    • Whiskey Bar: Nice unpretentious american style pub. Good whiskey cocktails.

Capitol Hill

You can walk here from downtown, although it's not super close. This is kind of the hip spot. There are a ton of good restaurants and bars here. Broadway is the strip, but most of the nigthlife is either on Pike or Pine, off the east side of Broadway.

  • Places
    • Volunteer Park: An Olmsted park. The conservatory/greenhouse is actually pretty cool (closes at 4pm). Walk up to the top of the water tower. It's free and has a better view than the Space Needle.
  • Food
    • Oddfellows: I've never actually been here, but it seems really nice and people speak highly of it.
    • TerraPlata: Good North American food.
    • Melrose Market: Kind of an indoor market style place with higher quality local food vendors.
    • Mamnoon: Super good lebanese food.
  • Bars
    • The Unicorn: If Beetle Juice and Lady Gaga had a baby, and that baby was a bar, this bar would be it. It's worth seeing, although I wouldn't spend an entire evening there.
    • Cha Cha Lounge: Dia de los Muertos themed bar. Really dark, pretty cool. Turns kind of douchey on the weekends.
    • Elysian Brewery: Classic Seattle brewery.
    • Linda's Tavern: Kind of a classic Northwest-style bar.
  • Don't
    • Dick's: Everyone says you have to try Dick's burgers. Unless you're really drunk, they're not that good.

Ballard

Seattle's newer cool neighborhood. A bit far from everywhere else. Best place to see a show.

  • Places
    • Tractor Tavern: Medium sized venue, see if there's a show there. It's supposed to be country-ish, but this is Seattle so it's only barely alt-country.
    • Sunset Tavern: Good place to catch some local grungier band.
  • Food
    • Ballard Pizza Company: Really good pizza
    • La Carta de Oaxaca: The best Mexican food ever. Kind of a more modern vibe, not your typical burrito joint. Get the michelada.
    • Bastille: French-ish restaurant. Good cocktails, good breakfast, overpriced dinner.
  • Bars
    • Hattie's Hat: Really good bloody mary.

Fremont

Used to be Seattle's cooler neighborhood.

  • Food
    • Kylie's Pizza: Super good deep dish pizza.
    • Revel: Hipster korean food. Really good.
  • Bars
    • Brower's Cafe: One of those 100-beers-on-tap type of places.
    • Fremont Brewing: Probably Seattle's best brewery.

International District

Only one thing to do here: dim sum.

  • Food
    • HoneyCourt Cafe: Legit dim sum. Don't go here if you are a a) vegetarian, b) don't like seafood, c) don't like chinese food. I think dim sum is only during lunch and on the weekend.
    • Jade Garden: Also legit dim sum.

Wallingford / Green Lake / Tangletown

This is basically a residential neighborhood. It has some decent spots, but probably not worth going out of your way for.

  • Food
    • Musashi's: Great sushi, kind of a hole-in-the-wall. Mostly nigiri and sashimi, really good prices and quite good quality. Cash only
    • Latona Pub: Good American-style pub. Great food.
    • Molly Moon's Ice Cream: Good ice cream.
  • Places
    • Gasworks Park: It's a park with a hill, great view of the water, kind of cool post-apocalyptic looking rusted out gas thingy. Good for a view or a picnic.
    • Green Lake: Come see what Seattle's WASPs do on the weekend. It's a lake that you can walk around.

General

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