While Ed slept in, I took an early morning walk and checked out the location of our food tour. I also went back to Pike’s Market. At this hour, it was not quite as crowded but still very busy. I looked in a lot of the tiny shops built into the different levels of the hillside, but found they were full of cheap Chinese imports. Nothing I needed to buy.
Ed and I headed out about 1 pm to walk to our “Savour Seattle” food tour about a mile from the hotel. The tour was excellent. One of the surprising things our guide told us is that 5 chefs own 45 restaurants in the area. Here is a recap:
Orfeo -
We had polenta with an Italian house made sauce topped with fried basil and coupled with white wine from Chateau San Michelle - the largest winery in Washington which started the industry here. It is now the second biggest wine state after California. The guide recommended sparkling wine to go with spicy food - it clears the palette.
Serious Pizza -
Owner is Tom Douglas who owns 17 restaurants including Etta’s and Dahlia’s. The pizza dough here rises for 3 days so it doesn’t rise in your stomach, basically allowing the digestion process to take place outside your body. This enables you to eat more without feeling full (does anyone really need to do that with pizza???) extensive pizza menu and we had chanterelle and crispy mushroom and traditional Margherita.
Steelhead Diner
Owner is Kevin Davis who also owns Orfeo. Alaskan razor clam chowder with Calderwood smoked bacon and truffle on top paired with Viognier.
Heartwood Provisions
Fancy Waygu beef jerky - marinated, dried and then rehydrated. Paired with beer cocktail. Noted for cocktail and wine pairings.
Von’s Gustobistro
Sour dough based menu featuring a 55-year-old sour dough starter. We had sour dough pasta with Asiago cream sauce and salmon paired with local beer from Ballard’s.
Fran’s Chocolates
The Obama’s favorite chocolates. Famous for their sea salt caramels which we had. Not chewy - melted in your mouth. Had photo of owner’s granddaughter recreated in 4,162 chocolates.
Afterwards we walked back through Pike’s Market and then headed to the Space Needle area where we had timed tickets to see the Chihuly exhibit next door. We realized upon entering that we had seen this exhibit multiple times — in Boston, Toronto, Nashville, and some of it at Maker’s Mark in KY. However, it is always worth seeing again. This must now be its permanent home.
This is his collection of Navajo trading blankets.
See the space needle reflected in the blue orb in his outdoor garden.
We walked to an outdoor festival in a nearby park, but realized the music and the venue were not our scene. We went back to the Edgewater and shared fish and chips in the bar with views and some music. Delightful.
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