our hotel:
We stopped in the REI flagship store, and then headed towards Fonte Cafe & Wine Bar for a glass of wine and a cheese plate. The cheese plate was well done and offered some delicious accoutrements. Their wine was tasty, and that’s saying something since I’m so spoiled to California wine!
After that we went to Lecosho for another glass of wine and dinner.
Dinner was okay, but nothing to write home about. The gnocchi was tasty, but seemed to lack something. The brussel sprouts were shredded and had a unique flavor….. and it wasn’t necessarily unique in a good way.
The dessert was good, but it was chocolate and I had already had two glasses of wine to drink; so at that point it could have been anything sweet and I would have enjoyed it.
Overall, I would say Lecosho is more of a drink and dessert place, not really great for a full meal.
After dinner we headed back to our hotel and we were able to see the Market at night:
Once everyone was awake and ready for the day, we headed to Macrina (a bakery that came highly recommended by our friend Rich) for breakfast.
After breakfast we decided to walk up to the Queen Anne neighborhood and take in the view from Kerry Park. The hill was pretty steep getting to Kerry Park, but once there the view made the effort all worth it. It was such a beautifully clear day! Seattle has a great skyline and I loved seeing Mt Rainier off in the distance.
We stopped at a wine shop and a cute little grocery store on the way back our hotel to get snacks to enjoy on our rooftop. Between the Washington State red wine, the delicious cambozola & goat cheese, the fancy rosemary crackers, and the smoked sea salt & milk chocolate caramels… we were well on our way to having a great time while taking in the view of the Puget Sound as the sun set.
After our own little happy hour we went back out to explore the city. Aaron and Jared went to their new favorite dive bar, the Nite Lite, to watch the 2nd half of the SuperBowl while Melody and I went shopping at Anthropologie, the Nordstrom flagship store, and lululemon.
We met up with the guys (empty handed, I might add!) and we all went to dinner. We went to Serious Pie, a Tom Douglas restaurant.
The pizza’s were amazing! Specifically the truffle/mushroom one. We also ordered the russet potato & rosemary pizza and something involving sausage that I [obviously] didn’t try.
After dinner we set out to find Bathtub Gin & Co. Which is a old-school speakeasy that is located behind a wooden door that’s hidden down a dark, sketchy alley.
It was easier to find that I thought it would be, and we settled in for a night cap before heading back to the hotel.
To Aaron and my surprise they had Pappy Van Winkle on their bourbon list! So Aaron ordered one of those so we could try it out. I ordered a Manhattan, Melody ordered something “girly & delicious” and Jared ordered something “girly & pretty”…. which is exactly what he got.
Then we continued our walk on to Capitol Hill for breakfast at Top Pot Doughnuts. The doughnuts were delicious….. not anything rare or unique, but very well done. and, doughnuts are a weakness of mine so I was in regular glazed, chocolate raised, and maple bar heaven!
After breakfast we ended up capturing this view:
We walked a bit, but ended up taking a cab up to Freemont for lunch and a beer at Brouwer’s Cafe (another one of Rich’s suggestions). I was impressed by Brouwer’s beer list, and even more impressed by their veggie seiten philly cheesesteak sandwich! It was amazingly delicious and I cant wait to go back and have another one.
We were able to wander around Freemont a bit and then hopped back on the bus and headed back towards our hotel. We all retreated to our rooms for a quick nap. Aaron and I headed up to the hotel’s rooftop to enjoy a glass of wine and take in the view of the Sound at night.
We then all headed to dinner to try out yet another Tom Douglas restaurant: The Dahlia Lounge.
Dinner was fantastic. Aaron and I started out with 2 oysters on the half-shell, and my main course was Alaskan Cod with a potato-leek puree and buttered carrots. YUM!
At this point we were starting to become very big Tom Douglas fans.
For dessert we ordered the coconut cream pie (I don’t even like coconut… and neither does Aaron, Melody or Jared! but this pie came so highly recommended that we ordered it so that we could all try a bite), the caramel creme, and the freshly made donuts. Apparently Melody had called ahead, because they surprised me with candles on the desserts for my birthday 🙂
After dinner we headed back to the dive bar that Aaron and Jared had fallen in love with, the Nite Lite. It wasnt long after that, that I headed back to the hotel to call it a night.
The next morning we got up, got ready, and headed to the South Lake Union neighborhood for breakfast. Along the way I was able to snap this picture:
We took the light rail back to downtown and then wandered down to Pioneer Square to grab a snack (for Aaron, Jared and Melody) from Salumi; which is Mario Batalli’s dad’s cured meat restaurant. We found it, waited in line, grabbed the snacks, and then headed back to our hotel to enjoy it on the rooftop before we all had to head to the airport.
it was yet another gorgeous day. So we were able to spend our last few minutes in Seattle overlooking the Puget Sound while basking in the warmth and sunshine while sipping on some coffee:
We got back to LA last night and already miss Seattle. We had such a great long weekend with Melody and Jared! They are so much fun to travel with and have similar views on how to spend a great vacation: which is with wine, beer, great food, and great company.
coffee.wine.andyoga. 