Day 5 in Seattle

How good is the food in this city? Soooo good it hurts.

I could be at the Nitelite Lounge--a pleasant quintessential dive bar adjascent to my hotel, manned by sweet but sad-eyed bar maids, sprinkled liberally with displays of the Budweiser Clydesdales, and attended by a small dedicated clientele of regular lushes--and

 enjoy a shockingly good tamale: rich with savory cornmeal and chicken in the center with a tangy kick. 

I also had one of their happy hour burgers with fries

 ($4) and was stunned by how good it was. A super thin patty to be sure, but flavorful as hell (read nice and greasy), dressed up with thinly sliced fresh baby tomato slices,

 delicious pickles, and some amazing swiss cheese. The fries weren't bad either.

There's also Falafel King right next to Pike's Place Market which is the best Middle Eastern food I've had outside Istanbul (sorry Moody's Falafel Palace) I had their Chicken Shwarma plate: grilled chicken, cabbage, rice pilaf, and a garlic tahini sauce, with a side salad in a perfectly mixed vinagrette, with a side of houmus and pita ($8.50). I could go on describing how good it was but a picture is worth a thousand words:

Also nearby to Falafel King is Pan African Market which has some amazing freaking Ethiopian food. I had their meat as well as veggie sampler on Indira bread. Both were outstanding. 

In an earlier post I mentioned that Seattlites were pretty serious but their street food. How not unserious about it are they? Just check out their pulled-pork sandwich truck: 

As in everything it's all 

about the details: behold the tail-light.

Also highly enjoyed Cyclops in Belltown where I had a smashing Sunday brunch (a bar you can sit down at and read the paper while you eat is a beautiful thing no matter where you are) at 1pm. To my shock many Seattle restaurants apparently stopping serving Brunch before the PM, at least near my hotel, at least according to the knowledgeable lady at the front desk. Cyclops is roomy and funky with good music and decor that focuses on both eyes (unsurprisingly) and panthers. They even have two large glass displays of cheap panther pottery on one of the walls. I had a good caramelized onion and sundried tomato chicken sausage omelet with home-fries and toast (extra points for having the butter grilled in). Their bloody mary's aren't astounding but the three olives that garnish the drink are. I went back Tuesday night to grab a light supper (chicken quesadillas excellent and $4) and ended up having a lengthy discussion with a coast guard sitting next to me who was wearing a Wonder Woman T-shirt. I was reading "Into the Wild" at the bar and the Coast Guard, who was reading "Portnoy's Complaint," was having none of it, "the kid was an idiot, look I tramped around for a while before settling down, I've camped up there in Alaska, I've camped all over, and you have to be an idiot to do what he did. Maybe he could have survived an experience like that if he stayed in the southern US where it's warm. But to go up there with only a .22 and no tent, not even a decent pair of boots, that's just stupid." 

When I countered that the kid (Chris McCandless) must have had some intelligence to a) survive as long as he did on the road and b) make such a strong impression on the people he met I was shot down quickly. "The kid had short term charisma, he never stayed around long enough in one place for people to get to know him well enough. My brother is like that, he can get anyone to like him for a short period of time." 

The pattern continued.

Me:  But he survived over 100 days out in the Alaskan wild! 

Wonder Woman Coast Guard Guy: Because he found a bus that had been outfitted for hunters with a stove and fuel!

Me: But he shot a moose! A MOOSE!

Wonder Woman Coast Guard Guy: And then let the meat go to waste because he talked to people in South Dakota about how to prepare Alaskan game! They told him to smoke it, he built a smoker after shooting the moose and the smoker didn't work. I mean if you're going to try and preserve meat by smoking it build a smoker first, test it out, so if you do find big game you don't waste time if after you shoot it.

Bottom line:  It's hard to make a persuasive argument for the kind of passion that would compel someone to forsake all that's familiar and common for a recklessly traveled life on the road and in the wilderness when the person you're talking to has a  job that requires them to fish these people out of the life-threatening situations this same passion has landed them in.