Pike Place Market – Golden Rays

The Seattle sun blessed the worried Northwest with its presence again, but the forecast predicted heavy rain for Labor Day weekend. Since the weather wasn’t good my last trip, I decided to head over to Seattle (while I still had the chance) so I could write about what Pike Place Market really has to offer. Summer-time Pike Place is the greatest, even though colder days can always be warmed, literally and figuratively, with a visit. I drove this time, and when I parked a friendly man offered me his window ticket so I didn’t have to pay the meter, and so his hour and a half of extra minutes wouldn’t be wasted. I gladly accepted—how nice! As opposed to the first intake of my last visit (coffee in hand staring at frozen fish), this time my first sight was of a police-horse munching on some grass in Victor Steinbrueck Park. There were even some pigeons nesting in the warm grass nearby, which is unusual because they’re usually scavenging near the benches and picnic tables. This park is on the north end of the Market, and it’s so great to eat fresh produce here, read a book, or take a quick snooze. Many days there are musicians playing up front by the tables and water look-out. There’s also a friendly man selling Kettle Corn and lemonade.

Pike Place Market flowers and lunch veranda in the summertime.

Victor Steinbrueck Park

Strolling down the outdoor sidewalk of vendors there were a few that caught my eye. One was a Chinese man who makes signs in 15 minutes, translating anything into beautiful Mandarin characters using black calligraphy ink. Sample signs hung on the chicken-wire wall that read, “Mike Loves Julie,” or simply, “Jessica.” One artist had compressed glass wine bottles, and turned them into kitchen ornaments. Each had a unique logo and was garnished with a hay bow around its neck. Other vendors were selling leather handbags, wooden garden signs, and unique jewelry.

Outdoor Boulevard

Wooden signs; Park and Puget Sound in the background.

I got to chatting with another artist who had watercolor prints and originals on display. He said he specialized in painting nude female figures, and also liked to challenge himself with water scenes. One vibrant print was of a crowd of rowboats floating atop the ocean at sunset; and his latest piece was a collection of colorful, Coy fish swimming underwater.

Inside there were a lot of delightful booths. The first stand I stopped at featured home-made, painted light-switch covers made of clay in all shapes and colors. Some had intricate designs carved into the borders, and others looked like Red Alder leaves, and were painted in rustic, fall colors. There was a professional spoonmaker, and Market penmaker. There was a table laden with inscripted stones. Some had funny sayings on them like, “YOU ROCK!” and “At least you’re not as old as this rock!” Others had inspirational quotes, and still there were larger rocks with more practical engravings like, “Please remove your shoes.”

Friendly craftsman.

Walking through the open-air promenade of Pike Place there’s a couple things you’ll always see—fresh produce and flowers. But farmers also bring their home-made spreads to sell, such as berry jams and honey; another vendor packages up dried snacks from his hazelnut orchard. I stopped by a Honey Farm booth and bought 4, 25-cent honey straws—one each in rootbeer, peach, pink lemonade and honey clover. There were also   whole jars of wild blackberry, rum spice, espresso, and spiced apple honey.

I spoke with a young flower arranger from Maika’s Garden about her family-owned flower farm in Carnation that has been selling flower bouquets at the Market for the past 19 years. She said that some of the senior flower arrangers had been there for more than 20 years.

Maika's Garden

Unlike my last trip, today was a great day for peach and nectarine samples from Sosio’s Fruit Produce. I also chatted with one of their produce experts and he explained that orange and red-crusted lobster mushrooms are on the harder side of mushrooms, so their rich, meaty flavor does well in soups. In addition to the great fruit samples and friendly staff, Sosio’s always has a wide assortment of unique produce, such as purple cauliflower and raspberry beans.

Fresh produce at Station No. 7; chili pepper bunches for sale hang from the ceiling.

To refuel, I stopped by the Athenian Restaurant, famous for being the bar in Sleepless in Seattle where Tom Hanks and his construction friend sit and discuss current dating trends. You might remember the friend saying, “Hellooo, Diane! Take a look at these swatches!” Anyways, since they offer beer and food, and are one of the restaurants in the market to offer widespread views of the sound, I stepped on in. I tried the Athenian Gyro, which features lamb sausage from Uli’s Famous Sausage stand (which I sampled from on my previous trip), and washed it down with Manny’s Pale Ale—a delightful, hoppy and crisp micro-beer brewed in West Seattle.

Manny’s Pale Ale and the Athenian Gyro from the 2nd story of Athenian Seafood Restaurant and Bar.

For dessert I sucked on a clover honey straw and stared out the restaurant’s second-story window watching a parasailor in the sun. The faint silhouette of the chiseled and snow-capped Olympic mountain range served as a backdrop, and the boats left sparkling, saltwater wakes along the Sound.

Pike Place Market – Silver Days

Foggy view of the Seattle skyline from the top of the Eastgate parking garage.

I got off the metro bus at the University Street underground tunnel stop, and grabbed a hot mocha in Benaroya Hall’s lobby-Starbucks for my 3 block walk, and beyond. Although the weather’s still cloudy when I arrive, the sight of the Market is always refreshing, especially in the summertime when all of the adorning plant-life is full of colorful blossoms.  

Famous 'Public Market Center' sign and clock.

Walking up to the market there’s an expected crowd around the famous fish stand that features 8 (15 at Christmastime) men in fishing waders and hats. It’s so fun to watch these guys toss seafood around in the air. Walking by I hear a low-baritone, “4 King Crab legs,” bellowed in unison after some lucky patron places an order. What’s even more awesome is that when a whole fish is bought and flung behind the counter to be wrapped in newspaper, whether or not the slippery King Salmon or Red Snapper is actually caught (I mean, it usually is), the mood never changes; the air is always thick with big laughs and camera flashes.  

Starbucks coffee; whole Salmon for sale.

Dungeness Crab on ice.

Since it was a bit dreary outside, I decided to avoid the main open-air promenade, and venture down the aromatic hallways and explore the lower levels of Pike Place. I pass a flower shop, and today they have a doorway-stand of blue roses. There’s a table packed with rows of packaged dried apricots, papayas, strawberries, and bananas. Jewelry cases are filled with a wide variety of accessories. From matching tin-man earrings, or sterling silver cross-pendants and chains, to unique owl and butterfly rings filled with colored stones of peridot, amethyst, onyx, and amber. I continue perusing, and wherever I am it seems I can always hear the faint sound of music in the breeze.   

Musician playing the Blues.

Banjo Player

In an airplane I once watched a special on “bizarre bazaars,” and remember the baskets of milled, exotic spices that filled the city-center market of Istanbul. Walking along the corridors I see MarketSpice; this great store has been selling ground spices, teas and coffees since 1911. 

Jars of ground spices line the shelves of a MarketSpice window.

 The lower levels of Pike Place are packed with great shopping. There are book stores, candy shops, antique and curiosity trade stores filled with everything from pink glass swans and old clocks, to framed bats and butterflies. There’s a busy barber shop, with old-fashioned red, white and blue-striped columns trimming the doorway. Penny Pincher machines stand outside the Pike Place Magic Shop. You’ll also find vintage clothing and jewelry, and parfumeries filled with medicinal teas and incense sticks. 

A collection of Where's Waldo books in a storefront window. These make great childrens' gifts.

There was a pig, too; the woman at the cash register said she left work smelling like Gummi Bears.

Window outside F n J Great Western Trading.

At this point, I definitely needed something to eat. I had tried a sample wedge of sausage from Uli’s, smelled chocolate pasta noodles at station No. 8, and walked by canned pickle stands and a few oceanview restaurants. Now I needed to eat the sustenance! Luckily, a stool opened up on an R & R platform, and I was able to eat my packed lunch on a wooden counter overlooking a very gray Puget Sound. It had started to rain, and through the streaming window I could see burnished-orange cranes standing off the southern shore of the industrial inlet, and white ferries looked like legos as they toted passengers to and from the islands. 

If I hadn’t packed a sandwich, I would’ve loved to eat at Crepe de France. "Crepe Au Salmon" and "Crepe Au Chocolat" looked especially enticing.

Back on the top floor, I could see many people grievously prop open their umbrellas, while some kids seemed to be okay walking around with balloon hats. As I weaved around the faded-teal columns propping up the roof of the upper floor, I was feeling a bit glum that it had started to rain as I was expecting the sun to break through. All of the sudden, I heard someone very energetically singing: “Then I saw her face, now I’m a believer.” As I got closer, I could see a couple of long-haired, smiling musicians standing atop plastic crates, dancing around, and belting that Monkeys tune out while cars sloshed over the glossy cobblestone street behind them. Rocky Raccoon came on next, and I had to give them 50 cents in dimes. Although they were lacking John Lennon’s fantastic harmonica for this song, they did boast an accordion. On this note, I headed for home.

Seattle Street Food: Mr Piggy – Skillet Aint All That.

Maximus-Minimus Seattle

If you have magazines like Seattle Magazine and Seattle Metropolitan on your coffee table, you’d think street food is an amazing new trend we’ve thought up in Seattle – just one step up from espresso and sturdy rain gear.  From “in” lists to various restaurant review sites – the StreetFoodThing seems to be everywhere.  We had some free time this week and used it to check out two of the most lauded street food vendors – Skillet and Maximus-Minimus.  What we found was a miximused bag of tricks:

Seattle Street Food

Maximus-Minimus parks near the tourist melee that is the fish-throwing area at Pike Place Market - 2nd and Pike.  They have a variety of locations, but this corner near Deja Vu Showgirls seems to be their main location.  The first thing you’ll find out about this location is it one crappy place to park.  If you work downtown – it’s great – but we were on a mission to uncover the street food industry’s seamy underbelly (of pork).  It was easy to run up an $8+ parking bill although my partner noted that many people seemed to be quietly parking in the unattended lot and – perhaps – not paying…   The parking garage next door was not so generous and a Seattle taxi might be a better choice.

Seattle Street Food Menu

The service at Maximus-Minimus was very friendly and helpful – and the menu was simple, available, and easy to understand.  They offer pork sandwiches in two sauces; cole slaw in two sauces (thankfully most un-mayonaised); and fried variety of vegetables.  There are also two drinks.  The prices are reasonable and we ran around $10 each for sandwich, side dish, and drink.  Your order is taken with a wireless scanner – and the kitchen brings out food at a pretty good clip.

We really liked the food here – the sandwich was great, and non-greasy- the fries were unusually tasty, and the cole slaw was excellent.  The drinks were a lemonade and pomengranate juice – both were great too.  They also offfer a small table for a quick eat, as there was no seating nearby.

Pork Sandwich Maximus-Minimus

The truck’s design is unusual and eye catching – our kids loved it.  If you see Maximus-Minimus at an event, or nearby where you work – it’s a great thing to try for lunch.   Having endured the experience that is Paseo (great food, somewhat crazed location) – Maximus-Minimus was a different type of pork sandwich, but to us a great alternative for good food.

Eating Street Food

We visited Skillet’s Bellevue location as they slummed it on the Eastside.  They were parked in the older Underhill’s Furniture, next to a country music concert and a salon / gym complex.  Same deal on the parking – you work near here – it was great.  If you had to park – get out the wallet.  Downtown Bellevue isn’t exactly downtown Seattle – this was a bit of surprise but I suppose we should be taking the bus to help the environment anyways.

Skillet publishes their changing menu online.  The write the menu on the side of the truck in grease marker – which makes it easy to erase items as they run out (eventually they update the board).  And they run out of most of them.   We thought Skillet kinda sucked.

Skillet had intended to offer:  burgers, fries, chicken, dessert, pouline, and corn dogs.  They basically had burgers, and I think we got the last chicken.  There are drinks served without ice – that get warm fast.

Service was slow, and the kitchen was much slower.  The chicken took close to around 20+ minutes to bring out – you may want to plan a longer work break if you’re walking over.  The chicken was a thigh piece, with skin – and very burned, cut into pieces.  Different foods at Skillet can take wildly varying amounts of time – we seem to have made the wrong call on the chicken as many in the line who came after us, got served well before us.

The burger was pretty good – but no better than various upscale burger options around Seattle.  It was served with the fries (which were great), and homemade ketchup where you could taste the fresh tomatos.  The beef at Skillet is notably grass-fed and very fresh and the burger was tasty, yet nothing amazing.  Skillet’s trademark is the bacon jam which was pretty good although definitely not on my gym’s list of foods to seek out.  It also had some very fresh lettuce.  We would rate the burger a solid “B” on the “DeluxeBurgerScale”.

A third “intriguing” street food on our list, but not yet checked out is Tako Truk.  Their website is particularly intriguing and we hope to see it soon.   So – to sum up- Maximus-Minimus:  Pretty darn good; Skillet – it’s better than the hot dog vendors at the Mariner’s games, but wouldn’t seek it out.