Day 3
While I slept in a bit on our last day in Seattle, Dan hiked to Top Pot Donuts and brought back a bavarian creme, apple fritter, and a cinnamon sugar. These were good, but not as good as they proclaimed. After munching on donuts we went to Honeyhole Sandwiches and demolished a sandwich for lunch. We got the Gooch, which is tri-tip, sharp cheddar, horseradish mayo, and a side of au jus. This is the type of sandwich that you don’t mind dripping down the side of your arms. It was that good.
Before we took a cab to the Space Needle we stopped in at B & O Espresso where they make their own caramel for their caramel lattes. When we got to the Space Needle I went in to the gift shop and decided to skip it. Instead we went to the Chihuly Glass Garden, which was very interesting though a bit expensive. After educating ourselves I was hungry so we went to Macrina Bakery where everything was scrumptious including the: cocoa puff (brioche filled with ganache), which was like a chocolate croissant but not as buttery and rich; ginger apple cider was warming and refreshing; rick’s cookie (apricot, espresso, chocolate), peanut butter oatmeal cookie, and double chocolate chunk. The environment was nice and calming and I liked the interesting foil artwork along the wall. They also had Italian nutella, which they gave me tax-free!
Snacks in hand, we stopped by Ian, an interesting clothing store with very nice staff, before starting off to the International District. Luckily we made it to Fuji Bakery before they closed for a month of renovations. The staff was very friendly (one of them was from Manassas, VA and one from DC!) and we decided on an apricot tart. The tart was a bit burnt on the bottom, but the large apricots were sweet and chewy on top of a sweet cheese filling. We still had time to spare before the Mariners vs Yankees game at SafeCo so we went to Uwajima Market Village where we stopped by Kinokuniya, but then were so hungry but didn’t have time for a real meal before the baseball game. We got a mix plate style lunch of rice, char siu, and general tso’s chicken. The char siu was dried, almost like jerky, so I passed on that, but the rest was ok. I stopped in the market and got some cold drops and a cute chick shaped pastry filled with white bean (they had these in Japan when I was studying there and haven’t seen them state-side!). It too was also a tad burnt, but rich and sweet on the inside. I skipped Beard Papa and the Unicone Crepe place here because I needed something savory, not sweet.
The great thing about the baseball game was that it was very exciting. Yankees vs Mariners and Ichiro had been traded to the Yankees earlier in the day! There were a lot of Yankees fans, surprisingly. We got to use our CAD leftover from Canada and buy some Garlic Fries. I don’t know why these are so popular, the garlic is RAW on them. I was expecting it to be at least a little cooked down.
Earlier in the day we had stopped by the mall for a second time near Macrina to visit Trophy Cupcakes. The first time was on Sunday, they said they opened at 10 and we got there at 1030+ and there were no cupcakes. We went out of our way again to go on Monday and got the Elvis and Chocolate Graham Cracker Marshmallow cupcakes. They were expensive, but they have a program where you get a coupon for a free cupcake next time you visit and I asked them to just split the transaction so one of them were free. The marshmallow cupcake was great and not too sweet, with swirls of graham throughout and chocolate chips (I’ve actually used this recipe for S’Mores Cupcakes). The Elvis was one-note and the frosting far too sweet, so trash.
We rode the bus ‘home’ and pondered what would be for breakfast next day. Unfortunately we were too tired and weighed down with clothes, cupcakes, and snacks and were unable to go to Zig Zag Cafe like we had originally planned.
The next morning before heading to the airport we stopped by Homegrown, which is in the same center as butter (a home goods store that is very small) and Sitka/Spruce. We wanted to eat here for breakfast before we left to the airport, but they were having problems with their machine(s), so we had to pass. We got one last drink at Victrola instead and some coffee to-go as souvenirs.
Great photos of Seattle! It sounds like they have some really great coffee and food in the city! Did you get a chance to visit the very first Starbucks? That would be a neat experience.