Seattle Mag
Field Guide to Seattle Chocolate & Candy
The complete compendium of Seattle’s best sugary treats including plenty of chocolate.
No gift rings more cliché than a box of chocolate or candy for Valentine’s Day—except maybe in Seattle. Our city harbors a mind-blowing array of amazing boutique chocolate producers, from purveyors such as Fran Bigelow, whose famous brand Fran’s is now in its 30th year, to sourcing experts such as Theo Chocolate, which is now…
Sweets + Lardo = Drooling Over Seattle Mag’s Chocolate Issue
Leslie Kelly experiences severe cravings while perusing our latest issue.
What a bittersweet mistake! I sat down late last night with the February issue of Seattle mag, and immediately started drooling over the gorgeous photos and mouthwatering prose describing the city’s finest chocolate makers and treat purveyors. [Get a digital copy for your tablet here.] The big bad burn was that my cupboards were bare,…
Best Brioche at Seattle Bakeries
The buttery shape-shifting dough, somewhere between bread and cake, appears in local bakeries as rolls, buns and shells filled with a delicious array of the sweet and the savory. Inès PatisserieNohra Belaid’s crème fraîche brioche hails straight from her home region in France and arrives as a crimped, tart-like shell with a warm crème fraîche…
It’s Not Easy Building Green
A Seattle neighborhood's complaints about a "deep green" building raise key questions about zoning.
She is nine months pregnant on this sunny fall day. But that doesn’t stop Katherine Bragdon from taking a walk (more like a waddle) from her picture-perfect, red-shingled Wallingford bungalow to the nerve center of the neighborhood where Stone Way rolls down to the north shore of Lake Union. “South Wallingford is a special neighborhood,…
Try the Tropical Flavors of Rumba
A block east of Pike and Boren’s clamorous intersection, Rumba offers a brief Caribbean idyll.
Island DrinksFrom the lovingly displayed 250-ish brands of rum and rhum behind the bar, it’s immediately evident that owner Travis Rosenthal and manager Kate Perry (both of Tango restaurant, Rumba’s next-door neighbor) want the spot to be a shrine to these sun-infused spirits. If you aren’t familiar with it, rhum is distilled from fresh sugar…
Unlocking Lake Union’s Underwater Mysteries
Unlocking Lake Union’s waterlogged secrets—one sunken treasure at a time.
The beam of a scuba diver’s flashlight cuts through murky water, illuminating sediment that resembles an ash storm at night, until the glow catches on something white. It’s the hull of a World War II minesweeper, coated in algae and mud, completely intact, with rooms and corridors, even a mess, you could still walk around…
Meat-focused Bars Are the New Black
Serving cured, smoked and sliced meats seems to be a hot trend around Capitol Hill bars.
If three of a kind constitutes a trend, then bars that serve cured, smoked and sliced meats are the new black, at least on Capitol Hill. First came Cure, the wee bar in an alley behind Broadway, which opened two years back. There charcuterie and cheeses, olives and pickles, Euro wines, several beers and cocktails…
The Diverse Pleasures of Red Mountain Wines
The petite Red Mountain AVA packs a punch when it comes to flavor—and diversity of wines.
For years, Red Mountain has been known for its intense red wines, produced by wineries all over the state that gain high scores and fetch high prices. But as the 12-year-old American Viticultural Area (AVA) develops, people are also starting to talk about its growth, diversity of vineyards and uniqueness of terroir—right down to the…
Searching for Sasquatch
A Seattle scientist plays skeptic on Animal Planet' shit show 'Finding Bigfoot'.
Let’s be clear: Scientist Ranae Holland, who can be seen on the Animal Planet reality show Finding Bigfoot tromping around various woods, sporting night-vision gogs and listening carefully to weird sounds, absolutely does not believe Sasquatch exists. Nevertheless, the 42-year-old research field biologist, who attended the University of Washington’s School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences…
The Perfect Leather Tote
We love this bag collection from Tacoma-based designer Laurel Dasso.
A simple leather tote bag, reliably versatile and able to carry almost anything asked of it, can weather the winds of time. In fact, a little bit of weathering, over years of use, is exactly what makes classic leather bags so perfect. It is in that spirit (simple, durable, affordable) that Tacoma-based designer Laurel Dasso…
Deathcake Ice Cream, Music Videos on the Big Screen and Other Weekend Musts
MUST TASTE Deathcake Ice CreamCupcake Royale is expanding its line of cupcake-inspired ice creams to include a devilishly rich Deathcake flavor. If you haven’t tried it before, the Deathcake is a tiny cupcake that packs a wallop of intense chocolate. Find the new flavor through February only at Cupcake Royale scoop shops in Ballard, Capitol…
Best Pasta Dishes at Local Italian Restaurants
Stunningly good pasta dishes run the gamut, from understated elegance to decadent and over the top.
Storied Italian women are said to sit on old stools set on cobblestone streets, rolling gnocchi off forks, pinching pasta into hankie shapes or cutting it into short tubes. Locally, pasta makers hand-cut fine, fresh pastas, too, and they are stunningly good. Our favorite local pasta dishes run the gamut, from understated elegance to decadent…