Blogs about seattle from Pew Pew Laser Blog

PAX Fuds.

During PAX, we eat a lot of meals downtown. But it's important to avoid close (and hence crowded) options like The Cheesecake Factory or (the delicious) La Creperie Voila. Here are some good alternatives:

• Jimmy Johns: Fast, cheap and tasty sandwiches. 6th and Union, inside City Center.
• The Pike Pub: It's all the way down on 1st and Pike, but it's nice to get out of the crowds and has great happy hour deals.
• Blue Water Taco Grill: Coastal Mexican Food at 6th and Union.
• Specialties: Fabulous sandwiches and salads, and the best cookies you can buy in Seattle. 5th and Union.
• Dragonfish: Nice cocktails and tasty sushi, but a tad spendy. 8th and Pine.
• Von's RoastHouse: Tasty roasted meats, and reasonably priced. 7th and Pine.

Pro tip: It looks like this year's "Main Theater" will be the Paramount (Scroll down to "Sunday, August 28th") on 9th and Pine. The Paramount Theater's seating capacity is 2,807, which is a little bigger than the 2,500 available at 2010's Benaroya Hall.

Oh! Chocolate.

Last year, I used one of my Groupons at Oh! Chocolate - a Seattle chocolatier / confectioner with locations in Mercer Island, Madison Park and Bellvue Place. I got the lovely box of truffles in this picture, and a delicious bag of "mistakes". The truffles were quite good, but I enjoyed the mistakes (which featured some chocolate-covered marshmallows and fruit) even more.

Pike Pub Picks.

Since MLS season is upon us, the husband and I will be spending lots of time at the Pike Brewing's pub in Pike Place Market. It's our go-to place for a comfortable, reasonably-priced dinner in downtown Seattle with both tasty food and micro-brews. Apropos, here are my picks from their food and drink menu:

• Roasted Garlic Prawns: These shrimp are fat and delicious, and my favorite choice.
• Halibut and Chips: The halibut is baked at a very high temperature instead of fried, and is perfectly creamy on the inside without being greasy, if the chef is having a good night. If not, they're still pretty good.
• Nachos: Fabulous; I recommend the pork.
• Ginger Lemon Drop: This is just what it says, and it's a great cocktail option.
• Chocolate Martini: But this is my favorite drink. The maraschino cherry doesn't hurt.

Pro Tip: The half price Happy Hour (until 6pm) menu includes the nachos and an appetizer portion of the shrimp.

Welcome to Fall.

Today, it rained for the first time in a few months. Therefore at the office, we had the same conversation that we have every time this happens.

What's with the traffic? It's terrible!
It's raining!
Why can't Seattleites drive in the rain?

Just wait until it snows, people.

City Layout.

Some cities have their streets laid out in a Cartesian coordinate plane, with the "NW", "SW", "SE", and "NE" street designations relating to the four different quadrants. Once you discover the origin (0,0) of the city, you can generally navigate without familiarity of the named streets. For instance, the origin in Portland is Burnside and the Willamette river. So, 1500 SE 40th would be about 15 blocks south of Burnside, on 40th.

This practice is probably more common in cities that were deliberately designed, and younger cities. Unfortunately, this very simple navigation equation can break down when faced with natural topography such as large hills and lakes. (Seattle and Camas, I'm looking in your direction.) Regardless, this concept was immensely enlightening when my dad explained it to me many many years ago.