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A Food-Lover’s Tour of the Pike Place Market

Since its founding on August 17, 1907, the Pike Place Market has been described in many ways. The soul of Seattle. The bizarre bazaar. Seattle's alimentary canal. And perhaps the most evocative: a cluster of buildings on a cliff above an inland sea. For me it is all those things, plus one more: my neighborhood.

 Each time I explore the 'hood, I'm inspired by the peekaboo views of Elliott Bay; the aromas of exotic spices swirling through the air; the farmers proudly selling their hand-raised bounty; and the street performers who sing, perform magic acts, and play spoons on their bald heads. It's a feast for all the senses that attracts almost 10 million tourists and locals each year, and nobody enjoys it more than avowed “foodies” such as myself. 

If you're lucky enough to spend an entire day in the Market, begin in the morning, but not too early. This Market has civil opening hours—9 a.m. weekdays and Saturdays, 11 a.m. on Sundays—although many of the businesses open earlier.

 Start with a cafe au lait and a freshly baked croissant at Le Panier, Very French Bakery. Grab a seat and watch the Market come to life as the farmers begin setting up for the day and the craftspeople trundle their goods through the brick-lined streets. If all the seats at Le Panier are filled or you feel like walking, grab your coffee at the original Starbucks location just a little farther north along Pike Place.

 Begin your shopping day under the Market clock at DeLaurenti Specialty Food & Wine. This Italian food mecca has been a Market fixture since 1928, and with hundreds of bottles of olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar, dozens of containers of olives and tomato-based products, a well-stocked deli and take-out pizza window, a café and a wine shop, DeLaurenti is not for the indecisive! MarketSpice, located across from DeLaurenti, has been in the Market since 1911. Here you can sample orange-scented MarketSpice tea and buy dried herbs and spices in small quantities, just enough to replenish those stale seasonings in your spice rack once a year.

 On the east side of Pike Place, Frank’s Quality Produce is your first stop at a “highstall,” one of the Market's nine permanent fruit and vegetable stands. Here independent produce vendors offer goods from all over the world and also sell local produce in season. You'll know you've stumbled upon a highstall, as opposed to a “lowstall” or “daystall" where local farmers and artisans sell their wares, if you spot tropical fruits (such as bananas or pineapples) on display.

Just north of Frank’s, in the Sanitary Market Building, step inside the Pike Place Market Creamery. Here, proprietor and self-proclaimed "head milkmaid" Nancy “Nipples” Douty features milk in glass bottles; eggs from free-range fowl; specialty butters; and any other dairy-related need. Be sure to try Nancy’s duck eggs; with their rich flavor and chubby yolks they are especially tasty for fried-egg sandwiches!

 Continuing the dairy theme, watch the cheese makers at work at Beecher’s Handmade Cheese, which sells not only its own fresh cheese curds and hard cheeses, but carries a wide selection of artisan cheeses from around the Northwest. Just up the hill from Beecher’s, take an extended browse through the 12,500 items at Sur La Table, a kitchen equipment store that began in the Market in 1972 and has since sprouted branches across the country.

Farther north along Pike Place, the sweet, pungent smell of Indian spices will draw you into The Souk, a great resource for lentils in bulk, frozen halal meats and chapati bread. Authentic German sausages are the draw at nearby Bavarian Meats.  

 After all that shopping, lunch sounds good. Take a gander at Emmett Watson's Oyster Bar (named one of America's best regional classic restaurants by the James Beard Foundation) or Saigon (one of the city's first Vietnamese restaurants) or backtrack to Matt’s in the Market. Tucked away on the second floor of the Corner Market Building, with a bird’s-eye view of bustling Pike Place, Matt's offers steaming bowls of filé gumbo, seared ahi tuna, or fried oyster sandwiches, and one of the best bread puddings in town. As the dessert bakes, it fills the dining room with the comforting aromas of dark chocolate and dried fruits.

 A leisurely stroll through the Main and North Arcades is in order while lunch digests. Start at the south end (near Rachel the Pig) at Don & Joe’s Meats, a family-owned meat store that has been in the Market since 1969. Pike Place Fish, nicknamed “the home of the low-flying fish,” is as famous for its singing fishmongers and their fish-throwing antics as for its impressive array of Northwest seafood. As you cruise by the four fish stalls along Pike Place during the summer months, be on the look out for justly famous Copper River king (Chinook), sockeye, and pink salmon from a delta in southeast Alaska.

Continuing north, Uli's Famous Sausage offers homemade sausage created by Master German Butcher Uli Lengenberg, an engaging bear of a man. Check out the blackboard at Pure Food Fish for what’s fresh and tasty in seafood the day you visit, and tell Richard (one of my favorite fishmongers) that “Rex” sent you!

 Just past the historic Athenian Inn (where scenes from Sleepless in Seattle with Tom Hanks and Rob Reiner were filmed) and Lowell’s (a favorite spot among Market regulars for after-work drinks), don’t miss the asparagus, fiddlehead ferns, wild mushrooms, and heirloom tomatoes at Sosio’s highstall. Across the aisle, you might find farmers Mike and Shelley Verdi of Whistling Train Farm with Italian vegetables and fresh basil. Be sure to sample the dried cherries at Chukar Cherries, apple cider at Woodring Orchards, and award-winning pepper jellies at Micks Peppouri.

 In the Market’s North Arcade, City Fish was started by the city council of Seattle in 1917 when the price of salmon had skyrocketed to a whopping 25 cents per pound! Nowadays, former Alaskan fisherman Jon Daniels mans the helm. Nearby you'll find the husband-and-wife team of Gretchen Hoyt and Ben Craft, owners of Alm Hill Gardens. They've been in the Market more than 30 years selling fresh produce, berries, and flowers. Their pine and holly berry centerpieces decorate our holiday table each year.

 In the North Arcade, farmers Doug and Clarissa Cross of Canter-Berry Farms offer tastes of their farm-made blueberry products. Their blueberry chutney is a personal favorite that’s great with the Thanksgiving turkey instead of cranberry sauce. Doris Mech, author of Joy with Honey (St. Martin's Press, 1996), comes to market on Saturdays with raw honey and honey products from Mech Apiaries, her farm in Maple Valley. Doris’s hand-carved beeswax ornaments make unique gifts or keepsakes.

Stackhouse Brothers Orchards offers samples of dried fruits and almonds. Their orange-honey-coated almonds add a sweet crunch when tossed in mixed-green salads. Holmquist Hazelnut Orchards has been harvesting hazelnuts near the Canadian border since 1928. The DuChilly variety they produce is sweeter and lower in fat than conventional varieties and makes a flavorful addition to baked goods and sauces.

 Interspersed throughout the Main and North Arcades you’ll find the Asian farmers selling Asian vegetables (Chinese broccoli, bok choy, and pea vines), "American vegetables" (zucchini and tomatoes), and prodigious flower bouquets. On Wednesday, Fridays, and Sundays from May through October, certified organic farmers set up under colorful awnings along Pike Place, while conventional farmers set up within the Main and North Arcades every day of the week.

Just past the Market's north border across Virginia Street, you'll find Etta’s Seafood, which serves one of my favorite renditions of salmon in town: Cold-Smoked Salmon with Cornbread Pudding and Shiitake Relish. Along Western Avenue, The Spanish Table specializes in the foods, wines, and cookware of Spain, Portugal, and other Latin countries, and its small deli makes a quiet hideaway for light meals or take-out. World Merchants, Spice, Herb and Tea House sells the freshest gourmet spices selected from around the world, expertly blended by owner Tony Hill whose Spice Encyclopedia (John Wiley & Sons, 2004) is a must-have for any foodie’s reference library.

 If you've followed my Market tour this far, you're undoubtedly suffering from sensory overload, but a leisurely dinner should revive your spirits. French options abound in the Market and include Chez Shea, Le Pichet, Place Pigalle, Campagne, and Maximilien-in-the-Market. If Italian strikes your fancy, then consider the grotto-like ambience of Il Bistro or the lively appeal of The Pink Door. Shea’s Lounge and Café Campagne offer more casual food and surroundings than their bigger siblings, while seafood fans will appreciate the sushi bar at Japanese Gourmet or the crabcakes at the venerable Virginia Inn. The family-run 94 Stewart offers “global cuisine” made from the freshest Northwest ingredients paired with an impressive array of Northwest wines. 

After dinner, kick up your heels (or watch the beautiful dancers do it!) at Can Can, enjoy a drink at the Alibi Room, or take part in some improvisational comedy at TheatreSports. Or maybe a soft, inviting bed sounds better, where visions of my neighborhood will undoubtedly tiptoe through your dreams.

Other Market shops of note:
   
Rose’s Chocolate Treasures, along Post Alley, which offers not only fresh chocolate truffles and confections, but hot chocolate drinks, chocolate porcelain sets, and books on chocolate
   
The Perennial Tearoom, along Post Alley, for a wide selection of bulk teas, whimsical teapots, and daily-changing tea samples
   
The Tasting Room: Wines of Washington, along Post Alley, for samples from Washington State’s best boutique wineries
   
Made in Washington, Post Alley Market, for gift items made exclusively in Washington
   
Pike and Western Wine Shop, at the far North end of Pike Place, carries a good selection of wines from the Northwest and around the world

La Buona Tavola, along Pike Place, offers truffle-infused soups and sandwiches to take away or eat in-house, a plethora of truffle-based specialty products and accompaniments that you are welcome to sample before you buy, and wine tastings.

The Confectional, in a prime spot along Pike Place, baker and self-confessed chocoholic Paul Verano offers mini cheesecakes, cheesecake truffles, and medium- and full-sized cheesecakes in flavors such as Quadruple Chocolate, Vanilla Latte, and Triple Berry, along with daily and seasonal specialties.

La Bottega Italiana, on First Avenue just south of DeLaurenti Specialty Food & Wine, offers daily-made gelato (hazelnut and pistachio are favorite flavors!) and perfectly pulled Italian espresso, all served up by a brooding, model-attractive native Italian.  

Article adapted and reprinted from Seattle Homes & Lifestyles magazine. For more of Braiden's articles and recipes, please go to seattlehomesmag.com