4th of July in Seattle

We flew into Seattle on Sunday night and then had one day to do as many things in Seattle as we could. After sleeping in, we headed over to downtown Seattle with three goals: 1) have lunch 2) walk around Pike Place Market and 3) have cocktails at Zig Zag Cafe.

Being in a new place, finding a good sushi restaurant can be a bit of a crap shoot, but we walked past several closed sushi restaurants (stupid 4th of July!) before finding one that was open (Nijo Sushi). While we were waiting for our food and wondering whether it would be any good, two Japanese families walked in and sat down for lunch . . . so we thought that gave the restaurant some credibility, right? Also, they had an extensive sake menu, though we weren't ambitious enough to try anything besides our usual hot sake. As for the food, it was good, though everything we ordered was on the spicy side. Oh well. One of the rolls was drenched in Bacardi 151 and flambeed at the table. It was a novel idea but the execution was underwhelming since the Bacardi burned clear and the only evidence of the flame was the sizzling sugar cubes over which the rum had been poured.

We intended to head next to Zig Zag Cafe which is know for extraordinary cocktails, but after a fair amount of walking around looking for it, we finally found it only to discover that it was closed for the 4th. Grrrr! We chatted with some locals who shared our disappointment that ZZC was closed, and they recommended several other places that sounded great, but ultimately we decided we'd have to come back to Seattle to take a cocktail tour since. After that we  took the obligatory walk through Pike Place market. Carolyn took me to the fish shop where she bought the salmon she cooked for me that started us dating again. We visited a few other shops, and had an ice cream cone from a local creamery. But our pre-paid parking was about to expire so it was time to skedaddle. Next on our itinerary: Elysian Brewing Company in Capitol Hill.

So we took a quick drive over to EBC only to discover that it, too, was closed for the 4th! Anybody else annoyed? Didn't they know we only had one day in Seattle? Only we had driven past Six Arms which is a pub owned by McMenamins Ales.

Six Arms had a pretty cool vibe, with lots of cool pipework and such. And the beer was pretty decent. We ordered the tasting flight, which gave a good sample of their beers . . . Carolyn really enjoyed their hefeweizen, which was nice and light. Not too much banana or clove, which usually ruins a hef for me. I really enjoyed the IPA (is anybody surprised?). After we were done at Six Arms, we walked up the street to Victrola Coffee to buy some beans for the rest of the week. Super cool coffee spot, it reminded us of Temple back home.

Of course, it was the 4th of July, so what better way to celebrate than with hot dogs and apple pie? A quick trip to Whole Foods gave us what we needed before driving over to Madison Park and eating our dinner on the shores on Lake Washington. We capped off the evening by having a drink at McGilvra's, a lovely Irish pub.