I was out in Seattle again this weekend and I tried something a little different for my trip budgeting. The first full day I was there, I yanked out $200 from an ATM, paying the fee because I couldn’t squeeze a trip to the bank due to a last minute crisis at work. (Best laid plans get killed by a simple network card failure.)
I left with about $60 in my pocket to cover the initial taxi ride and any bus trips I needed to take on my first day out there. I came back with $5. The $200 withdrawl was for the rest of the weekend’s fun and festivities. I found that my wonderfully generous friends drove a good portion of the trips I had to take. They also were very cool about buying lunch, splitting checks, picking up drinks and incidentals. They spoil me with good food and conversation.
The best frugal tip I learned is that on weekends and holidays, the King County transit system, i.e. the Seattle city buses, have a $2.50 All Day Pass. I got three trips out of it. I only wish they told me sooner. Then I would have gotten 4.
Best place for a frugal meal? Pike Place Market!! By far, the best place in town. We got a bag of donuts and had tastes of cabernet jam, raspberry honey, cheese, etc. I had a heavy breakfast that day free at my hotel and I only needed a light snack for lunch. Pike Place Market satisfied the need for food without costing an arm and a leg.
After that, for an extraordinary free meal, you’ll have to mark your calendars for December 1st every year. Go to Husky Deli, a family-owned joint known for their sandwiches. They do their annual customer appreciation night on December 1st where hot food is served. Meatballs, noodles, crudite, pate, cheese and spreads. Brownies, cookies, chocolates galore. It’s a specialty/gourmet food market in West Seattle that is worth the trip for the very unusual and tasty treats they have there. I walked out without sampling the food because we just ate dinner, but I got a biscotti with orange white chocolate, and a 84% cacao dark chocolate bar for later.
Best place for an insanely expensive meal? Mashiko, right next door to Husky. (We cut through Husky from the parking lot to enter Mashiko from the street side.) OMG. (Yes, the URL for the restaurant is sushiwhore.com)The food was absolutely FANTASTIC. We did the omakaze meal. It’s $40 per person, chef’s choice. It actually can go upwards from there depending on what you are willing to spend. We had an absolutely stunning meal. Add a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and mochi ice cream with a nice tip for $60. Menu went like this. (And it was only about $45 per person)
Sea bass sashimi with shiso leaf oil sprinkled on top with citrus infused tobiko, was by far the best dish of the night.
Oysters on the half shell.
Ankimo (monkfish liver) & tako with veggies. The liver is red and white, cooked and delicious!
Maguro poke with lots of seaweed, sauteed onion and a sesame sauce. Probably the second best, because it reminded me of the dressings my mom puts on Korean food.
Hamachi, blue fin & lightly seared albacore nigiri.
Shiitake sauteed with white wine and butter.
Meji (a young tuna) marinaded in soy with pea vines. This is a lot like something my mom does with Spanish mackerel. Good. I’ve never had pea vines, but they make a tasty green.
Uni on shiso leaf tempura. 3rd best dish of the night. The crisp tempura sets up a melt-in-your-mouth experience with the uni. I’m not really wild about sea urchin, but this combination was excellent.
Maki with shiso, and umeboshi, which I can’t eat. And Toro in soy paper with something really good we can’t remember.
The rules for dining there are great and entertaining. Go read them on the website. The chefs did a great job with dinner and I will gladly travel there again for for a rockstar meal. Just be sure to go before 6:30 or else it’ll be crowded.
The only bad part is that I asked the waitress if the dessert was mochi or ice cream after hearing her list of flavors. She insisted it was mochi. Well, quite frankly, the gaijin b*tch was wrong. WRONG, WRONG WRONG. It was *DAIRY* ice cream wrapped in mochi. You see, I grew up eating mochi, which is called dduk in Korean. And I only like the red bean flavor for mochi. If it’s mochi ice cream, then green tea flavor. Hence my irritation with the waitress’ ignorance of what she was serving. Let’s not even go into the implications of serving someone dairy while riding in the small cab of a pickup truck.
The last or rather very first cheap meal I got was at Mecca Cafe in Lower Queen Anne. Good solid American diner food, but the service was quirky. The portions are huge though, so a good value. And the hot chocolate I had stands out as something very good.
Final note: Dumb Little Man has a How to Eat Sushi video posted. Haven’t watched it yet.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I wish I’d known about this when i went to seattle in the fall especially the pike place market tip. i didnt find much there in terms of food for some reason except the farmers market.
i went to that asian market/grocery store in the international district for sushi since i was walking all day. wish i knew there was better sushi options.
but the bus system is great isn’t it? some areas are free and then you pay like $1.25.
did you do any sightseeing? alki beach in seattle is amazing and gorgeous at night.
Um, YUM! and here’s hoping your trip was a success.
Oh, and BTW, our main cashflow account (everything that goes in or goes out goes through this) is at Etradebank – among other things, they have completely free ATMs. They’ll pay other banks fees (I’ve had a $3.25 fee get reimbursed), with supposedly no monthly limit. They do have a high minimum balanace – $5K.
SFMM- you probably meant Uwajimaya in the International District. Great place.
I didn’t really sightsee because I’ve been there before. Mostly visiting friends on a quick trip. I would have loved to hit Snoqualamie on Saturday, but that’s a lot to ask my friends to do with me.
I’ll have to try Alki Beach one night… Thanks for the tip.
Kevan- I should have called my bank beforehand, but such things do not seem important when you’re having a lovely stroll arm in arm with a friend…
My guy lived in Seattle for a while and loved it. And it’s been so long since we’ve had sushi… your post made me sigh. Sounds like you had a great time!
I just moved back to the East Coast from Portland, and one of the things I pine for is the reasonably-priced delicious small sushi restaurants of the Pacific Northwest. You have no idea how envious that menu makes me! I always think it’s worth spending a little extra for great sushi.
Next time you’re in Seattle, try Spuds – frugal fish and chips hole-in-the-wall. It’s been 6 years since I’ve had a Spuds fix. Best fish and chips I’ve ever had.
Locations in Alki Pt, Greenlake and Kirkland, IIRC, and assuming nothing’s changed in the last 6 years.