Food is good in Seattle

Needless to say coffee is amazing in Seattle! We have already found our two favorite independent coffee houses - one for the daily drip which I pick up on the way to work and the other for a latte to sip in peace on weekend mornings. We first found Cafe Ladro in Capitol Hill neighborhood during our visit in August and their Cafe Medici just swept me off my feet. This wonderful dessert-esque drink, a rich mocha with an orange twist dropped in (real orange peel not sugary syrup mind you!) was simply divine! There are a few more locations in Seattle including one a block from the Convention Center, where I get highly anticipated cup of morning coffee, and another one three blocks from our house in lower Queen Anne, which we occasionally visit. On weekends, for variety, we pay a visit to the nearby Uptown Espresso and enjoy a wonderful double tall latte and munch on delicious pastries (Kiki really looks forward to this!). They don't call it "home of the velvet foam" for nothing!

We also found a number of good restaurants within blocks of our apartment including Tum Tim Thai (delicious and quick Thai food), Pagliacci Pizza (yummy pizza with fast delivery), Dick's (amazing hamburgers, real potato fries, tasty shakes made the old-fahioned way in a local establishment that offers its employees not only higher than minimum wage pay but also employer paid health benefits and tuition/childcare assistance!). A day after Thanksgiving, while wondering around lower Queen Anne we found Perche No, a lovely little Italian restaurant, only to find out that they will be closing that particular (their original) location after fourteen years. We will surely have to visit their recently opened Perche No Pasta & Vino further north. And as a special treat we enjoyed an over-the-top dinner with a few friends at El Gaucho, considered by many the best steakhouse in Seattle and counted among "top 12 best steakhouses in the Nation" - a truly amazing dining experience!