articles
Datebook: New Exhibit at Nordic Heritage Museum
Architecture and nature coexist peacefully in a new exhibit at the Nordic Heritage Museum
Good news for Dwell magazine groupies (present company included): Ballard’s Nordic Heritage Museum is hosting an exhibit that will have you geeking out over gorgeous modern architecture, and possibly packing up and moving to Norway. Featuring stunning photographs and architectural models, Lost in Nature: The Architecture of Jarmund/Vigsnæs showcases contemporary work by a prominent Oslo-based…
Grey Matters: Expense Account
Seattle is trying to build pricey new roads while it struggles to fill potholes in the existing ones
A weird contradiction of our times is that we the public are pulled toward two opposite extremes. Specifically, we are exhorted to take on ginormous new public projects while cutting back on almost everything the government does that is actually useful, albeit unglamorous. The downtown Seattle deep-bore tunnel, the expansion of the 520 bridge over…
Most Influential: Sandra Jackson-Dumont
Deputy Director of Education and Public Programs/Adjunct Curator, Seattle Art Museum
Four years ago, when Sandra Jackson-Dumont was working at the Studio Museum in Harlem, she received a call from then-director Mimi Gates at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM). Gates was looking to fill a deputy director position for community outreach at SAM. “I recommended several people,” Jackson-Dumont recalls. “Then she called back for me.” Just…
Most Influential: CEO Ben Huh
Pet Holding CEO Ben Huh knows the secret recipe in this era of Facebook
The road to business success on the Internet is littered with the corpses of those who have tried and failed: sock puppets, online lackeys, search engines. So you’d be forgiven for thinking that a guy with a simple website filled with pictures of cats and funny sayings somehow slipped under the radar to become a…
Hot Button: How Green is Thy Lumber?
Seattle's green building community questions which wood is good enough
Say you’re an environmentally conscious consumer looking to build a new deck. You head to Dunn Lumber on Lake Union and stare at seemingly identical stacks of lumber. Which is the most eco-friendly? It’s hard to tell. Should you just buy the most expensive wood and assume it must be the greenest? What about that…
Health: Fred Hutch provides phone service
Under contract with the National Cancer Institute, Fred Hutch provides a service vital to people see
Special CallingUnder contract with the National Cancer Institute, Fred Hutch provides a service vital to people seeking communication and compassion. The calls come in from anywhere and everywhere, landing in a quiet warren of cubicles inside a South Lake Union building. “I just found out I have Stage 4 cancer in my throat,” drawls a…
Outdoors: Seattleites Cyclocross
Seattleites embrace the roughest sport on two wheels
Cross BreedingSeattleites embrace the roughest sport on two wheels Small wonder that cyclocross, a bicycle racing sport that most closely resembles BMX for grownups, is big in the bike-crazy Pacific Northwest, where riders don’t mind getting dirty in the quest for ever more challenging outdoor experiences. Also known as CX or just ’cross, the sport…
Spotlight Minis: Art, Books, & Music
Local Art That Matters
Meet Your MarkerARTIST: John Sutton of local installation art trio SuttonBeresCuller SHOW: Panoptos, for which the group has raided the Henry Art Gallery’s permanent collection, hung a selection of art salon style (floor to ceiling), and constructed a custom-made apparatus that holds a high-def camera and moves on an X/Y axis. Viewers operate the camera—either…
Spotlight: Port Authority
An inaugural literary series bridges Seattle and New Orleans through new writing about place
Picture a port city shaped by the ebb and flow of its maritime industry. A city where the local seafood is legendary, and the music scene is heralded for its influence and depth. Are you seeing the Emerald City, or the Big Easy? This month, the two cities—and coasts—are bridged via Bilocal (bilocal.org), a new,…
Tasting Notes: Jeff Smiley at Baron Brewing
Jeff Smiley of Seattle's Baron Brewing in South Park crafts one our favorite fall beers
To a beer drinker, fall can seem like a lost season. Summer’s easy-drinking, thirst-quenching hefeweizens and witbiers are still available, often colliding with the full-bodied, heavily malted beverages of winter already crowding the shelves. Aside from the traditional seasonal suspects (think pumpkin ale and Oktoberfest lager), decent autumnal offerings have a hard time getting noticed….
Food We Love: Butter Crunch at Honore Artisan
Honore Artisan is the only bakery in town that makes kouign amann
Pastry snobs from all over the city and beyond make regular pilgrimages to Honoré Artisan Bakery (Ballard, 1413 NW 70th St; 206.706.0435) to taste its kouign amann (pronounced KWEEN yah mahn), and with eminently good reason. I got my first taste of the round, buttery Breton pastry two years ago, when the handsome shop opened…
Urban Safari: Madison Park
The best spots to Eat, Drink, Play, and Primp in Madison Park
At the foot of East Madison Street sits a tree-lined hub locals call “the village,” cherished for its family-friendly vibe and beautiful waterfront views of Lake Washington. Known for mainstays like the burgers at Bing’s, the beers at The Attic and the margaritas at Cactus, Madison Park now has a few newer spots worth heading…
Seattle Coffee Guide: Coffee Talk
Long gone are the days when phrases like “tall skinny latte walking” sounded like a foreign language
Direct trade or farm direct: This refers to roasters who purchase their beans directly from the farmers who grow them. Fair trade: A certification program that ensures coffee-growing, labor-management and environmental practices that are beneficial to the farmers who grow the beans. Single origin: Coffee varieties using beans that come from just one farm or…
Seattle Coffee Guide: The Terroir of a Bean
Just as with wine grapes, place is of prime importance to coffee beans.
Terroir—the character of the land and the climate in which a coffee bean is grown—plays a large role in flavor. Processing—washing, fermentation, drying and hulling the seeds of the coffee berry—also makes a huge difference in how the end product tastes. For example, “African coffees have more of a blueberry, spicy flavor,” says Everett-based Velton…
Seattle Coffee Guide: Espresso Gadgets
Back in the 90’s, in-home espresso machines were all the rage. Now-a-days, though the trend has fade
Visions Espresso Service Located near the Starbucks headquarters in SoDo, this gear shop may not have the widest selection, but they make up for it with great service from a highly knowledgeable staff and an array of the most popular and exciting equipment on the market. 2737 First Avenue South, SoDo; 206 905-4381Espresso Supply, Inc.This…
Seattle Coffee Guide: International Coffee
Whether a transplant or indigenous to Seattle, it’s tempting to assume that one knows everything abo
CAFÉ PALOMA (93 Yesler Way; 206.405.1920), a charming Mediterranean bistro with Old World flair, offers TURKISH coffee, unique in its thick, sludge-like consistency and sugary taste. Once a method for testing prospective brides, it is boiled until it reaches adequate thickness, and then sugar is added to it. VIETNAMESE coffee, known for its strong, sweet…
Seattle Coffee Guide: Coffee Shop Combos
Find unique blends at These Seattle shops where sipping is no longer a singular obsession
BARK! ESPRESSO Bring Fido for a cup of joe where dogs and their humans can mingle with their coffee (roasted by Caffe Vita) in the Hound Hang Out Café located next door at GREAT DOG. Canine-less customers are also welcome to their own haven right inside BARK! 11335 Roosevelt Way N.E. 206.364.0185 SIP AND SHIPSipping,…
Perfect Pastries
With the right accompaniment, a good cup of coffee plays on a much larger stage. Here are some of ou
The figgy maple scone from Volunteer Park Café is utter perfection. Buttery, with bits of fig scattered about in the flaky dough, it may be the best in town. Capitol Hill, 1501 17th Ave. E; 206.328.3155; alwaysfreshgoodness.com No local bakery can match James Miller’s croissant expertise at his decade-old Café Besalu. Pull it apart slowly…
Seattle Coffee Guide: The Personalities
The people behind Seattle's coffee culture
The game changerHoward Schultz, CEO, Starbucks After he fell in love with the café culture in Italy in the early ’80s, Schultz introduced Seattle (and the U.S.) to lattes and popularized the concept of the “third place”—a caffeine-centered community gathering spot. With shops seemingly in every mall, on every airport concourse and at every urban…
Join The Must List
Don't miss a thing.
Get Seattle's best events,handpicked
and delivered to your inbox weekly.