By chef Ignacio Mattos, it’s just great,.

This outpost of Seattle coffee is an excellent place to get your morning cappuccino, afternoon macchiato, or just some beans to take home. I lived in Seattle for 6 years before moving to New York and at first I was afraid the coffee here wouldn’t measure up, but lucky for me there are plenty of great places. Picking a favorite wasn’t easy!

Most of the food here is meant to be eaten family-style with everyone sharing all the dishes on the table. Most of these dishes are best when accompanied by rice: Northern and Northeastern Thai dishes with sticky rice, Central and Southern Thai with jasmine rice. In Thailand, only a spoon and fork are used: the spoon to eat with and the fork to push food onto the spoon. We encourage you to try this method as it is the easiest way to eat many of these dishes. Some things are traditionally eaten with the hands such as grilled meat and sticky rice. Please ask your server for guidance if you wish. Chopsticks are normally used only when eating noodles, Vietnamese or Chinese food (they will be supplied if appropriate with a certain dish), however chopsticks are available upon request.

Strand is a castle of books. It claims 2.5 million new and used books, across 18 miles of shelves, cared for by 200 employees—so set aside a couple of hours. Plenty of art books and good prices. Get your healthy huff of that old book smell.

Fun bar to drink/dance. Great sound system and rotating roster of Dj's. Tends to get unbearably crowded on weekends so weeknights are the way to go.