Thanks! That’s going to be a tough choice among Un Bien, La Carta de Oaxaca and Ray’s. We’ve been to Oaxaca years ago so there’s a bit of fondness for Oaxacan food. We’ll see what the family feels like.
What’s eye catching is a kids menu offering crab cake and salmon. The grown-ups always spot the sable.
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Some recent reports of restaurants:
Hey @sck I still remember the meal at Nue and the view at Chandler’s, but the best things may have been the baked goods from Bakery Nouveau. I’m sure you will enjoy whatever you choose to eat.
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I’m pretty sure the Taylor Shellfish in Queen Anne was open late when I was there if that’s the one you were looking at. Their hours on their website say 11:30am - close, may want to contact them to see when closing time usually is on a Friday.
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Bummer about Theo tours but maybe Indi or Beecher’s will be making something fun to watch while you’re at The Market. Then take the Monorail back to Seattle Center and laugh at how quaint and short it is.
I haven’t been to the Children’s Museum, when I was a kid we had memberships to the Pacific Science Center, that’s another good option, lots of interactive stuff in case it rains and you want to stay inside all day 
Similar to the Exploratoreum in SF.
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If I don’t make it to an oyster joint while I am in the city, I would most likely make a quick side trek to those places around Bow that @kaleokahu mentioned in the oyster discussion. I just haven’t made up my mind whether I want to bring my oyster knife along. Seems to be a little too much hassle. But that allows me to go straight to the source, get some and bring it to the hotel for later consumption.
Indeed, Pacific Science Center is on my potential list. I just haven’t gotten around to planning the activities beyond the tourist standards. Food (and potential reservations) comes first. LOL.
Are there any must-not-miss vendors at the Ballard Farmers’ Market?
Well you can make use of your knife. Taylor actually has picturesque shucking stations right next to picnic tables (they were working on their wine license last time I was there). Also, Blau would probably let you shuck on their beach on Samish Island. Both will sell you bags of as many graded oysters you can haul away. Bring a cooler and they will supply the ice.
If you’re in a hurry, you may also find oysters in the shells at Skagit’s Best Seafood in Burlington, or Black Rock Seafood near Anacortes.
The Old Edison Inn and the Longhorn in Edison will have excellent shooters, scatters, etc. And if you go to Taylor (on Chuckanut Drive), you may like either Chuckanut Manor or the Oyster Bar Restaurant. Both offer excellent food, extensive wine offerings, and spectacular views with their oysters.
Oh, and Skagit Valley’s phenomenal local strawberries are at their peak right now. Many roadside stands…
Aloha,
Kaleo
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Having spent some time in SF, I think you all probably do food a bit better, but SEA does parks better. We have so many parks and park like settings. Forest, mountain, water, etc. So I would think picnics, particularly with littles, if the weather is good. Bring suits for the international fountain at Seattle Center - your kids will love it. The Seattle places you’ve picked (vs islands etc) are solid, but I wonder whether you can actually get that much food into you in a day 
Downtown SEA has some pretty good happy hours, where you can trim your budget a little by eating earlier and making do with a smaller menu.
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Thanks Kaleo. Excellent suggestions on oysters. I’ll have to see whether we have time to stop by Blau after lunching at Burlington. Originally we have a 4:55pm ferry reservation, but changed it to 2pm- want to spend a little more time on San Juan Island. So if we eat quick enough, I may detour to Blau to get some oysters, and if we don’t have time, then Black Rock Seafood in Anacortes.
How big are the Blau ones? Are they the small tumbled Pacific varietes?
Blau’s are Pacifics. They are size-graded, in ascending order: Yearlings, XS, S, M and Bed Run. Call ahead to see what they have. Summertime is busy enough, but the Fourth is crazy.
On San Juan, you might want to see if you can get into Duck Soup Inn.
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Going to Duck Soup for lunch for sure. Dinner is not quite suitable for the kids according to the Inn. The meal is too long they say. Lunch isn’t quite the same but it is what it is.
Slightly confused about how this thread is working, but whoever mentioned Bakeman’s above - they closed forever about 18 months ago. Extreme sadness. You missed a life changing turkey sandwich.
Kaleo, are you referring to this place in Burlington? I did some searching and didn’t come across a Skagit’s Best Seafood.
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I’m assuming you’ll be using some kind of ride-sharing service while in Seattle? Some of your plans can be achieved easily by walking and/or public transportation, but other things might be difficult.
Here are some random thoughts:
- The Armory Food Court- totally fine if your goal is just get a quick bite in between doing all the fun things with the kiddos, but you’re not going to find amazing food there. It is, however, a good place to take kids because there is a handful of food stall options to choose from. Skillet is probably one of the better options, although I personally find their food to be on the rich and heavy side. The Children’s Museum is fun- particularly for younger kids.
- You might want to make sure you go to the Shilshole Un Bien and not the 15th Ave Un Bien- both technically in Ballard, but very different experiences. Unless something has changed, there is little to no seating at the 15th Ave location and the area it’s in isn’t particularly scenic (15th avenue is a large commercial street).
- Il Corvo- as already mentioned, it is a small storefront that always has a massive line, although it does move quickly.
- Bainbridge Island, for my money, is a great little day trip. It’s very easy, cheap, and convenient to go there- especially if you don’t have a car- and the main strip of Winslow (where the ferry docks) is charming and fun. Good food options include: Proper Fish and Hitchcock Deli. It’s also fun to hit up the uber-fancy grocery store- Town and Country- get something from their massive grab and go section, and go down to the waterfront to eat (weather permitting)…
- If you’re going to Il Corvo another thing to do in that neighborhood, Pioneer Square, would include going up to the Smith Tower Observatory.
Have fun!
(Edited for redundancy:)
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Thanks for the tips @betsysch68 ! I haven’t posted my trip report yet. Though we already left Seattle by the time we saw your tips. It’ll be useful for future travellers though.
Armory Food Court- agreed. no amazing food. pretty meh in fact. When we went, there’s a Spirit of Africa festival going on, which made the food court loads more interesting.
We went to the 15th Ave Un Bien. We thought they were pretty nice sandwiches but not sure if its worth a detour from the farmers’ market. We did enjoy the locks quite a bit. Bad planning on my part- La Carta de Oaxaca closes on Sundays when the market is on.
Il Corvo- jeez, the line was long. We were on vacation and somehow we only got to the line at 11:45am. Bad planning. The line was at least 40 minutes long. I did enjoy the architecture of your library immensely prior to Il Corvo.
And we went to Bainbridge after lunch and the Klondike National Park exhibit. It was somewhat impromptu, and it was rainy all afternoon. But its an enjoyable ferry ride to and from. Nice stroll on the Bainbridge main street. Hitchcock didn’t have space without reservation though, unfortunately.
Never go to San Juan Island around 7/4. Lots of places are closed. Duck Soup- closed. Market Chef- closed. Bakery San Juan- closed. Streets- closed for parade. LOL. Foodwise because of this, it was somewhat disappointing.
Here are all the restaurants we went to :
Seattle:
Serious Pie and Biscuit
Armory- Skillet/ Senagalese food catered by Le Teranga
Adana
Un Bien
Monsoon
Le Pichet
Stateside
Il Corvo
Ba Bar
Burlington/ Mt Vernon:
Taqueria La Bamba
Taste of Thai by Wipa
(Sarkall’s only has Cambodian noodle soup in the evenings, and we aren’t there in the evenings)
San Juan Island:
Hermosa
Golden Island Thai (we desperately wanted to avoid, but everything was closed, and they were open and fast and we haven’t eaten breakfast)
Friday Harbor House
Oysters:
Westcott Bay Shellfish Co on San Juan Island
The oyster resell place next to La Bamba in Mt Vernon.
Unfortunately our schedule was so tight that we never got a chance to head to Blau or the Old Edison Inn that @kaleokahu you suggested. We couldn’t miss the ferry. The above places were right next to where we were so that’s why i picked up oysters there.
Ashford:
Copper Creek- small snack only, unfortunately
Seattle, near airport:
Juba- Somalian. Probably the most unusual-to-me meal on the entire trip. Somalian food has some similarities with Ethiopian dishes, but its definitely not Ethiopian. And it has influences from Italy because of the colonial past.
My grandiose idea of gourmet picnics inside Cascades and Rainier didn’t quite pan out. 
We did eat a lot of Rainier cherries, however, while we were driving around the national parks. Loads of roadside stands.
I will write about these places when I have a moment.
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Closed!
Nooooooooooooo! Though if it was the original guy all along, it’s been at least 30 years, probably 35, so that’s a good run and a person might want to retire. Still, I’m sad, Procopio was a special treat when I was young.
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