Local’s Guide to the Pike Place Market

Local’s Guide to the Pike Place Market: Noontime Fuel-Up

Fri, 03 Jun 2011 05:00:00 -0700

Three Girls Bakery

Chicken Valley
A combo pack of gizzards, livers, and hearts is just $3. Afraid of freaking out the kids? No need to tell them which part of the chicken that greasy, crunchy goodness came from.
Dessert As long as we’re dipping into deep-fried food, might as well grab a sack of mini doughnuts from nearby Daily Dozen.

Crumpet Shop
There’s no telling what will and won’t be in stock; it’s all part of this family-run bakery’s quirky charm. If they’ve got it, opt for hearty French lentil soup dressed with sour cream and cilantro and a spongy crumpet topped with tomato, basil pesto, and English farm cheese.
Dessert A pumpkin cookie from Cinnamon Works.

Emmett Watson’s Oyster Bar
Curmudgeonly Seattle journalist Emmett Watson was the original co-owner of this hidden cranny lined with sky-blue booths. Broiled oysters are a specialty but the basket of fried shrimp and French fries will not disappoint.
Dessert Skip dessert and order another  local brew.

I Love New York Deli
A perfect deli lunch: an I Love New York Reuben, piled high with corned beef shipped straight from NYC. We love it with a pickle and a bag of Wise potato chips.
Dessert Cinnamon and walnut rugelach from Three Girls Bakery.

Market Grill
If you can claim a stool at this blip of a lunch counter in the middle of the Arcade madness, do it. Then ask for a blackened fish sandwich—halibut or salmon, whichever’s the better catch that day.
Dessert Flaky baklava from Mr. D’s Greek Delicacies.

Michou
Pizza in the display case tempts, but it’s the Sierra Chicken panino—stuffed with chicken, chipotle mayo, smoked gouda, red onion, tomato, and greens—that’s the must-try.
Dessert If you grew up with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, don’t miss the chance to try Turkish delight candy at Turkish Delight.

Local’s Guide to the Pike Place Market: Meet the Ghosts

Fri, 03 Jun 2011 05:00:00 -0700

Image: Young Lee

Princess Angeline
Born in 1811, Chief Sealth’s oldest daughter defiantly lived in a shack just below Pike Street during a time when no other Native Americans were allowed to reside within city limits.
How she haunts “The most common place to find her ghost is on the stairs up from Western Ave, close to where her home was. People catch her in the corner of their eye, go looking for her, and end up on the steps. She smells unpleasant, pungent—and moves slowly and deliberately.”

Frank Goodwin
One of the original founders of the Market, Goodwin, who died in 1954, kept an office in a space next to the basement—and frequent dance floor—of what is now the Alibi Room.
How he haunts “He’s seen as an old man at the bottom of the Alibi stairs, where he introduces himself as Frank and asks if visitors need help with directions—just as he would have in life.”

Jacob
The 1918 Spanish flu epidemic killed over a thousand Seattleites. The spirit of one victim, an eight- to nine-year-old stable boy named Jacob, is believed to reside in the Merry Tales toy store.
How he haunts “He was really active in 2007. I could walk in with a day tour and provoke him, and he’d start throwing things. He’s very mischievous and poltergeisty. But he calmed down after the store owner made a little room for him with  a bed.”

Suspender Man
The structure at 1921 First Avenue, current home of Kell’s Irish Pub and former home of the Butterworth and Sons mortuary, is reportedly atop a Duwamish tribe burial ground. Witnesses have observed ghosts, sometimes dozens at a time, in the building, including an unnamed man seen in a second-story window.
How he haunts “He wears suspenders and a newsboy hat. I can show you a very clear, convincing photo where he’s looking down and you can see a shadow of the hat on his face… We think he’s one of the former mortuary employees.”

Local’s Guide to the Pike Place Market: Shopping with the Chef

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 05:00:00 -0700

Image: Young Lee

Chef Jason Franey

On a gray morning in May, a few weeks after Food and Wine magazine named him one of its Best New Chefs, I asked 33-year-old Jason Franey, executive chef at Canlis, to meet me at Pike Place Market. I knew he was a big Market fan, and I was curious to see which stalls and shops would stand out to the wunderkind New York expat, previously the number two guy at Danny Meyer’s famous restaurant, Eleven Madison Park.

Franey led me to Bavarian Meats, where he stocks up on landjager, a beer, pork, and pepperoni sausage. “It’s awesome with beer,” said Franey. Another favorite: “this cool ham that’s connected to bacon. You slice it and fry it up; bacon on bacon!” The Souk, next door, a stuffed-to-the-gills shop full of spice jars and stacked cans of hummus, is Franey’s source for candied fennel seeds—the owner, Manzoor, imports them from India and sells them for $5.99 a pound.

In front of the pastry case at Le Panier Very French Bakery the chef rhapsodized about croissants aux fruits, layers of butter-brushed pastry swaddling apricots and cream. “They’re the perfect thing in the morning—sweet but acidic and flaky.” We crossed the street to the Arcade, where Franey stopped short in front of the Moon Valley Honey stand to glob some raw wildflower goo onto a sampling stick. “I would serve this with cheese,” he said. “If you buy expensive honey, do not cook with it. It kills the aromatics.” At Frank’s Quality Produce, Franey chatted with owner Frank Genzale, who provides the fruits and veggies Franey uses on his chef’s menu. “When you get the white asparagus, save it for us,” said Franey. Then his cellphone lit up. “It’s the restaurant,” he said, frowning. Time to head back to work.

Local’s Guide to the Pike Place Market: Pike Place Performers

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 05:00:00 -0700

Image: Young Lee

The Castaways at Can Can
Can Can owner Chris Snell says his in-house performers are: “like Cirque de Soleil, only the hip, modern version.” The professional dancing troupe sprinkles kung fu moves along with modern dance, flamenco, and cabaret into its acts. And while Snell blanches at the term burlesque, citing connotations of amateurishness, there is no denying the peep-show factor is in full effect. thecancan.com

Squirrel Butter
Charlie Beck and Charmaine Slaven (from Indiana and Montana, respectively) play soul-stimulating old-time Appalachian music—punctuated by percussive clogging by Slaven—at busker spots around the Market. charliebeck.net/squirrelbutter

Tamara the Trapeze Lady
Flaxen-haired Tamara shows up  every Sunday night from 6:30 to 9pm at the Pink Door (thepinkdoor.net) to entertain the dining room with four five—minute “ambient aerial” sets on the trapeze. It’s fun and casual and goes great with the restaurant’s fizzy cocktails and straightforward pasta dishes, but expect the occasional A/V snafu. “The bartender controls the music, and sometimes he gets really busy and plays the wrong song,” says Tamara. trapezelady.com

Vince Mira
Famous for his eerie ability to channel Johnny Cash (a talent that won him spots on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Good Morning America), this singer-songwriter started busking in the market at age 14. He now brings his act to venues across the country, but still tests out new material monthly  at the Can Can. Catch him while you can. vincemira.com

Local’s Guide to the Pike Place Market: a Day in the Life of the Market

Fri, 20 May 2011 12:00:00 -0700

From the moment the first farmer parks his truck on Pike Place  until the last bartender locks up his stock, the Market teems with life 22 hours a day.

Local’s Guide to the Pike Place Market: Found Among the Merchants

Fri, 20 May 2011 12:00:00 -0700

One trip, 18 treasures: a sampling of the strange and wonderful objects for sale at the market every day.

Local’s Guide to the Pike Place Market: Vendor’s Market

Fri, 20 May 2011 05:00:00 -0700

Image: Young Lee

A Man and His Fish
Pure Food’s Harry Calvo has worked the Arcade stall since 1970.

Tell them your name! These purveyors hawk only the best fruits, veggies, dairy products, and seafood, and save the best of the best for their loyal regulars.

Frank Genzale Jr.,
Frank’s Quality Produce
“Frankie” (to his friends) is a fourth—generation market vendor. In the 1920s, his great—grandmother, just emigrated from Italy, sold vegetables in the arcade, battling daily with another Italian woman for the choicest spaces. Genzale worked the stand with his dad back when many Seattleites used the market as their grocery store. These days things are different. “A guy on a cruise ship isn’t going to buy a bunch of beets,” says Genzale, who earns more and more of his income selling wholesale to restaurants like Canlis. franksproduce.net

Nancy Nipples,
Pike Place Market Creamery
This longtime vendor (she opened shop in 1978) had her name legally changed to Nancy Nipples the Milkmaid, so devoted is she to her occupation. Nipples sells organic dairy products—from local farms whenever possible—along with soy products, duck eggs (sub them into baking recipes that call for chicken eggs for richer results), and more than 20 types of butter.

Image: Young Lee

Green Giant
Sosio’s Mike Osborn is on a first-name basis with most local locavores.

Dan Manzo Jr., Alan Stott, and Mike Osborn
Sosio’s Produce
“My regulars have ownership of my stand,” says Mike Obsorn, part owner of Sosio’s Produce. “They’ll say, ‘This is my produce stand. This is my produce guy.’ ” Named for Sosio Manzo, who opened back in the 1940s, Sosio’s is most famous for its Oh My God peaches, a term its owners trademarked. Originally these supersweet peaches all grew in Eastern Washington, now Osborn says he’s got a guy in Northern California, too. That means we get perfect peaches from June until—OMG—the end of September.

Sol Amon,
Pure Food Fish
Market folk call Amon, whose father founded Pure Food Fish in 1911, the “cod father,” and his business is widely considered Pike Place’s premier source for scallops, king crab, Columbia River salmon, oysters, and so on. We haven’t tried every smoked fish on the planet, but Pure Food’s alder-wood-smoked, garlic-pepper version, cured for 24 days in a dry brine, has got to be a contender for world’s best. freshseafood.com

Local’s Guide to the Pike Place Market

Fri, 20 May 2011 05:00:00 -0700

Image: Michael Byers

ORGANIC. THAT’S THE WORD people who work at Pike Place Market use to describe it. They’re not only talking about vegetables. The Market is always transforming: Just when you think you have a handle on who runs the place, or what business goes where, it changes up on you, and you discover something new about it—some historical conflict that shines a light on its confounding configuration, some curious character who whispers one of its countless secrets into your ear.

And so, knowing that we could never pin down Seattle’s beloved landmark—without a doubt the greatest farmers market in America—we’ve used this space to tell you about the many discoveries we’ve made there. We went deep down among the merchants, sampled our way through the farm and food stalls, blushed at bawdy cabaret acts, and snuck around in the early hours, when the Market is dewy and silent and you can’t help but imagine all the lives lived there, behind the twinkling bars and inside all those creaky kitchens. Here is the Pike Place Market as we found it, today. But remember that even as you read this, it is changing. That’s the magic of Pike Place Market. It’s alive.

EAT

Vendor’s Market: A brief guide to the people who sell the freshest food in Pike Place.
Market Insider: Shopping with the Chef: Canlis toque Jason Franey’s favorite stalls and shops.
Critic’s Market: Dining picks from Seattle Met’s restaurant reviewer.
Market Insider: Noontime Fuel-Up: Casual Market lunches with enough octane to power an afternoon of exploration.

KNOW

Meet the Mayor: Pike Place through the eyes of Michael Yaeger, its honorary mayor.
The Day the Market Almost Died (Again): And the family that saved it (twice).
Market Insider: Meet the Ghosts: Mercedes Yaeger, owner of Market Ghost Tours, introduces Pike Place’s most distinguished ghosts.
Found Among the Merchants: One trip, 18 treasures: a sampling of the strange and wonderful objects for sale at the market every day.
104 Years Of Fortitude: How the Market survived war, riots, and one reckless cab driver.

LIVE

A Day in the Life of the Market: From the moment the first farmer parks his truck on Pike Place until the last bartender locks up his stock, the Market teems with life 22 hours a day.
Imbiber’s Market: Drinking picks from Seattle Met’s bars and nightlife blogger.
Market Insider: Pike Place Performers: Four entertainers who embody the weird and wonderful tradition of performing in the market.
15 Market Things Every Visitor Should Do

Local’s Guide to the Pike Place Market: Critic’s Market

Fri, 20 May 2011 05:00:00 -0700

Image: Young Lee

MY FIRST JOB, fact-checking restaurant reviews for a guidebook, was one block up from the Market. That summer I made it my project to sample every restaurant there. I drank my first cappuccino, slurped my first raw oyster (thanks, Emmett Watson!), and mastered chopsticks.

Café Campagne
A plate of oeufs en meurette, a bowl of caffe latte, a sunny table in a brick alleyway—there’s no finer way to wake up the weekend than with brunch at Café Campagne. (Its swankier, pricier elder sibling, Campagne, reopens this month after a long remodel.) 1600 Post Alley, Inn at the Market, 206-728-2233; campagnerestaurant.com

Chez Shea
Market renovations necessitated the removal of a wall at this Left Bank artist’s garret—and the result is an airier room that’s somehow more intimate, especially by twinkling candlelight. This French-by-Northwest classic is the Market’s Big Fancy Night Out—the kind where you dig into buttery beef tenderloin in demi glace, seared Fraser River sockeye, and leek-and-Camembert tart. 94 Pike St, Corner Market, 206-467-9990; chezshea.com

{% display:image for:article image:2 align:left height:480 %}

Le Pichet
One of the great restaurant meals in Seattle is the roast chicken for two (takes an hour) at this most authentic Parisian bistro. Peppery, crackling skin gives way to fall-off-the-bone dark meat and drier white meat, served over root vegetables in a tarragon-tweaked jus. 1933 First Ave, First Avenue 206-256-1499; lepichetseattle.com

Matt’s in the Market
If you have one meal to eat in the Market, Matt’s distilled shot of Seattle ought to be it…and not just because the view through arched windowpanes over rooftop and sea is iconic. Lunches like pan-fried prawn sandwiches and dinners like seared sea scallops with Walla Walla sweet puree showcase culinary chops, careful local sourcing, a youthful sensibility, and nearly religious adherence to the yum factor. 94 Pike St, Corner Market, 206-467-7909; mattsinthemarket.com

Steelhead Diner
The buzz is irresistible, particularly at lunch, when tourists and locals jostle for seats, and portions and prices on the same-as-dinner menu dip lower. It’s Northwest seafood with Southeast accents—lots of fried food, lots of gravy. Dungeness crab cakes and a fathomless andouille gumbo are the headliner draws. 95 Pine St, Post Alley Market, 206-625-0129; steelheaddiner.com

The Virginia Inn
At last the bistro fare of the Market District’s old-time watering hole matches the storied ambience of its bar and windowy loveliness of its brick-lined digs. Chicken wrapped in prosciutto is flawlessly moist; a Painted Hills beef burger a simple triumph. The Virginia Inn is the Market at its locals-only best. 1937 First Avenue, 206-728-1937; virginiainnseattle.com

Local’s Guide to the Pike Place Market: Meet the Mayor

Fri, 20 May 2011 05:00:00 -0700

Image: Young Lee

WITH HIS TUGBOAT-CAPTAIN BEARD and Mr. Peanut top hat, Michael Yaeger has the right look for a market mayor, an honorary title bestowed upon him by then state governor (but, like, real governor) Mike Lowry. Yaeger lives in Poulsbo, but ferries across the Sound daily to keep an eye on his beloved Market and hang out with his daughter Mercedes, a Pike Place lifer who took over Market Ghost Tours, the Post Alley–based business that leads guests through Market haunts.

Yaeger remembers walking among the stalls as a 10-year-old, when his French-immigrant grandparents brought him on a grocery-shopping trip. “We touched everything, like you do in France,” recalls Yaeger. “And I remember my grandma talking to the vendors in her broken French-English.” He fell instantly for the piled-high charm of Pike Place, and when he and his wife, a watercolorist, moved to Seattle in 1979, they opened Studio Solstone in the atrium to showcase her art. In the 1980s, Yaeger worked closely with Peter Steinbrueck in the famous fight against New York Investment company Urban Group. When Urban Group finally accepted a buyout and gave up rights to Market property, Yaeger remembers, Steinbrueck celebrated with a massive wingding at Il Bistro restaurant. “All I remember is getting honestly sloshed,” he said.

You can spot Yaeger at his favorite places around Pike Place Market, including Crepe de France and the nook of booths behind the bar at Lowell’s. “That’s where artist Mark Tobey did his sketches that were used to raise money when Pike Place was struggling,” explained the mayor. “You can look down on the whole Market.”

Market By the Numbers

Number of buildings that house Market businesses

7

Number of downtown Seattle acres covered by those buildings

240

Number of businesses that operate there

500

Number of people who live in the Market full time

$10 million

Number of people who stroll through the Market each year

6

Number of cruise ships that came through the Port of Seattle in 1999

223

Number of cruise ships that came through it in 2010

$50 million

Federal funds that flowed into Washington during the 1970s, allowing the Preservation and Development Authority to buy up Market buildings and bring them out of disrepair

$69 million

Entire estimated cost of the current three-phase renovation, per the PDA