July 2008
Table of Contents
Best of the City
Cover Story
Best of the City 2008
Edited by Jessica Voelker
Contributions from Ben Schock, Christopher Werner, Erin Pursell, James Ross Gardner, Kathryn Robinson, Kelly Huffman, Laura Cassidy, Laura Peach, Leah Finn, Lee Fehrenbacher, Rachelle Robinett, Roger Brooks, Sarah Anderson, Stefan Durham, Steve Wiecking, and Wilson Diehl
Faced with a place that is busting with “bests,” how do we choose what’s the Best of the City? We focus on the new and the newly discovered—183 shops and services, activities and eateries that offer fresh, exciting viewpoints on the city and force us to d
Read More
Features
Thumbnail for - Legal Eaglets
Legal Eaglets
For five years, the UW Environmental Law Clinic has defended the little guy, battled big corporations, and given sheltered students real-world experience. Now its benefactor is thinking of pulling the plug.
By Daniel Jack Chasan
Thumbnail for - This is SUB POP
This is SUB POP
The rise and fall and rise of the record label that that redefined itself for a new generation.
By Bart Blasengame
Thumbnail for - A Midsummer’s Daydream
A Midsummer’s Daydream
In rich neutrals, soft metallics, and deep jewel tones, you’ll make summer last and last and last.
Editor's Note
A Note from the Editor
AS WE PAY OUR ANNUAL TRIBUTE to the city, we view it through the fresh lens of recent travel —and 3D glasses. I just returned from a tour of small towns in the Mississippi Delta, a place where the melancholy traces of the South’s rich culture and...
Inbox
Mail from the Metro
Letters to Seattle Met
Seattle Restaurants
Best of the City 2008
Faced with a place that is busting with “bests,” how do we choose what’s the Best of the City? We focus on the new and the newly discovered—183 shops and services, activities and eateries that offer fresh, exciting viewpoints on the city and force...
Edited by Jessica Voelker
Nectar of the Pods
With fresh chickpeas, it’s what’s inside that counts.
By Jess Thomson
The Never-Ending Txori
The space is small, the plates are tiny, and the experience 
is the full-meal deal.
By Kathryn Robinson
Entertainment
Death-Defying Do-Gooders
MICROSOFTIES, CAREER BARISTAS, and…circus performers? In flies with the greatest of ease yet another Seattle subculture: tightrope walkers, trapeze-swinging daredevils, unicyclists, and jugglers. They all, including juggler Arne Bystrom (left)...
By Courtney Nash
Play (Really Old) Ball!
One man’s quest to set the national pastime back 150 years.
By Sarah Anderson
Murder Most Tyra
America’s top reality host has Seattle blood on her hands.
Force 10 Is With Them
Meet the Storm’s newest point guard. No, Sue Bird hasn’t quit.
By Courtney Nash
This is SUB POP
The rise and fall and rise of the record label that that redefined itself for a new generation.
By Bart Blasengame
The Kindness of Strangers
Intiman grants fringe veteran Sheila Daniels her big Desire to direct.
By Steve Wiecking
Fashion & Shopping
That ’80s Show
A conversation with Laced Up owners Cassius Belair and Jaycee Coleman.
By Laura Cassidy
A Midsummer’s Daydream
In rich neutrals, soft metallics, and deep jewel tones, you’ll make summer last and last and last.
Getaways & Trails
Swim with the Fishes
A diver discovers unearthly—and inhuman—delights beneath the sea.
By Langdon Cook
Bottoms Up
Bury your head in the sand in search of giant geoducks and your Pacific Northwest wings.
By Harry Edwards
News & Profiles
Open Election (or) Partisan Ploy?
A proposed voting reform is supposed to protect independent voters by banning political parties from county ballots. But opponents fear it will only protect endangered Republican officeholders.
By Lee Fehrenbacher
Legal Eaglets
For five years, the UW Environmental Law Clinic has defended the little guy, battled big corporations, and given sheltered students real-world experience. Now its benefactor is thinking of pulling the plug.
By Daniel Jack Chasan
Home & Design
Glass Houses
The perfect summer host is ready to serve mint juleps, mojitos, and merlot. Are you?
By Anna Roth
Skin Deep
A Capitol Hill condominium gets a face-lift without radical surgery.
By Peter Sackett
The Dirt on Grass
For gardeners who seek perfect lawns, the soil comes first.
By Marty Wingate
Real Estate
Thoroughly Modern
A specialty real estate firm specializes in midcentury architecture.
By Ashley Griffin
Best of Seattle
Regional Content
Seattle Food and Drink
Seattle News