The second stop on my little tour of the Pacific Northwest was, of course, Seattle. While I’ve always wanted to visit the PNW (numerous obsessions listed here), the catalyst for this trip was actually Alison Roman‘s Cookbook Tour for her new baking book, Sweet Enough. Tangent alert: after my friend Dafna got to not only see, but MEET Claire Saffitz on her tour for What’s for Dessert, I had a crisis of conscience like “why didn’t I just fly somewhere to do that too?!”. And so when Alison announced her dates, including one in Seattle, I decided I would do just that. Here’s what was on my foodie itinerary:

• Dahlia Bakery: Deb posted about Dahlia Bakery when she was on her own cookbook tour back in the Fall, and I was excited to find out it was across the street from my hotel. This was my first stop after I dropped off my bags, and I had a great Spring Turkey Sandwich for lunch. While Coconut Cream Pie isn’t my thing, I still had to have a slice of theirs since it’s won all kinds of awards – it’s a must-eat if you’re a fan. I also went back the next day for breakfast, and had a Bacon Egg Sandwich on a housemade English Muffin which was OUTSTANDING! There are also tons of pastries, treats and baked goods. I loved it.

• Pike Place Market: My first stop in Seattle was the iconic Pike Place Market, and I couldn’t believe the sun was out for my visit, so I got some amazing photos! My only mistake was that it was Sunday afternoon, so it was BUSTLING and hard to move around and really take it all in among the crowds. It reminded me of St. Lawrence Market in Toronto; lots of fresh produce, foodie stalls and tons of beautiful flowers. I used this visit as a scouting mission, so when I went back on Tuesday afternoon, I knew exactly where I wanted to go: Piroshky Piroshky (beef & cheddar piroshky was the best thing I ate in Seattle), Le Panier (had a raspberry-filled brioche roll and a palmier) and Rachel’s Ginger Beer (passionfruit ginger beer). Definitely a tourist trap, but also so much fun.

• Dough Zone Dumpling House: Okay, so my dinners in Seattle were kind of a bust. The first night I went to Dough Zone, which I saw on a PNW blog, and while what I ordered was great (Q-Bao [pan-fried pork buns] and sweet & sour cucumber salad) it’s really the kind of place that’s more fun with a group so you can order and try lots of different things. The next night my plan was to go to Dino’s Tomato Pie after Alison’s event, but I forgot to check the hours and it was CLOSED on Monday, womp womp. I ended up just grabbing pizza from a place near my hotel, but it wasn’t anything noteworthy.

• General Porpoise: After trying to break into the Amazon Spheres to get some General Porpoise doughnuts (Google Maps told me there was a location inside, but neglected to say it’s not open to the public!), I made a special trip on Tuesday morning to another location. Like Voodoo, I’ve also been hearing about these stuffed doughnuts for YEARS and they did not disappoint. I had a chocolate-marshmallow filled doughnut and a vanilla latte and I was in heaven. If I ever go back to Seattle, this will be my FIRST stop, not my last. I also tried Top Pot, which is another Seattle doughnut institution, but it’s more of a classic doughnut place (I tried their most popular one, the Old Fashioned).

• Sweet Enough Book Tour: This event was fantastic, and I’m so happy it launched this whole trip into motion. My friend Nicole introduced me to Alison’s recipes in late 2019/early 2020, and I spent the early days of the pandemic binge-watching every one of her videos on You Tube, which basically resulted in some type of comfort attachment to her voice/face/cooking/overall vibe. It was so amazing to see her in person, hear stories of how this book came to life, and learn about the recipes. I also got a signed copy of Sweet Enough, which I can’t wait to bake my way through!

Other non-foodie related notes:

• I was OBSESSED with my hotel: Hotel Andra Seattle. My room was basically a suite and absolutely gorgeous. It’s walking distance to Pike Place Market and the monorail that takes you to the Space Needle, plus Dahlia is across the street. Can’t beat it, in my opinion!
• After I went to Pike Place Market, my second stop was a Ferry Boat Tour with Argosy Cruises. To be honest, there’s not that much happening on the Seattle Waterfront, but it was still fun to be out on the water and listen to the tour guide tell you about the history of the city.
• I couldn’t NOT go up the Space Needle, but when you grow up with the CN Tower in your backyard, the Space Needle just seems so quaint in comparison! It was also a drizzly day, so the views weren’t that great, but I still didn’t want to miss it.
• My absolute favourite thing I did in Seattle was visit the Chihuly Garden & Glass exhibit, which is right next to the Space Needle. I had so much fun spending an afternoon learning about Chihuly’s work, watching a glassblowing demo and taking so many pretty pictures.
• The last place I visited before heading home was the Museum of Pop Culture, which was right up my alley. I spent forever pouring over every detail in the Nirvana exhibit, and there was also a hip hop photo exhibit called Contact High, which had the photos from Jay Z’s first ever photo shoot in 1995.