Looking Closer at Seattle Restaurants
Someone at Arts and Faith challenged the readers there to post their favorite hometown restaurants. And since this blog is all about the best of the arts, why not include the culinary arts?
Here's what I quickly posted in response. If you're visiting Seattle, take note:
The Santa Fe Cafe
Modeled after Santa Fe's famous "The Shed," it's the best New Mexico cuisine in Seattle. Try the Blue Mesa plate "Christmas style," with a house margarita, and bread pudding baked with whiskey hard sauce, and you'll be blissfully happy for about $30.Hilltop Ale House and 74th Street Ale House
Two great pubs with a selection of ales that shows true discernment, as well as an excellent menu of full meals. Try the gumbo with a goat cheese salad. A full evening of joy for about $20.Orrapin
Seattle is overrun with thai restaurants, and I'm trying to visit them all. Orrapin has the best phad thai I've yet enjoyed, and I've been going back there for more than ten years. Lunch combos are only $7.95.Cupcake Royale
You will believe a cupcake can qualify as "gourmet." The red velvet cupcake with real cream cheese frosting is amazing. Several bites of bliss for three bucks.Cafe Ladro, Hotwire, and Zoka Coffee Roasters
The best coffee shops in Seattle. The lattes are so artfully done you'll want to photograph them before you drink them.The Blue Water Bistro
Located on Greenlake, this bistro's clientele is a bit too posh for me to feel entirely comfortable, but they have fantastic breakfasts (try the "Texas Toast"). For dinner, I usually get a large salad with pear, walnuts, and cranberries, but I can't remember what they call it. After dinner they'll bring you an open flame and little forks so you can make s'mores for dessert.The Celtic Swell
An excellent Irish pub on Alki beach, where almost everything on the menu, right down to the bangers-n-mash, is so authentically greasy that you'll go into cardiac arrest just reading the menu. They serve Guinness room-temperature, which is as it should be.Chutney's
Excellent Indian food, and nan so good that it could be a meal by itself. with a great lunch buffet.Pizza
For thick cheesy, sauce-heavy pizza with the ingredients baked inside, nothing beats Spiro's. For flatter, more traditional pizza you can grab and eat on the run, Zeek's has the best variety. Try their thai chicken pizza.
What's YOUR favorite restaurant?
CT's Mark Moring has been behind the scenes of "The Nativity Story"
Mark Moring, captain of Christianity Today Movies, traveled to Bethlehem for several days to interview Catherine Hardwicke, Keisha Castle-Hughes, screenwriter Mike Rich, and a five-foot-long black snake. He learned a lot about the upcoming Christmas movie The Nativity Story.Read more
"Serenity" is Flying Back Into Theaters
Thanks to Josh Hurst for noting the return of Mal, River, Wash, and Zoe...Read more
So, how many DaVinci watchers have you "dialogued" with?
So, we're now a few weeks into The DaVinci Code's theatrical run.
Sony lured many Christians into promoting the film, buying tickets, going with their congregations to the movie, and even buying the book.
All of this occurred so that Christians could be armed and ready to join a huge "cultural dialogue" because of the great opportunities for evangelism here.
When I suggested we were being duped, I was sternly reprimanded. This, I was told, is what Christians are supposed to do. This is how the church engages with the arts. We send a lot of money to filmmakers who are producing big screen heresy in order to have the privilege of seeing that heresy for ourselves and then witnessing to the people who sat next to us.
So now I want to know... where are the stories of post-"DaVinci Dialogue" conversions?Read more
While U2 prepares to record, Bono is taking piano lessons.
JAM! Showbiz reports that U2 is preparing to go back into the studio this summer.
Wondering what might be different?Read more
Mia Farrow on "The Omen" and her Catholicism
Mia Farrow is back, talking about her new spooky movie, her past, her children, and her faith.
Sufan Stevens talks (or doesn't) to Busted Halo about his faith
Thanks to Heather for pointing out this link.
Sufjan Stevens:
I think it’s an inherent problem in any kind of public discourse. When you have celebrities talking about their failed marriages or their infidelities or their drug problems, it’s just something that’s not the public’s business. I don’t want to know about Christina…er…whatever…I don’t even know any of these names. I don’t want to know about Britney Spears’ baby. It’s personal. It’s none of my business. It’s her family. It’s her private life. I don’t want to know about Nick Lachey’s divorce with Jessica Simpson. It’s not our business. But, obviously, it’s kind of a whole different conversation, because when you have a reality T.V. show about your marriage, I guess you are making it everybody’s business. And when you release a record about your faith, you’re making that everyone’s business.
Paste's Robert Davis on "The New World"
This review of The New World made me applaud.
It's just so terribly exciting when somebody gets what is so brilliant about this film. And Davis hits the nail on the head when he describes Malick's bold choices.
I've read long, rambling reviews trying to find words for why the film works. And I've written a few of those reviews.
Davis clearly and efficiently captures what's so great about this story.
Thank you, Robert Davis, wherever you are.
Paste's Robert Davis on "The New World"
This review of The New World made me applaud.
It's just so terribly exciting when somebody gets what is so brilliant about this film. And Davis hits the nail on the head when he describes Malick's bold choices.
I've read long, rambling reviews trying to find words for why the film works. And I've written a few of those reviews.
Davis clearly and efficiently captures what's so great about this story.
Thank you, Robert Davis, wherever you are.