Meeting the Pike Place Market Family
A tour of Pike Place market taught us that behind the veneer of this bustling market is a tight-knit community.
Crepe de France where we sampled a banana Nutella crepe with whipped cream and a lavender DRY soda.
The plan for Wednesday morning was to meet Mark and Jan, owners of Seattle Bites Food Tours, at the Seattle Art Museum at 10:15 a.m. where we were to launch our tour of Pike Place Market. Tour group sizes can grow to 14 and when they do each person receives a radio headset so they can hear the guide over the din of the market. But on this day it was just my wife and I which meant we could dispose of the headsets for a more personal, less structured tour.
Jan and Mark mapped a route that included stops at 10 different establishments ranging from a full service restaurant to a small 10′x10′ Indian food vendor. As we progressed through the tour it soon became apparent that this experience for us was much more than a food tasting event–it was a walk through the history of Pike Place Market (and Seattle) and an invitation to meet some of the people who represented this vibrant, complex community of the market.
As we approached each vendor Jan would tell us the backstory of each shop owner and each is very unique. This is a market comprised of small business owners from every walk of life and all four corners of the globe. Mark would add vignettes of select stops which provided us with the added benefit of allowing us to catch our breath between bites. Both Jan and Mark were the most gracious of hosts as they personally introduced us at each stop.
Tours generally last 2-1/2 to 3 hours. It was just the four of us, chatting, asking questions, laughing, and learning, and before you knew it our tour was over 4 1/2 hours later! All the while we ate… and ate… and ate so much so that we skipped dinner entirely that evening. I think I got a glimpse of what Anthony Bourdain goes through during the taping of his show “No Reservations.”
Where we went, what we ate…
- TASTE Restaurant – Smoked Salmon Flatbread
- Crepe de France – Crepe with banana, Nutella and whipped cream served with Lavender DRY Soda
- I Love New York Deli – Pastrami on Caraway Zissel Rye, Potato Knish, Sour Pickle, Dr. Brown’s soda
- Saffron Spice – Chicken Tikka Masala served with saffron rice and a Mixed Berry Smoothie
- Pike Place Chowder – New England Style Chowder and Seared Scallop Chowder. Special note: Pike Place Chowder was inducted in the Chowder Hall of Fame, Newport, Rhode Island. I can say definitively that this is the very best chowder I have ever tasted.
- Pure Food Fish Market – Smoked Salmon and Teriyaki Smoked Salmon
- Pike Place Creamery – not on the tour route, but we stopped for a taste of locally produced eggnog
- Uli’s Famous Sausage, Inc. – Sampling of sausages, sauerkraut, and German-style pilsner
- Corner Produce – Honeycrisp and Aurora apples, perfectly ripe pears and a blood orange
- Seattle Coffee Works – A tasting of coffees from the three major coffee regions of the world: Aurelio (Central/South America), Ethiopia Harrar (Africa) and Sumatra Gayo (Indonesia)
