What a great trip. Not just because of the weather...Great great trip. Long trip review.
Dinner at Walrus and Carpenter was underwhelming, but oysters were incredible - as was the crudo.
Needle and Thread was a 10/10 experience. Can't recommend it highly enough. Make the rez, go talk to them and enjoy it. Excellent hour of time there and wish we had more. No menu, just a talk with folks and they make something for you.
Rockcreek was incredible. I did the sea bass that was probably the best fish dish I've had in years, although it comically came with two giant fistfulls of basil/parsley and another giant one of dill. Wife got a trout dish she loved. Probably the creamiest grits I've had in years also. Great dessert too.
Edit: right now they have a spend 150 get 50 off thing if you use the inkind app, basically attach your card to the app and pay with that (it's connected via their POS system Toast) which works perfectly. Then delete account right after lol
San Fermo was one of my favorite meals ever. Perfect weather. Sat on side patio, perfect caesar salad. We split the king salmon and the bolognese. Maybe the best playlist I've had at a restaurant, wish it wasnt private. Tiramsu hit the spot per usual.
Taylor Shellfish Oyster Co was the best (hand cut) French fries I've had in a decade. Oysters were great too, po boys were decent.
Tolouse Petit wasn't my choice but the apps were great (bread, fries, something else I'm forgetting), drinks were strange, everyone else's entrees were good (mussels, tuna tartare, scallops, crab) BUT it was the single worst steak I've been served at a restaurant. Bad cut of meat but cooked well. Best service of the trip, but shitty owner and chef whose an absolute insane person (google it.) again it's not my choice. Avoid at all costs otherwise lol
Hit up Lowells for brunch when we got there and had a great seat by window. Wifes crab melt was 9/10. Mine was mediocre but you don't go there for the food.
My favorite coffee drink ever from a shoo was from url coffee - the walk to work. Idk how they make it even better with simple ingredients but it's spot on. Awesome locstion. Worth your time to go.
Tried a bunch of different cortados. Monorail was the best, followed by Anchorhead. Rest were decent (Vivace, Moonrise, Victrola) - Ghost Alley in Pike Place was terrible. Avoid at all costs. Wife liked the iced latte from Anchorhead the most.
Hellenika Cultured Creamery in Pike Place was excellent and the best frozen yogurt I've ever had. Can't recommend it enough. Salt and Straw lives up to the comically high bar they have set.
Also did Bainbridge and saw some orcas. Worth your time to go.
Columbia Sky View is the move over Space Needle. Pioneer Square was a cool walk but can be super super super iffy any time that isn't basically noon lol. We did a food tour of Pike Place that wife loved, I've done one before and this was way better than that one. Fremont Troll was cool. Walking around Ballard was cool. Discovery Park is well worth your time. Chihuly was cool but not long enough for 90 bucks.
Places we didn't go but wish we had: Local Tide for all seafood, Bar del Corso or Cornelly for Italian/pizza, Canon / Doctors Office / Foreign National for cocktails, Post Alley Pizza for best pizza by the slice in town, Volunteer Park Cafe for a BEC and to explore the park, Seattle Jazz Fellowship, Mopop, Kerry Park, Cafe Lago, Salumi or Un Bien for sandwiches.
Found Lyft almost universally cheaper outside of ride to airport - we rode the monorail in and that's the pro move. Like 3 bucks per person vs like 60 for Uber.