X2 on Red Mill and that San Fran light comment almost made me per. There is a Red Mill on phinny ridge in the greenwood area also adjacent to ballard.
Ok Marty ! your in my stomping grounds ! get the hell out ! LOL ! Parkway is good ! The Redhot... has great hot dogs and great micro brews !
Oh Yeah! You have to stop at Dick's. Great greasy fries and the best hand-dipped shakes. As far as the "greasy Dick's" - well I'm not goin' there. Hale's is another amen. Good/cheap mexi food can be had at Azteca. The Space Neddle is way touristy but worth it for an awesome 360 degree view. Enjoy your stay. Hope the rain lets up by then... bob
Okay Burger wars... It's on. Yeah Dicks is great, and traditional, but my vote is for Kid Valley. Much like Red Mill, There's just a few more of them around, and their fries are great. Since you'll be in Ballard, there's one just over the Phinney hill, on 50th and Stone way. You could also try Red Robin. I like the one on the down town water front. Not so noisy. Plus you can get some good drinks there too. It's a stones throw from the Aquarium. The LeMay Museum is world class, with a Tucker, Edsel Fords Speedster, and a slew of strange race cars including the Tucker Special, and Smokey Yunick's Side car Indy racer. You should go to the Space Needle if you want to get the best view of the city, and the Pike Place Market is great for a casual afternoon. Stop in at Mee Sum Pastries for some of the best BBQ pork Humbow. Dang, it must be dinner time. I keep coming back to food. The new Dicks is right down the street from me. I'm outa here.
Sunday brunch at Fishermans terminal, just across the water (south) of Ballard, is as good as it gets.
I think Red Mill makes a better burger then Dicks, but if you are out on vacation try both and you be the judge. Chances are you will walk it off anyway. If you do go to the Ballard Locks Red Mill is right across the street from it. For seafood, a lot of people say Chinooks is really good. If you like sushi I highly highly recommend Nijo Sushi (near Pikes Place) I had the Flaming fire roll o man it was fantastic. Hope that helps.
if youre a communist, you will prefer red mill. true americans eat at dicks. theres actually a great burger place near the lemay museum in tacoma called friesenburger....ask for the fry sauce. its epic. dirty oscars annex in tacoma is also good food, what other place serves an elvis burger ( fried bananas, peanut butter, bacon, and of course beef) and moonshine?
Hey, wait a minute... none of you guys mentioned the "awesome" selection of stores selling umbrellas, or "bumbershoots" whatever that is! LOL But seriously folks, when I'm down there the Experience Music Project (that all you Microsoft disciples helped to pay for).
...The experience music project? also I can't believe no one has mentioned going to Gasworks park....the only refinery turned park in the world.....a must stop for any gear head to see the huge superchargers... also right by Dicks. Also the Smith Tower...When built the tallest building west of the Mississippi.... Or the Black Hole sun on capital hill and Kurt Cobain's house if you are a music stalker.
Also check out these turbo's that are at Gas Works Park too. You can walk down to the beach at this park and watch the Military "Ducks" swim by, loaded with tourist also.
Now here is an ABSOLUTE stop you need to make, and it's IN BALLARD. In 1963, Playboy magazine rated this public park, and it's mile long paved road into it, the 3rd largest illegal drag strip in the nation. Golden Gardens park, on the end of Shilshole Marina, on the West most tip of Ballard. Beautiful Puget Sound in front of you, a huge sandy beach, an enormous grass fields for football, or frisbee, and a nature bird sanctuary by a distant beach for solitude. The parking lot is a long herring bone set up, with the "Keyhole" at the far end. This place would PACK up with Hot Rods, muscle Cars, and Street Rods right after school, then when the sun would go down, everybody migrated to the entrance parking lot, and the racing began. 2 staged lanes, maybe 8 cars back. For hours, until the cops broke it up. It's one of Seattle's best parks. And when you leave, take a left out the gate, and head away from the water. Climb "Snake Road. A real twisty road that ends at a light on top of the hill. Veer left onto 85 St. It'll take you about a mile to a light at 15th Ave. Take a left, and follow traffic about a half mile, and DICK'S will be on your right.
In the summer of 69 the guys who organized the street races at Golden Gardens would have a couple "parking" at the top of "snake road" with a walkie Talkie along with someone at the other end of Shilshole or up around the locks wiith another walkie talkie to spot the cops before they could show up. They aimed a flashlight across to a garbage can for a staging light then.
I used up so many rear tires when Golden Gardens was at its drag-racing heyday. That was many years ago, but there were some serious NW racing celebs that showed up, some just to try out a new speed trick, some to show off, and some because all their buddies were there. Another impromptu strip was out on Harbor Island. I got my butt kicked by a 67 340 Cuda there one night (mine was a 67 Mustang/390/4spd). Yes I know those are OT vehicles but we're talking about places to see and go in the great Pacific NW.
I saw a '69 Mustang go up against a '70 Chevy at "the Gardens" (as it was known) one night. The Mustangs stereo, for the trucks bench seat. They lit off, and were gone down Shilshole Drive into the darkness. About a 20 minutes later the truck comes barreling in, waving the Mustang's stereo out his window. The cops would close it down around 11:00 P.M. and then a couple hours later, some diehards would come back and stage right at the gate. It would go on for another hour or so.
People just dont get the tarter with the fries but this is the bomb!!! I have always eaten them this way. Nowhere else just at Dicks.
Well, I'm not a big Dicks fan but I like The Chinook. Dicks is fine for a quick bite but for a real sit down meal it's The Chinook. The fish is really good. The Chinook 1900 West Nickerson Street #103 Seattle, WA 98119 (206) 283-4665 http://www.anthonys.com/restaurants/detail/chinook-at-salmon-bay The view is a lot better out The Chinook window than looking out at Dicks.
Underground tour at Doc Maynards in Pioneer Square Dont forget to stop by the util-a-kilt shop while your there...
The underground is cool! Not as good as it was in the '70's when I was a kid but still cool. Pendleton, OR has a great underground tour too.
<style>@font-face { font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }table.MsoNormalTable { font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; </style>Listen, you can get burgers anywhere. For an authentic Ballard experience, you want microbrews. Preferably a strong, hoppy, knock-you-on-your-ass IPA (India Pale Ale). Before it went national, Red Hook Brewery was producing batches in a converted gas station down on Ballard’s Leary Way; back in the ‘80s, the beer they now call ESB was officially “Ballard Bitter.” Head for Ballard Avenue and take your pick of the pubs. Good brands are Boundary Bay, Anacortes, Lucille, Diamond Knot, but any local IPA will be worth drinking. (Little tip: Don’t get Red Hook.) Next, walk south on Ballard Ave to a little hole-in-the-wall seafood place called The Walrus and the Carpenter. It’s hard to find; the entryway is about a block south of Ballard Sheet Metal (great source for scraps!), and the restaurant is at the end of a long hallway. Oyster happy hour is 4-6 pm. These are Pacific oysters, and taste nothing like the salty mush-balls that pass for oysters on the East Coast. Sit at the raw bar, ignore the annoying hipsters, and watch the dreadlocked dude shuck oysters faster than you can lick a stamp! They also have plenty of cooked stuff if raw oysters aren’t your thing, all of it fresh and not pulled from a freezer. And they have IPA on tap—everybody has IPA on tap! Next up, dinner: head south across the Ballard Bridge and take the first right to Chinook’s restaurant. Have dinner (and maybe another IPA) looking out over the Alaska fishing fleet moored out front, including well-known vessels from “The Deadliest Catch.” Many of the fishermen live aboard during the off-season, spending their days in pub next door, which is essentially their living room. When you’re done, head north again across the Ballard Bridge—after this many IPAs, maybe somebody else should be at the wheel—and keep your eyes peeled for the huge neon Bardahl sign (“add it to your gas/add it to your oil”. This is where Ole got his start. You haven’t officially been to Ballard until you’ve seen the Bardahl sign!
The Jalopy Journal
