What's good in Seattle?

 >We may be moving to Seattle- we like just about everything but sushi.
 >I'm also looking for a good Chinese grocery, since I understand
 >Seattle Chinatown is a war zone. (according to my father-in-law who's
 >lived in New York City for 65+ years!)

 The International District of Seattle (nobody calls it Chinatown anymore)
 is no more of a "war zone" than the Upper West Side of Manhattan (say about
 98th and Broadway), let alone Brooklyn, Queens, Harlem, or the South Bronx.
 One should be careful about venturing north of there at night, but only so
 much so as to avoid parking one's car unwisely or walking through the Yesler
 Terrace housing project.

 Your father-in-law may be familiar with the Wah Mee massacre of the mid-80s;
 that was an isolated incident which has not been repeated, and of which the
 perpetrators will likely not be allowed to venture west of Walla Walla for
 the balance of their lives, which may eventually be artificially shortened
 by the Washington state hangman.

 That said, I'm not sure that there's really much of a reason to go there;
 excellent Chinese restaurants and oriental groceries abound all over town.
 There is a chain of Asian supermarkets called Uwajimaya; some suburbs seem
 to have nearly as many Chinese restaurants as people, and others seem to
 have a Thai restaurant on every corner.

 In the Seattle metro area you can get everything from excellent American
 home-style cooking to Moroccan and Ethiopian to Korean to Continental to
 Mexican to Ukrainian to broiled salmon.

 About the only culinary deficiencies I observed in a decade of living there
 were a lack of affordable steakhouses (you have to drive into the sticks for
 a couple of hours; you can get excellent steak in Seattle if you're willing
 to pay), and possibly a mild shortage of really expensive, five-star places.

 If you want details about something in particular, email. I've spent plenty
 of bandwidth in the past on this subject.

 Jeff Carroll
 [email removed]

 Little G. wrote:

 >We may be moving to Seattle- we like just about everything but sushi.

 Try Gretchen's (of course), a small urban cafe.  The blueberry walnut
 shortbread squares are incredible.

 For steaks, you will be just down the road from one of America's best:
 Wally's Wolf Lodge Inn, in Coeur d'Alene, ID.  Try the 42 oz.
 porterhouse and think of me.

 Little G. wrote:
 >We may be moving to Seattle- we like just about everything but sushi.
 >I'm also looking for a good Chinese grocery, since I understand
 >Seattle Chinatown is a war zone. (according to my father-in-law who's
 >lived in New York City for 65+ years!)

 Well - your father-in-law watches too much TV news or is just paranoid!
 I've never heard Seattle's International District (Sorry, It's not
 called Chinatown) called a "war zone"  I've gone there to shop and eat
 many many times (I've lived here since I was born) and I've never seen
 violent acts or been assaulted.  True, most of the corners are hang-outs
 for "ladies of the night" and I'm told there are many gambling shops
 (which admittedly could be QUITE dangerous - a well known incident
 called the Wah Mei Massacre happened at one of these a few years ago),
 but unless you are involved with the asian gangs, I don't think they'll
 bother you!

 There are MANY good restaurants in the International district.  One of
 my favorite is Maneki.  I'm not too crazy about Tai Tung's.

 Now - Chinese grocery stores - In the International district is
 Uwijamayas (I don't think I spelled that right) which is quite LARGE -
 more like a department store with food.  I live on Beacon Hill which has
 a large Japanese and Chinese population and a new store just opened down
 the street from me called "Seattle's Super Market" and almost EVERYTHING
 on the shelves had NO english printing on it!

 When you know what part of town you'll be living in, post again!  There
 are excellent chinese, Japanese and Thai restaurants all over town!

 Little G. wrote:

    We may be moving to Seattle- we like just about everything but sushi.
    I'm also looking for a good Chinese grocery, since I understand
    Seattle Chinatown is a war zone. (according to my father-in-law who's
    lived in New York City for 65+ years!)

 This sounds a little extreme; I always go to the I-district every time
 I'm in Seattle.  The worst I'd ever seen was some panhandlers trying
 with the "I just ran out of gas" line.

 My favorite place (so far) is Ho Ho Seafood.  Get the pan-fried halibut
 special if it's on...wonderful!