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Life in the Rainier Valley

twainwrites.jpgUnopened moving boxes. Furniture in temporary locations. No clue where the closest pizza, Thai, or Indian delivery places are.

All signs that even though we've moved all of our possessions from Wedgwood to Rainier Beach, Seattlest is still in the liminal period between our North Seattleite and South Seattleite identities.

One of the many things long-time Rainier Valley residents have dealt with that we're learning: the MLK Way light rail construction. In the abstract, when we never drove near it, we always knew it must be a colossal pain in the ass. Now that we have to cross MLK whenever we go downtown, the ass in pain is our own.

The challenging part: different intersections that cross MLK close at different times. The first few times we drove to northern Seattle, we crossed MLK on Graham. Then Graham closed to through traffic -- you could turn right and drive north on MLK, but not cross it or turn left.

So we switched to Othello as our through street, which served us through most of the last month. Though we noticed that Graham reopened recently, so we've been experimenting with which route is faster -- though it'll become moot shortly, when Othello closes so the tracks can be laid there. This is complicated by incomplete info from Sound Transit, who sent us mail to tell us Othello would close this month, but haven't updated their website beyond last month's changes.

All of which reminds us of Mark Twain's amazing Life on the Mississippi, wherein he describes learning to pilot a riverboat. Specifically, this part:

'Oh, don't say any more, please! Have I got to learn the shape of the river according to all these five hundred thousand different ways? If I tried to carry all that cargo in my head it would make me stoop-shouldered.'

'NO! you only learn THE shape of the river, and you learn it with such absolute certainty that you can always steer by the shape that's IN YOUR HEAD, and never mind the one that's before your eyes.'

We're busy learning THE shape of the Rainier Valley these days.

Which reminds us: does anyone deliver pizza to this neighborhood?

Contact the author of this article or email tips@seattlest.com with further questions, comments or tips.
By James in , on May 11, 2007 2:32 PM

Comments [rss]

  • sophie

    Oh James. I really am such a sleuth. Today was bicycle Saturday. You're close enough to take part.



    I was annoyed when the name was changed to Stellar. But it is good. Although I don't go to Georgetown often/ever.



    I've lived in the south end all of my life, so I really don't know what delivery culture is like.



    And generally I get out of the hood to eat. I can't say that I would ever make Vince's a destination.

    Dahlak is good though. And Awash. For Ethiopian/Eritrean. Roy's BBQ is my love. I haven't heard anything on the new wine lounge in Columbia City, Verve.

    The best taco truck in town is the bus up by Mycon's Auto. But there are good ones down where you are.

    Once upon a time I found a delicious Vietnamese bakery along MLK. But since the construction, I haven't been back because everything is so unpredictable.

    And in Hillman City there's a delicious small place serving banh mi and ice cream I believe.

  • Don

    Welcome to the south end.



    Depending on how far south you are Tino's Pizza delivers. 723-9955. They are in the 94000 block of Rainier Ave South by the Rainier Beach Safeway.



    Stellar is great - call ahead and pick your order up in the bar.



    Vince's is pretty good too. Though they don't deliver.

  • Michelle

    Not really, no. Last I checked, Vince's didn't have a delivery service, although you could get them to go. Admittedly, I have not tried them personally yet, so I could be wrong. On the happy side, Stellar's in Georgetown is only a quick hop across I-5 away. I got to try them for the first time this past weekend, and great was my rejoicing that I'd finally found real pizza in Seattle. Now I need to call Vince's and see what that's like.

  • raintown insurgent old school

    you can go via Beacon Hill, or roll over and go along The Field through Georgetown, just watch for for Enforcer Units- they train the motorcycle cops on that road...

  • Yup, that's my post on Chowhound. This area certainly doesn't lack for restaurants, but it lacks for information about them. I'm psyched to try Ralph's Que and Seafood, but I'd be more psyched if I knew it was supposed to be good.



    I was pretty sure we were in the delivery boonies. Ah, well, that's not a bad habit to break.

  • sophie

    James was that you on Chowhound?



    I'm not the biggest fan of Tutta Bella, but the pizza is decent.



    I prefer Mioposto in Mt. Baker, they just started curbside delivery. You call in and they'll walk outside to your car. It saves you the two minutes of parking and walking in.



    I know All Purpose Pizza delivers to Columbia City, but not sure about the deep south. A little sweet talking on the phone could be the answer though. Of these three, All Purpose is my fave. For sure.

  • meks

    You have discovered the food delivery black hole. Matter of fact, I worked at kozmo.com back in the day and our delivery map had a big rectangle of SE seattle cut out of it. I shamed management into adding it though.

  • Zach

    That's tough...unless you're just shooting for Pizza Hut. Most of the time you'll have to do pickup. And, Pizza Rio(a)'s hours are strange. We do a lot of homemade 'za these days.

  • anon

    Try Vince's (on Renton and Henderson, I think), pretty sure they'll deliver. You might also try Rio Pizza by the PCC in Seward Park.

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