Seattlest Pix 09Nov24
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Dance Dance Party Party Back in Session
Crown Hill isn’t our favorite neighborhood, but we’ve found the perfect combination Christmas errand to warrant a visit to this forgotten corner of North Ballard. 15th Avenue NW is host to Seattlest’s favorite tree lot and is also conveniently located right on the way to the best of the "Original" Pancake Houses.* And yes, there is a best.
The 15th Avenue NW location is heads and tails above other bastard siblings in the pancake house family. In addition to having an amazing assortment of delectably fruity crepe combinations, hearty pancakes, and the impressive "Dutch Baby" (please allow 30 minutes for preparation ), the place offers its waiting guests coffee and pastries as they mingle before seating, as opposed to huddling in the rain with nothing, like almost everywhere else.
The joint is fairly no frills with a few unobtrusive TVs showing football on weekends this time of year, but the most fundamental selling point for the place is that everything on the menu is really good. Everything. Haters be damned!
If you want or need to cheap out, one meal can often feed two people as almost everything comes with a huge-ass side of pancakes, which is a meal in itself, offering an incentive to cash-strapped victims reeling from one too many years of Bush-onomics.
Upon thoroughly gorging oneself on pancakes, Christmas believers can head a few minutes north to the familiar tree lot that has laid claim to the north corner of the Petco parking lot (87th and Holman Road) for the better part of the last decade.
While the lot is sadly the last outdoor venue these Chehalis-bred trees will ever witness, they can be bought in complete confidence, as this place always pleases the pickiest of Seattlest tree shoppers. If you want a feel-good Charlie Brown runt, go elsewhere.
This particular lot goes through an estimated 1500 trees a year, and at ten dollars a foot for a Noble Fir (prettiest tree, strongest branches, and best spacing), that isn’t chump change. Apparently last season there was a random demand for the National Christmas Tree Association’s beloved Appalachian Fraser Fir, so the lot acquiesced and decided to accommodate the request this year. As of a few days ago, the guy working the lot said they hadn’t sold any to his knowledge, so if you have a hankering for alternative fir styles or asked for one last year and haven’t picked it up yet, this is your queue.
*Yes we know there are like 10 million variations of pancake houses calling themselves that, but this one is actually worth your while.
Photo courtesy of Culinary Fool from the Seattlest Flickr Pool
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Sounds like the perfect place to visit after a hockey game. :)
Damn you Brad and your ability to see through my lazy logic.