Amazon Releases Kindle-Exclusive Seattle Guidebook by Tom Douglas
Amazon.com announced this morning the first in its new series of city guides. No surprise, the company went local with its first tome: Chef Walks:Seattle is a dining, drinking, shopping and sightseeing guide from none other than Tom Douglas (and co-authored by his longtime collaborator Shelley Lance).
The e-book is available for sale today for $3.99 and contains an assortment of Douglas's favorite spots around the city. It's only available in the Kindle store, though you can download a free reader for your computer or smart phone.
Douglas, who is quite busy these days with his assorted South Lake Union projects, makes a great point in the introduction. If you even halfway enjoy eating, who better to show you around a city than a chef? As it says in the opening section, "Chefs are generally up to speed on the newest joints and the best of the cheapest joints, and are appreciative of the classic joints."
Indeed, Douglas is uniquely qualified to lead such a tour, being both the city's preeminent restaurateur and a daily denizen of Pike Place Market--a place with so much to offer visitors, yet so many chances to go astray.
The guide contains specific walking tours of his own Ballard neighborhood, the International District, Pine/Pine corridor, the waterfront, Bainbridge Island and Pike Place Market and its environs. Some suggested "stretch walks" can help users burn off some of the calories accumulated on the recommended stops.
There are also recipes and Douglas ruminations on topics like Washington wines and the chef's perfect food day (it involves Pho Bac, Le Panier and Dungeness crab from Sea Garden in the ID).
Tourists would certainly find this compact e-volume useful; the walking routes through each neighborhood are peppered with suggestions for places to dine, snack, shop, imbibe, be entertained and get "religion coffee." Naturally, each chapter helpfully concludes with a listing of the closest Tom Douglas restaurant, but he's quick to praise other local spots--and local chefs.
Locals, at least the food-obsessed ones, might also find Douglas's picks of interest. There are some obvious spots like Top Pot, Ballard Sunday Market and Salumi. Other recommendations feel like an actual glimpse into the life of the omnipresent force of Seattle's restaurant scene. Take the Pink Door, where Douglas and his wife Jackie held their engagement party, or the fact that Douglas says he prints his special occasion menus on paper from De Medici Ming Fine Paper in the Market. Oh, he also recommends adding a few curls of guanciale, or pig jowl, to the top of his favorite pizza at Serious Pie--the Yukon gold potato pie with rosemary and Reggiano parmesan.
Check out the guide and the Kindle store over here.
