Up at the top of Jackson at the corner of 20th, there’s a funny little place called Hidmo. There’s a bar with a dance floor – Hidmo has live music every other Friday night – a sort of hallway with booths in it, and the restaurant is at the back under a sign that says “A Taste of Eritrea.”
The menu isn’t huge and it’s mostly the stuff you’re used to seeing at Ethiopian places, served up with injera – that sponge-like flat bread.… continued…
It’s Kung Fu tea,†said the proprietress, pouring the second round of hot water over the leaves. “It’s a lot of work.â€
We were sitting in the Tea House on Maynard in the International District. When the owner spotted me wandering past twice, camera over my shoulder, she came out and gave me a clear order. “You come in and take pictures,†she ordered, not unkindly. After the usual niceties for tourists – “We live here, but I always carry a camera†– we sat down to learn how to make Oolong the right way.… continued…
This week we made something of a scavenger hunt out of The Jackson Street Crawl.
I talked to my friend M. who is married to T. from Vietnam and he says this: Pho Bac makes the best deep fried spring rolls. We’re going to meet there.
Where’s Pho Bac? It’s on Jackson, of course. It’s NOT the Pho Bac in the pink house, it’s the Pho Bac with parking just west of the pink Pho Bac.
Empty restaurant, Friday night
We had a big turn out for the Jackson Street Crawl on Friday night, but I was crabby. Maybe I shouldn’t dine out while crabby. See, I found the whole experience more irritating than funny. It should have been funny, but I was just getting impatient with the whole experience. I’m not usually like that. (Forgive me, fellow diners.)
There was one Vietnamese couple dining in Bam-Boo, otherwise, the place was empty.… continued…
Ah, Seattle! Let’s just cut it short and figure that for the last 400 words, I’ve rambled on and on about how great it is to be back in a multicultural society! Also, let’s skip the argument about how Europe actually IS multicultural by asking, with obligatory snark, “Our Alpine small town is multicultural compared to what, exactly? One of those compounds in northern Idaho? That place in Papua New Guinea where the people live up in those tree houses?” Um, okay.… continued…
