EATING THE AVE

Sinners Pizza opened quietly on the Ave in April, taking over the spot that housed Pagliacci for 39 years and then Supreme Pizza after that. Sinners continues the New York-style pizza tradition, and it has a devilish vibe, with its blood red signage and décor. Flames flicker on a screen inside, and they are rainbow-colored if its during Pride Month, like the day I visited.

But that's not the only thing that's wicked. Pizzas known elsewhere as pepperoni, Hawaiian or Italian are here called the Politician, the Heretic and the Altar Boy, in line with the theme.

The selection of pizzas at Sinners.

So is the pizza as devilish as it promises to be? I decided to try a pizza named the Hellfire, which is claimed to be so spicy that you need to sign a waiver to eat it. I did not get asked to sign the waiver -- although it was mentioned in the signage -- and I honestly wasn’t expecting that much in terms of spiciness. It sounded like a gimmick, and I like spicy food. The pizza looked harmless enough with its bacon and jalapenos.

I got two slices, pepperoni and the Hellfire. Pardon the poor picture. It's dark in there!

But let me tell you, I was wrong. The pizza was very spicy. My eyes watered, and I had difficulty talking. My words to my friend became coughs. I finally gave in and went to retrieve some ranch to dip it in. Hours later, my eyes still burned. I don't know if spice has ever made me feel this way.

And it was delicious. I don't know if I'd eat a whole slice of Hellfire again, but I would eat half. The slices are huge. After two slices, I was very full. The crust is also thin, crispy and sturdy. The slices do not droop when you hold them in one hand, despite their considerable size.

I needed ranch in order to finish the Hellfire.

When I lifted up my slice, I saw the underside was charred. I thought of my husband Chris, who is from Connecticut. New Haven style pizza featured a charred crust, so I knew it would please my very own pizza snob sitting at home.

All hail a good fish and chip. I went to Ireland in 2013 and braved the crowds of Galway on my way to McDonagh's, their famous fish and chip shop. Since then, I can't go back to the run-of-the-mill fish and chips I find here. I want a big slab of fish with a light and crispy but generous breading. I want that slab of fish to be as big as my hand or foot or forearm.

That's what I would think of when I walked up the Ave past Finn MacCool's Pub at the Dub, the Irish bar that's sat between 42nd an 43rd on the Ave for 25 years. It's mostly known as a place to go get your drink on, but it also has a sign that swings seductively from a chain reading "FISH & CHIPS" in big honest letters.

I also saw somewhere that the fish and chips there were good, so I went to check it out a couple of months ago with my former boss Karen. I was really pleased. The fish wasn't as big as my hand, but each piece of fish did have a delicately crispy outside combined with a soft interior. It wasn't overly breaded in a way where you taste crunchy stuff soaked in oil more than fish.

I'd say that Finn MacCool's lived up to its reputation as "U District's Best Irish Bar." I am not aware of any other Irish bar in the U District, but still, Finn MacCool's does a great job with its fish and chips. It's now our regular spot to go to when we meet up for lunch. It's a step up from the visit that I last documented on Eating the Ave, where I ate something called a Trash Can. The pub also plays a selection of yacht rock that we enjoy.

That first day, we drank out of Finn MacCool's pint glasses, and I asked if I could buy one. I have a collection of U District mugs so I was happy to expand that collection to include glassware as well.

My collection of U District's drinkware from institutions past and present. I lost my Cafe Allegro mug so I guess i have to buy a new one.

Finn MacCool's was mentioned in a recent article about the U District and an effort to close the Ave to car traffic between 42nd and 43rd on the Ave -- the stretch that Finn's sits on -- for two Saturdays this summer. Some of the businesses blocked the effort because they see it as a precursor to permanently closing it. There was controversy because the names of some business owners, like the owner of Finn's, were on a petition against the two-day pilot when they didn't recall ever signing one.

Hello! I'm back, with my first post since 2022! I work at UW, and hybrid work has made it less easy to keep up with this blog. But I love how it gives me the motivation to try new places, so here I go again.

But perhaps more importantly, it allows me to celebrate old places. When I think of the U District, I think of family-run places you walk into and become family too. So that’s why today I'm highlighting Samir’s Mediterranean. The tiny restaurant on 43rd Ave. NE has been running since 1974 and is the oldest Mediterranean restaurant in Washington State, according to the U District Partnership. I first started going into Samir's to pick up a Diet Coke after the UW changed to Pepsi. (I am a hardcore Coke partisan.) I work at UW Tower so it was a convenient place to drop into. Then, my favorite nearby place, Mark's Thai Box closed in 2024. Samir’s became my convenient place to pick up a quick bite and have some conversation. Like Mark, Samir is warm and genial. He always recognizes you, greets you with a smile and makes you feel at home.

I recently visited Samir’s to get my regular order, a spicy chicken gyro. My regular gyro spot had been Aladdin’s Gyrocery, but I don't go there often. It's delicious, but it's also a huge amount of food. Famous for its late-night service, the Gyrocery is perfect for a drunken meal when your stomach needs salt and grease but a bit of a gut bomb for lunch.

Samir’s chicken gyros are the perfect size for a lunch. He serves it with a sauce that balances spicy, acid and sweet. It's so good that I want to lick it off the paper.  

When I walk into Samir's at lunchtime, usually the tables are half-filled. The restaurant has a busy, but-not-too-busy, bustling vibe that feels dynamic but unhurried. Samir's wife Bobbi is often there, and she said that business has been great after light rail opened up -- and after they endured the renovations on 43rd Ave. NE that closed the street for a year or more in 2020. She said that she works 11 hour days, between working at the restaurant and her other job at Marshall's.

1312 NE 43rd St.

In 2021, I interviewed the executive director of the U District Partnership, Don Blakeney, for a story I wrote about the U District, and he shared some of his ideas for the future. One of them was to host an event that would coincide with the blooming of the cherry trees on the UW campus. 

This year, for the first time in two years, the UW welcomed people back to campus to see the trees, and I was excited to see Don’s plans come to fruition with the first Cherry Blossom Festival. The event, which takes place March 25 through April 10, features drink, food and shopping specials all related to cherry blossoms. I went out to check out some of the food and drink deals.

My first stop was Kai’s Thai Street Food and Bar, which had pink cherry blossom noodle soup as its special. The soup featured tofu that looks like cherry blossoms and pink cherry blossom broth, along with wide rice noodles, chicken, fried garlic scallions and cilantro. I don’t know what type of tofu it was, but it had a texture that was more like a chewy or crunchy seaweed, with a neutral flavor. I don’t think that I’d choose to eat it - although there was nothing objectionable about it - but it was worth eating for the beautiful visual effect it had on the meal, which fit in perfectly with the cherry blossom theme. 

The pink broth didn’t taste any different from the normal broth, but the real star of the meal was the heavy toasted garlic flavor. I’m someone who can’t have enough garlic, so I loved the oomph it gave to the dish, even though my co-workers and I joked that no one should get too close to us back at the office.

Overall, I really enjoyed this soup, and I’ll gladly seek this out once a year during the Cherry Blossom Festival. This soup is an experience, just like how it’s a special experience to go out to lunch with co-workers after mostly seeing them virtually for two years. 

After lunch we stopped by my favorite cafe, Cafe Allegro. I haven’t posted about Cafe Allegro on this blog, because it’s a coffee place, and I post about food here. But I always think of Cafe Allegro as the quintessential college coffee spot. I’ve spent time there writing or doing other work, and a table over there might be two people arguing about existentialism and a person sketching in a book on the other side of them. It’s a little grungy and arty - a place for misfits and dreamers or maybe just students looking for a quieter place to hang out and chat with their friends. I’ve had conversations that changed my life in that little cafe. So I was glad to have an excuse to go to the Allegro to get the cherry blossom mocha, which was basically a white chocolate mocha with cherry flavor.

The next week I grabbed a friend to join me at Sweet Alchemy Ice Cream, which has become my favorite place to get ice cream. I think it’s the best place in town - it’s creamy and silky smooth without being too rich. And it offers unique varieties of ice cream, often featuring Asian flavors that reflect owner Lois Ko’s heritage. Sweet Alchemy has become popular - the line was out the door when I last went there on a Friday night - and I’m happy for them. I know Lois takes her role as a business owner in the neighborhood seriously, and she works to strengthen the neighborhood by participation on the U District Partnership board and other examples of neighborhood activism.   

For the cherry blossom festival, Sweet Alchemy offered sakura ice cream, which features dried tart cherries, sake and orange blossom. When I ordered the cone, I expected an artificial cherry flavor like I’d get with some ice cream in the freezer section in my local supermarket. Instead I got the opposite experience. It was brown, not an artificial pink color. And it featured a mellow flavor with pops of acidity from the cherries and the orange blossom. 

Spring represents hope and deliverance from the darkness of winter - and so do the cherry blossoms. The surprise in every lick of that ice cream matched that feeling of optimism I felt that beautiful day. My friend and I agreed that we have to make this trip for ice cream a thing we do regularly - it was such a treat!

All of my experiences weren’t positive. I went to one place and asked for the  cherry blossom special, and they had no idea what I was talking about. But I forgive those bumps in the road in the first occurrence of an annual event. With the U District Partnership’s leadership, the business owners will be even more prepared next year. 

This dish serves as a reminder that we have an Indonesian restaurant on the Ave, and it’s even centrally located! Beetle Cafe is right next to U Bookstore. It’s also a halfway point from University Heights, where my friend was coming from, and my office on campus — so I might be making more visits to this little eatery. Laksa, a ubiquitous noodle dish in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, has the potential to become more ubiquitous in the United States too, according to The New York Times. With a coconut milk-based broth, it’s creamier and slightly more heavy than pho, and it comes with a kick of spice. Beetle Cafe doesn’t regularly feature laksa on their menu, but it was a special on the day I went in. I chose between egg and rice noodles. When I asked what was more traditional, they said both are equally acceptable, so I went with rice noodles. It also included shrimp, fish balls and an egg. I am a fan of soup, and it was delicious!

When I looked at the menu at Tanuki Izakaya, I was surprised at the prices. This was definitely a step up the classiness scale from the cheap eats found on the Ave. Dishes ranged from $7 for edamame to $78 for a jewel box, or assortment of nine pieces of beautiful displayed sushi. We ended up at Tanuki Izakaya on a whim - and we weren’t in the mindset to have an expensive meal - so we didn’t get one of the jewel boxes, which start at $48. I’ve heard good things about the jewel boxes though, so I’d like to come back and order one someday.

So we picked and chose a combination of favorites and dishes new to us. I’d definitely return for the greens with black pepper toro, which is the fatty part of tuna. Give me the fatty part of any animal, and I will be happy. The toro was silky smooth with a rich flavor. This was my first time eating it, and I’m now a fan. I really want to return for the toro oshizushi, which is pressed sushi. 

Karaage is one of my favorite dishes. Their karaage was good, but I prefer the version at Village Sushi down the block, which is heavenly.

When Chris would go to izakaya places in Nagoya, the city where he taught English for two years, he’d get stacks and stacks of chicken skewers. Thighs are my favorite, so we ordered those, but they also have drumsticks, chest bones, gizzards, hearts and more.

I saw chawanmushi on the menu, and I was so curious about it. The menu listed it as “steamed savory custard with house-made truffle mushroom sauce.” I really regret not getting a picture of the dish once we dug in and you could see the silky custard underneath the truffle sauce - but I don’t think the dish lasted long after we broke the seal. It was so warm and and comforting, especially for a mushroom nut like me.

While we were eating, we watched a group of about 10 younger adults ordering their food. I thought, that’s the way to do it: Come with a group of people and order a bunch of stuff - or come for a special occasion with someone who loves Japanese food. I could also see a few dishes working for lunch, like the greens or a few of the skewers or the oshizushi. It’s definitely best to be enjoyed not as a casual meal, but as an experience with a friend who is as excited about food as you are. 

5266 University Way NE

In recent years, more businesses have been popping up on the upper part of the Ave, north of 52nd St. NE. My guess that it’s due to the upzone and development in that part of neighborhood. At some point during the lockdown, I noticed that this izakaya place, specializing in small plates popular in Japan, had opened up across the street and a storefront north from Xi’an Noodles. Chris lived in Japan for two years and loves izakaya, so we were excited to check it. But during the pandemic, they were takeout-only, and we wanted to get the full dine-in experience. 

Finally, the night before the U District light rail station opened, we were kid-free and in the neighborhood, so the time finally came! A tanuki is a breed of Japanese rat dog, and you can see some examples here in this cute display when you walk in the door. Some say Totoro, from the movie My Neighbor Totoro, is part tanuki. The middle figure is from another Studio Ghibli movie, Pom Poko, all about tanukis, and the the figure at the far right is just cute. I want to buy one for Halloween!

On Sept. 13, UW staff and faculty returned to campus, and today, Sept. 29, students are joining them with the beginning of fall quarter. I am a UW staff member, and I am slowly making my return back to the office. This means that I will regularly be in my favorite neighborhood and will be able to more easily explore U District restaurants again!

For my job, I wrote about the state of the U District community as it recovers from the worst of — and continues to cope with — the pandemic. The U District is experiencing a lot of change, with light rail opening on Oct. 2 and the development of towers and many other new buildings, following an upzone of the neighborhood in 2017. I have mixed feelings about the changes. I value the small, family-run businesses in the U District. I worry that they will be priced out and that the character of the neighborhood will change — a conversation happening in many parts of our rapidly developing city. But I talked to six U District community members, and I left every interview feeling optimistic for the neighborhood’s future, which is reflected in the story.

One of the people I talked to was Don Blakeney, executive director of the U District Partnership (UDP), an organization that represents the neighborhood’s business and community interests. The UDP is hosting a festival when light rail opens, and it is showing off the food scene as part of the celebration with a $3 food walk at 40 U District restaurants. I hope you’ll be there on Oct. 2. I will be!

I went back to the office on Sept. 13. It was my first day at the office of my new job, which I started in March 2020. My co-workers and I ventured to the Ave for lunch. We headed to a crowd-pleaser and perennial favorite, Sizzle & Crunch. Sadly, we found it boarded up and closed! 

It was a letdown to find Sizzle & Crunch this way after looking forward to coming back to the neighborhood. I checked Facebook and saw that they opened a new location in Federal Way, so I couldn’t imagine that it went out of business. Still, there was no sign indicating an opening date; it was a mystery. We ended up at Saigon Deli around the corner, a reliable spot for banh-mis and other Vietnamese food.

The following Friday, my boss offered to take me out to lunch as a welcome to the office. He had told me that he liked Arepa Venezuelan Kitchen, which serves its namesake sandwiches made with maize dough. So we headed up to the 50th and the Ave, which required a car ride from my current office on campus, as opposed to the brisk walk from my old office at UW Tower.

I got the Best Bart arepa, which includes pork and shredded beef with cilantro sauce. I’ve always found the pork a bit dry, and this time was no different. But I really enjoyed the shredded beef, so I think I’ll go with shredded beef only next time. I really tried not to stuff my face. I wanted to eat it daintily with a fork, like a civilized person. Instead, my attempts at mannerliness lost out to gluttony. I opened my mouth as wide as it could to get the clumps of meat into my belly.

The plantains we shared were fried, seared with a nice carmelized taste that contrasted nicely with the gooey, sweet inside I topped it off with an Inca Cola, a soda I haven’t seen since I went to Peru 10 years ago! I remembered it tasting like bubble gum 10 years ago, and yep, it tasted like bubble gum again. My boss asked, “How is it?” “Not great,” I said. It wasn’t disgusting, but I don’t need to have it for another 10 years. Still, it was a delight to find a Peruvian soda in Seattle. These small encounters with other cultures are what make the U District special.

After I finished work that Friday, I walked around the neighborhood, swinging by Sizzle & Crunch four days after the last time I visited it. This time, instead of boarded up and closed, I found a door open.

The opened door beckoned, so I poked my head in. I found the owner there — the same guy I talked to when he caught me taking a picture in 2017 and I explained I was a blogger. He was so happy and eager then — he thought I was a much more important blogger than I actually am. I’ve seen him many other times, sometimes rushed at the register with a furrowed brow. This time he was calm, a contrast to the chaos indicated by the door with the broken window. “We’re redecorating,” he said.

When I looked at the menu of U DupBop, my eyes landed on one item: buldak. I had never heard of that dish, which wasn’t a surprise. There are a lot of Korean dishes I have never heard of. I asked my friend, who is half Korean, if she had ever heard of it. She hadn’t either. My curiosity was piqued.

I looked up buldak on my phone to find that it’s a spicy chicken dish with cheese.  I debated getting a more familiar Korean dish, but I never knew if I’d find this dish again. So I went for it - and I’m glad that I did.

As you can see in the picture, U DupBop’s version of this dish consisted of rice topped with chicken cut into strips and mozzarella cheese. I wasn’t sure what to do with the lettuce. For a second, I thought that I was supposed to mix it all together, like you would with bibimbap. Then I saw the dressing, which told me it was meant to be eaten like salad.

The chicken was delicious - it just tasted like it was sauteed with gochujang, the popular Korean sauce. The mozzarella gave it a rich, creamy flavor as it melted on to the chicken. I enjoyed it, but I was expecting more complexity. I’m curious to try other versions - or maybe even try making it myself one day. 

4124 University Way NE

U DupBop sits back on a lot with a unique feature on the Ave: a parking lot! It’s always felt like a neighborhood oddity as a result.

Before U DubBop occupied this building, it was occupied by a business called Ichiro Teriyaki, and it was the same format: Korean and Japanese food. I’m actually surprised I didn’t document my visit to Ichiro, which Yelp tells me was open as late as May 2019. I went there once and ate bibimbap. The service I got there was very very slow. I was not impressed -- so unimpressed, it seems, that I forgot to blog about it.

I returned to the building this time to have lunch with a friend and to check out the restaurant for a new entry on this blog. We actually wanted to go to Chiglet, a Korean fried chicken place across the street, but it looks like it didn’t survive the pandemic. Too bad; I had heard it was good and I never made it there. 

So U DupBop was our consolation prize. I walked in to find it looking much nicer than I remember it looking when it was Ichiro. The covered, open porch was a pleasant spot to sit on the hot day. The menu consisted of Korean favorites, like bibimbap, bulgogi and Korean fried chicken, and Japanese favorites, like teriyaki, sushi and bento boxes.

Hello from the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic! To be clear, I realize the pandemic isn’t over. I read news for a living at my UW job, so I’ve learned a lot about COVID-19 variants and the virus’s seasonality. Maybe it’s only a brief reprieve, but day-to-day life is inching closer to normal. I know not everybody has the privilege of good health and security I have — still, it feels great.

Getting closer to normal means returning to the U District. I’ve visited the U District a number of times over the past couple of months, and some of the old vibrancy is back. People are in restaurants and walking up and down the street. Sound Transit is finishing up construction of the light rail station, set to open on Oct. 2, and work on 43rd St. NE is done. The city widened sidewalks to absorb the pedestrian traffic that will come with light rail and installed planting strips and picnic tables.

Picnic tables on NE 43rd St., looking east toward Sweet Alchemy ice cream.

I have gotten take out from the U District in the past year, but it’s been a long time since I’ve written on this blog. You can chalk this up to a few factors: It’s not as fun to write about getting takeout. It’s not as fun to explore U District food without the experience of being in the restaurant, getting a sense of the ambience, talking to the person behind the counter and meeting up with the friends you like to eat with. I also blame the pandemic blahs, which make the effort that goes into writing even more taxing.

So take it as a sign of my good mental health that I am able to explore the U District and share some of my recent experiences — like meeting my co-workers for the first time! I started my job on March 23, 2020, by which time we were already ordered to work from home. I met them at the interview, but since then, they have been boxes on a screen. In mid-June we gathered for lunch at Agua Verde. 

Some of my wonderful co-workers on the UW News team enjoying lunch at Agua Verde. They were just as nice in person as they are on screen.

We wanted to check out Saint Bread, the new bakery near Agua Verde, but it’s closed on Mondays, the day we were there. Thinking about Saint Bread was a good reminder that new places have opened in the neighborhood since the beginning of the pandemic. There are new places to explore! Chris, Penny and I did check out BB.Q Chicken, the new Korean fried chicken place that opened summer last year. There is also a new Japanese place, Tanuki Izakaya, further up on the Ave. I’m excited to check it out, but I’m waiting until I can eat there in person; they are still takeout-only.

A couple blocks south of Tanuki, but still north of NE 50th St. is Village Sushi, which has become my favorite sushi place.

Penny closed her eyes in pure bliss as she chomped down on some sushi at Village Sushi

Penny and I visited Village Sushi while Chris was out of town. She asked for sushi, so we headed there before catching a movie. The sushi is delicious, but a highlight is the tatsutage, the fried chicken (on the left in the picture). They had limited capacity, but we sat at a table near the door. Feeling the breeze and fresh air really added to my summer mood.

The spread at Korean Tofu House — it’s just not the same getting it takeout!

Most recently — last week — we went to Korean Tofu House. As I wrote about in Eater Seattle, there is an underappreciated Korean food scene in the U District, and Korean Tofu House is my favorite. I’ve been craving the savory soft tofu soup that is their specialty. As we sat down, Chris noted that he was the only white person there. It’s good for Penny to be in environments where she isn’t in the minority. I certainly felt more Korean just being there, seeing the Asian people around me and eating the heart-warming food. Food has been such an important way for me to connect with my culture — a culture I didn’t grow up in as a Korean adoptee.

BB.Q Chicken is a popular Korean chain, and BB.Q stands for “best of the best quality,” not barbecue. It’s fried in olive oil, and the company’s recipes are tested in a magical place called Chicken University. The same chain used to be up the same street, and I went once with co-workers. Graffiti adorned the entrance. Inside, there were huge pictures of Korean couples caressing chicken - Korean soap opera meets comfort food. My friends were skeptical about the olive oil and concept and decor, and we spent much of the time cracking jokes. It was empty, and it eventually closed. 

So imagine my surprise when it reemerged early this fall in a space that once was a Radio Shack - space and business upgraded, rebranded and resurrected from obscurity. We huddled around the menu stand, trying to figure it out. There were half and whole chickens and wings that came in varieties, starting at golden original chicken with sauce options, like honey garlic, cheesling (huh?), secret spicy, gang jeong - a Korean word unfamiliar to me. Since I’m Korean, but adopted, I felt a jolt of sadness and embarrassment seeing something Korean with no clue about what it means. 

The woman behind the counter suggested our family of three get a whole chicken, which amounts to 20 pieces. That seemed like a lot, but I went with her suggestion. Finally, we landed on our order: original whole chicken with honey garlic and gang jeong on the side. I was surprised when she said the order would take 25 minutes - not your typical takeout. 

Tired and hangry, we got home and opened the box to find chicken so crispy it was cartoonish. The bird, cut into pieces, was small, the recommendation to get a whole one proven right. I dipped a leg into the gang jeong and took a bite. It was savory, sweet like honey, and it wasn’t greasy, saving us from belly aches. The breading didn’t have much flavor and tasted odd on its own. Sauce is essential, I learned. Next time I’ll get it with the sauce on, not on the side. I understood what was missing the first time I tried it. We ended up having leftovers but ate more than half.

“I wish we knew how to make this so we could have it more,” Penny said. “I like that it’s small pieces, but it’s substantial - more than popcorn chicken,” Chris added. You can have a meal you love from your favorite Thai place anytime. A meal that’s a total surprise? A fried chicken renaissance? That’s a meal to remember.

4223 University Way NE

I read that restaurants in the U District are suffering - with business down 70% to 90% - so I made a pledge: I’m going to get takeout there once a week. I chose Thai Tom for next Thursday and counted the days until I’d get my little taste of Bangkok street food - the first time in five months. Thursday came along, and I saw I had meetings at 11 AND noon. OK, I thought, that’s tight but let’s make this happen. If the first meeting ends at 11:30, it can work. 

When it got going, co-worker Tom, menschy and no nonsense, was making good time - this Tom was going to make my visit to the other Tom possible. I got antsy when co-workers asked questions. Didn’t they realize I had an order of mouth-watering food waiting? I bailed and jumped into the car, determined to experience this hot-off-the-wok nostalgia again.

My phone’s maps app said I’d be there in 11 minutes, and it was 11:45. The highway went by quick, then blocks of traffic and stop lights lay ahead. When I turned on to the Ave it was 11:57. “Running late, start without me!” I messaged. It’s a new job, but it’s ok to be late to a lunchtime meeting, right? I parked a half-block away and passed by spots that were like old friends - the same, I guess, but without the vibrancy of the good ol’ days. 

The guy handed me my order and said “$47 please.” I panicked - it had been so long that I had forgotten the price. Thai Tom is cash-only - did I have that much? I counted my bills and gave a sigh of relief. I had just enough, to the dollar. The green I had from my daughter’s lemonade stand saved me.

I hurried back home, trying to listen to the meeting while dodging the pedestrians that still dotted the streets. I made a quick delivery to my new co-worker and neighbor, who was even newer as a friend. When I finally sat down for the meeting, I couldn’t wait. Everybody else was listening and talking respectfully, seemingly forgetting that it’s lunchtime. I was not that strong. I snuck a bite and watched my face on Zoom slowly chewing the food, fooling myself that it was more discreet. 

Hello from my personal socially distant bubble to yours! I hope you are all hanging in there. This week, I got a link to this GoFundMe raising money to support UW health care workers and U District businesses. Donations go directly toward the purchase of lunches by U District businesses for the UW medical staff. I was happy to donate - both to support workers on the frontlines and the restaurants who are feeding them. 

UW Medicine has a list of restaurants that are donating food, and it includes several U District restaurants: BB’s Teriyaki, Cedars Restaurant, Thaiger Room and Wann Yen/Mark Thai Food Box. If it weren’t for the donations to the GoFundMe, the restaurants would be paying for the meals out of their funds. My donation not only acknowledges the work of workers on the front lines and the restaurants already feeding them - but also helps make sure those businesses can make it through this crisis.

The Seattle Sketcher, a weekly feature from the Seattle Times, recently featured the work of Ellen Kuwana, who is coordinating donations to the UW staff, and a donation from Mark Thai Food Box. Owner Mark Pinkaow has also been tweeting about his work to support health care workers. 

When I fantasize about being back in the world, I picture myself strolling down the Ave on a breezy but warm spring day, watching the people walk by and the activity in the storefronts. This is the U District of my memories. I am an introvert, but I am meant to be out in the world - I live in the city for a reason, I told my husband. My mind needs the stimuli of people, colors, smells, change and the unexpected.

Who knows when I will be roaming the U District regularly again - all signs indicate that it will be a long time until UW staff returns to work. I worry about the restaurants I love, which are predominantly owned by women, immigrants and people of color. I celebrate the cultures and perspectives I get a peek into through these businesses. They offer so many gifts but are among the most vulnerable. Without their clientele of UW students and staff, how will they survive? Who is still around to remember them and fight for them? The transient community of the U District is its greatest asset and what may hurt it the most. It contributes to the dynamic nature of the community, but it’s harder for a base to take root.

Last Thursday, I got takeout from Wann Yen/Mark’s Thai Food Box, the in-house and prepackaged Thai food businesses run by Picha and Mark Pinkaow out of a storefront on 43rd, near light rail construction. I’ve written a lot about how much I love this business, and I often namecheck it when asked about my favorite restaurant in the U District. 

There are so many reasons why I love it. The ka praw gai and kao mun gai are among my favorite dishes in the U District. The place reminds me a lot of Thailand - I spent about two months there in 2007. In Thailand, most of my dining experiences were street food, streetside pop-ups or small eateries, the decor of which Wann Yen references with a floor-to-wall picture of a Thai market on one of its walls - so different from a generic Buddist sculpture you’d find in a typical Thai restaurant. Mark and Picha are both so warm, capturing the spirit of the Land of Smiles.

That’s why I cried when Picha told me they were closing for two weeks starting on March 30.

“See the sweatshirt?” she said, pointing to the message across her chest that read, “Is it the weekend yet?” She and Mark get their ingredients at Pike Place Market every morning, which puts them at risk when it’s just not worth it anymore given the economics of coronavirus. The day before they had only had three orders. 

The guy next door left at 5 the day before, three hours earlier than usual, she explained, referring to Cedars Middle Eastern. She pointed out that Kai’s Bistro and Lounge was closed and had boards inside the windows (which doesn’t protect the building that much). The waterworks came when she said that I was one of their favorite customers. I wanted to tell them how much I appreciated, not only the good food, but the spirit that the place embodies - that they embody. But as I struggled to get the words out, the tears came, once again highlighting the gap between what we feel and what we can express.

These small businesses capture what I love about the U District. Each has its own story, representing the will, vision and special gift of its owners. They are the ultimate underdogs, often run by and employing women, people of color and immigrants and offering up delicious and unique food - open and welcoming to all, with no pretense.