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Dr. Quarnstrom is one of a kind; a real gem. He has taught at UW dental school, and I met him when I went to the Dental Fear Clinic which UW used to have. He cured me of my dental fear, which was...
Dr. Quarnstrom is one of a kind; a real gem. He has taught at UW dental school, and I met him when I went to the Dental Fear Clinic which UW used to have. He cured me of my dental fear, which was no small feat. His office has been unbelievably patient with my pay-what-I-can-when-I-can approach. Unfortunately for all of us, he will be retiring within a year or two, but he has assembled a group of dentists who must be good or he wouldn't have brought them in to his practice. The dentists there actually have your welfare (rather than their own profit) in mind, and they will give you options at various price ranges in a very objective, honest way. My daughter saw one other dentist in the practice, an Asian woman with the slightly unfortunate name of Dr. Bang, and liked her. I would unhesitatingly recommend the skill and integrity of everyone associated with this practice.
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One of the charms of used book stores is that half the reason they exist is that the owners just love acquiring and being surrounded by all those books. If you actually want to come in and buy...
One of the charms of used book stores is that half the reason they exist is that the owners just love acquiring and being surrounded by all those books. If you actually want to come in and buy something, they'll consent to sell it to you, but they'll go out of business sooner than pander to the public at large.
Don't like cats? Don't come to Twice Sold Tales. The people who run it do like cats, and they'd rather have the cats than have you. What they do worry about is if you mistreat their cats, and there are a couple signs warning about this.
The recommended book shelves hold unexpected nuggets of literary gold, and a random wander through the place produces an armful of everything you weren't looking for. It's true that the owners aren't going to come up to you and make nice and ask if they can help you -- but they also won't give you a hard time if you hunker down on one of the wooden stools and just read. They also have classy taste in literature. It's nice to see English majors find a niche in the world.
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What can you say about Dicks? Greasy doesn't quite say it all... it's a quick route to every kind of health-related problem that arises from idiotically bad food choices. Maybe the grocery...
What can you say about Dicks? Greasy doesn't quite say it all... it's a quick route to every kind of health-related problem that arises from idiotically bad food choices. Maybe the grocery equivalent would be squirting Cheez-Wiz straight into your mouth (which I haven't done), or eating an entire jar of maraschino cherries (which I have.)
Dick's Deluxe burgers are salty and greasy and they have something that passes for lettuce and a yummy sauce and somehow they always hit the spot for me. They're not big or fancy and it's been a very long time since any part of them was actually living out in a field. The french fries are the most deliciously potato-y tasting that you can get, and you could wring enough out of them to drive your bio-fuel car home.
The lines are long, but at the Broadway Dicks, the menagerie of people is so extensive that you at least have entertainment while you wait. When I go here, I always try to park toward the back of the lot, so no one I know can see my car as they drive by.
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This place is an unpretentious treasure-trove, and my nomination for the best grocery store in the whole greater Seattle area.
You can go in and buy basic staples like paper towels and Cheerios...
This place is an unpretentious treasure-trove, and my nomination for the best grocery store in the whole greater Seattle area.
You can go in and buy basic staples like paper towels and Cheerios for good prices , or you can browse through a wonderland of seafood... there is freshly made sausage, organic meat, strangely-shaped ethnic produce which you want to buy just for the bizarreness factor. It's the only place I've ever encountered fresh durian, which is a huge southeast Asian fruit that smells like roadkill... This market is just irresistible. It's got everything you could possibly want, and a lot of things you've never even heard of. Plus teapots and dishtowels, free samples and prepared goodies and 25-lb sacks of rice... If I didn't live all the way across town from it, I'd go there every time I shopped.
It can get crowded at peak times, and it takes a while to navigate, so don't be in a hurry your first time there.
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This isn't food for the purpose of nourishment, it's food for the purpose of bathing in affluence, food to reinforce your sense that you deserve only the very finest that the planet has to offer. ...
This isn't food for the purpose of nourishment, it's food for the purpose of bathing in affluence, food to reinforce your sense that you deserve only the very finest that the planet has to offer. The pyramids of exquisite organic fruits look like paintings, flanked by mounds of glistening lilies and erotic spreads of $7 a pound berries...
I venture in there from time to time, and I always end up wanting to start a revolution by the time I make it back out the door. At most times of day, the aisles are crammed with people dressed in green cotton and hemp clothing, pushing carts inhabited by babies in $75 Petit Bateau overalls. There's a general atmosphere of "if you're worried about the cost, you don't belong here."
This isn't a store, it's a cultural phenomenon. And not necessarily a good one.
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I gave it 4 stars because it's got some stuff you just can't get elsewhere: organic meat and chicken for regular-people prices, nuts and cheeses and jams for a fraction of what you pay at the Food...
I gave it 4 stars because it's got some stuff you just can't get elsewhere: organic meat and chicken for regular-people prices, nuts and cheeses and jams for a fraction of what you pay at the Food Temple (Whole Foods). And some nifty stuff that's just unique, like the nut flours and simmer sauces. Also wine at the best prices in town. Service is caring and cheerful, and they don't make you carry membership cards, which I give them points for . And the free hot coffee and samples can perk up your after-work shopping experience.
I haven't liked their house brands of most prepared-type foods, though. For example, frozen stuff: I've actually thrown away their burritos and tamales, because they just tasted kind of boring and blurry. And their house brand cookies would be ok to bring for a scout troop snack, but not what you'd want to serve if you had friends over for a really nice tea. The house brands are just blah, so don't put your expectations too high.
Produce is more expensive and worse than Safeway, and you have to buy their little plastic packages of it.
And their parking lots are in the running for the worst-engineered in the city.
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Top Pot is what I was waiting for, while it seemed like the whole universe was doing backflips for the sweet lard-balls that Krispy Kreme sells. These are homemade donuts with substance, sold in...
Top Pot is what I was waiting for, while it seemed like the whole universe was doing backflips for the sweet lard-balls that Krispy Kreme sells. These are homemade donuts with substance, sold in an appealing coffee house setting with wi-fi and some outdoor tables under leafy trees as well. Check out the Valley Girl lemon-filled ones; they sell out quickly, so you might have to go early in the day. You'll never eat another Krispy Kreme again.
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Cafe Allegro has been there forever. I think it's the first coffee house that existed, back before Starbucks, before coffee houses were even known outside of the university and its bohemian...
Cafe Allegro has been there forever. I think it's the first coffee house that existed, back before Starbucks, before coffee houses were even known outside of the university and its bohemian groupies and perpetual grad students. The integrity of the place is unbroken. It's hard to review, because I now go there just to enter their time machine and relive intellectual liaisons with people long gone. The Allegro has a quiet room in back, good for studying, and a bulletin board that I've stood in front of at strange junctures of my life, contemplating the next group household. On sunny days people and their dogs sit out on the cement in the alley that it opens onto. Inside, it's hard to articulate its charm: it's not the most artful layout, but it's got a simplicity that grows on you. Bare bricks, plain wood, and it's an easy place to be alone in. The coffee and tea, of course, are excellent. The pastries are so-so, but then, that's not what you came for.
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This is chocolate heaven and I don't think you'll find anyone with a complaint about the celestial dessert confections. I'm filled with lust for their chocolate mousse even as I type. And the...
This is chocolate heaven and I don't think you'll find anyone with a complaint about the celestial dessert confections. I'm filled with lust for their chocolate mousse even as I type. And the interior is decorated in a rich, rococo style of deep color and silver curlicues that makes you want to surrender to the sweet ministrations of the chocolate gods.
The service, however, is almost ludicrously bad. The servers will ignore you, forget about you, go off shift and disappear, bring you someone else's food, or all of the above. I've actually stood at the counter trying to buy a couple truffles and had the clerk turn his back and take a personal phone call while I waited. If you're not in a hurry, and you don't object to the possibility of having to get up and physically locate a server and insist that he or she come to your table and help you, you can have a perfectly decent experience here.
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Pros:
Small enough to find what you want, if they have it at all.
Nice little truffles in a case at the checkout stand, which I regularly indulge in.
Conveniently located in the midst of 15th...
Pros:
Small enough to find what you want, if they have it at all.
Nice little truffles in a case at the checkout stand, which I regularly indulge in.
Conveniently located in the midst of 15th Ave E shopping cluster.
Cons:
Vague staff. Not incompetent or impolite, just vague. As if you're sort of interfering with whatever it is they're really thinking about, and they're sparing you about 2 percent of their attention.
Limited selection, with notable holes in what they stock.
Produce is crazy expensive, but maybe that's just the organic food thing. Yesterday they had a sandwich board outside the front door advertising tomatoes at $5.99 per lb... and that's what they were using to attract customers!
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