From farmers’ markets to valleys of vineyards, Anna Hart tastes the best of Washington State
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“Pike Place isn’t just one of the oldest public markets in America; it is the food market that proved farmers’ markets could be sexy – fun, social, desirable and popular,” shouts Nick, our guide, thrusting me a hot cinnamon and sugar doughnut while I gawk at apron clad fishmongers hurling huge Atlantic salmon across the fish market.
“Today, there are 10,000 farmers’ markets in America, but Pike Place is the template, the one that showed them how it’s done.”
It’s 9am on my first morning in Seattle and I’m getting breakfast on the go, in 17 bite-sized chunks to be precise. Given the quality of the produce on offer at Seattle’s Pike Place Public Market, overlooking the Elliott Bay waterfront, I’d be happy to get my breakfast like this every morning, watching 500 artisan producers and restaurants preparing to open their doors to the daily stream of 30,000 visitors.
On our £35 VIP Early Access tour with Nick Setten of Savor Seattle, we sample vanilla lattes, smoked salmon jerky, handmade cheese, sugar-dusted madeleines, salted caramel chocolate and parmesan crumpets, with blatant disregard for savoury-before-sweet conventions. A former history student and lifelong foodie, there’s nothing (and nobody) on Seattle’s booming food scene that Nick doesn’t know.
Of the six foodie jaunts that Savor Seattle offers around the city, the ‘early doors’ 9am ticket is the swiftest way to get right to the heart of the city.
Soul Food
Visitors to Seattle will want to visit the classic landmark of the Space Needle (adults £12) – a Jetsons-esque 1962 observation tower – and should definitely be pointed towards Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum (adults £12). Tacoma boy, Dale Chihuly, has had his trippy, blown-glass sculptures exhibited worldwide (one work still adorns the entry hall of London’s V&A) and, as of 2012, his enchanting body of work found a permanent home in a dedicated museum at the Seattle Center.
However, if clients want to find Seattle’s soul, they’ll discover it through their stomachs – while Seattle in the 1990s was famous for grunge, today it is famous for food. Cooking really is the new rock’n’roll here, with chefs like Tom Douglas treated as rock royalty. As Nick says: “If you look at the history of Seattle’s food scene, it has long been marked by a delicious sense of competition because of the sheer quality of produce we get at the market.
If you’re going to head out to a haute restaurant, it needs to be delivering something way better than you can make at home.” Douglas owns a string of hot restaurants in Seattle, from the sultry Dahlia Lounge downtown to family-friendly Etta’s overlooking the market. Douglas’s triple coconut cream pie is the stuff of legends.
The general consensus is that Seattle owes its feverish foodie obsession to two things: the abundance of top-notch produce and the grey winter months. “A person can wear all the layers they want, but nothing warms the soul like a good rich meal, hot coffee or sweet treat,” says Nick.
Seattle’s port status ensured a supply of exotic ingredients but Washington State is legendary for the quality of its local produce. “With our climate, we just seem to have the best of both worlds,” says Nick. Some of the best apples in the world are coming out of the temperate eastern half of the state, alongside pears, cherries, peaches and wheat. Then the western coast is blessed with fresh seafood and seasonally foraged mushrooms and berries.
Delta Air Lines, in addition to its new direct flights to Heathrow, recently added non-stop services to Seoul and Hong Kong, and visitors from these food-obsessed nations do their culinary homework before they arrive. “We’ve always had a lot of Japanese on our tours, but I’m seeing a large contingent of Korean and Chinese visitors today,” says Nick.
A short stroll from Pike Place is Chocolate Box on Pine, an impeccably curated emporium of the best locally made chocolate and wine. “There are the classics, such as the salted caramels from Fran’s Chocolates (President Obama’s favourite chocolatier) or the creatively flavoured truffles from Pink Peony Chocolates on Bainbridge Island,” says the owner, Kathy – a walking, talking, eating and drinking encyclopaedia when it comes to chocolate and wine.
“We’re strong believers in the ‘shop local’ movement and we love our local chocolatiers – large and small.” Her pride isn’t unfounded: local chocolatier Karen Neugebauer of Forte Chocolates has just won the 2014 International Chocolate Awards for her Lemon Pepper Truffle. This pioneering boutique and tasting room offers several gluttonous ‘experiences’, but for vineyard-bound clients, its £45 Wine and Chocolate evening is an invaluable introduction to local wineries.
Wine Times
Visitors to Washington State tend to split into two camps after a few days in Seattle. Active sorts venture west into Olympic National Park, hiking misty, forested mountains and wandering windswept beaches. Wineheads, however, travel southeast towards Oregon, into wine country. Evergreen Escapes, a slick, impeccably run outfit offering guided tours of the state, has both wine tours and rugged hiking itineraries on its books.
At this point on the tour, we all really fancy a glass of red, so the unanimous choice is to head towards the wine country.Most visitors associate the Pacific Northwest with mist, forest and rain; pop culture hits such as Twin Peaks and the Twilight trilogy traded on these moodily mysterious surroundings.
“But on this trip you’re going to see dense forest give way to burnt-out grassland – almost a desert landscape – and then we get into rolling hills and vineyard territory,” says Kirsty, our eternally upbeat Evergreen Escapes guide. Driving through Skamania County, we head for Mount St Helens where we visit the National Volcanic Monument, a memorial to the 57 people who died in 1980 in the deadliest eruption in US history, plus the Johnston Ridge Observatory.
Tracing the Columbia Gorge is dream road-trip territory. We set out amid misty forest and, by lunchtime, have traversed golden grasslands to bask in sunshine at Walla Walla, where wine tourism has breathed new life into the charming town. Local winemakers say Walla Walla is the next Napa Valley. The region boasts more than 100 wineries and 1,800 acres of grapes. Operators, including Travel 2 and Virgin Holidays, are developing gourmet tour packages in the area.
At Waterbrook Winery, which has an expansive, inviting tasting room particularly suited to large groups, Californian winemaker John Freeman (who recently moved here from Napa) lets us sample partially fermented grape juice that’s on its way to becoming top-notch cabernet sauvignon, merlot and chardonnay.
In the Tri-Cities region, Brookwalter Winery, Barnard Griffin Winery and Tagaris greet us with full glasses, but it’s Terra Blanca in Red Mountain that has the showstopper setting. We sip our merlots, cabernets and syrahs in sunlight on the Tuscan-inspired terrace; this is the vineyard setting clients dream of when venturing into wine country. Unsurprisingly, Terra Blanca was recently named ‘best barrel room’ in the state.
Winemaker Keith Pilgrim has been here since 1993 and seen the region develop from a dry, unfarmable slope into a hotspot for wine lovers.
Our finale, the next day, begins at Cherry Wood Bed, Breakfast and Barn. It’s a working horse sanctuary in the Yakima Valley wine region, offering accommodation in rustic-chic teepees, but we’re here to jump in the horse-drawn wagon for a winery tour. The Yakima Valley tour is a highlight. We visit small-scale, family-run wineries, lunching in the barrel room at Dineen Winery before trucking through the apple orchards to Two Mountain Winery.
Winemaker Matthew Rawn’s family has farmed here for the best part of a century and, in 2000, converted apple orchards into vineyards. “I never trained formally,” he admits. “We learned on the job, asked others doing the same around us and, step by step, made the transition to winemakers.”
It’s a gloriously American approach that European purists would balk at, but it’s paid off. The wine is excellent and the attitude unpretentious. It’s easy to see why visitors fall for Washington’s wine country.
Find out more:
experiencewa.com
visitseattle.org
Sample Product
Delta Air Lines flies daily from Heathrow to Seattle. Return economy fares start at £655. Business Class Elite starts at £3,913, offering 180-degree fully flat beds. delta.com
Arblaster & Clarke is launching a nine-day Pacific Northwest tour of Seattle, Washington State and Oregon for wine connoisseurs. The trip includes visits to Yakima Valley, Red Mountain, Walla Walla and the Columbia River wine regions. Departures are from October from £3,395 per person. winetours.co.uk
North America Travel Service’s 16-day Washington Wonders all-state circuit visits Seattle, the Olympic National Park and the North Cascades National Park as well as the Columbia Gorge wine region. Prices start from £1,825 per person, including accommodation and car hire. northamericatravelservice.co.uk
Prestige Holidays can tailor-make a seven-night trip staying on a room-only basis at the Warwick Hotel in Seattle and the Red Lion Hotel in Yakima from £1,840 including flights and five days’ car rental. prestigeholidays.co.uk
Tried & Tested: Washington State hotels
Mayflower Park Hotel, Seattle
A central downtown location and elegant interiors make this 160-room hotel a classic. Crystal chandeliers, gleaming brass fittings, opulent fabrics and period flourishes are faithful to the hotel’s heritage, dating back to 1927.
Book it: From £60 per night.
mayflowerpark.com
The Max, Seattle
With bold artwork, contemporary interiors flecked with retro flourishes and a rock’n’roll soundtrack, this boutique offering is one of the hippest joints in town. The 163 guest rooms are more pared-back than the loud public spaces, staff are upbeat and the 24-hour gym is another touch, making this particularly suited to a young professional demographic.
Book it: From £105 per night.
hotelmaxseattle.com
Skamania Lodge, Skamania
Located within the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, this expansive yet cosy mountain lodge offers inviting public spaces, including a firelit bar and a restaurant that sources most of its ingredients from within 50 miles. Set in a 175-acre woodland estate, this is a popular base for those wanting to explore the gorge on foot and also offers golf and spa facilities.
Book it: From £120 per night.
skamania.com
Marcus Whitman Hotel,Walla Walla
This 1920s-built, family-run property offers 127 classically decorated rooms for guests but is equally popular among local foodies and winemakers for its award-winning Marc restaurant and legendary tasting menu. Interiors are elegant, staff are warm and there are no fewer than six on-site tasting rooms.
Book it: From £99 per night.
marcuswhitmanhotel.com
Garden Hilton Hotel, Yakima Valley
This 111-room, comfortable three-star option has an indoor pool and conference centre and is minutes from the pretty, historic thoroughfare of North Front Street, with a cafe in a former tram depot, interiors boutiques and antique stores.
Book it: From £86 per night.
hilton.com
