Inspired by the recent survey of the top 50 pizza parlors in the country (the Seattle area got one, Portland two) we decided to go further on the road to check out the pizza offerings at some summer destinations. We will come back to try out the Seattle and Portland winners later.

Summer is the time to take to the road. So, we investigated some new options for dining on our way. This time we focused on half-way points where we might stop on our way to Portland or Spokane.

This month we decided to explore the options for enjoying empanadas in and around Seattle. Empanadas are a (usually) savory pastry or turnover common in much of what was the Spanish Empire with similar dishes made in France, Italy and even India.

Most of us eat at home more than we eat out. And, with better weather and more hours of sun upon us, now is a good time to turn to where to go to stock up on specialty items we might use for entertaining. This month we checked out a number of local specialty food shops, some new, most well established but not always widely known.

We have been wandering to the South, East and North, possibly overlooking some developments closer to, but not quite in, downtown. And, while downtown, Belltown seems a bit far to walk for lunch, and later on the parking situation can be intimating. 

There has been a lot of coming and going of restaurants in recent months. And, with those dry January restrictions behind us, we set out to try some of the new and interesting restaurants that have been opening up.
 

New Year’s resolutions were a bit late to kick in for many this year, as celebratory get togethers ran well into January due to the Huskies making it to the championship game. So, now, a month into the New Year, it’s time to revisit Dining Out Healthy, or, for some, Dining Out to Lose Weight. We tried to focus on such options while attempting to live a healthy January.

Dry January is a separate issue, but, due to calories and dis-inhibition, our healthy issue does not include sampling many of the alcoholic beverages offered. (We will have to go back for that for at least one of the places we sampled.)

We continue to encourage others to support Maui in its time of need, mainly by going over there and dining out as tourists.

There are many options for Ethiopian food in and around Seattle, and, if you are like some of us, you may have no idea which one(s) to try. So, we set out to sample a few and hopefully blaze a path for those of you who have not yet tried such fare.

This has been a good year for new options for dining out. This month, we set out to try three new, or at least relatively new, establishments.