People & Places
Best Public Servant: Ron Sims
www.metrokc.gov/exec
Behold the mighty power of centrism!
Best Bus Route: 5
transit.metrokc.gov
Keeping the affordable town houses of Shoreline
in easy reach of downtown.
Best Hotel: W Hotel
1112 Fourth Ave., 264-6000
Proving there's a Seattle market for corporate cool.
Even locals flock to the bar.
Best Place for a First Date: Alki Beach
www.ci.seattle.wa.us/parks/parkspaces/alki.htm
Sun, sand, surf—success!
Best Place for a Last Date: Dick's Drive-In
Multiple locations
Breaking up is easy to do for under $5.
Best Place to Find Love or Lust: Online
Multiple sites
Though you may eventually need to leave the house
to take full advantage.
Best Place to Gawk at Humanity: Pike Place Market
Pike Place and First Avenue
Just remember: You look like a tourist everywhere else, too.
Best Place to Take Out-of-Town Guests
Pike Place Market
Pike Place and First Avenue
Enjoy a cocktail at Il Bistro while your relatives stare at the fish guys.
Best Bowling Alley: Sunset Bowl
1420 N.W. Market St., 782-7310
An oasis of integrity in fast-gentrifying hood.
Sports & Recreation
Best Mariner: Ichiro Suzuki
seattle.mariners.mlb.com
At $20 million per year, a bargain.
Best Sonic: Kevin Durant
www.supersonics.com
Hasn't played a regular-season game but already
seen as the savior.
Best Seahawk: Shaun Alexander
www.seahawks.com
Good or dominant? For the Hawks, it all depends on
Alexander's two legs.
Best Storm Player: Sue Bird
www.wnba.com/storm
An off year means nothing to her fans; she's still tops.
Best Picnic Spot: Gas Works Park
www.ci.seattle.wa.us/parks/parkspaces/gasworks.htm
Extra points for arriving by bike or kayak to enjoy the
Lake Union view.
Best Hike to Tote Beers Along On: Discovery Park
www.seattle.gov/parks/environment/discovparkindex.htm
Please note: Beers are prohibited in Seattle parks,
you rascals.
Best Park: Discovery Park
www.seattle.gov/parks/environment/discovparkindex.htm
Better views than Alki, without the drag racing.
Best Sports Bar: Sport
140 Fourth Ave. N., 404-7767
As always in sports, the numbers tell the story: 39 TV screens.
Best Tennis Courts: Green Lake
www.seattle.gov/parks/parkspaces/greenlak.htm
Also the best place for pickup games, says our staff tennis hustler.
Best Hot Yoga: Shakti Vinyasa Yoga
2238 N.W. Market St., 297-9642
Sweat your way to serenity (and a cute butt).
Best Place to Skateboard: Ballard
www.seattle.gov/parks/parkspaces/ballardcommonspark.htm
The spiffy, two-year-old skate bowl at Ballard Commons is, for now,
the city's only skate park.
Arts & Entertainment
Best Radio Personality: KEXP's John in
the Morning
www.kexp.org
Good taste means you don't have to scream.
Best Art Gallery: Seattle Art Museum
1300 First Ave., 654-3100
Mr. Venturi meets Mr. Cloepfil. Romance follows.
Best Movie Theater: Cinerama
Fourth Avenue and Lenora Street, 441-3080
A single, glorious, big screen, the way pre-NRA Charlton Heston
would have wanted it.
Best Casino: Tulalip Resort Casino
10200 Quil Ceda Blvd., Tulalip, 888-272-1111
Friendly croupiers and acres of parking convenient to the Wal-Mart!
Best Hair on a Local TV Broadcast
Personality: Steve Pool
www.komotv.com
Professional, reassuring, the man radiates chillaxity from his roots.
Best Radio Station: KEXP-FM (90.3)
www.kexp.org
Thanks to the Web, now conquering the world.
Best Theater Company: ACT
Seventh Avenue and Union Street, 292-7676
A gorgeous theater, relevant productions.
Goods & Services
Best Adult Video Store: Blue Video
4100 Aurora Ave. N., 632-9886
Fully stocked, and it's easy to get in and out.
Best Bike Shop: Gregg's Cycles
7007 Woodlawn Ave. N.E., 523-1822
Start your well-appointed fight against global warming here.
Best Body Piercing: Slave to the Needle
slavetotheneedle.com/piercing/index.asp
Check out the online bio of your piercer before you decide!
Best Bookstore: Elliott Bay Book Co.
101 S. Main St., 624-6600
The soul of Seattle, and still not crushed by Amazon.com.
Best CD/Record Store: Easy Street Records
20 W. Mercer St., 691-EASY; 4559 California Ave. S.W., 938-EASY
Its in-stores are better than many club shows.
Best Florist: Ballard Blossom
1766 N.W. Market St., 782-4213
Eighty years on, still family-owned and flawlessly run.
Best Place to Buy Sex Toys: Babeland
707 E. Pike St., 328-2914
Batteries—and advice—included.
Best Place to Buy Used Clothing: Value Village
8700 15th Ave. N.W., 783-4648, and other locations
With the money you save, you can actually afford Vogue's
fall fashion issue.
Best Tattoo Parlor: Slave to the Needle
508 N.W. 65th St., 789-2618; 403 N.E. 45th St.,
545-3685
Aaron Bell and his artists tour the country more than most bands.
Best Wine Selection: Pete's Wines
58 E. Lynn St., 322-2660
Buy by the crate; you can always tie the kids to the roof rack
of your Passat.
Bars & Clubs
Best Bartender: Murray at Zig Zag Cafe
1501 Western Ave., 625-1146
The man's got a Ph.D. in buzzology.
Best Draft Beer Selection: Brouwer's
400 N. 35th St., 267-2437
Everything from Pabst to Piratt.
Best Gay Bar: Neighbours
1509 Broadway, 324-5358
Is Amy Winehouse the new Madonna? Discuss.
Best Karaoke: Ozzie's
105 W. Mercer St., 284-4618
Where everyone was down with "Don't Stop Believing" well before
the last episode of The Sopranos.
Best Place to Drown Your Sorrows: At Home
Multiple locations
But please, don't blog or send e-mail after the second bottle.
Food & Drink
Best Coffee Drinks: Starbucks
Everywhere
Because clean, predictable, and efficient is where we want
to be in the morning.
Best Coffeehouse: Caffe Ladro
Multiple locations
A great latte, and reasons to linger.
Best Greasy Spoon: Beth's Cafe
7311 Aurora Ave. N., 782-5588
How can you resist the appeal of a 12-egg omelet?
Best Mexican Restaurant: Mama's Mexican Kitchen
2234 Second Ave., 728-6262
We like our Elvis burrito with a hunka hunka hunka burning salsa.
Best Outdoor Dining: Ray's Boathouse
6049 Seaview Ave. N.W., 789-6309
Everything tastes better when the air is salty.
Best Restaurant When Someone Else Pays: Canlis
2576 Aurora Ave. N., 283-3313
Proving the classics can be updated.
Best Sushi: Mashiko
4725 California Ave. S.W., 935-4339
No one else can make a curry hamachi roll with such flair.
Best Bakery: Macrina
2408 First Ave., 448-4032, and other locations
Leslie Mackie turns Seattle's reputation for being crusty
and flaky into a blessing.
Best Burger: Red Mill Burgers
1613 W. Dravus St., 284-6363; 312 N. 67th St., 783-6362
The secret Mill sauce reels us in time and time again.
Best Farmers Market (Besides Pike Place)
Ballard Farmers Market
Ballard Avenue Northwest and 22nd Avenue Northwest, 781-6776
Fewer tourists, more Volvos.
Best Grocery Store: PCC Natural Markets
Multiple locations
They knew organic before there was organic. Bring your own bag!
Best Pizza: Pagliacci
Multiple locations
Great pie served late, and the staff aren't surly, oppressed
wanna-be rock stars.
Best Teriyaki: Yasuko's
Multiple locations
Stuffing Seattle's teenagers for a quarter-century.
Best Pho: Than Brothers Restaurant
Multiple locations
Seattle's speediest bowl of noodles.
Best Waiter or Waitress: None (no consensus)
Sorry, you're going to have to tip evenly.
Music
Best Band Name: Blue Scholars
Second place: Natalie Portman's Shaved Head.
Best Band to Break Up in the Past Year
Pretty Girls Make Graves
www.matadorrecords.com/pretty_girls_make_graves
Now commemorated in countless tattoos.
Best New Band: Sirens Sister
www.myspace.com/sirenssister
Filling in for Bono since 2006.
Best Club DJ: Sabzi
Sometimes you want to dance, without the preaching.
Best Local Act Gone National: Blue Scholars
www.bluescholars.com
