Year of the Pig

I absolutely adore Seattle’s International District. It smells funny, it’s crowded, the streets are unforgiveably dirty. The supermarkets are chaotic, the restaurant menus are mysterious and sometimes risky. The alleys smell bad, there are sketchy people everywhere. Parking can be a complete trial and walking can have its own challenges. But I love the I District and was happy to find myself wandering there in good company for today’s New Year celebration.

The Wing Luke Asian Museum was free today and that was our first stop. The museum documents the history of our local Asian population and highlights the shameful period of the “relocation” camps in a heartbreaking exhibit complete with barbed wire. It wasn’t sad in the museum today – the place was packed with kids making little red lanterns.

After the museum, we squeezed our way in to the crowded Union Station hall to watch a few traditional dance groups. The sound in the hall was a nightmare (yo, festival sponsors, maybe you want to hook the I District community up with some decent audio next time?) but the dancers were gorgeous and the little girls too adorable for words. Overwhelmed by the crush and the unbearable noise of the sound system, we got the hell out of there and went for bubble tea at Ambrosia – Seattle’s first bubble tea shop. The young man behind the counter looked exactly like an Miyazake hero – shocking good looks, perfectly cut hair, flipped up collar and sharp smooth cheekbones. Mango bubble tea and anime fantasy, 3.25.

Then we wandered over to Higo to flip through fancy books, admire the ceramics, and generally adore what the new owners did with the store. Higo used to be a stuffed to the rafters variety store – I used to wander around in there for hours eyeing the plastic doo dads and house coats and chopsticks and well, they had all kinds of stuff there. The west wall of the store still has a the old display cases and odds and ends from Higo’s old inventory on display.

On the way home we passed an herbalist and tea shop, another housewares store featuring rice cookers and religious icons, a teeny tiny burrito counter, a handful of jewelry stores, a Mexican market, and the old Wonder Bread factory. I never get tired of this part of the city, it’s a wonderland.

—

Speaking of the I District, we did indeed eat on Jackson Street this last Friday night. The choice? Lemongrass, a little Vietnamese place that supposedly serves up “the best five spice chicken on the planet” – or some such glowing review. While the chicken was good, all right – perfectly cooked, crispy, not oily – I wouldn’t have gone so far as to call it the best on the planet. On the other hand, the lemongrass ginger chicken? Delicious. Lemongrass is something of a subtle flavor, but this stuff must have stewed in it, so richly did it have that lemony grassy taste. Yummy. The only downside was that we’d ordered heavy on the meat and ended up asking the waiter to bring us a plate of garlic green beans to round out the meal. Good stuff, speedy service, and with four entrees on the table at 32 dollars, totally affordable. Good service, too. If you’re there on a cold night, sit away from the door, it’s a small place and gets kinda drafty.

Lemongrass is at 1207 South Jackson in the Ding Ho Plaza. Parking is available in the oddly signed garage underneath. Make a risky left turn off Jackson and go right down the ramp as you pull into the shopping center.
[tags]Seattle International District[/tags]