Feeding a Modern American City from Farm to Table to Landfill. This new book about Seattle's food ecosystem by a veteran food writer and restaurant critic. Over 300 entries follow the path of local food from its origins in nearby waters, fields and vineyards to farmers markets, groceries, wholesalers and specialty retailers. Along the way, dozens of food artisans contribute their efforts (bread, cheese, sausages, chocolate). At the center of the book stand scores of restaurateurs from high profile local chains to indie pizza parlors, fancy steakhouses, mom & pop burger joints, and family-run pho parlors. Forking Seattle also delves into the region's acclaimed wine industry, the origins of Starbucks coffee, and profiles towering figures of local food history. There are villains, too: remote private equity funds that carelessly suck the life out of local brands. "Seattle's oyster bars, its coffee culture, its pho parlors, its fine wines, didn't come about by some grand design but as the result of a historical accident of geography. "We are singularly fortunate, on the Northwest coast of North America," Holden writes, "a mild climate, a dormant volcano, a bountiful harvest of apples, cherries, grapes and grain); waters full of big fish and succulent oysters; a thriving economy, and a hungry, international workforce. How do you feed this city? One fork at a time." 293 pages with copious illustrations.

Second edition with 300 Original, Independent Restaurant Recommendations by Seattle's foremost indie food writer. "Eat this, not that, eat here, not there." By Neighborhood, by Cuisine, by Price. Also includes a 40-page timeline of Seattle food history and 50 pages about Starbucks and Whole Foods.

Seattle's foremost indie food critic digs into the local food scene with no-holds-barred reviews, refreshing insights, and fascinating bites of culinary history

Offers a comprehensive exploration of Seattle’s cuisine from geographical, historical, cultural, and culinary perspectives. From glaciers to geoducks, from the Salish Sea with swift currents sweeping wild salmon home from the Pacific Ocean to their original spawning grounds, to settlers, immigrants, and restaurateurs, Seattle’s culinary history is vibrant and delicious, defining the Puget Sound region as well as a major U.S. city. Exploring the Pacific Northwest ‘s history from a culinary perspective provides an ideal opportunity to investigate the area’s Native American cooking culture, along with Seattle’s early boom years when its first settlers arrived. Waves of immigrants from the mid-1800s into the early 1900s brought ethnic culinary traditions from Europe and beyond and added more flavor to the mix. As Seattle grew from a wild frontier settlement into a major twentieth century hub for transportation and commerce following World War II, its home cooks prepared many All-American dishes, but continued to honor and prepare the region’s indigenous foods. Taken altogether and described in the pages of this book, it’s quickly evident few cities and regions have culinary traditions as distinctive as Seattle’s.

Beginning with the 1899 installation of a stolen Tlingit totem pole at Pioneer Square and stretching to artist Lou Cella’s Ken Griffey Jr. sculpture erected at Safeco Field in 2017, Seattle offers an impressive abundance of public monuments, statues, busts, and plaques. Whether they evoke curiosity and deeper interaction or elicit only a fleeting glance, the stories behind them are worth preserving. Private donors and civic groups commissioned prominent national sculptors, as well as local artists like James A. Wehn (who sculpted multiple renderings of Chief Seattle) and Alonzo Victor Lewis, who produced a number of bas-reliefs and statues, including one of the city’s most controversial--a World War I soldier known as “The Doughboy.” The resulting creations represent diverse perspectives and celebrate a wide array of cultural heroes, dozens of firsts, the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, aviation, and military and maritime service. Author Robert Spalding provides the history surrounding these works. Beyond the words chiseled into granite or emblazoned in bronze, he considers the deeper meaning of the heritage markers, exploring how and why people chose to commemorate the past, the selection of sites and artists, and the context of the time period. He also discusses how changing societal values affect public memorials, noting works that are missing or relocated, and how they have been maintained or neglected. An appendix lists the type, year, location, and artist for sixty monuments and statues, and whether each still exists. Another useful appendix offers maritime plaque inscriptions.

Becoming Big League is the story of Seattle's relationship with major league baseball from the 1962 World's Fair to the completion of the Kingdome in 1976 and beyond. Bill Mullins focuses on the acquisition and loss, after only one year, of the Seattle Pilots and documents their on-the-field exploits in lively play-by-play sections. The Pilots' underfunded ownership, led by Seattle's Dewey and Max Soriano and William Daley of Cleveland, struggled to make the team a success. They were savvy baseball men, but they made mistakes and wrangled with the city. By the end of the first season, the team was in bankruptcy. The Pilots were sold to a contingent from Milwaukee led by Bud Selig, who moved the franchise to Wisconsin and rechristened the team the Brewers. Becoming Big League describes the character of Seattle in the 1960s and 1970s, explains how the operation of a major league baseball franchise fits into the life of a city, charts Seattle's long history of fraught stadium politics, and examines the business of baseball. Watch the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hwhl5sLoQs&list=UUge4MONgLFncQ1w1C_BnHcw&index=1&feature=plcp