Discover South Seattle Through Food

As part of my Foodspotting Guides creation binge, I decided to create culinary tours of South Seattle neighborhoods. I know that before we moved to Beacon Hill and then to Seward Park, I was oblivious to all the great restaurants South of I-90. We rarely got in the car to go anywhere, instead just walking to one of the spots in the neighborhood - which meant usually going to the same places again and again. Anyone who knows about our El Sombrero obsession won't be fooled that we don't still frequent some specific spots, but being forced to drive to eat out (with a few exceptions) has made it more likely to explore a little further and try new places. Back in April, we even instituted a rule that we couldn't eat out anywhere we'd been before, which was a great way for us to finally get around to going to those places we'd been meaning to try for awhile.

So in that spirit, I decided to create guides that feature restaurants in each of several South Seattle neighborhoods. The borders between neighborhoods aren't always precisely agreed upon, and tend to be the main streets where the bulk of the restaurants are located - so I took some liberties with where I put the borders to ensure each guide was robust and diverse. Like with creating the Street Eats and Offal-y Tasty Seattle guides, I found it took a lot of research to figure out what restuarants are around, and what dish at each would be a crowd pleaser - and now I'm even more excited to get out and try things I discovered in my research.

Discover South Seattle: Beacon Hill

Discover South Seattle: Mt. Baker

Discover South Seattle: Georgetown

Discover South Seattle: Columbia City

Discover South Seattle: Lakewood/Seward Park/Hillman City

Discover South Seattle: Brighton/Holly Park

Discover South Seattle: Rainier Beach

Perhaps the most intriguing restaurant I discovered in my research, which I pass by on the light rail every day, is Rainier BBQ. I've always assumed it was yet another ribs, brisket and pulled pork joint in the South End (we've got a lot, in case you're looking). In fact, it's Asian barbeque known for having some of the most exotic meat dishes I've ever seen on a restaurant menu, from deer and frog legs to alligator and even cobra. And the reviews of the place are great, so it's definitely a spot I'll be checking out, though I may have to get Gerald or Jason to go with me.

My New Favorite Food App

At least twice in the past month, I've headed out to eat with friends and we've been at a loss for where to go. Particularly at lunch time, when time is short, you don't have time to read reviews and scan through loads of restaurant listings to figure out if it's the type of place you'd like to eat.

Alexa Andrzejewski & Tedd Grubb realized that what people really need is a way to see things they'd like to eat that are available nearby - rather than lists of restaurants and lengthy reviews. And they've created Foodspotting to do just that.



Folks looking for a place to grab a bite can open the app and view photos of dishes at restaurants nearby. Each photo lists the name of the dish and where someone had it - and a couple clicks takes you to a map to the restaurant. You can view photos nearest to where you are, navigate on the map and view photos taken at restaurants in the map area, search for a specific restaurant or menu item, or scroll through a list of restaurants.

For food exhibitionists like me, Foodspotting lets you snap photos while eating and upload them directly to Foodspotting, adding to the ever-growing visual catalog of food. You earn 'tips' for 'spotting' dishes (as well as for other things) and those give you the ability to 'nom' (short for nominate) dishes you like - either your own or other people's photos. And you can earn badges for spotting numerous dishes of the same 'type', like 'Pizza' or 'Cocktail'.

In my brief time playing with the app and site, I find it's a lightweight way to share photos of your food and help other folks discover new restaurants. In addition to foodies snapping pics of their meals, I could definitely see restaurants loading photos of their plates themselves - or farmers loading pictures of the food their selling at the farmers markets. Seems like an easy way to market your menu for free.

Next time I'm struggling to figure out where to grab a bite to eat - Foodspotting should make it easier to find something that looks tasty.