This is the second in a series of What Visitors Think of Seattle. We’re big fans of Couchsurfing. We’ve had the pleasure of hosting over 40 visitors from around the US and Internationally. Visitors always have interesting observations about Seattle and it’s great seeing Seattle through the lens of a fresh pair of eyes. We profile some of our visitors and noted their comments about Seattle, the US and some of our learning about where they’re from.
“E” (a 33 year old female) was from Slovenia. She was visiting from Vancouver, where she was working. She came to Seattle for only one night because her visa in Canada was only good for 6 months, so she made a quick trip to the US so that her visa could be renewed.
Like so many folks from Vancouver, she took the Bolt Bus to downtown Seattle. Back in Slovenia she was a freelance journalist who did photography on the side, but while in Vancouver she worked on Granville Island at a wine shop since wine was a passion of hers.
As a journalist in Slovenia, she mainly wrote environmental pieces and traveled all over the country to write stories of people who are doing things to help the environment. She left Slovenia due to a lack of journalism jobs and just a needed life change. When traveling she always uses couchsurfing and has never had a bad experience. She’d traveled all over Europe, Asia and parts of Africa.
What she did while in Seattle:
Day 1-Met in downtown while I was working and told her to meet me back at 5:00 so we could take bus back to my place together. During this time she went to Capitol Hill, had empanadas, walked to Pioneer Square and then to Pike Place market. We then had dinner prepared by my other couchsurfer, M, and we all went to a karaoke bar.
E’s Questions/Observations about the US:
- Like many visitors, she had questions about the elections.
- She noted that Americans and Canadians travel very differently. Most Americans travel within the US and most Canadians travel around the world.
- She wanted to know the history of Cuba/US relation.
- She said the impression of people in her country are that Americans are dumb since most Slovenians have never met an American and their only “interaction” is based off of TV and movies.
E’s Questions/Observations about Seattle:
- Since she is a wine enthusiast, I opened a bottle of Roosevelt Red from a local winery, Eight Bells Winery. She really enjoyed it and was surprised about the abundance and quality of wine in our area.
- When we went to a karaoke bar, she initially got a Corona. I let her taste my Manny’s Pale Ale and she liked it and got a pint.
My Learnings/Observations from E:
- She had strong opinions on the way Slovenia handles taxes and college. Since college is funded by the government, you end up having students who try to take advantage of the system by going to college for 10 years.
- Also because companies get subsidies for hiring students while they’re still in school, it’s also an incentive to stay in college as long as possible because students are likely to be let go by the company without the help of the government subsidy.
- With a high tax rate there is no incentive to work when you can be a student and chill.
- While watching TV, she about fell on the floor laughing at a Subway commercial where people are breaking chairs, splitting their pants, have buttons popping of their shirt because they are obese. She thought is was a strange portrayal of Americans.
- She had a strong interest in my pictures of street food from my travels and Luke Chueh prints.
- Although I offered her anything in my fridge for eating, she insisted on going to the grocery store. I literally had to tell her if she didn’t help me eat some of my food, it would go bad and I’d have to throw it away, before she hesitantly relented.
Upon her return to Slovenia, E ended up establishing a business, a food and wine tasting walking tour in her home city.
- See what a 28 year old from Ireland thought
- See what a 34 year old from Thailand thought
- See what a 25 year old from Finland thought
- See what a 35 year old from France thought
This is the first in a series of What Visitors Think of Seattle. We’re big fans of Couchsurfing. We’ve had the pleasure of hosting over 40 visitors from around the US and Internationally. Visitors always have interesting observations about Seattle and it’s great seeing Seattle through the lens of a fresh pair of eyes. We profile some of our visitors and noted their comments about Seattle, the US and some of our learning about where they’re from.
“M”(a 24 year old female) was from Taiwan. She was on a work visa for four months and was visiting the US West Coast. She worked at a hostel in Santa Barbara, CA for 3 months, but had to pay rent of $480 to live at the hostel and because she could only get a limited number of hours to work per week, she wasn’t able to save as much money as she would have liked. She did however manage to visit Los Angeles, San Francisco, Yosemite, San Diego during her time there.
She decided to spend her last few weeks in the US visiting Portland and then Seattle before heading on to Vancouver and then home to Taiwan. She actually went to Yosemite with another couchsurfer I hosted and when he found out M was going to Seattle he told her to look me up.
She told me she had no bad couchsurfing experiences throughout her travels in the US, but had a weird one. While in Santa Barbara she met in her words, “a hippie”. She said he got so wasted on weed he couldn’t comprehend anything she said, so she got scared and left.
Her friends in Taiwan don’t travel and think she’s crazy for couchsurfing.
What she did while in Seattle:
Day 1-We met at the ID Link Light rail station and just went back to our place and hung out.
Day 2-Ballard Farmers market, Fremont market, Troll, Theo Chocolates, Kerry Park, Pike Place Market, Gasworks Park, Bol Pho for dinner and beers at Atlantic Crossing.
Day 3-Monorail to EMP. M made dinner for me and another couchsurfer from Slovenia. She cooked a really simple and filling Brazilian meal that she learned from working in the hostel. Karaoke night at Atlantic Crossing.
Day 4-To ID to catch Bolt bus to Vancouver
M’s Questions/Observations about the US:
- She thought Halloween was such a cool holiday that you could wear a costume and “nobody says anything to you or think you’re crazy”.
- Was really interested in the Electoral process. Explained in general, WA/OR/CA/MA/NY are normally liberal and middle states are conservative. Explained the all or nothing process of Electoral voting. Some states can go either way unlike CA, which is always liberal. Explained some of the main differences are in philosophy-abortion, gun control, fiscal, taxes.
- Most Asians visitors are quiet in the US because their English isn’t good, but she likes Americans because “they don’t care”.
- She questioned why the US has a jury of peers to decide guilt and innocence during trials, because in Taiwan the judge decides the outcome since he/she is schooled and should be wiser in making such decisions than regular folks.
- She said that the Europeans she’s met in the US think she’s American because they can’t detect her accent, which is fascinating because she did have a pretty thick accent. I guess if I heard a German person and a non-German person speaking, I couldn’t discern the difference since I don’t speak German.
- I took her to karaoke for the first time and said it was the first time she’d seen strangers all singing together because in Taiwan they only sing amongst friends in a private room. Another quality of Americans she admires is they just don’t care, they’re here to have fun.
M’s Questions/Observations about Seattle:
- In Taiwan, friend circles are very closed off, but in Seattle you can bring anybody to a party and they will be accepted. If you brought a guest to a party uninvited in Taiwan, people would ask, “Who’s that and why are they here”? This was her observation after going to a party.
- The main things she wanted to see in Seattle were the gum wall, the first Starbucks, the Space Needle, EMP and Kerry Park. After visiting the gum wall, she admitted she thought it would stink, “but it smelled quite nice”.
- She thought Seattle was very European after having seen Pike Place Market, Ballard Farmer’s Market and the Fremont Sunday Market.
- Had pho for the first time and licked the bowl clean.
My observations of M:
- She referred to a Southern accent as “cowboy” accent.
- She was interested in taking lots of pictures of autumn leaves since they didn’t have this in Taiwan.
- She understood and spoke English well, but had a hard time getting jokes or what’s going on in some TV shows and movies due to the use of words having a double meaning. She had a hard time understanding the jokes on Friends, but could hear the audience laughing so she’d have to go to Google to figure out what was so funny.
- She asked the reason behind day light savings, which doesn’t exist in Taiwan.
- She asked about the expression, “leaving a bad taste in your mouth”.
- I explained what “hella” meant after she heard people using it.
- During karaoke, she saw the lyrics, “Why don’t you build me up, buttercup, baby”. She wanted me to explain what “build me up”, “buttercup” and the rest of the lyrics of the song meant.
Related articles:
- See what a 36 year old from Japan thought of Seattle
- See what a 30 year old from Spain thought of Seattle
- See what a 28 year old from Utah thought of Seattle
- See what a 36 year old from Korea thought of Seattle
The Great Debate- Paseo vs Un Bien
This is the first of our Seattle Food Wars series. It’s safe to say, the most popular sandwich in Seattle is Paseo’s Caribbean Pork Roast Sandwich. With apologies to Salumi, Tats, Delicatus, Rain Shadow Meats, Mammoth, I think most locals would say Paseo is the king. But which “Paseo” sandwich? First a little history lesson about Paseo.
The Scandalous History of Paseo
Who would have ever thought that a sandwich place would have such a scandalous soap opera-like story? Here’s a short version of the history of Paseo
- Paseo opened in the late 1990s and quickly garnered attention for their Caribbean Pork Sandwich. There were lines out the door and if you arrived too late in the day, they would often run out of bread to make the sandwiches. Once the bread ran out, you were screwed. No sandwich. The place was so successful that they could afford to close down for a month every year, so the owner could take a vacation. The other thing you always had to remember, is that they were closed on Sundays and it was cash only.
- In 2014, Yelp came out with their top 100 places to eat in America. Paseo was ranked #2!!
- Over the years I took out-of-towners to Paseo and told them that I would put Paseo sandwiches up against any sandwiches in the world for best sandwich and more times than not, they agreed. If it wasn’t the best sandwich they ever had, it was in the top 2 or 3.
- In November of 2014, Paseo suddenly closed without explanation! My heart sank. I remember being at work and news spread through the office and we all wondered, how it was possible? With lines out the door every day, how could they have been in financial trouble? I won’t go into the sordid details of the closing, but you can read about it here:
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/day-after-closing-paseo-files-for-bankruptcy/
- I’m not exaggerating when I say this was front page news in the Seattle Times for at least the next 3 or 4 days after the announced closing and sleuthing by reporters as to why Paseo closed. That’s how popular this place was.
- This is where it gets good. About a month and a half later an investor bought the Paseo name, building and equipment for $91k in a court house auction. He hired the old Paseo workers, who helped him recreate the recipe and worked with the exact same bread and meat suppliers from the original Paseo. He didn’t change anything on the menu and then opened back up in January of 2015. There was much rejoicing!
http://blogs.seattletimes.com/allyoucaneat/2014/12/12/paseo-to-reopen-new-owner-plans-no-changes/
http://seattle.eater.com/2015/1/8/7518153/paseo-is-open-again
- So what does the family of the original owners of Paseo do? In July of 2016, the sons of the original owner of Paseo decided to open their own place with the original recipe and called it Un Bien.
http://www.seattletimes.com/life/food-drink/paseo-and-un-bien-a-tale-of-two-sandwiches/
Now there’s always been a debate amongst my local friends, which Caribbean Pork Sandwich is better. Paseo with its recreated sandwich or Un Bien with the “original recipe” sandwich. Without tasting the sandwiches side by side at the same time it’s impossible to determine. Well we’re putting this damn debate to rest.
Both places are small and I don’t think either place would want the rival’s food in their establishment, so a neutral field is picked. The venue-Reuben’s Brewery. I met up with friends and we had a taste test to figure out once and for all who had the better sandwich.
The tally:
| Scale of 1-5 | Paseo | Un Bien |
| Bread | 4 | 5 |
| Onion/Cilantro | 5 | 4 |
| Pork | 3.5 | 5 |
| Sauce | 4 | 5 |
| Size | 5 | 5 |
| Overall | 21.5 | 24 |
The Winner!! Un Bien
Update 9/22/19: Un Bien just made Seattle Met’s 100 Best Restaurant
Related Articles:
- Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Seattle Coffee Shops
- Battle of the Best Ramen in Seattle
- Battle of Seattle Doughnuts(or Donuts?)- Top Shop vs Mighty O
- Best Seattle Bars For Each Stage of Dating
- Best Seattle Coffee Shops For Each Stage of Dating
We’ve got a love-hate relationship with Starbucks and especially their current CEO, Howard Schultz. Living in the heart of coffee central, Seattle, we have a multitude of choices(Herkimer, Caffé Vita, Caffé Ladro, Broadcast Coffee) to grab a cup of joe. I think most locals prefer to go to small independent coffee shops. Here’s a full list of Seattle coffee shops.
When you’re in a hurry, Starbucks is probably the defacto coffee stop since it’s practically on every street corner, it’s fast and consistent. In my office building downtown, we have a Starbucks in our lobby as well as a store literally one block away in any four directions from our building.
I typically go to Starbucks if I’m short on time and absolutely need a coffee.
The things I love about Starbucks:
- Fast-Back in 2007-2009 when the economy was not doing well, they always seemed to be shorthanded. Today the line moves fast and they seem to have the system down,
- Consistent-I feel I can count on the coffee to be better than average, the line to move fast, and the store to be clean and relaxing. I have noticed that the further you move away from Starbucks HQ in Seattle, the quality seems to slowly go down. For example stores in WA, OR, CA, UT seem the best, then Midwest and TX are slightly lower, but when you get to FL, GA, MA there is a noticeable difference in cleanliness and customer service.
- I’m SBUX shareholder(cha ching!) and use their quarterly dividend to pay for whatever I spend at coffee shops around Seattle throughout the year. Their stock and quarterly dividend has consistently risen over the years.
- Clover-In my opinion one of the most ingenious moves by Starbucks was to buy the Coffee Equipment Company that owned and manufactured the Clover machine back in 2008. I love indulging in a small batch coffee made on the Clover machine. So, so good.
- Innovation– From being one of the first companies to utilize an app for payment, their partnership with Spotify and their rewards to order/pick up feature via the app, I have a real appreciation for companies that can think outside the box and be a frontrunner in trying new things. I also love the fact that they’re willing to tweak things if it’s not working out like changing their rewards plan from a purchase based reward to a money-spent based reward. It pissed off a lot of people, but it rewarded the right people, those spending the most. As an infrequent visitor, this definitely hurt, but as a shareholder, I like it. Their acquisition of Teavana and La Boulange were gutsy moves and have been met with good and bad results. I think their expansion of Reserve Roastery format is another genius move.
- The CEO-It could be coincidence but when Howard Schultz was CEO in his first go around, Starbucks was running on all cylinders. When he left there was a noticeable deterioration in quality and atmosphere in the stores. When he came back on board, the company is now back to running on all cylinders.
The things I hate about Starbucks:
- When we want to enjoy a really good cup of joe and not in a hurry I prefer a barista operated machine. Maybe it’s in my head that it tastes better, but there is a level of skill in grinding of beans, hand tamping the espresso, watching extraction time vs simply pushing a button and seeing espresso come out.
- Lack of reasonable priced food options– I think their food quality is good, but the bang for the buck just isn’t there.
- Pike Place Roast– It’s vile. You have other options in the morning , but in the afternoon and evening it’s the only coffee they brew. Yeah, yeah I know they will do a pour over on request.
- Unless you get an Americano, you only get one shot instead of two shots of espresso in a 12 oz cup.
- Homeless in the bathroom-Downtown Seattle always seems to have homeless folks hogging the bathroom. I go into the store with the mindset that the bathroom will always be occupied and not count on using it.
- The CEO- Sonics are in Oklahoma City! I put this squarely on Howard. Local government officials wouldn’t spend 220 million dollars to refurbish Key Arena, which had just gone through a remodel 11 years earlier. Yeah, I think there are better things to spend tax payer money on. So what does he do? He sells the Sonics to folks from OKC, who of course move the team to, wait for it now, OKC!! Truthfully, I’m not really a Sonics fan, but I think it’s fucked up that he sold the team full well knowing they would leave Seattle and crush the hearts of die hard fans, who’d been following the team since 1967. If he couldn’t afford to pony up the 220 million himself he should have never have bought the team in the first place. He bought the team in 2001 and sold it in 2006. I’m a huge sports fan and I saw some great players at the Key Arena-Jordan, Payton, Kemp, Bryant, Duncan, Shaq, Durant, Barkley, Malone, Stockton, Hardway, Dumars, Mullin, Ewing. It’s a crying shame that kids growing up in Seattle will not get to see NBA games in their own backyard.
One last note on Starbucks: In my previous job, I was responsible for hiring entry level employees in an office setting. One of the main things that gave candidates an advantage over others is if they worked at Starbucks. I knew that anybody who worked at a store for an extended period of time would have customer service skills, could multitask, prioritize in fast paced environment and deal with high maintenance personalities, which seems to be a common trait amongst Starbucks customers.