Go on a Savor Seattle Food Tour
A truly fun experience!
Though I’ve been to Pike Place Market many times, I had never seen the market like this.
Rated the fourth best food tour business in the country, I would highly recommend this experience here in Seattle and maybe even in your own city if that’s an option. I spent $64.99 for my ticket - which included a 2 hour tour - $19.41 on three hour parking, $40 on the guide’s tip and $55.92 at the Truffle Queen (which was my second favorite stop).
This “Chef Guided Food Tour of Pike Place” (organized by Eat Seattle) exceeded expectations - mostly because I didn’t know what to expect. It was pretty windy and other than wearing my Hokas, I wasn’t dressed warmly enough for the event. I thought that we would be going in and out of restaurants sitting down, but it was a walking, eating history lesson.
After introductions (I was the last one to arrive at the meeting spot), Brendan jumped right in at Beecher’s Homemade Cheese. We got to see how the cheese is made and had three different samples here - the last one being a delicious mac + cheese. They had these trays prepared so that our chef would just grab them after explaining a little about the food we were eating and the history of the market. For example, I learned that if a business closes at the market, only a similar business can take over that space. And that there are red painted notes on the sidewalks around the market for live performers to set up and share their music. There is a hierarchy to who gets which spots and these artists can make some nice change in 15 minutes on a busy day like today. Add $12 to today’s bill for the street musicians - they truly added to the vibe and experience.
The Pike Place Market isn’t the oldest market in the country, but because the market didn’t close during the Spanish Flu, during war or when Covid hit - that makes it the longest running market in the country. It was little facts like this that made this a super fun way to learn about the market and this world-renown treasure. And though we had small samples, I did not leave feeling hungry.
We enjoyed samples of apples, cherries (my least favorite), tacos, chowder (my most favorite), hot cider, truffle salt + pastes, salmon, chocolate and pizza too. I’m sure I’m forgetting something. It was a fast two hours and my attention was held the entire time. There were definitely places I’d like to return to visit that were referenced but weren’t on our tour. Like the “Golden Age Collectables” - where they have the largest collection of comic books in the w-o-r-l-d.
The people in my group weren’t super chatty which was okay. I knew going into this activity that I was showing up for my own personal enjoyment and removed any pressure to make friends or focus on others. I was friendly and completely myself, but I was relieved that the introductions only required that we share our first names, where we were there from (some folks were from London) and what our favorite food is. So, I was able to enjoy this tour as someone who knows a little about food and likes learning about the place where I live.
There are other tours that I think I would try and would probably even do this one again with a foodie friend. It was a fantastic experience.
Now off to learn how to use my truffle oils and salts…
