Sure, the flying fish at the Pike Place Fish Market are fun. But the fishmongers’ famous daily game of catch barely scratches the scales of what this century-old Seattle institution offers. For example, locals know that some of the best donuts in the city can be found at Daily Dozen Doughnuts, and they have frequented the kitchen-size Market Spice for curry powders and herbal tea mixes since 1911.
Take a short walk up Post Alley and you’ll find award-winning chowder at Pike Place Chowder. If you’re in the mood for a light beverage or something stronger, Rachel’s Ginger Beer offers a selection of tasty ginger-beer-based concoctions. Don’t miss some of the Northwest’s best macaroni and cheese at Beecher’s Handmade Cheese.
Groups can sign up for a daily heritage tour of the Pike Place Market as a whole, or you can delve solo into the DownUnder area, a mazelike alley of storefronts. Worn oak flooring leads past indoor shops selling sleight-of-hand props at Market Magic, vintage soap and soup ads at Old Seattle Paperworks and retro Star Wars toys and modern Twilight posters at Golden Age Collectables.
Upstairs spin an antique globe at Metsker Maps. Bargain hunters should check out the market’s daystalls zone, where indie vendors rotate spaces daily so you’ll never find anything in the same spot twice—a good reminder that a market like this doesn’t come along every day.
—Lora Shinn
