Besides coffee, Seattle-ites seem to love the South East Asian cuisine. The ubiquitous Vietnamese pho joints and Thai restaurants provide excellent cheap eats for cheapskates like myself. As always, some are better than others, so here are the ones that are worth every lemongrass and basil.

Pho Cyclo , 406 Broadway East, Capitol Hill, has a very basic menu of pho, rice, and noodle dishes. Add an order of spring rolls to any of the entrees, and wash it down with a Vietnamese iced coffee to stuff yourself silly.

Than Brothers Restaurant, multiple locations, is a family-run chain of bare-bones pho only restaurants. Seat yourself, then choose between chicken, beef, or veggies to top off your bowl. If you opt for beef, you get to choose again from a long list of edible cow parts that include Vietnamese specialties like tendon and tripe. Pho’ Shizzle!

Kwanjai Thai, 469 North 36th Street, Fremont, is near the end of the main drag or North 36th Street in Fremont. It’s housed inside, well… a house. You might even feel like you’re a guest at the house. The menu is the usual pad thai, pad see ew. Seafood items are market prices so expect to pay more for those. For about $10, you’ll have a decent meal and plenty of cash leftover for a pint or 2 at the many nearby bars.

[photo by: Federico Mena-Quintero]

I admit it. I made my way downtown, walked down Pine Street to seek out that Public Market market sign. Not for nothing, it’s a great piece of typography. Having snapped the requisite photo, I went inside to have a look-see. The place is nothing more than a tourist stop as there were more tsotchkes shops selling tourist junk than grocery stands. Was there anyone there actually buying fish for dinner? We made our way out and went to seek out the first Starbucks across the way. I don’t hate Starbucks, but it was pretty interesting to see the place where their world domination started. The queue was outrageous so I skipped out on trying the Pike Place blend. Taking Lonely Planet up on a recommendation, we hit Pirotsky & Pirotsky to for a yummy mozzarella and broccoli pastry. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t filling either. In search of more food, we hit the corner cheese joint Beechers Cheese for their $5.75 flagship jack cheese sandwich made of jack cheese, tomatos, and Beecher’s spread. It was extra small, but the flavor was ginormous, and the best tasting grilled cheese I’ve ever had.

[Beechers' Handmade Cheese, 1600 Pike Place, Seattle]

Here are some pics from the Peter Bjorn and John show at Webster Hall last night. Opening the show were Au Revoir Simone, and Fujiya and Miyagi. Enjoy and find out why PBJ must be stopped!

Oh Seattle, it’s one aching week away. The trip next week will overtake the jaunt to St. John as the easiest trip we would’ve have taken. There won’t be a language problem, prices are pretty decent, and transportation is pretty straightforward. I think they take New York dollars there too. The adventures, at least during the Seattle portion, will definitely involve looking for coffee, though from what I hear we’re guaranteed to have a decent cup no matter where we wind up. From perusing Gridskipper during precious work hours, I found two joints that are must visits: People’s Republic of Koffee where I can get caffeinated and inked up, and Cowgirl Espresso where my coffee is served stacked.

[photo by: donotgiveup.net]

I have reason to suspect that my super entered my apartment without my permission last month. Sure I did call for him to come repair the massive leak under the sink. However, without ever hearing back from him, the leak was sealed. I even discovered some new thingamajig under the sink that looks like it’s holding back the water. In any case, it might be my paranoia, but I’m going to order one of these security briefs to stash away my cash and um… my stash.

[Security Briefs via Wisebread]

“I was appalled,” said Donna Davis, 56, a medical assistant who lives next door. “If they want to live here, why can’t they start acting like Americans?”

“I can’t stand them,” said another neighbor, Kelli Lawson, 33, who says she is uncomfortable with many aspects of Buddhist life. “It’s strange to us, so we don’t like it.

These were a couple of quotes from today’s New York Times article about how some folks are reacting to Buddhists opening up shop in their Midwest neighborhood. I’m not going to beat the dead horse until it’s still dead in the afterlife and reincarnation. In fact, I want to help these Buddhists by outlining how they can assimilate and start acting like Americans.

1. Gain some weight. Your thin frame is lowering the obesity average. Start at the local all you can eat at one of your local strip malls. Better yet, order a larger something or other at the fastfood drive through.
2. Give up the vegetarian diet. You’re American now for chrissakes.
3. Speaking of Christ, pay him lip service when you feel like it, and start using his and his pop’s name in vain.
4. When you’re not meditating or praying, watch some college football. Go Hoosiers!
5. Give a stab at some other religion, preferably one with a violent past. Then go get up in everyone’s grill and tell them how they’re sinning.
6. You’re still too thin, gain more weight.
7. Enlightenment is getting trashed in Cancun.
8. Develop an irrational fear and hatred towards people who don’t look like you
9. Cut down on the number of strange, unpronounceable syllables in your name to it can read Smith, Brown, and Jones.
10. Forget your native tongue. You’re in America, so speak American!

These quick and easy steps will have you putting up yellow ribbon magnets on your Hummer H2 in no time!