Peter Miller’s Guide to Best Local Stores and Eats

Just because. One of the pleasures of life’s daily peregrinations is the happy discoveries along the way, the little finds that cumulatively add up to a well lived life.

Best Naan

It has been a difficult time for bakeries, and many have closed. In the freezer section of De Laurentis, we discovered a remarkable naan bread in a completely non-descript (no pun) plastic wrap. Four frozen pieces of naan, there is no label at all, only the price, $4.95. They are apparently from a bakery in Los Angeles, but there is no information. They are brilliant. And compared to them, the others are lousy.

Take one out, let it thaw for 15 minutes, and either pan fry or stick it in a 400-degree oven, toss once. In 4-5 minutes, it will slightly crisp. Pull it out (you may use tongs), lay it on a cutting board, a little olive oil or butter and salt, cut it into pieces, and serve or toss into a bowl to toss further with chopped herbs or chives. Use with everything—soft cheeses, sliced tomatoes, soup, salad. It is the remarkable bread and shall rescue how hard it is to find the bakeries anymore. It is waiting for you when you get home, and all the shops are closed anyway. It should have a label, Naan Compete.

Best Business Card

This one is easy. Le Caviste, the brilliant wine bar on 7th Avenue, just off Virginia, has the best business card. And every time that I give the card to someone, this lovely two-color, letter-set, square card, they are stopped in admiration and pleasure. That is a lot from a card. Never for a moment do you doubt it will be wonderful at the place of such a card. And, of course, it is.

Best Glass of Wine in a Bookstore

Long Brothers Books has a bar at the back of their remarkable shop on Jackson and Occidental, and it is just the thing. U-shaped, twelve stools, four choices, white or red, and beer, and always a side glass of water Maybe this will bring too many, but so what, it is a perfect back-of-shop bar, and the world should be so smart.

Best Small Plates 

Cafe Suliman, in the Melrose Market, everyone goes there. Brilliant small plates, detailed like color sketches — fresh lamb, baked carrots, hummus, squash, chicories, it is a kind of jazz bar of small plates and wine and tiny tables, of talk and times. You will be right there and think, this is perfect.

Gotta Stay the Night

Sometimes you have to stay over in town. Years ago, Alex would hang out at the bookshop looking at design books, colors, and commercial space books. Then he opened the first Ace Hotel, down by Macrina on First Avenue. And now they have an Ace in 20 cities. In Manhattan, they stand in long lines for their cup of coffee. I sent him a note, saying he might imagine holding a few rooms aside for seniors. Call them Design Pensioner’s Lofts, so it was not simply hipsters on laptops. I called there a few months ago and said I had to stay over. They said, no problem, we will find something, and they did. Perfect. Alex, very sadly, is gone, but he left a pensioner’s loft for a nearby pensioner like me. They love to help there.

Best Baguette

The best baguette now is Sea Wolf, mostly by a mile. It is so popular they do not even have it at their bakery in Wallingford. You can only get it at the places that carry it, get a list. We use it for three days. The first, when it is fresh, it loves good butter and good olive oil. Then, on the second day, as croutons for soups and salads, crispy, salty, sprinkled herbs. On the third day, cut into rounds and lightly browned in the oven for soft cheeses and spreads. That is a lot for a baguette.

Best Pizza

I know there are contests and other joints win the best pizza, but if it was up to me for the best pizza, Bar del Corso wins, and that is that. A good pizza is a thousand ineffable things—now, in a moment, in ten minutes, later, and the next day, and no one makes that line like Corso. You might impress at first blush, but show me how you are after a glass of wine, show me how you are in the morning, so to speak. Corso is the aria. If you want to know what the aria is, go there. Sit, order, wait, eat. And if you can, take one to go.

Best Drugstore

Fifty years ago, if you wanted a pizza, you went to Filiberto’s in Burien, and you saw 15 people there that you knew. Now, if you want a drugstore, you might consider going to Burien. They have wonderful drugstores, as if the world had not fallen apart, drugstores with full shelves and goofy signs and Q-tips. Crazy, but maybe that will be the thing, hey, let us go after work to Burien. I need some things, then we can grab a bite. It is the coolest out there, and they must have a dozen all-dressed-up drug stores.

Best Meatballs

You will be surprised, but the best meatballs are at OHSUN, on the corner of South Main and 1st Avenue. They are the best — tell them, so they know. Add the rice and noodles and condiments and hot sauce and such. You will happily be you and the meatballs.

Best Pears

Everyone, of course, has pears. But not everyone has local pears, and not everyone knows their pears, and not everyone has seven kinds of pears, and not everyone asks what day do you want to eat. Pears, our pears here, are as magic as can be, and no one says so, no one tells you to use a paper bag for the last couple of days or to touch the top for softness or that when its time comes, you only have a day or so to perfectly eat. Pears make sense; there is little dumb about them. Frank’s, in Pike Place Market, knows pears perfectly. You should learn that it is a sad foolishness, and close to stupid, to not know pears, they are going right by you, and you missed it.