pike place – BlondeVoyage

Seattle has been one of my favorite layovers I’ve got to have on a work trip so far. Not only does it have great people, scenery and shopping, but it has the best food and drinks! Here’s my top 10 things to try when at Pike Place Market in Seattle:

1. Micks Peppourri Pepper Jelly

This might be my favorite food item I got to bring home from Pike Place. First off, Micks doesn’t just have one pepper jelly flavor, they have several. Best part? You’re able to try them all if you want to! I went with buying their red hot pepper jelly and it’s amazing. You can use it on sandwiches or crackers, make candied bacon or glazed pork chops, and so much more. My personal favorite is ritz crackers and cream cheese topped with the jelly.

2. Tea from Market Spice

Market spice is a tea lovers dream. They have pretty much every tea flavor you can think of, so make sure you try more than just the original market spice flavor when you’re there! Not only do they have tea, but coffee and a huge variety of original blend spices. You can buy it by weight, or also in individual tea packets.

3. Seafood at City Fish Co

There are plenty of good places to get seafood in Seattle, but one that was recommended to me by tons of people for not only being the best but the oldest is City Fish Co. Some favorites to get there are the chowder, crab and oysters.

4. Bubble gum

This isn’t necessarily something you need to try food wise- because as far as I know there’s no special bubble gum from Seattle… but there is the famous gum wall you need to visit! Gross, but surprisingly photogenic. And make sure you get some bubble gum to stick on the wall along the way!

5. Elleno Greek Yogurt

My second favorite thing at Pike Place. I don’t care if you don’t like yogurt, you need to try this stuff! This yogurt company is family owned and serves their yogurt ice-cream parlor style. They let you try all the flavors, and you can take home different size containers of it to go, or eat it in a cup on the go while you walk around the market. Their most popular flavor is marion berry pie, 10/10 recommend.

6. Blueberry Basil Jam

Another great jam to buy at Pike Place. There are tons of good jam & jelly companies inside, but luckily they all let you try them before you buy, and I happened to become obsessed with this one. I love all these different fun flavor combos I was able to try!

7. Oyster shooter

Pretty much all of the seafood places at the market have oysters and oyster shooters, and if you’ve never tried one yet then Seattle is the place to do it. If you don’t know what it is, an Oyster shooter consists of a raw oyster, cocktail sauce, horseradish, lemon, and occasionally vodka. Cheers!

8. Dried Honey Crisp Apple

Another great spot to taste test some great food! Simply the Best has tons of different dried fruits, veggies and mixed nuts to sample and buy. They’re known the most for their dried apple and I went with their best seller Dried Honey Crisp Apple.

9. Muscat Grapes

Have you ever had Moscato? Probably, but have you tried the grapes they’re made from? Harder to come by than most, muscat grapes are sooo worth their hefty price tag (in comparison to most other grapes). If you don’t wanna dish out the $10 per bunch of grapes, you can always just grab a sample to say you tried one! (but I’m telling you, you’ll want to buy them).

10. Coffee

Duh. You don’t want to be sleepless in Seattle do you? Seattle is home to the original Starbucks, just outside of Pike Place. If you don’t want to wait in line to say you’ve drank coffee at the first Starbucks, there’s plenty of other amazing coffee shops all around the market to pick from. We opted for Ghost Alley Espresso, which specializes in artisanal espresso drinks. YUM