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The first time I saw a proper street-food tent in Seattle, I was sitting at a red light on Aurora and Northgate Way. It was 11 p.m. on a weekday. Most restaurants in the city had been closed for at least two hours. And on the southwest corner, two white tents were lit with utility lights, with smoke billowing from a grill and a line wound around the corner.
My car windows were cracked, and I could smell the char of al pastor on the flat top—which is, undoubtedly, one of the best smells in the world. But the tent did more than just perfume the air. I could also hear the din of dozens of people ordering, scooping pico de gallo, chatting in line. This tent took a dark, unpopulated corner and gave it life. In the words of Charles Mudede: it gives you “that feeling that you’re in a city.”
Welcome to The Stranger’s food issue. It’s all about what this city deserves.
And Seattle deserves an ever-growing ecosystem of street food. Not just because it’s cheap and delicious. But because a food vendor on the corner of 105th and Aurora turns a tense, liminal space into an ephemeral community hub that makes us feel a little safer while it fed us.
Seattle also deserves chefs and restaurants that make incredible food while still prioritizing building community. It deserves Asian restaurants that thrive outside of the International District. When we’re feeling fancy, we deserve Sinaloan street tacos made by Michelin-trained chefs. And we deserve a goddamn banana split every once in a while (even though they’re really annoying to make, we know).
This issue should make you hungry. It should make you want to go out and try something new. It should make you want to thank all of these people who bring us together at a table or a tent or a picnic in the park.
But on the theme of “what we deserve,” we also ventured outside of the food world for a few pages. We think Seattle deserves leadership that cares about this city, and its people, as much as we do. And in these pages, you’ll find a profile of mayoral candidate Katie Wilson that we guarantee will surprise you—because it surprised us. Hell, it surprised me and I wrote it. We told you in our primary endorsements that we think that person for the job is Katie Wilson, and after spending many more hours getting to know her, we’re only more confident that that’s true.
This is all part of what makes a city a place we want to live. So get out there, eat up. Save us a taco.
Hannah Murphy Winter
Editor-in-Chief
COVER ARTWORK
Photograph by Billie Winter
Creative Direction by Corianton Hale
Prop and styling by Corianton Hale and Billie Winter
Witchy produce provided by Artemis Farms and Goblin Farm, except fresh bay leaf (from Corianton’s wonderful neighbor Gwen)
This Issue Brought to You By….
Oblique Strategies
o.b. tampons finally adopting the twist-off wrappers that Europe has had forever
Italian brainrot
Weekday red-wine hangovers from Harry’s (worth it)
Lowrider Cookie Company
All the things we couldn’t say on social media…
Dr. Martens 8065 Mary Janes
Nuns
Jodie Foster in Panic Room
Kalimotxos
Being hungover at puppy yoga
The banana-split remnants in my freezer
Brian Eno’s absolute freak fashion circa Roxy Music
“Ten Cents a Dance” by Ruth Etting
Sisterhood
Katharine Hepburn’s brownie recipe
Belting my lungs out to Paula Cole
Spending too much money on fancy socks
Vintage Polly Pocket videos on YouTube
Crate training an 11-week-old Milo
@blackforager’s “Poison or Snack?” series
Lesbian arm wrestling in Cal Anderson
Megan’s crow army fantasy
“No clusterfucking in the office”
Kevin’s raccoon-sensitive paws
“Espedici!”
The ding bin at MacPherson’s
Jaune flamme tomatoes
Secret soups
Peteena the Pampered Poodle
That’s Showbiz Baby by Jade
Dogs wearing doggles (dog goggles) while riding in a convertible on a late-summer day
The pspspsps of the leaves rustling in the fall breeze
Halloween candy for breakfast
Combining clever with pussy
A black house rabbit in cahoots with satan
Jimmy Cancel
“Boyfriend” by Justin Bieber for some reason