The bomb cyclone hit the Seattle area the day before we arrived, but at the moment our plane touched down at 9 a.m., a sliver of sun shone over the Emerald City. We had to pick up a rental car, so I was cutting it close for my culinary food tour of Pike Place Market at 10:30 a.m. Luckily, I made it in time to write about this adventure.
November 21, 2024
Business would take precedence that morning. Chris planned to meet with a client before we could drive to the Gig Harbor area to pick up Ava, our new White Swiss Shepherd puppy (if you want a peek, she has an Instagram account and she’s adorable). Rather than idle the time away in a cafe waiting for my husband, I decided to take advantage of Seattle’s best. I signed up for a Viator culinary tour of Pike Place Market. Why not play tourist and sample some of Seattle’s local food specialties with a bonafide chef? When I checked the night before we left, the Viator website said no spots were left, but a call to a live operator got me in. Never give up. That’s my new motto.
Beecher's Handmade Cheese
“Form a defensive barrier around me,” Chef Eric Olinsky instructed our newly-formed “Team Eric” group as we stood on a corner of Pike Place Market next to Beecher’s Handmade Cheese. “People have been known to help themselves as they pass by.”
Our bearded chef in a striped slouch beanie should know because he frequently does side tours in Seattle. He had returned with our first tasting and was holding a platter of Beecher’s Curd on crackers.
The 10 of us who had signed up for Viator’s two-hour Chef Guided Food Tour of Pike Place Market eagerly moved closer to take our samples. It was amusing to think people passing by might snatch them, but Chef Eric was taking no chances.
A couple of opportunists of the feathered variety broke into our circle as if on cue. They were starlings, but they are also called “bully birds.” They boldly penetrated our human shield, looking for crumbs.
Under the faint sun pushing through the clouds, we devoured the curd and the nutty-flavored Flagship cheese on crackers beside a glass wall looking into Beecher’s kitchen. A rotating mechanical arm slowly moved up and down a rectangular vat of creamy yellow cheese. I savored the velvety textures and wished Chris had joined me on this culinary tour.
The last time we toured Seattle was in late December 2006 when we visited my sister-in-law, Annie, and her husband. We had many laughs on that trip, eventually making our way to Bellingham to stay with my sister Janet and her family and then celebrate New Year’s in Vancouver. Now, here we were 18 years later.
Chef Eric disappeared, returning with a tasty sampling of Beecher’s Mac and Cheese in paper souffle cups. Unlike the hard cheese, none fell to the ground. Poor starlings.
Can Can Culinary Cabaret
The first stop on our tour was to see where the Can Can Culinary Cabaret performs in the Old-World theater behind The Dressing Room: Bistro and Bar. This Cabaret won all its nominated categories in The Seattle Times’ 2024 Best in the PNW Contest, including Best Theater Company, Best Date Night Spot, and Best Place to Take Visitors.
Chef Eric arranged for us to sample generous portions of delicious Croissant Beignets in the empty theater, which would come alive that evening with Can Can’s Wonderland: The 11th Anniversary. Different shows run throughout the year, offering a modern twist to the Cabaret acts that performed Burlesque, a Wild West art form popular when Seattle was a pass-through port city during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush.
While we ate, Chef Eric gave us a local history lesson.
Fortune-seekers heading to the gold-rich Yukon Territory of Canada once stopped in Seattle to buy scarves, jackets, hats, boots, picks, and shovels. Seattle’s downtown prospered. This was when outdoor goods brand CC Filson was established, and stores like John Nordstrom’s and Eddie Bauers opened in the boom years.
Food prices soared, and farmers were undercut by commission houses. In response, in 1907, the City Council designated Pike Place Market “as a place for the sale of food products from wagons, etc.” Today, Seattle’s original farmers’ market has become one of Seattle’s most popular tourist destinations. Everything from fish, flowers, and handmade gifts to produce, food stalls, restaurants, and antiques can be found here.
Hellenika Cultured Creamery
After sampling The Dressing Room’s Croissant Beignets and Beecher’s Handmade Cheese, we stopped by the family-run Hellenika Cultured Creamery.
Three Greek-Australian siblings started the popular gelato shop with family recipes passed down through the generations. One of the two brothers, Peter, welcomed us. That’s Pete to the left.
If you order a Kensington Mango or Cantalope or Om Ali, whose ingredients include cinnamon, cardamon, coconut, raisins, and ginger, you can be sure you will get precisely that. Fresh fruit and local Washington ingredients, some from Pike Place Market, go into each recipe.
None of their gelatos contain preservatives, dyes, or artificial flavors. We tasted the creamy Seattle Fog, a vanilla bean cultured gelato with the flavor of a tea latte. The culture process is what qualifies these gelatos as frozen yogurts.
Whatever you call them, they are delicious and have a soft-serve ice cream texture.
Maíz For Tortillas and More
You can’t be a purist about the menu sequence on this tour. So, throw caution to the wind and enjoy what culinary delights come your way. If you are still with me, we’ve gobbled down beignets, chunks of cheese, Mac and Cheese samplers, and cultured gelato in that order.
Now, we are waiting across the street from Maíz, next door to the first Starbucks that opened in 1971. Our guide has disappeared into the building with the Maíz sign saying Tortillas & Antojitos (appetizers).
Chef Eric is a big fan of fresh ingredients and small independent shops. He emerges with a platter of colorful, mouthwatering, hand-made street tacos. This food tour is shaping up nicely.
The website says, “Maíz produces non-GMO, stone-ground masa for tortillas using 100% nixtamal at their street eatery.” I didn’t know what that meant, but a web search revealed that the great civilizations of Mesoamerica prepared corn and grains this way as early as 6700 BC.
In short, it’s the opposite of processed food, which everyone knows by now is bad for you.
Totem Smokehouse For Salmon
Do you or someone you know have a hankering for gourmet smoked salmon?
If so, make Totem Smokehouse your first stop. This tiny store has colorful gift boxes of smoked king, pink, and sockeye fillet salmon. Bags of salmon jerky include a candy-like wild-caught pink salmon preserved in brown sugar and salt and flavored with wood smoke. Cans of salmon and albacore tuna are stacked on shelves in front of the counter. We tried smoked salmon jerky, a tasty way to eat a superfood and get your daily dose of omega-3 fatty acids.
There’s even a selection of pet treats. I will have to order some for Ava after we return to the San Francisco Bay Area.
Pike Place Chowder
A small kitchen window serves award-winning chowders hidden away in one of the many warrens of stalls and shops connecting the sprawling Pike Place Market. Although Pike Place Chowder is 3,163 miles west of New England, it consistently wins awards for its hot, creamy New England chowder. It holds the TripAdvisor Traveler’s Choice Award 2024, making Yelp’s 100 Best.
We sampled the delicious New England clam chowder. I am hooked. Pike Place Chowder also serves Seafood Bisque and various chowders, including Smoked Salmon Chowder, Crab & Oyster Chowder, and Manhattan-style Chowder. I’ve read that the Maine lobster roll is a big hit, though pricey at $35. The lines are long, so the trick is to order online and pick up at the window. There were no lines at the window.
Made In Washington Store
The Made in Washington Store across the corridor offers fare from local makers, artists, craftspeople, entrepreneurs, and small businesses. It’s a great place to buy local gifts. We tasted a SeaBear smoked wild king salmon mixed with Mama Lils red peppers in oil. It was a savory follow-up to the chowder. I’m grateful to Chef Eric because I would not have found these places alone.
Fish Toss at Pike Place Fish Market
Next, we made our way to the famous fish stand in the center of Pike Place Market. A large fish is tossed frequently between the fishmongers, and it has become synonymous with the Market. Chef Eric gave us 10 minutes to watch the fish toss. What a performance! Within the first five minutes, a chatty fishmonger came out to the front of the stall, and the show started.
A fish came hurtling toward him from inside the stall, and he lobbed it back several times before putting it on the icy display with the Silver Salmon, King Salmon, Baja Snapper, and Octopus.
I asked Chef Eric if the fish tossed across the store was later sold. I hoped not because it looked pretty mangled. He said it would be donated to the bears at the Seattle Zoo.
Chukar Cherries
At this point, we were ready for dessert (again). Chef Eric didn’t disappoint.
He brought us dried cherries and chocolate samples from Chukar Cherries, and we ate them outside on the covered Western Avenue Sky Bridge.
We had a sweeping view of the Pier 57 Ferris wheel, a Bainbridge ferry coming to port, and the Seattle Aquarium, where the bears would have tossed salmon later tonight. “Form a defensive barrier around me,” he instructed again. We approached him, and each took souffle cups filled with a dark chocolate-covered cherry, a honey pecan, and a raspberry truffle.
Melt in your mouth. Delicious! No starlings to be seen. I guess chocolate isn’t their thing.
indi Chocolate
Our final stop was the indi Chocolate Cafe and Factory. We seated ourselves at a long wooden table in the back corner of a large, colorful cafe, and Chef Eric gave us a lesson on cacao chocolate and indi’s dedication to helping cacao farmers and cooperatives worldwide. In addition to coffee and delicious desserts, they offer other cacao-based products such as teas, spice rubs, mixology kits, and body care products made from cocoa butter.
We split chocolate chip cookies made with pure cocoa nibs. This is real chocolate, folks. Store-bought chocolate chips can’t compete with the richness of flavor.
Erin Andrews, the founder of indi chocolate, started her company in 2010, opening her cafe in Pike Place Market three years later. She was inspired during a trip to Belize, where she showed her daughters how cocoa grows.
Erin sources cocoa from small local farms in far-flung countries such as Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, and the Philippines. She even ships cocoa machines to farmers and anyone who wants to make chocolate.
What A Culinary Adventure!
Pike Place Market is a sensory overload in the best way possible. From the flying fish to the creamy chowder, every corner offers a new and exciting experience. Viator’s Culinary food tour, led by the knowledgeable and passionate Chef Eric, was the perfect way to explore the market’s culinary treasures. With generous samples and fascinating historical insights, Chef Eric turned a simple food tour into an unforgettable adventure. Whether you’re a seasoned foodie or a curious traveler, Pike Place Market has something for everyone.
So grab a shopping bag (and maybe a bib!), and get ready to embark on your own culinary journey.
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