Breakfast:

5 Point Cafe is a divey 24 hour diner in downtown Seattle right near the EMP and the Space Needle. They promise to cheat tourists and drunks and their motto is “Don’t be a dick.” Do I need to tell you that their bartender serves the best bloody mary you’ve ever had when you’ve been up for 36 hours straight and perhaps you don’t remember all of those hours…? Not that I would know about that. But I do know that The Mess is the best crispy pile of potatoes, veggies, bacon and eggs that you could ever hope to have after a long night of mayhem. If you’re the kind of person that loves a good breakfast happy hour, you’ll love 5 Point Cafe .

But maybe you don’t like to drink your breakfast and you’d prefer some light and a view of the Capitol Hill neighborhood?

Then try Glo’s. The walk is uphill, the space is tiny and you’ll wait for quite a while but the food is fresh, excellent and worth it. So, go to Glo’s, put your name in, sit outside to wait and bring a newspaper so you’re all current on the world’s affairs by the time you get to breakfast. There are many worse ways to spend a morning.

Lunch should probably be quick because you spent the morning seeing the Space Needle and the Chilhuly Glass Gardens

(you did, right??) and you really need to see the Experience Music Project (EMP) before you leave town.

So, go for sushi.

Blue C Sushi has colored coded plates on a conveyor belt making it easy to order just as much sushi as you’ll actually enjoy and eat immediately. The crispy won tons with edamame dip are great and if you leave Seattle without trying wild salmon sashimi, I’d consider it a travesty. Order from the chefs if you want something special and this is the one place that I recommend visiting when it’s busy because the chefs are jamming, the fresh sushi is coming out steadily and there’s no waiting for anything. Just crack open a pair of chop sticks and dig in.

The afternoon is the EMP.

The intimate concert space full of couches where you can lounge and watch recorded live performances and interviews with musicians famous and infamous is worth the price of admission. And then there’s the rest of the Project. The installations change regularly but we saw great exhibits on Jimi Hendrix, the Grunge movement, the history of the leather jacket charting it’s course from airmen through bikers to musicians and the basement was completely taken over by sci fi monsters and the history of horror films. Ecelectic and interesting, the EMP is a don’t miss experience if you’re visiting Seattle.

And now dinner. If you’re doing classic Seattle, then go down to the wharf and eat at the Crab Pot.

Giant piles of seafood and tiny hammers with which to attack it. Roll up your sleeves, put on that cheesy plastic bib and eat your weight in fresh crab legs and boiled red potatoes. By the end of the night the napkins will surround you in massive heaps, covering all those chunks of corn you pushed to the side, and there won’t be an unsqueezed lemon anywhere to be found. Expect to hear “I can’t eat another thing” followed by “Is that the last shrimp?” at least once before the end of the evening.

If you want dinner without a plastic bib, go here:

Inspired by M.F.K. Fisher’s book of the same name (fantastic, you should read it), chef Ethan Stowell designed How to Cook a Wolf‘s menu around fresh ingredients and simple preparation. He offers small plates, excellent pastas and an impressive Italian wine list. It’s a tiny place that’s good for an intimate dinner for a small group.

After dinner drinks at a speak easy? No problem.

You can find the Knee High Stocking Co. by way of a tiny sign near an otherwise unmarked door in a windowless building after you’ve made a reservation by texting the number on the website. The inside is all dark wood tables and shiny bottles of booze framed by beautiful murals, the drinks are inventive and they serve food late but it’s tiny small so don’t bring a big group.

Maybe the sun’s coming up when you leave Knee High? In that case, hit the 5 Point Cafe and order a bloody mary to sustain you as you stagger home. Tell the bartender to make it extra spicy.