Food is Everywhere

Food: it's not just what's for dinner, it's serious tourism.

The nine or ten million visitors who come to Seattle every year, they crowd the Pike Place Market and overrun our view restaurants (the Space Needle's Sky City, Shilshole's Ray's, West Seattle's Salty's). In terms of sheer numbers of visitors, the Market, of course, is Seattle's number one tourist attraction, but not necessarily the most highly rated. No, that "customer satisfaction" ranking, on TripAdvisor.com, is something called Savor Seattle Food Tours. Tourists, it seems, come here to eat. Three of the four top-rated attractions, in fact, are food-related. (In case you're wondering, the Market itself comes in 8th, Ride-the-Ducks is 12th, the Space Needle 20th, the Science Center 22nd, SAM 31st.)

The food tours are obviously a big hit. And now Seattle Food Tours (#3 on TripAdvisor) is branching out to Belltown. Yes, Belltown. Lola, Txori, Spur, Queen City Grill, Shiro's, Branzino, Macrina. and The Local Vine are the stops. Not a full meal at each one, mind you, but a quick hello, mayybe a glass or maybe a bite. Tuesday through Saturday, 3 to 5:30 PM, $49 per person. The Belltown Food Tour is available online at SeattleFoodTours.com.