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My parents left today after 30 days with me here in the west coast USA.
We spent time in San Francisco, Monterey, Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle. Of all of these cities, they liked Monterey best for small and beautiful compact place; Seattle for a city with nature and transit and buildings and water. Like me, they liked friends and food in Portland, but we are not used to.. small cities. LA was best for food, and Seattle for seafood.
We took trains, buses and short plane rides. Alaska Air is the only domestic carrier I don’t hate (United feels downright abusive). They liked the Amtrak experience but found it excruciating and slow.
They thought infrastructure left something to be desired. Some nice airports (SFO T1, Portland airport); but overall not enough public restrooms.
They have some experience with the poverty and homelessness from past trips but this time asked more questions. I gifted them a book I like, Poverty, by America (Matthew Desmond) which I hope will help clarify some things. If nothing else, so they’ll understand why I have unhoused neighbors.
LA had the highest density of foods they liked. Generally felt that west coast had good quality food, but of course by day 10 they were desperate for home food and started cooking more.
They previously spent a lot of time in South Korea due to some family, so they really liked the options in K-town. A repeat restaurant they were happy to return to over and over was Chunju Han Il-Kwan, which was exceptional and extremely affordable. Highly regional Korean food from Chunju. Hard to get outside of Korea. Next to a fabulous Korean bakery, Harucake, whose mugwort injeolmi cake will stay with me for a long time as one of the best cakes I’ve ever had. (I don’t love most traditional American cake as I find them too dense and sweet. This was a very balanced cake with super interesting ingredients and flavors)
Chunju Han Il-Kwan also had the best banchan I’ve had in a very long time.
There’s good Korean food in lots of those cities, but the density and regionality of Korean food options in LA, San Jose and Oakland in that order are my faves.
In Seattle, we really enjoyed Qiaolin at the Seattle convention center. Back in Singapore, like nearly everyone there our family often frequents Hai Di Lao, a popular Chinese hotpot chain which has become the de facto luxury going out food for a lot of Singaporeans. There’s a HDL in Seattle too, near Qiaolin, but we found Qiaolin to be comparable, maybe even better. And cheaper.
Other places we enjoyed: Place Pigalle, a delicious French bistro with amazing views; Mike’s Noodle House, Taylor’s Shellfish. My friends drove me out to Edmonds to have great sushi at Sankai, one of the highlights of my trip.
I got to hang out with a person who does my job at the Seattle Aquarium, and learned a lot.
@poweredbylemonx@beige.party@skinnylatte I was actually thinking of going to Qiaolin since it is across the street from the movie theater. Good to hear it's a solid option.
@poweredbylemonx definitely go when they open, or make a booking. Very impressive and as good as what I would expect from a hotpot place in Asia.