Today, is my last day pet-sitting Lauren's two cats and I'm going to be sad leaving tomorrow because I love her neighborhood. It's been fun exploring it because it is also my old neighborhood where I lived when I was single. Today, Bruce came over with his tool box and proceeded to go around and fix all the little things Lauren pointed out to us to do before she left. (I had a few more items to add to the list after being here a few days.) Eventually, we headed down to her neighborhood hardware store, Pacific Supply, a store that we're very familiar with from doing repair work at all her previous places. Bruce loves the place. It's just down from where the original REI store was. I use to take Nick and Lauren to the old REI store when they were little and it was so much fun. It was such a unique place. The store was really huge and old, fun to shop there and always "kid friendly". Lauren has lived here on Capitol Hill (Seattle's oldest and original neighborhood) since 2007 and this is her 6th place where she's lived since she moved out of her dorm at Seattle U. All the places have been old and funky except for one new, modern place she lived in. The other five places had lots of issues that a neighborhood hardware store could easily handle, so once again, we made our way to Pacific Supply. Her apartment now is one that I like the best of all her places which is why I've enjoyed staying here. It's in an old building from the 50's with lots of character but they built apartments back then with more space and everything is very solid. Her cats probably don't need me to be here all the time but I like being here and they've been fun to care for.
Before we headed out to the hardware store, we walked up to the local shopping area for lunch. I knew exactly where I wanted to go, The Wandering Goose. Bruce has never been there but I was there once with Lauren and knew I needed to take Bruce. I love walking this neighborhood because it's "old Seattle" and the houses are gorgeous. She is only two blocks from the main drag of 15th Ave. E. where the old Group Health Hospital was located, now it's Kaiser Permanente. I use to work at Group Health when I was in college and Bruce and I had one of our first dates at a place on 15th Ave. E. So, being here brings back lots of fond memories. We needed to walk down two blocks to the Wandering Goose and Bruce, not really knowing where I was going, kept slowing down to look at other places we were passing. There are SO many places to eat around here, it's amazing. If you could only experience this part of town, you'd see why I had an apple fritter and latte for lunch at Top Pot Doughnuts on Thursday. I suppose if you lived here, you'd get use to so many good places at every turn, but I'm not use to it yet. I feel like I have to sample as much as I can while I'm here. As if there aren't enough places, all the BEST places are on Capitol Hill, too, like Bakery Nouveau, our favorite bakery which also happens to be voted #1 in Seattle. There is one down the street on 15th Ave. E., too. Many restaurants will open on Capitol Hill and then when they succeed, they will venture out to other parts of town which is why we have a Bakery Nouveau in West Seattle. Lucky us! Since there are so many restaurants on "the Hill", lots of single people live in this neighborhood which is why Lauren loves living here. You really don't need to cook at all. I'm sure you all know how Whole Foods is loaded with prepared, ready-to-eat foods. Perfect for Capitol Hill. I know it's often referred to as Whole Paycheck but it's super popular in Seattle and always has been. Once we arrived at the Wandering Goose, Bruce realized right away why we passed all the other places.
The items in the bakery case were amazing. We decided to order lunch and then also one bakery item to munch on while we waited for lunch.
The Wandering Goose is a fast casual restaurant so you order your food at the counter and then go sit down. They bring your order to you when it's ready so we knew we couldn't wait without something to sample. We opted for their raspberry blueberry coffee cake.
It was so tender and buttery and I loved the ample streusel topping. It was perfect with coffee, just like coffee cake was meant to be.
The Wandering Goose is known for their down home Southern cooking and especially for their biscuits. Most of their dishes involve biscuits in one way or another including many biscuit sandwiches. Today, Bruce and I ordered their fried chicken plate that came with collard greens and coleslaw and, of course, a biscuit that came with butter and lots of jam.
We split the meal because I can't eat that much and I knew from being here before that their portions were plenty big. I had the breast of the fried chicken and Bruce had the thigh and wing. It was so good! It wasn't salty like a lot of fried chicken you order and you could tell it was fresh out of the fryer. The meat was dripping moist and the crust so crisp and delicious. We both loved the collard greens that had a smoky flavor with big hunks of bacon in them, but also slightly spicy. The coleslaw was perfect, too, just how I love coleslaw. The biscuit was huge. I loved taking a bite of it between the three food items to "cleanse my palate" and get the full flavor of each one that way. Of course, you had to put lots of butter and jam on each bite of the biscuit. This was a thoroughly enjoyable meal. Bruce suggested we just come up to Capitol Hill during our remodel and eat our meals up here. O.K with me. I also should mention that the Wandering Goose just came out with a cookbook, too.
I might buy it just for the biscuit recipe.
Walking back after lunch was fun, too, because we stopped into a shoe repair shop so I could ask about cleaning some suede shoes that Lauren has and doesn't know how to clean them. This place was like a museum. Seriously.
Why am I getting my picture taken with a shoe repair guy? Because his story was so amazing. We had no idea when we walked into this place called Angel's Shoe Repair.
They have been in business for 107 years, started by Ray Angel's grandfather in 1912. (Ray, who is in the photo with me, now just goes by the name Angel.) Above is part of a story about them from the Seattle P.I. in 2006 as told by Ray Angel. They have been in multiple locations, starting in downtown Seattle and then eventually moving up to Capitol Hill. Now, they are right on 15th Ave E. Here are photos of Ray's grandfather in his shoe repair shop, and then his father with his grandfather, and then a photo of him as a little boy - along with some of the most interesting looking shoes on display.
They even have the original sewing machine from 1912 used to repair the shoes.
I did buy a suede shoe brush and eraser to help remove spots from Lauren's suede shoes and we discussed methods of cleaning them that I'd watched on YouTube. But this shop was so intriguing, I just didn't want to leave. I just couldn't stop looking around at everything. Then he pointed out his collection of Star Wars banks.
He turned on a Darth Vader bank that played music and Darth Vader's sword went up and down. This was not your usual shoe repair shop at all. But I guess if your strolling around Capitol Hill, you really never know what you'll stumble across. Sure, Seattle has changed a lot and so much is now upscaled with all the Amazonians taking over the town and shopping at Whole Paycheck...but every now and then you will run into some old piece of Seattle history and that's what I love about living here. Mainly, because I am turning into an old piece of Seattle history myself. This shop is exactly why I love wandering around Seattle. You never know when you'll run into an old-timer just like me who remembers how things use to be. I think there's fewer and fewer of us left anymore so we must savor the moments when we can. I'm glad we went to the Wandering Goose today and ended up wandering into Angel's Shoe Repair.
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