Childhood friends visit Seattle for culinary tour and Sounders match

A rental mansion in East Queen Anne with a balcony overlooking Lake Union served as the base of operations for a group of childhood friends visiting Seattle last weekend. The trip, part of an annual tradition known as “Keep It Awesome” (KIA), centered on a culinary tour of the city and a Sounders soccer match.

The excursion highlights a trend in Seattle's dining scene, where the city is blending the fine-dining flare of New York and Chicago with the ethnic diversity found in Los Angeles or San Francisco. For the visiting group—which included two medical doctors and a former Indy staffer—the trip was a balance of “softly scheduled” leisure, designed to minimize stress as the group members approach 50 years of age.

Culinary diversity in Queen Anne and beyond

The group’s experience began in the residential Queen Anne neighborhood, characterized by leafy blocks and heirloom tomatoes. While the neighborhood feels residential, it provided a central jumping-off point for trips to the Museum of Pop Culture (MOPOP) and Pike Place Market. At the market, the group sourced Dungeness crab and whole rockfish for a home-cooked meal, though they spent considerable time searching for Matt’s in the Market, a restaurant that is located across the street and around the corner from the market itself rather than inside it.

The dining itinerary shifted toward the city’s “peak buzz” restaurant scene with a visit to Atoma. Located in an old Craftsman home, the establishment utilizes a comic book-style menu to detail its cocktails and dishes. The group sampled a variety of plates, including:

Mortadella with burnt honey and calabrian chile
Lamb tartare with green harissa and sesame lavash
Pork chop paired with geoduck sambal

In the Stevens neighborhood, the group visited the Volunteer Park Conservatory and the Lake View Cemetery—the resting place of Bruce and Brandon Lee—before eating at Taurus Ox. The restaurant specializes in Laotian cuisine, which the visitors noted felt like a unique spin on the more common Thai and Vietnamese flavors.

Hamdi serves Turkish inspired dishes

The trip’s final formal meal took place at Hamdi, located on the edge of the Fremont neighborhood. The restaurant is led by owner Berk Guidal, who grew up in Istanbul, and co-owner/GM Katrina Shult.

The menu focuses on Turkish inspirations, featuring pide—a dish falling between pizza and khachapuri—and a dry-aged ribeye served on a pepper puree. The “Kebap” was singled out as a highlight, earning praise from one of the doctors in the group whose wife is Persian.

Seattle united states july aerial view of lumen field stadium its bold architecture cutting a sharp silhouette against the fa

Sports and the social cost of longevity

The weekend concluded with a sporting event at Lumen Field. After gathering at Sluggers, a crowded bar just a block from Lumen Field, the group watched the Seattle Sounders face CF Montreal. Despite expectations of an easy victory, the match ended in a 1-1 tie, leaving the crowd of fans disappointed as they exited the stadium.

The athletic tension extended to the rental home’s theater room, which was heavily decorated with Seahawks gear. This created a mild conflict for the 49ers fans in the group, though the tension was eased by the 49ers’ victory over the “Seachickens” the previous Sunday, as well as a subsequent Seahawks loss to the Broncos.

Beyond the food and sports, the trip served as a venue for the four friends to discuss the realities of middle age. Over leftovers and drinks, the conversation shifted from “utter bullshit” to the genuine pressures of their current lives, including money stress, career moves, house renovations, and the physical toll of ailing joints.