Seattle - Washington State - page 80

EXPENSIVE
Woodmark Hotel on Lake Washington Although Kirkland's Wood-
mark Hotel is 20 minutes from downtown Seattle (on a good day), it is the metro
area's premier waterfront lodging. Surrounded by a luxury residential community,
the Woodmark has the feel of a beach resort and looks out over the very same
waters that Bill Gates views from his nearby Xanadu. There are plenty of lake-
view rooms here, and you'll pay a premium for them. For less expensive lodging,
try the creek-view rooms, which offer a pleasant view of an attractively land-
scaped little stream. Floor-to-ceiling windows that open are a nice feature on
sunny summer days. The hotel's dining room is pricey, but several less-expensive
restaurants are in the same complex of buildings. Complimentary late-night
snacks and drinks are available.
1200 Carillon Point, Kirkland, WA 98033. & 800/822-3700 or 425/822-3700. Fax [phone]. www.the
woodmark.com. 100 units. $205-$275 double; $320-$1,800 suite. Children under 18 stay free in parent's
room. AE, DC, DISC, MC, V. Valet parking $12; self-parking $10. Pets accepted ($100 deposit). Amenities:
Restaurant (New American); lounge; exercise room; full-service spa; concierge; car-rental desk; business
center; salon; 24-hr. room service; massage; laundry service; dry cleaning. In room:A/C, TV, dataport, minibar,
coffeemaker, hair dryer, iron, safe.
INEXPENSIVE
Extended StayAmerica-Bellevue Located just off I-405 near down-
town Bellevue, this modern off-ramp motel caters primarily to long-term guests.
To this end, the rooms are all large, have kitchenettes, and offer free local calls.
If you're only staying for a few days, you'll have to pay around $85, but if you
stay for a week, rates drop to around $60 per day. This is about the most expen-
sive of the Seattle area's Extended StayAmerica hotels, so if you don't mind stay-
ing in a different less-upscale suburb, you can find even lower rates.
11400 Main St., Bellevue, WA 98004. & 800/EXT-STAY or 425/453-8186. Fax [phone]. www.extended
stay.com. 148 units. $75-$99 double ($379-$470 weekly). Children under 12 stay free in parent's room. AE,
DC, DISC, MC, V. Free parking. Amenities: Coin-op laundry. In room: A/C, TV, dataport, kitchenette, fridge,
coffeemaker.
4 Where to Dine
With its abundant fresh seafood, Northwest berries, rain-fed mushrooms, and
other market-fresh produce, Seattle has become something of a culinary capital.
Although the dot-com crash winnowed out some of the city's higher-end restau-
rants, many of the top restaurants have lowered their prices considerably from
their highs of a few years ago. Many of these restaurants now offer relatively
inexpensive fixed-price dinners in order to keep their tables filled. This means
great deals are to be had at restaurants that just a few years ago were prohibi-
tively expensive.
Seattle is a city obsessed with fresh seafood, and a visitor would be remiss if
he or she did not take advantage of the great fish and shellfish available here.
Salmon, in myriad guises, is almost ubiquitous on Seattle menus, despite what
you may have heard about dwindling salmon populations in Northwest rivers
(much of the salmon served here is now caught in Canada or Alaska). There are
also dozens of varieties of oysters available throughout the year. Dungeness
crabs, another Northwest specialty, may not be as large as king crabs, but they're
quite a bit heftier than the blue crabs of the eastern United States. You may also
run across such unfamiliar shellfish as razor clams and geoducks (pronounced
“gooey dux”). The former is shaped like a straight razor and can be chewy if not
prepared properly, and the latter is a bivalve of prodigious proportions (as heavy