Pike Market Food Tour (was Amazing & Delicious)

Morning is the best time to hit up the Pike Market, so we got there before most of the shops opened in order to really walk around and see what was there.  Plus we had a morning food tour booked, so we had time to figure out where to go.  This is when you get to see all that fresh fish come in for the day and get stocked and filled.  It's pretty neat and smelly.

Our tour location was in Post Alley at the Gum Wall- which I learned was the second most unhygienic tourist attraction in the world.  Not shocking, but interesting.  I don't find the gum wall that gross, but most people do.  I mean, I'm not going to go touching it or licking it, but it doesn't gross me out to look at it.

Oh, and here's the address we were looking for:

I'll admit, at first I was kind of like "yeah sure we can do a food tour".  I don't know why... I really like food and the market, but it was never really on my radar of things to do.  Then I had some friends who were in town and had gone and thought it was really great.  They did the tour before the market opened, so they got a behind the scenes and without the crowd view.  

So when my friends wanted to go, I was a little more excited knowing that it was supposed to be good.  So we decided to book the morning tour- not the before market opening tour- just the earliest regular tour at 9:30am.  (Perfect time, highly recommended, as the ones going later in the day looked like a lot of crowd surfing)

The tour recommended to me was the Savor Seattle tours-  I knew them as the pink umbrella tours because that's how you know who you're following.  We chose the basic Seattle Market {morning} tour to hit up all the well known shops in the area.  They have a bunch more, and now I kind of want to go back and do them all!

We got a bit more background information when we sat down to begin our tour, and then we were off to the market for our 2 hour food tour.  This tour was genius (I'm telling you- Seattle knows tourism!!) because we each had a radio contraption with an ear phone so that every time our guide spoke we could hear her... even when we weren't standing right there!  It was great because we could wander or fall behind a bit and still hear everything she was saying.  Then you just find that pink umbrella and catch up!  Perfect (especially for those of us to are picture takers)!!  Since we made our way around the entire market, it was really helpful.  Plus a shout out to Carla, our tour guide, because she was amazing. 

Our first stop of the day.. Daily Dozen Doughnuts.  You know me and donuts.  Can't stop, won't stop.

So we each had a couple piping hot donuts (they were bite size donuts, I swear!).  Then she took us to the Pike Place Urban Garden that I had no idea existed.

I signed my name on the pig... hehe!  The garden is cared for by a retirement community and it's beautiful!  Plus they have a great view! 

oh yeah, we wore our shirts... all day long.

Next, we went to the famous Pike Place Fish, Co... where they throw the fish.  I've stopped here before, but the perk of the tour is that your guide marches you straight to the front and starts chatting with all the guys that work there.  They tell us about why they chant, throw fish, and how it all works.  Each fish is only thrown one time... the fish that gets thrown back and forth is never sold.  Insider secret.  *wink*

Then we got to eat the most delicious salmon ever.  EVER.  We had three different kinds- my least favorite was the salmon jerky, but I'm not a jerky person.  The other two were so good.  Even my "I hate fish" friend was sold.

Carla walked us across the street and told us some background on the produce vendors over there as she waved and chatted up everyone working.  It was a great way to see the market.

Then we went to Beecher Cheese...MMMmmmmm.  Beecher's is where you can stand at the window outside and watch cheese being made.  And it's delicious.

It is always packed full of people, and this was the least amount of people I've ever seen there- probably because it was morning and they had just opened.

We had some Beecher's cheese curds, cheddar, and some amazing macaroni and cheese.

Then we were back across the street and making our way up on the platform of the Chukar Cherries stand.  They had us stand behind the counter while they told us about their cherries and we had a few yummy samples.

I'm a pretty big fan of the cherries out here, so I already knew I liked them all.  But it doesn't hurt to have a nice dried bing cherry covered in chocolate!  

We left the main drag and went behind the buildings to Post Alley.  This is where the famous Pike Place Chowder is located.  I didn't know where it was, so this was nice to find!

Here we had the "award winning" Pike Place Clam Chowder.  It was pretty good.  I've never had clam chowder before, so I have nothing to compare it to, but I liked it.  Even as we sat there, the line was out the door and making it's way down the alley.

Then we went to one of my favorite places in the market- Piroshki, Piroshki.  They have pastries with all kinds of fillings- we had one with beef and cheese and one with cinnamon and cardamon.  Both were yummy.  My Nebraska friends immediately compared them to Runzas (delish).  They were yummy, and we had to fight off a few people who thought they were just samples and not part of a paid food tour!

That was near the end of our tour, so we walked down the street toward the end of the market stands where our guide grabbed us some crab cakes from Etta's and caramels before our tour was over.

I was SO FULL when we were finished!  I did not expect that!  I had even scheduled for us to have a lunch with a friend who works downtown right after the tour... and we could barely eat anything (and it was pho, too, which is really hard to take to-go unless you want to carry around soup all day long!!).

I'd have to say this was one of my favorite things that we did.  I'd go again... on the same tour, or a different one!