Seattle

I was in Seattle last weekend for a friend's wedding.
It was my first time to visit since being a little kid traveling with my parents.
Naturally, I asked trusted friends of where to visit and there were 3 places I was told to not miss.

One was
Elliott's Oyster House
www.elliottsoysterhouse.com
1201 Alaskan Way # 101
Seattle, WA 98101-2976
(206) 623-4340

2 was

Armandino's Salumi
(owned and operated by Mario Batali's dad)
www.salumicuredmeats.com
309 3rd Ave S
Seattle, WA 98104-2620
(206) 621-8772

and the third was Pike Place Market.
















I'll start with Elliott's. Without a doubt, the best Oyster Bar I've ever been to.
My wife and I ended up ordering (and devouring) 3 dozen oysters and 2 steamed dungenous crabs.
What a treat. We had every single oyster on the menu and every single one had a distinct characteristic.
From clean and briny to rich and creamy. These oysters were off the wall delicious.
Aramis has a great write up on Dudes if you missed it.

Salumi on the other hand was a disappointment. The reason was, it wasn't open.
They take Friday, Saturday and Sunday off... and you guessed it, we were the for those 3 days.
Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

And finally the fresh produce mecca known as Pike Place Market.
When you leave fruits to ripen on the trees and vines, you get superior products.
The climate over on the Pacific Northwest is pristine for various fruits and vegetables. And it shows in the local produce. The rich sun beating down on the fields, literally cooking the fruits to perfection.
So why can't we get that here in the east coast?
Well one reason is, we don't demand it. Simple economics.
We are sensitive to price and that dictates market.
It costs less to transport lower quality goods from the west coast and feed us here in the east coast, than to harvest superior quality goods here in the east coast and eat them here in the east coast. The cost of land, the per capita days for oportune farming factored by the days of sunshine, the amount of rain, etc... all tip the scale and give the west coast the advantage.

So what produce companies do, they buy fruits from the farmers that haven't ripened yet, and load them in containers heading to their mass distribution hubs where they are separated, processed and repacked for individual supermarkets (sometimes across country). All timed to ripen when displayed at the markets.
If the fruit isn't getting neither the sun nor the nutrients from the plant to ripen in it's final stage, you are nowhere near it's full potential in sweetness and flavor. The glucose and fructose have not yet begun to fully mature and that's what we east coasters have to deal with.