The rest of the menu looks great: fried duck leg, deviled eggs(???!!!) and the tasty yet deceptively named "devils on horseback," which, it turns out, are figs stuffed with blue cheese and wrapped in bacon. Thankfully, the "trout with ham" is everything it promises to be: a slab of trout, slathered with ribbons of crisped ham.

When did trout become bar food?

It also pisses me off that people somehow think that Seattle should accommodate some different notion of how people should interact. I actually appreciate the fact that strangers do not seek to become my friends or share nonsense with me. The "Seattle chill" is one of the reasons I love this city. We are polite which is great, but not nosy or annoyingly friendly.

Don't like it, well then maybe moving here is not for you. I would not move to your city and try to change how you live.

It was a great place to experience the "Seattle Chill", which I like as well. Computers were nice, but they had couches! Couches in book stores and coffeehouses are slowly going away. Victrola has one in the back, which thankfully most people by-pass in favor of recreating their laptop cubicle at the many tables. But I still feel a new conspicuousness when my kid and I begin lounging comfortably with our books, and pondering every so often the piano nearby.

The Goth scene is undeniably going on in Capitol Hill. It's just a bummer Aurafice's foray into the mainstream Pike/Pine scene wasn't supported more. Heck, I don't know, maybe the owners and staff made out well, and are on a well-deserved vacation, away from the consumer mess that Seattle continues to become.

Do I really need to remind you that Seattle is a CITY? That usually entails a large volumes of people? Yes, it can get annoying at times, but never give up a chance to meet some of them. You may actually find some you like.

Of course, there's also the alternative- move out to Tukwila and get your own booth at Red Lobster.

Smith is gonna be awesome.

(full disclosure: I'm bartending there)

i cant figure it out: lindas joint over in ballard, kings, does great burgers at the same price. the one i ate at smith was overcooked and looked like it was stamped out of a press, not hand-pattied. for $9 i want grass-fed and free-range.

also: slow servers, and our waiter put his hand into my beer while he was wiping down the table (and then brought me a new one). opening night jitters. ill definitely give the place a second try, if only for $2 tall boys of ranier.

I don't however really feel the need to meet people when I go out. I am usually already with people I like and honestly my friend quotient is pretty full these days...