Love being a tourist in my hometown

Had a friend from Atlanta visiting last week, in Seattle taking photos for a book on street food. Angie and I packed a whole lot into two days.

In between sampling meals on wheels -- the Cuban place on 90th and Aurora was my fave -- we also had a wonderful dinner at Crow, ate oysters at Elliott's, sandwiches at Salumi, cookies from Bakery Nouveau, biscuits and gravy at Citizen and spicy Bloody Marys at Taste at the Seattle Art Museum. Not in that order, mind you.

It wasn't only about the food. We saw the new Alexander Calder exhibit at SAM, went up in the Space Needle, walked around the Pike Place Market and rode the Monorail. Good fun.

What do you do when out-of-towners come for a visit?

Will Brake For BBQ

Stop! There's smoke. And where there's smoke, pouring out of a cooker, there's bound to be good barbecue, right?

I don't know how many times I've tried to find the holy grail of meats cooked low-and-slow over wood in the Pacific Northwest. I thought I had hit the jackpot today in Duvall, a teeny town north of Woodinville.

Ordered up the Bone Jour at Armadillo Barbecue. A combo that included beans, potato salad and slaw on the side. The meat -- cooked over alder -- looked so promising. But... it was underseasoned, the sauce was too sweet, the chicken was dry and the ribs were too fatty.

I really, really wanted to love Armadillo, which has been open about two months in this location. (The original is in Woodinville.) The staff was so nice. The price was right, under $10 at lunch for the generous combo. The sides were excellent. But the meat just missed the mark. I doctored it up at home with some Rendezvous dry rub and sauce. Much better.

Is it possible to find great BBQ in/around Seattle? I'm not convinced.