Pacific Northwest - Pre-STP Restaurants

Need your advice. What is a good Italian restaurant in the University District so we can pack away some great food prior to the STP? Also, what is open in the wee hours of the morning to get food and the necessities of life...coffee?

Where are you staying?

In the morning, the Charbucks in the University Village (across from the start parking lot) has been open early in past years.

SS, We are staying at the Hotel Deca - 45th & Brooklyn Ave. NE. About .5mi from the start.

Nothing in the U district proper is springing to mind as worth a recommendation for Italian.

Within very easy cycling distance (less than a mile or so) are:

A bit to the north (slight hill) is Bella Rosa Bistro: 3410 NE 55th St.

A bit to the west (basically flat) is Bizarro Cafe in Wallingford: 1307 N 46th St

A bit to the south (downhill then slight uphill home) are Serafina (my favorite, but $$) at 2043 Eastlake Ave E or Pomodoro Ristorante at 2366 Eastlake Ave E.

A budget conscious choice might be Romios Pizza ad Pasta at 3242 Eastlake Ave E - just across the bridge from the U District.

I've always bought food the night before for the early get up. Yogurt, breads, hard boiled eggs etc. Food that early is hard to find unless its denneys or gas station food.

I've always bought food the night before for the early get up. Yogurt, breads, hard boiled eggs etc. Food that early is hard to find unless its denneys or gas station food.

+1
Seattle doesn't "officially" wake up until an hour or two after Starbucks opens.

Nothing in the U district proper is springing to mind as worth a recommendation for Italian.

Within very easy cycling distance (less than a mile or so) are:

A bit to the north (slight hill) is Bella Rosa Bistro: 3410 NE 55th St.

A bit to the west (basically flat) is Bizarro Cafe in Wallingford: 1307 N 46th St

A bit to the south (downhill then slight uphill home) are Serafina (my favorite, but $$) at 2043 Eastlake Ave E or Pomodoro Ristorante at 2366 Eastlake Ave E.

A budget conscious choice might be Romios Pizza ad Pasta at 3242 Eastlake Ave E - just across the bridge from the U District.

You forgot Pazzo's on Eastlake not as expensive as Serafina's tons better than Romio's

There's Mama Melina's at 50th and Roosevelt.

http://www.mammamelina.com/content/findus/index.asp

Disclaimer: I have never eaten there, friends have, they said it was good.

There is a pasta feed that the Whole Foods Market puts on, north of the U-district. Its $11 for all you can eat pasta, salad, breadsticks, and beverages...we do it every year.

Many thanks to all of you for the suggestions. We will definitely stimulate the economy in Seattle. Good suggestion to bring our own food for the morning of the STP.
See you there
VG

Dude, just go to the Spaghetti Factory.

any 24 hour supermarket can usually supply you with coffee and doughnuts of some sort at any hour.

there's a safeway on 50th and brooklyn? a block from the university ave. theyve got early am covered or should anyway for those yougurt and banana needs.

I don't remember there being any good Italian food in all of Seattle. It's been a long time since I've been there though. The one place I remember - Trattoria Mitchellis wasn't all that great. Piecora's made a good pizza though.

Piecora's made a good pizza though.

Sure, if you like that limp NY Style Pizza.... ;-)

What amazed me about Piecora's was that they were still there, 20 years later. I lived at 16th & Columbia so they pretty close, and made good NY pizza, being they were from Queens. There were a few other NY style pizza places but they were the best and most authentic. And NY style pizza isn't limp. It doesn't take a 2" thick crust to make it stay up. ;)