Here & there: Ed.’s top 5 Seattle hot spots

Meet a guy who treats himself right.

When my friend Ed. goes to Seattle – as he does at the drop of a hat – he’s not about to deny himself the finer things.

I usually stay with one of my brothers, and whichever one it is inevitably brings me a glass of wine, feeds me and cracks wise until my ribs hurt. In the morning, I swing by Trader Joe’s on my way out of town and I go home happy.

That’s not enough for Ed. No, sir. He knows the latest restaurants, the name of the chef, the best hotels, the hippest bars. And that is exactly where you will find him.

He recently returned from an Indigo Girls concert on the West Side and, as a service to you, he provides the following Ed.’s Top Five Recommendations in Seattle:

1: Hotel 1000. It’s new – just open since June – and that right there is enough to get you on the list of a guy who loves to be in the know.

“It’s got a nice, rich feel to it,” Ed. says. “You get the whiff of luxury that you want at about $100 less than you’ll pay at the W. And the room was really cool.”

He seems particularly taken with the bathroom, which features a fill-from-the-ceiling tub. “It’s fun to watch water come down the walls,” he enthuses.

OK. Doesn’t take much.

To be fair, Ed. says the room also offered a flat-screen HDTV, wireless Internet and “all the stuff that’s useful to me.”

Hotel 1000’s general manager, Brian Flaherty, says technology makes life better for the hotel’s guests and residents of the 47 condo units in the building.

“True luxury is about personalizing the experience for the guest,” he says.

To wit, when you return to Hotel 1000, the room automatically prepares itself for you – setting lighting, temperature, music and digital art on a 42-inch LCD screen according to preferences you’ve defined.

“This place is hard to describe,” Flaherty says. “You have to feel it and experience it and enjoy it. There’s a residential quality to it. We want our guests to feel as though they’ve come to the home of a dear friend.”

Dear, sure. And rich.

Find out more at www.hotel1000seattle.com or call (877) 315-1088 for reservations.

2: W Bar. The W Hotel apparently doesn’t mind trash-talking two-timers like Ed., so even if you’re staying at competitor Hotel 1000, they’ll still serve you swanky drinks amongst their bar’s velvet drapes and dark woods.

“I almost always meet somebody who’s interesting to talk to there,” says Ed. Like loquacious Australian stockbrokers who engage in four-hour chats or pretty women who need pretend boyfriends to stave off drunken attention.

On Wednesday nights, W Bar hosts “Social Interactive Playtime,” featuring two deejays but no dance floor.

Jan Railing, supervisor of whatever/whenever (I swear to you, that’s his job title), says the whole living room lobby area becomes part of the bar for the occasion: “It’s pretty festive as far as downtown Seattle goes.”

There’s more about the W at www.starwoodhotels.com/whotels or (206) 264-6000.

3: Salumi Artisan Cured Meats. Now is when you should feel especially grateful for Ed.’s homework, because a cured-meat house is not the sort of thing you should expect from me.

“What first attracted me was that it’s owned by the dad of celebrity chef Mario Batali,” Ed. explains.

The hours that man has spent watching televised cooking can only be measured in years. So he probably knows what he’s talking about when it comes to food, and if you’re in the market for smoked paprika salami, lamb prosciutto, pancetta and the like, Salumi looks like the place for you.

Their Web site says Salumi is “dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the handmade food traditions of Italy and the Mediterranean,” and according to Ed. the results are worth the trouble.

“It’s hard to imagine it done tastier than they do it,” he says. “There’s a line out the door all the time.”

You can get information about Salumi’s Seattle store or order their products at www.salumicuredmeats.com. Or call (877) 223-0813.

4: Cafe Campagne. “It’s like a street-level bistro you’d find in Europe,” Ed. says. “There’s bench seating so you feel like you’re at a family dinner, and the food is just simple and wonderful.”

He’s not the only one so favorably impressed. The Seattle Times named it one of the city’s Top 10 restaurants when it opened in 1994 and Wine Spectator has called Cafe Campagne one of the best restaurants in America.

They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. A quick glance at the menu yields these delicious-sounding treats: steak tartare, sauteed squid and that French classic, croque-monsieur. (Remember, these were Ed.’s ideas.)

Check it out for yourself at www.campagnerestaurant.com or call (206) 728-2233.

5: Le Pichet. “I was there for breakfast,” Ed. says. “I had a dish with ham, two eggs and cheese on top. It was one of the best things I ever ate. It was shockingly flavorful.”

I don’t think there’s anything more to be said. Learn all you want about the Belltown spot at www.lepichetseattle.com or (206) 256-1499.

If you like these recommendations, keep your eyes open for Ed.’s Seattle Tours for Attractive Women, no doubt launching soon.

Regional events

“Bright Nights in Stanley Park, through Jan. 2, Vancouver, B.C. More than a million lights bedeck the park’s forest, train and Children’s Farmyard. Santa presides in his living room at the train station, and animated displays and holiday sounds dot the woodland paths. (www.vancouver.ca/parks/events/brightnights/ 604-257-8400)

“Seeley Lake Area Winterfest, Jan. 19-28, Seeley Lake, Mont. The annual event kicks off with a night parade and the ritual burning of Christmas trees. Snow sculptures, broomball, dogsledding, cross-country ski races, concerts, readings and more round out the festival. (www.visitmt.com/ 406-677-2880)