Interview by Jason Schreurs
Singer-songwriter Rocky Votolato has lived in Seattle, Washington for a very long time. Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Votolato quickly became immersed in the region’s all-ages punk scene, playing in melodic hardcore bands like Lying on Loot and Waxwing and spending many a late night in the city’s music venues and nearby eateries. Now a man of the road with his successful solo career, Votolato still enjoys dinner out with his wife and friends whenever he can. He may not be an expert on Seattle’s current dining trends, but he knows a good meal out when he tastes one.
I know Seattle has a great food scene. Maybe you can tell me a little bit about what it’s like there for food, and maybe how things have changed?
Rocky Votolato: It’s incredible there. Seattle has always have a good food scene, but it just keeps getting better. There are so many great restaurants and we have our favourite spots. One of the places that comes to mind right away… we love Indian food and we go to a place called Saffron Grill, and it’s pretty amazing. It’s in the Shoreline area of Seattle. It’s the father of the guy who owns Taste of India. So Saffron Grill is one of my wife and I’s favourite places. It’s a little bit out of the city, so a lot of people don’t know about it, which is why I wanted to give it a shout out. [Laughs] I love that place. It’s basically just really, really good Indian food, and amazing pakoras. If we’re getting Indian, that’s the first spot that we go. And then there’s a great vegetarian Thai place called Jhanjay, and that’s an amazing restaurant, too. Actually, that’s where I took Dave Hause, who I’m on tour with right now, the last time we met up in Seattle. Yeah, it’s a really cool place!
One of the things that we’ve found talking to people about their hometown food scenes is that everything is so eclectic, especially in the bigger cities. Have you been able to pinpoint a specific trend in Seattle, as far as different kinds of food, or is it all over the place like a lot of other cities?
I think it’s all over the place. I’m probably not even the right person to ask, because my wife and I have lived here for so long and we have our favourite restaurants that we go to, so I haven’t really been paying close attention. I know that’s not the best answer, but I’m just the kind of guy who gets what I like on the menu at the restaurants I like, then I don’t change it. [Laughs] I would know if one of my favourite restaurants disappeared, but besides that I’m not looking and searching out new places all of the time. Plus, I’m just gone most of the year on tour so I don’t notice when things change as much in Seattle. I’ve been touring so much; it’s been hard to keep up with it. But, yeah, it’s a really, really great place to eat. There’s Mama’s down in Belltown, which is a Mexican place that’s one of my favourite restaurants. I just had really, really good fish tacos at Cha Cha’s on Capitol Hill. And they go by another name for burritos, it’s right beside Nuemos, the venue, but I can’t remember the name… Bimbos! That’s what it’s called!
The perfect place to go during a show if you want a burrito?
Yeah, that’s the spot. If you’re in Capitol Hill where there’s a lot of great venues, that’s the place to go. Yeah man, I love Mama’s, too. That place has been there forever. It’s right near the Crocodile. See, I know the places that are right near the clubs. [Laughs] When I’m in Seattle, I’m usually working outside the city, so I’ll come in for a show. And there’s late-night pizza at Hot Mama’s Pizza, which is right on that strip as well.
When you come back from tour is there a certain comfort food you like to eat that you associate with being home?
The first thing I usually go for is a little Mexican restaurant, basically across the street from where we live. We live in Bothell, which is a suburb, and my son’s in high school out there. We go to Mi Tierra. It’s nothing fancy, really. It’s just a standard Mexican restaurant, but that’s comfort food. And then there’s The Clay Oven, which is Indian. We do Mexican and Indian quite a lot, I realize from this conversation. Those are our favourite go-tos. Do you find that’s pretty common with a lot of people you talk to?
Yeah, definitely. Mexican is huge, especially when we’re talking to people in the US, because of the Mexican population. Mexican and Indian… Thai is big. It seems like nobody wants to eat North American food in North America, which makes sense.
Yeah, it’s interesting. I guess North American food is just sandwiches, right? I don’t really know. Or hamburgers? Or like what they serve at Hooter’s… chicken wings. [Laughs] That’s American food, right?
Rocky Votolato‘s Hospital Handshakes is available now on No Sleep Records.
No Comments