[3.0] The Center of the Universe

As mentioned in a previous post, we're pretty confident that we have moved into a neighborhood that we'll love. We now live in the Seattle section known as Fremont, which is widely know around the area as "The Center of the Universe". Modesty is a common trait among those of us here in Fremont. In the interest of brevity, I'll spare you a full description here, but if you want to learn more about it, the Wikipedia entry does a good job of briefly capturing the eclectic essence of the neighborhood. I suggest giving it a read to learn a little about the Troll (as seen here sporting a Murphy), the Solstice Parade, and the infiltration by Google. It seems to be every bit as colorful as my former Hoboken home.

The neighborhood is a mix of older houses (circa 1920), small apartment buildings (1970s maybe), and relatively new townhouses. While our neighborhood is primarily residential, we live about seven blocks from the commercial center of Fremont. There are a number of cool shops, great restaurants, and a pretty hopping nightlife in this area. The good news is that it is an easily walkable seven blocks to this area; the bad news is that the walk home is uphill all the way. This is how we're going to put our houseguests to the test, take them out to the area we've affectionately termed "downhill".

Now, the walk downhill (and back up) is not bad at all, but I'm imagining it will be a different story once the rain comes. Luckily, there is a great little market close by and there are a number of food options that are a much closer walk such as Persimmon and Fremont Classic. However, the crown jewel of these is Paseo. While we were house hunting in the area, we passed by this small nondescript storefront, partially obscured by trees, and bearing no sign. It was only noticeable due to the large crowd of people standing outside on the sidewalk. We later learned why. Part of the reason is that there's just not a whole lot of space in the restaurant, basically just the kitchen, a counter, and two tables. But the crowds come for the caribbean food. My current favorite is the Cuban Roast sandwich, which has just about the best pork I've ever tasted.

The nightlife is not as prevalent uphill where we live, with the only real option being the Buckaroo Tavern. I don't really know how to describe the Buckaroo, mainly because I'm intimidated to go in there. I'm intimidated not so much by the row of Harleys out front, not by the leather-clad bikers that hang out there starting around 1PM each day, but rather by the women that hang out there. They scare me. But I imagine we'll have to check it out since they have a couple of pool tables and it's been a filming location for several movies.