Miyabi Sushi, Abay Ethiopian, Safeco Field

This week, The Stranger's Charles Mudede skips the small talk and gets right down to the food in his review of Abay Ethiopian Cuisine, which moved into the old Skelly and the Bean space on Capitol Hill:

I almost never start a review in this way, preferring instead to spend the first few paragraphs discussing some aspect of a restaurant's architecture, or some piece of cultural history related to the cuisine in question, or pointing out once again the social, political, and environmental disaster that is neoliberalism (a market-oriented ideology). But this time around, I have to get down to the food right away, because it's that good.

What's good: "The dish to order at Abay is the veggie combo ($13, and it easily feeds two people)."

Seattle Times critic Providence Cicero takes a chopstick stab at Miyabi sushi in Tukwila.

The eight-year-old sushi bar and restaurant, just south of Southcenter Mall, somehow eluded this reviewer's radar until this spring, when it spawned a Wallingford sibling, Miyabi 45th, where fresh soba noodles are the focus and sushi is not to be found.

She says the soba noodles here are just okay, but can't compete with its younger sibling. What Miyabi does well is fish: "Those who come for sushi will find fish that tastes impeccably fresh. Sashimi is meticulously arranged, and the nigiri petite enough to consume in one bite."

Two and a half stars.

And because the Mariner's had been enjoying an eight-game winning streak at time of press, Seattle Magazine gave a nod to the stadium's winning food. Leslie Kelly, who declares Safeco as having the best food in major league baseball, says:

I'm nuts about the craft cocktails and chicarones--the fried pork skin made from local pig--at Edgar's Cantina. Every game I go to, I roam around the stadium looking for something new to love and recently I found two.

Those would be First Base Vine, the new wine bar featuring Northwest pours, and the chicken and waffle sandwich at Hit It Here Café.

· Food for the Urban Human [The Stranger]
· Miyabi: Sushi to savor, in a lovely space [Seattle Times]
· Seattle Mariners Are Hot And So Is Their Food [Seattle Mag]