Icon Grill
1933 5th Ave

Web / Yelp

One of the first friends I made when I moved to Seattle worked at Icon Grill and gave me a gift certificate so my partner and I could come by and see her during dinner. From just about the moment I walked in, it became my new favorite restaurant in my new hometown. The entire place is like an Easter basket full of eye candy, decorated in a clever mish-mash of glass art, tour posters, and old lamps. There's an Almond Roca wrapper color scheme at work as well, which had to be challenging to pull off.

Over the years, I developed a fierce taste for Vietnamese, so Icon was bumped from my number 1 spot, but has earned its place in my harem and is always a good choice for happy hour. In fact, if you've never been, you should start with happy hour and check out the menu over a couple of drinks.

One could argue that Icon was at the forefront of the "fancy bathroom" movement with their magical, musical men's room. If you're having any trouble getting started, they've provided help in the form of videos of babbling brooks, crashing waves, and other water features, which you can see in the mirrors above the urinals. I hope someone comments telling me the name of the music that plays along with the videos. It's something we've all heard in a hundred commercials but I just don't know what it's called.



I love framed art in bathrooms, especially artifacts like tour posters.



One thing has changed over the years. They used to keep the bathroom stocked with hand towels and have made the switch to paper. I'm sure whoever had to wash them is relieved.



The upstairs area where the bathrooms are located is funny. There's one table, all by itself, a private dining room, and a waiting area with a nice chair. I'm always saying that more bathrooms need these waiting areas, even though they aren't terribly useful if the bathrooms aren't single occupancy.



The waiting area looks like a good place to make a quick phone call, but I forgot to check to see if there's still a "no cell phones" sign in front. All the pictures here were taken with one, so the entire post might be a huge faux pas.

There have been rumors over the years that Icon would be closing, and looking at the rest of the block, one can see that they are running on borrowed time. If the housing market hadn't tanked right when it did, there may already be new condos in its place. I'm not going to worry until I hear something official, and in the meantime I'll enjoy it as part of my vanishing history in Seattle.

These scales are outside the bathrooms at Regal Meridian 16 and claim to provide lucky lotto numbers along with your weight. I didn't have a quarter, so I guess today's just not my lucky day.

Hotel Max

620 Stewart St

Web / Twitter / Facebook

I started following @hotel_max on Twitter several months ago because Jen, their Captain of Makin' it Happen, knows how to make the best use of social media. Following her is a good way to find out about fun things to do in Seattle, because she's just as interested in promoting the city and other local businesses as she is in promoting the hotel itself.

I went to the second Hotel Max tweetup on June 15th, which was held in Red Fin's bar. The drinks were strong, the appetizers were tasty, and Jen was a fun hostess. It was also great to get a tour of the hotel, because it's one huge gallery; there are over 350 original works of art, and each room's door is a huge picture. Search "hotel max" on flickr and you'll find thousands of photos, because it's the kind of place where you almost can't get a bad picture. When I started this blog, I knew I'd have to come back for some bathroom photos.

Jen was nice enough to meet me again yesterday and stand guard at the women's bathroom door so I could sneak in and get some shots.

I had a bit of a revelation, though. Women's bathrooms are inherently less interesting than men's because so much is hidden away in stalls. Plus, urinals are just plain interesting, and they don't get any. The men's room has 'em, and is quite posh.

If you're worried about fish breath after sushi in the bar, they have mouthwash.

They have an outlet for your electric razor and flat iron.

It's also the only bathroom I recall seeing which has fixtures that actually protrude from the mirrors.

Hotel Max is an excellent downtown spot for food and drinks, an overnighter, or a home base for out-of-towners. Take advantage of their Twitter rate and see for yourself!

Two kinds of breath freshener, pain pills, and lip gloss.

Why no condoms?

Men's room at Pacific Place 11, 600 Pine St

Long Provincial Vietnamese

1901 Second Ave

Sunday through Thursday, 11am-midnight

Friday and Saturday, 11am-2am

Happy Hours: 4-6pm daily

Sunday-Thursday 10pm-midnight

Friday and Saturday 11pm-2am

Website / Yelp

I'll just come out and say it, Long Provincial is my favorite restaurant. When Tamarind Tree announced they were opening a second restaurant downtown, it felt like they were doing it just for me. Tamarind Tree actually has cooler bathrooms, but everything else is either the same or better at Long Provincial.

This photo from one of the (two, unisex) bathrooms really sums it all up. The whole restaurant is elegant, dark, and gorgeous. Even a little mysterious.

The ceramics they use in the restaurant are available for sale; I wish they also sold bathroom fixtures.

The menu is huge enough that anyone will find something they'll like and something they've never heard of. I personally recommend bringing at least one friend so you can have multiple appetizers. The squid satay the Tamarind Tree rolls are my two current favorites.

Also, take a moment to check out the aquarium between the bar and the main room. They have jellyfish!

Regal Meridian 16

1501 7th Ave

Tickets and Showtimes

The men's room at the Meridian actually isn't particularly great. It's inconveniently located on the mezzanine between the two theater floors and isn't particularly clean at times. And while there are four XLERATOR hand dryers, usually only two work at a time by my estimate. But if you were on a pilgrimage to see the face of Jesus or Michael Jackson in a tortilla or tree trunk, you wouldn't have very high expectations of anything but the miracle itself.

That's why I see fit to include the Meridian men's room here. Ceiling Cat and Jeff Goldblum's fellow watcher, Wall Cat, lives there.

To find him, enter the men's room, turn left, and stop at the first urinal. He'll be on your right-hand side, keeping an eye out for trouble while you pee.

I'd like to thank my friend Marvin for making this post possible. I'd seen Wall Cat before and forgotten him, and one of Marvin's blog posts made me realize I'd seen something very important without even realizing.