SUE BIRD OF THE WNBA AND KEVIN DURANT OF THE NBA
AMAZE LEGIONS OF FANS ON ANY GIVEN NIGHT. THEY EXPERIENCE THE SAME
FEELING WHENEVER THEY EXPLORE THE EMERALD CITY.
. Photographs by Brad
Hines.
Sue Bird and Kevin Durant may be two of
the brightest stars in the Seattle sports universe. They may enjoy
the adulation of millions of fans worldwide and have fat
Nike-endorsement contracts. But on this unusually crisp day, they
are in danger of becoming roadkill.
For the last leg of their marathon photo session, the lensman,
hoping to snare a faux-casual shot or three, has them walk together
outside Seattle's Key Arena. "You're talking, talking, talking," he
caws. As they move toward the camera, a white van inches toward
them from behind, its driver and the photo-shoot party oblivious to
each other's presence. As the potential peril dawns on nearby
observers, the van stops in its tracks, and the driver barks
something or other out the window, likely having no idea who these
people are that he nearly steamrolled.
Bird and Durant barely notice, wrapped up as they are in
conversation about Seattle and its hot spots. Durant, of course, is
"the Chosen One," the phenom whose arrival as the second pick in
the 2007
NBA draft has Sonics fans thinking Jordan-esque thoughts.
Bird, meanwhile, is a veteran both on and off the court. The pure
point guard relishes involving her teammates on the court, and
she's happy to serve as an ambassador for the city when she's off
the court - even now, she's willingly schooling her new rookie pal
on everything that Seattle has to offer.
He Said/She
Said...
Where Sue Bird and Kevin
Durant (w)hoop it up in
Seattle
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LODGING
The Fairmont Olympic
Hotel, very expensive, (206)
621-1700,
www.fairmont.com/seattle
Hotel Max, very expensive, (866)
833-6299,
www.hotelmaxseattle.com
W Seattle, very expensive, (206)
264-6000,
www.starwoodhotels.com
DINING
The Brooklyn, moderate to expensive,
(206) 224-7000,
www.the brooklyn.com
Cutters Bayhouse, inexpensive to
moderate,
(206) 448-4884,
www .cuttersbayhouse.com
Dick's Drive-In, inexpensive, (206)
285-5155,
www.ddir.com
Flying Fish, moderate to expensive,
(206) 728-8595,
www.flying fishseattle.com
Il Fornaio, moderate, (206)
264-0994,
www.ilfornaio.com
Kangaroo & Kiwi Pub, inexpensive,
(206) 297-0507,
www.kangaroo andkiwipub.com
Mama's Mexican Kitchen, inexpensive,
(206) 728-6262,
www.mamas.com
Metropolitan Grill, expensive to very
expensive,
(206) 624-3287,
www.themetropolitangrill.com
O'Asian, inexpensive to moderate, (206)
264-1789,
www.oasian.net
Pagliacci Pizza, inexpensive to
moderate,
(206) 324-0730,
www.pagliacci.com
Paragon Restaurant & Bar,
inexpensive to moderate,
(206) 283-4548,
www.paragonseattle.com
Peso's Kitchen & Lounge,
inexpensive to
moderate,
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(206) 283-9353,
www.pesos kitchen.com
Ristorante Machiavelli, inexpensive to moderate,
(206) 621-7941,
www.machiavellis.com
Ristorante Pellini, moderate to expensive,
(206) 267-2201,
www.ristorantepellini.com
Seastar Restaurant and
Raw Bar, Bellevue,
moderate to expensive,
(425) 456-0010, www.seastarrestaurant.com
Sport Restaurant
& Bar, inexpensive to moderate,
(206) 404-7767,
www.sportrestaurant.com
Three Girls Bakery, (206) 622-1045
Wasabi Bistro, inexpensive to moderate,
(206) 441-6044,
www.wasabibistro.biz
ATTRACTIONS
107.7 the End/KNDD, (206) 622-3251,
www.1077theend.com
Kerry Park, (206) 684- 4075,
www.seattle.gov/parks
The Seattle Public
Library, (206) 386-4100, www.spl.org
The Showbox, (206) 628-3151,
www.show boxonline.com
Venom, (206) 448-4887,
www.venomseattle.com
Viceroy, (206) 956-8423,
www.viceroyseattle.com
SHOPPING
Capitol 1524, (206) 322-2305,
www.capitol 1524.com
Champion Party
Supply, (206) 284-1980,
www.champion partysupply.com
Easy Street Records, (206) 691-3279,
www.easystreetonline.com
Pike Place Fish Market, (206) 682-7181,
www.pikeplacefish.com
Pike Place Market, (206) 682-7453,
www.pikeplacemarket.org
A few hours earlier, upon meeting the shy, almost pathologically
polite Durant for the first time, Bird let fly a giggle. "Kevin,
he's not going to know anything about all of this," she said. "But
he'll figure it out." Don't peg Durant as a cocky rookie bent on
blazing his own trail around town, though. When he's told that Bird
hopes to pass along the wisdom she has accumulated during her six
years in town, Durant smiles appreciatively. "Sue, she's been here.
She's won here. I hope she can tell me where everything is."
Central to Bird's ongoing enjoyment of the city, and something she
takes pains to impress upon Durant during their hours together, are
the numerous options available - whether natural, cultural, or
gastronomical. "The more you do, the more you come to love this
place," she says to him. "Until you put yourself out there a
little, you can't really get an appreciation for the weather, the
shopping, the restaurants."
Judging by her comments during our time together, the former
University of
Connecticut star is most enthusiastic about the
latter. Indeed, it's hard to imagine one of the city's appointed
food critics giving a better quick-hit guide to local dining. "I
could give you a restaurant for every kind of food you like," Bird
says, mock-seriously.
She starts off with the most important foodstuff on the planet: the
cheeseburger. "That's an easy one," she says, "Dick's."
Seattle-bred rapper Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Posse on Broadway" praises
Dick's Drive-In, whose burgers are often downed with a liberal
heaping of tartar sauce. "They may not be the biggest burgers or
the healthiest, but they're so, so good. I kind of want one of them
right now," Bird says.
For those in the mood for Italian, Bird touts Capitol Hill's
Ristorante Machiavelli and its combination of café ambience and
authentic cuisine. While she goes out of her way to stress that she
isn't a chain-restaurant type of gal, she does extend props to
Seattle's Il Fornaio outpost, which is especially good for larger
groups. Those who want a bit more intimacy should try Ristorante
Pellini, located high in the Renaissance Seattle Hotel.
Ambience, in fact, informs most of Bird's restaurant picks. She
digs Wasabi Bistro as much for its waiters ("seriously - they're a
lot of fun") and occasional live music as for its sushi. She
mentions the Paragon Restaurant & Bar's salads and salmon only
in passing, focusing instead on its music; it was one of the venues
where singer-songwriter
Brandi Carlile first attracted notice.
While Bird cops to missing New York's hole-in-the-wall Chinese and
Mexican joints, she points to Peso's Kitchen & Lounge and
Mama's Mexican Kitchen in
Belltown as destinations that transcend
what's on their menus.
"At Mama's Kitchen, you don't feel like you're in Seattle anymore,"
Bird says. "Peso's is loud, but in a good way, especially during
the happy hour late at night." She recommends Peso's breakfasts as
well.
When asked about the premier venues for pre- and post-dinner
drinks, Bird attempts to run out the clock, so to speak: "My
impulse is to say that there are more lounge-y places here than in
a lot of other cities, but I'm not the person to ask." At the same
time, she rattles off a few quick names, including Viceroy ("dark,
great DJ, nice outdoor area") and Sport Restaurant & Bar ("a
million TVs, great for things like the
NCAA tournament").
She credits Australian-born teammate and reigning WNBA MVP Lauren
Jackson with turning her on to Kangaroo & Kiwi Pub and its
Aussie snacks, darts, and beer-pong tournaments. "That makes it
sound like my social life is based around drinking, which it's
not," she says with a nervous laugh. "How about this: The owner is
a great guy, and it's not that crowded, and they've got a great
jukebox."
If Bird has a regret, it's that her busy schedule allows her to
take only so much advantage of what the city has to offer. She
speaks warmly of the days when she's able to take her lunch to
Kerry Park and enjoy one of the city's most panoramic views. And
though she claims that Amazon is more her speed, Bird is awed by
the Seattle Public Library. "In terms of architecture, it's just
ridiculous. It does not look like a library. It looks like
something out of
Total Recall," she
enthuses.
We Said...
Where we (w)hoop it up in
Seattle
|
LODGING
4721, www.acehotel.com. The Ace is
either a very chic hostel (some rooms
have shared baths) or a pared-down
boutique property. However you label
it, it makes for a simple yet stylish
stay in Seattle.
The Edgewater Hotel, very expensive,
(206) 728-7000, www.edgewaterhotel.com.
A big part of Seattle's appeal is the
waterfront, but unbelievably, there's
only one hotel in town where you can
take advantage of it. In addition to
its million-dollar view, the Edgewater
offers plenty of other amenities; the
well-stocked bathrooms even come with a
rubber ducky.
DINING
.bethscafe.com. Beth's serves burgers,
salads, and more, but for more than 50
years, it's really been all about the
breakfasts here, particularly the
plate-
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lapping omelets (made from either six or 12 eggs), which come with
all-you-can-eat hash browns. We feel full just thinking about
it.
Tavolàta, moderate, (206) 838-8008, www.tavolata
.com. This Belltown bright spot landed on Bon Appétit's list of 10
summer hot spots, but we find its rustic Italian fare (think
marinated beets with shaved provolone and rich ricotta ravioli)
appetizing year-round.
ATTRACTIONS
Olympic Sculpture Park, (206) 654-3100, www
.seattleartmuseum.org. Not quite a year old, this nine-acre outdoor
arena of art, with large-scale works by sculptors like Alexander
Calder and
Richard Serra, has the breathtaking
Puget Sound as its
backdrop. Best of all, it's free.
Science Fiction Museum and
Hall of Fame, (206) 724-3428,
www.empsfm.org. Tucked inside
Paul Allen and Jody Patton's
Experience Music Project, this one-of-a-kind museum doesn't quite
get the buzz it deserves. Its collection includes rare books, film
posters, and other memorabilia showcasing androids, aliens, and all
other things sci-fi.Like many other Seattle denizens, she enjoys
spending an afternoon down at the Pike Place Market and would be
there more often if she could. Fresh fruit, pastries, fish being
flung to and fro by able-armed fishmongers at the Pike Place Fish
Market - even longtime area residents haven't hardened to these
charms. While Bird is partial to the Three Girls Bakery and, in
particular, to its chocolate cookies, she notes that pop-culture
enthusiasts will get a kick out of visiting the first Starbucks,
which opened its doors in 1971. "To me, a
Starbucks is a Starbucks.
But some people think that's cool," she says with a shrug. Along
those same lines, she thinks people may enjoy seeing 107.7 the End,
the radio station where the cast of
MTV's
Real
World "worked" during the show's Seattle season. As for
shopping, Bird says that "everything you could possibly want is
downtown - Pike and Pine, between Seventh and Fifth. There's
Niketown, Tiffany, Cartier, Gucci, and a bunch more." She prefers
smaller boutiques, however, including one owned by Seattle Storm
practice-player Mark Shin. Capitol 1524, née the
Seattle Retro Shoe Store, sells what Bird calls "crazy, crazy stuff
- sneakers you have never seen before and won't find anywhere
else." Other favorites are Champion Party Supply, for costumes and
Ed Hardy gear, and Easy Street Records, for music and DVDs.
As of late August, Durant hadn't visited these or many other
Seattle mainstays. But he does have a good head start on his
Seattle tenure. No, he didn't spend much time in town this summer
after the team drafted him; rather, the
University of Texas phenom
worked on his game, logging some time with USA
Basketball and with
the NBA summer league.
Understand this: Kevin Durant loves basketball. Seemingly
physically unable to resist the lure of a WNBA ball orphaned at the
far end of the Key Arena court, he snares it during a break between
photo setups and fires shot after long-distance shot, rarely
missing. When somebody else - the photographer - is doing the
shooting, Durant, between clicks, mimes his three-point motion. "I
see a basketball, and I have to shoot. It gets me excited every
time I see a basketball," he says, acknowledging the obvious.
He moved to Seattle in mid-September, to a house on Mercer Island,
where he'll be living with his mother and other family members. His
poise and self-assurance make it easy to forget that Durant just
turned 19. Only once during the interview does this bubble to the
surface: Mom sidles up to him and, as he's enthusiastically
recalling seeing R&B star Ne-Yo at the Showbox in June,
squeezes a puddle of skin cream onto his pizza-size hands and
begins to
massage it in. Durant temporarily stops what he's saying
and shoots her a look that's familiar to parents of teenagers
everywhere.
He perks up when the conversation turns to steak and the
procurement thereof at area bistros. Admitting that he has dined at
only a few such places, he points to Metropolitan Grill and the
Brooklyn as his early favorites. "They have all the steaks, all the
sides, all the appetizers," he says.
Durant doesn't anticipate having much time off in the months ahead,
and he figures that he'll spend whatever little downtime he has at
the local movieplex. Still, he has already extended an open
invitation to his former teammates at the University of
Texas, and
he relishes the idea of selling them on Seattle. "It was a family
thing in Texas, and we're a family for life. If they come into
town, we'll have something to eat and they'll come see the team,"
he says.
If Durant isn't up for hosting duty, there's no shortage of luxe
hotels nearby. The W Seattle earns high marks for its urban style
and spa facilities, while the Fairmont Olympic Hotel offers
old-school luxury. Hotel Max, known in a prior incarnation as the
Vance Hotel, boasts quirk to spare - in its artistic decor,
multiple pillow choices, and "spiritual menu" (their words, not
ours). "I hope [my former teammates] stay with me, though," Durant
adds with a laugh. And then, with a half skip, he's back off to the
court.
After having been poked and posed for the past two hours, Bird and
Durant have more or less exhausted their small-talk allowances. But
when they sit down together in the near-empty Key Arena for a few
brief minutes, the back-and-forth flows freely. A quick question
about clubs in the area - Bird points Durant toward the O'Asian and
the futuristic Venom - leads to a rather spirited debate
about the best local pizza. Bird champions the pizza at Pagliacci,
a Seattle mainstay. "It's got a thin crust, it's not heavy, and
it's huge. Really good," she says. Durant looks semiconvinced.
When Bird repeats her best-burger-in-town recommendation, Durant,
who polished off a four-inch-thick Dick's burger in roughly five
bites during the first leg of the photo session, nods knowingly.
Then, despite his claim that he knows little about the city's hot
spots, Durant passes along a recommendation of his own: Seastar
Restaurant in Bellevue, just outside Seattle.
“The crab legs — that’s what I had. They open them up for you so that you don’t have to do the work,” he says. Then he quickly adds, “But I don’t mind the work.” Bird counters by hyping the seafood at both Flying Fish and Cutters Bayhouse. “You like that kind of stuff, you’re in the right place,” she says.
The conversation closes with the veteran passing along a few first-year tips on coping and getting around to the newbie. Though Durant doesn’t acknowledge feeling any of the new-city jitters that Bird says she experienced during her first season (perhaps because he hasn’t, you know, really lived here yet), he asks her how she managed to familiarize herself with Seattle. “I just got in my car and drove,” she responds. “I didn’t know where I was going, but I was like, I’m going to figure it out. That’s how you get to know Seattle, whether you live here or not.”
With that, Bird and Durant exchange a quick handshake and are off. Durant, however, can’t resist taking one last shot with a ball that he found wedged under a courtside seat. He dribbles once, sets himself, and fires up a three from the far-right-hand corner of the court. It arches magnificently … and misses the basket entirely, the only one of the 300-odd shots he threw up during the photo session to meet such a fate.
The ball rolls toward the opposite sideline, intersecting Bird’s path on her walk to the locker room. Her photo-session blazer already doffed and slung over her shoulder, she grabs the ball off the floor and wordlessly slings it back to him. A slight half grin, half smirk creases her face as she, the veteran, again lends the rookie a hand. Durant nods appreciatively and then buries the follow-up.