Welcome to the weekend! From an inaugural Earth Day festival and Pearl Jam’s new album release to our food writer’s guide to Seattle Restaurant Week, here’s our latest on local things to do.
Eats and drinks
- Seattle Restaurant Week kicked off Saturday. Here are the best deals, intriguing new spots and old favorites to try before it ends.
- Celebrate a big anniversary year for Greenwood’s Gorditos. For 30 years, this Seattle Mexican spot and North Seattle community gem has made burritos as big as babies.
- To cook something new at home, try this asparagus recipe from Seattle’s beloved Le Pichet restaurant or this halibut, an approachable Mediterranean dish.
Outdoors and travel
- With Earth Day around the corner, the city of Bellevue is organizing its first EarthFest on April 20. Including EarthFest and more, here are some of your options for celebrating the eco-centric holiday this weekend.
- Check out the newly made-over, lakefront Be’er Sheva Park in Rainier Beach, now featuring a concrete boardwalk, lighted walking path, hand-carried boat launch and more.
- Catch a gorgeous view of The Mountain while the sky is clear. While this list of vantage points isn’t close to comprehensive, here are some of the most striking Mount Rainier views, according to Seattle Times readers.
Movies and TV
- Heading to the theaters? Check out what our reviewers thought of the undeniably fun “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare,” Alex Garland’s dystopian vision of America “Civil War” and other recent releases.
- The latest season of the MeTV show “Collector’s Call” will highlight four Washington residents’ pop culture collections, from “Weird Al” Yankovic to “Star Wars.”
Arts
- Done well, dinner theater — or whatever live art form is on the menu — can be a truly wonderful one-stop shop for food and entertainment. Here’s what our critic thinks of these five Seattle venues.
- Pearl Jam’s 12th studio album releases on Friday, about a month before their upcoming Seattle shows.
- “I could have sworn the earth moved,” our arts critic wrote, describing Pacific Northwest Ballet’s glorious “The Seasons’ Canon.” The show runs through April 21 at McCaw Hall.
Books
- For five years, books writer Paul Constant has visited independent bookstores in the Seattle area to connect with booksellers and tell their stories for a series called Neighborhood Reads. Use this interactive guide to all of the shops he’s highlighted so far and pick which one(s) to visit.
- Dig into these four books for Earth Day, including memoir and science fiction, to help you connect with nature and consider our collective future.
The opinions expressed in reader comments are those of the author only and do not reflect the opinions of The Seattle Times.