nosh nook #89 - thursday, july 16, 2009

giving the people what they want (link)
07.14.09 - the stranger - by david schmader

anybody who properly embraces the exclamation point is all good in my book & that's why, without even having been then there, seattle's snacks! is pretty much the best convenience store ever created ever. there's nothing subtle about the recently opened store's name. it's no yawningly unoriginal "number one food mart" or "park slope deli." it's just balls-to-the wall snacks! while it's still a work-in-progress, it already sounds like the ultimate stomping grounds for the seattle snacker.

located in the ballard neighborhood in northwest seattle, snacks! is the brainchild of dante rivera, who also created some seattle institution called "dante's inferno dogs." according to the stranger's david schmader, snacks! will soon be the "ass-saving bodega of choice" for folks in the neighborhood, as snacks! goers can pick up "convenience-store standards," "higher-end local products" & items from dante's dogs, including "the chiily dog, a visionary concoction involving a lightly toasted hot-dog bun covered with a layer of smooth peanut butter and filled with soft-serve ice cream." for those infused with the munchies, that sounds like the snacking equivalent of crack.

if there's anyone properly sanctioned to do a proper review of a convenience store, it's the stranger. what other publication would refer to the "two-by-four-foot wish list hanging near the door that invites customers to share their dreams for snacks! inventory" as "the greatest poem about america since 'leaves of grass?'" surely not the ny times. schmader has even created a perfect slogan for snacks!--"snacks!: uniting tipsy birthday girls, lagging zombies, and needy stoners since 2009." from what i gather, snacks! is basically a little slice of tasty heaven on puget sound...definitely my kind of place.