Cozying up for good eats and drinks at the Alexis Hotel’s Bookstore Bar (plus the chance to go glam for a good cause).

Sometimes downtown hotels prove happenin’ spots (and not just for tourists). On a recent 50-degree June day, the Bookstore Bar in the Alexis Hotel became the perfect spot to cozy up for the afternoon. (However, while there I did eye the neglected patio tables out front and vowed to return as soon as the sun makes a consistent appearance!)

Down-home Tuscan cooking with a touch of Washington white wine charm.

If you don’t remember, the summer of 2009 was hot. You bought your first real six-string at the five and dime, you were sweating and whining about the heat like most Seattleites naturally do all the while the grapes in the vineyards of the Pacific Northwest were getting fat and tan, with sugars inside the fruit and bronzing skin on the outside.