A world of food in Bellevue

Earlier I spoke of how, in Seattle, mall food breaks the Cinnabon/PronoPup/McYuck mold by offering a wide variety of locally owned, ethnic eateries. One of the best is on the eastside of Lake Washington, in the Crossroads neighborhood of Bellevue: Crossroads Mall. My favorites include Ebru Mediterranean, Papaya Vietnamese, and Torero's Mexican (where you will always find a gathering of the local Latino commuity watching a soccer match on Univision). There are options for the less adventuresome as well including pizza and BBQ.

Crossroads Mall is truly a community gathering place, where you will always find chess games going on and often live music of all kinds. As this is in the heart of Microsoft land (the campus is only a couple miles away), the mall also provides free wireless service.

Check it out... you'll be surprised.... I was. I detest malls, but I love these aspects of Crossroads as well as the great 2nd hand bookstore there.