It's hot out. Recently someone asked me for suggestions of good places to eat and cool off. I think the subtext of the question was really, "What bars and restaurants in Seattle have air conditioning?" To be honest, I don't know. It's an interesting question, mostly because it's one that's never really come up before. Seattleites don't normally have to contend with 85 degree (and above) temperatures for any significant period of time. (If you know of any places that crank up the AC, feel free to let us know in the comments.)

My preferred way to stay cool while eating and drinking is to first jump in Lake Washington or Puget Sound, then while drying off, eat some fried chicken or banh mi and drink cold beer (pilsners or lagers only, please!) or a bottle of white wine. But I understand that people might be looking for meals that are a little less casual and involve wearing pants.

We spend so much time indoors throughout the year that I have come to believe that staying comfortable in the summer should not have to involve sitting inside, in a space artificially made frigid. Consider instead a patio, shaded by trees or table umbrellas, preferably with a cool, marine breeze blowing in from a nearby body of water. A few suggestions: Westward on Lake Union, the weirdly decorated yet sort of wonderful Pono Ranch in Ballard, the Twilight Exit in the Central District, Marination Ma Kai on Alki (take the water taxi over from downtown and you are really winning at this summer thing), or Rainier Beach's newly opened Stone House Cafe. (We've covered this topic before, so a few more suggestions can be found here. And here. And here.)

But here's another idea: Why not just give in and get really fucking hot? (Have you not yet realized that "beating the heat" is a futile battle?) Being hot and sweaty makes cold beer taste infinitely better, and being in a state of heat-induced delirium is fun. It can also be a transportive experience, making you feel like you're in a foreign city, or a hot, faraway place that you've been fantasizing about escaping to for months. My favorite spots to eat, drink, and sweat my face off: Fort St. George in the International District (it's on the second floor, which adds a whole other, sticky layer of heat) and the back patio of Beacon Hill's El Quetzal (it faces an alley, and isn't made of wood—just concrete that bakes under the sun all day long).

For the best of both worlds, head to the bar at Pike Place Market's the Athenian Inn for happy hour. The wall of westward-facing windows lets in a brutal amount of sunlight (I have watched people literally get burned by the sun while sitting in the tiny wooden booths here), the views of Elliott Bay are unparalleled, and a beer comes in tall mug so cold that a tiny layer of ice forms on its surface. (Also the fried calamari are very, very good.)

If you must have air conditioning, take public transportation to any of these places. I recently took a ride in a mobile walk-in refrigerator (aka the Link light rail), and my coworker Charles Mudede says that being in the new Metro buses is "like being in an icebox."