Outdoor dining is delightful, but it's got nothing on picnics. A good picnic is simply food eaten outdoors—no need for baskets, tables, or formalities. A great picnic is a casual, messy affair free of real utensils and manners. An ideal picnic includes long periods of grazing and dozing, the scent of food lingering on your fingers hours later, and potato salad. Seattle has so many parks scattered throughout the city, grassy green spaces that offer unique and lovely views, the feeling of sun seeping into your bones, and a place to stuff your face alfresco.
Quiet Louisa Boren Lookout Park (1555 15th Ave E), just north of Volunteer Park and across from Lake View Cemetery, sits far enough from the business stretch of 15th Avenue East to insist upon picnic provisions from two less-obvious north Capitol Hill places: Vios Cafe & Marketplace (903 19th Ave E, 329-3236) and Volunteer Park Cafe (1501 17th Ave E, 328-3155). I adore Vios. I'm usually faithful to the lamb meze plate ($10.50), grilled lamb skewers with a choice of two sides (I recommend the heavenly tzatziki and gigantes salad), but I was drawn, foolishly, to a braised lamb and pasta special ($8.50). It was delicious, but did not make for good picnic fare (cumbersome white box, coldness). I was profoundly disappointed by my choice, a feeling acutely reinforced by Louisa's steep, severe view of Lake Washington and Interlaken Park, while my picnic partner polished off a beautiful roasted-pork sandwich with sautéed greens ($8.25). Thankfully, I found consolation in a tender, moist slice of Volunteer Park Cafe's chocolate and (perfectly subtle) orange Bundt cake ($2).
When I first moved to Seattle, I couldn't get enough of Queen Anne's Kinnear Park (899 W Olympic Pl), which looks westward to Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains. I would sit for hours, mesmerized by passing ferryboats, massive cargo ships, and the Pier 86 Grain Terminal. (Did you know they move grain off big boats in giant metal elevators?) I rarely find myself on Queen Anne because there's a lack of restaurants for which I'm willing to make the schlep. But in my quest to reconnect with Kinnear via picnic, I became smitten with upscale grocery store Metropolitan Market (100 Mercer St, 213-0778), specifically its impressive deli.
At Metropolitan Market you can get made-to-order sandwiches, olives, sushi, calzones, Cobb salads, cheese, and barbecued pork. Overwhelmed, you can assemble a hodgepodge picnic of mushroom bisque ($2.49), one-third of a pound of Salumi finocchiona salami ($5), a single-serving turkey potpie that comes in its own adorable keepsake ceramic ramekin ($6.99), and a quarter pound of potato salad ($2.50). Metropolitan Market endeared itself to me because it offers two kinds of potato salad: American (mayonnaisey) or German (mustardy). The food isn't exactly transcendent (and cold potpies do not make good picnic food, another lesson learned), but it is good. It's the perfect uncomplicated fare to fortify you for an afternoon of staring blankly into the distance.
Waterfall Park (319 Second Ave S) is a wondrous improbability: a tiny, caged park near a firehouse and comedy club, housing a 22-foot waterfall cascading onto giant dark rocks. Even more amazing, though, is its proximity to cured-meat heaven Salumi (309 Third Ave S, 621-8772). Both get crowded at lunchtime, but if you hold out until after 2:00 p.m., a sublime experience awaits. A sandwich (such as awesome hot sopressata with mozzarella, $9) or a cold meat plate ($11) eaten in Waterfall Park will make you forget about the city and everything else that surrounds you; it is a magical brief escape. The other day I ate a daily special called polpettone ($8), a fantastic, soft, crumby meatloaf sandwich with smoked mozzarella, and a few soft slices of cured tongue (sort of like French-kissing clove-scented meat petals—divine) in the park. Wind carried some cold splashing waterfall water onto my legs and face, and I cried a few quiet tears of joy.
If you are looking for a picnic that renews your faith in food, life, and the possibility of real happiness, head toward any park on Lake Washington Boulevard. Stop at Catfish Corner (2726 E Cherry St, 323-4330) first for a fillet dinner ($10.25), a side of garlicky sweet cornmeal hush puppies ($2.75), and wickedly good sweet tea ($1.50). For your sake, I hope Jabari, the smoothest, sweetest sleepy-faced counter guy in Seattle, takes your order and talks you into extras of Catfish's house-made tartar sauce. (I don't understand exactly what's in the sauce, but I think it involves celery salt and I know I want to put it on many things. I'd lick it off my forearm if asked.)
On one of the docks near Madrona Park (853 Lake Washington Blvd), with water slapping and sun shining, I got completely lost and enraptured in the Corner's glorious food—How do they deep-fry fish without getting it greasy? Why is the cornmeal crust so crispy? Why does the meat taste so sweet and so wild? Is there curry in the potato salad? Is this what falling in love feels like?
I am still thinking about Catfish Corner. Today is lovely. I'm going to hit the Corner, then head to Seward Park. The mountain will be out. It's the perfect day for a picnic. 
