Sorry, Ballard: Seattle is always most beautiful when seen from the south. Even from a neighborhood as relatively close as Georgetown, downtown is a breathtaking sight, a spray of beautiful shining towers peeking over the warehouses and rail yards of South Seattle. As you’re walking to LECT’s Soup Stop (5327 Denver Ave S, lectssoupstop.com), downtown’s skyscrapers leap out at you from between a line of uninteresting buildings with mildly menacing names printed on them (“White Satin Sugar,” “CCI Automated Technologies“). The visual dissonance is a little bit unsettling.
LECT’s is visually closer to the fairy tale of Seattle off in the distance than the industrial blahs of its Georgetown surroundings: It’s a tiny little magical cabin. Inside, three or four chefs work quietly in a space no bigger than a modest walk-in closet. The only seating at LECT’s is a line of picnic tables outside facing a brick warehouse…