Exploring Issaquah, WA | Lunch, Troll Hunting, and a Chocolate Factory

November 11, 2023

Exploring Issaquah, WA | Lunch, Troll Hunting, and a Chocolate Factory

This is Jakob Two Trees, one of the trolls from the NW Trolls: Way of The Bird King. This troll is 14-feet tall and is located in Issaquah!

One of the nice things about living in Seattle is having close access to so many other towns and cities. Issaquah is one of those places that feels far from Seattle but is really only about twenty-five minutes away. There's a lot of things to see, do, and eat there. Since my boys had a day off from school, we headed to Issaquah for a little break from the city and to do some exploring.

The first thing we did was eat some lunch at Levitate Gastropub, which is located in Issaquah's downtown area, on Front Street. This spot serves Modern American food which is scratch made and sourced locally. I started with a Maple Street Sour, which is their version of a Whiskey Sour. It was made perfectly and tasted just plain delicious. My husband had their signature Manhattan.

To eat, I had the Super Nachos. There were house fried corn tortilla chips along with tomatillo salsa verde, black beans, Beecher's Flagship Cheddar, pica de gallo, and lime crema. The nachos were really fresh, with nice ingredients. My husband had the Adobo Short Rib Tacos and my sons shared an order of the Traditional Bavarian Pretzels. These soft baked pretzels came with a large serving of cheese sauce and an outstanding whipped mustard sauce.

It was pouring rain while we ate, but when we finished and left, the rain stopped just in time. We were headed a couple minutes away to see one of the trolls from the NW Trolls project. In Issaquah, Jakob Two Trees hangs in the woods right by the Issaquah Community Center. From the Community Center parking lot, walk south on the Rainier Trail, past the dog park, and walk for a few minutes. Jakob Two Trees is on your right. This is the second troll we've seen from the NW Trolls: Way of the Bird King project.

After taking a lot of pictures of the troll, we headed to Boehm's Candies. Just a few minutes away from the Issaquah Community Center, Boehm's is both a retail store and chocolate factory. They've been open for eighty years, but this was our first time visiting! This is a must stop in Issaquah. The store had so many options for chocolate and candy. It was hard to choose! They even have chocolate Space Needle's, which both my son and I picked. They have huge chocolate displays, several counters of chocolate pieces, plus lots of styles of chocolate to purchase.

When you're done buying your chocolate, you can walk to the building where they make the chocolate and package it. You can look through the window and watch the magic happen. Their chocolate was so smooth and tasty! The founder of Boehm's was Julius Boehm (1897-1981). He was of Swiss and Austian descent. He spent his first 40 years in Austria, then he moved to the U.S and started making candy. Their store in Issaquah is a gorgeous Edelweiss Chalet. I highly recommend visiting and getting some chocolate!