Microsoft Announces Availability Of the “Seattle Sidewalk Offline Restaurant Guide”

REDMOND, Wash., July 8, 1997 — Hot off the press and on bookstore shelves this week is the

Seattle Sidewalk
™Offline Restaurant Guide,” co-published by Sidewalk, the personalized city guide to entertainment, and Sasquatch Books, publisher of the Best Places® guidebook series.

This new guide, a print companion to the restaurant content on the Seattle Sidewalk Web site (http://seattle.sidewalk.com/) , contains more than 500 star-rated reviews of neighborhood spots, ethnic specialty restaurants and luxury dining venues in Seattle and the Eastside.

“Seattle-area residents are connecting to the Sidewalk Web site to find out what’s happening around town and to make decisions about where to go and what to do,”
said Kevin Eagan, general manager of Seattle Sidewalk.
“With the release of the ‘Seattle Sidewalk Offline Restaurant Guide,’ diners now also have a local, informed view of the city’s restaurant scene in a convenient printed guide. We selected 500 of Seattle’s most popular restaurants featured on Seattle Sidewalk and put them into an easy-to-use printed guide for those times when you can’t get to a computer. Hence the name, the Offline Restaurant Guide.”

Like the Sidewalk Web site, the new restaurant guide features indexes to the reviews by star ratings, neighborhood locations, types of cuisine, good deals and special features, including categories such as
“boat accessible,” “cigars OK,” “fireplace”
and
“noteworthy wine list.”
The guide, which sells for $12.95, also features a pull-out locator map.

The
“Seattle Sidewalk Offline Restaurant Guide”
was edited by Kathleen Flinn, restaurant, food and wine producer of Seattle Sidewalk. Flinn is a member of the Association of Professional Food Writers and serves as a regional panelist on the prestigious James Beard Foundation Awards. A team of 20 of the most noted food and travel writers in the Puget Sound area contributed to the guide, among them Nancy Leson, food writer and co-editor of
“Seattle Best Places”
and the
“Seattle/Portland Restaurant Zagat Survey”
; Stephanie Irving, travel writer and editor of
“Northwest Best Places”
and co-editor of
“Seattle Best Places”
; and Tom Sietsema, a Sidewalk restaurant reviewer and former reviewer for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

“We’re excited about teaming up with Sidewalk because, in keeping with our successful Best Places series, the ‘Seattle Sidewalk Offline Restaurant Guide’ is discriminating and candid,”
said Chad Haight, publisher of Sasquatch Books.
“Best Places guidebooks are perhaps best known for their editorial integrity. Our reviewers are savvy locals who dine incognito and accept no freebies. That’s been our Best Places philosophy for more than 20 years. We are dedicated to it, and we’ve co-published the ‘Seattle Sidewalk Offline Restaurant Guide’ using the same high standards.”

Sasquatch Books, publisher of the Best Places guidebooks and other titles, is one of the nation’s premier regional presses. It publishes a variety of genres, including literary nonfiction, resource books and children’s books on themes of the Pacific Northwest, a region stretching from Alaska to San Francisco. The Best Places travel series includes more than 15 titles encompassing the complete travel experience: food, lodging, night life, shopping, outdoor activities and more.

Sidewalk, the personalized city guide to entertainment published by Microsoft, offers residents a way to make better decisions about what to do, where to go, what to see and when to see it. From concerts to movies, restaurants and sporting events, the Sidewalk local editorial team provides previews, reviews and even customized suggestions about what’s happening every day. Seattle Sidewalk launched April 3, followed by New York Sidewalk, which launched May 19, and Boston Sidewalk, which launched July 1. Sidewalk is also scheduled to launch this year in San Francisco; Minneapolis/St. Paul; Sydney, Australia; San Diego; Washington, D.C.; Houston; and Denver, for an expected total of 10 cities in 1997. Sidewalk is free on the World Wide Web at (http://sidewalk.com/) and is a featured offering on MSN
™
, The Microsoft Network at (http://www.MSN.com/) (connect-time charges may apply).

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.

“Seattle Sidewalk Offline Restaurant Guide”

Co-published by Microsoft Corp. and Sasquatch Books

Edited by Kathleen Flinn

ISBN 1-57061-080-0 $12.95 trade paperback

Available wherever books are sold, or by calling Sasquatch Books, (800) 775-0817

Microsoft, Sidewalk and MSN are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
Best Places is a trademark of Sasquatch Books.

Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
The Microsoft Network is operated by Microsoft Corp. on behalf of Microsoft Network LLC.

Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/ on Microsoft’s corporate information pages.

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