In my mind, this is what Mantonat looks like in real lifeBelieve it or not, I actually read every single comment that you people leave on this blog, attached to the restaurant reviews, the slideshows and wherever else you go to make the 1st Amendment your bitch. I may not always respond (because, really, how many different ways are there to say that I won’t be going back to Denver no matter how stridently you demand it?), but I am always reading. When you have questions, I try to come up with answers. When you have serious complaints, I try to address them. And when one of you really makes me laugh, I try to get as much mileage out of your wit as possible by crafting entire posts focused solely on the inspired bits of writing you’ve left behind.This week, regular commenter Mantonat gets the virtual high-five for two of his best literary efforts to date–the first having to do with the soul and essence of Seattle, the second regarding my cultural blindspot for the beloved hairstyles of Latino celebrities and politicians.I’m gonna start with the soul-and-essence bit right after the jump.If you had a friend who was moving to Seattle tomorrow, where’s the first place you’d take him so that he would know where he was and what he was getting into? What single plate would you tell him he just had to order? If you had only a day left to live and had to choose a last meal in this town, what would it be? Alternately, if you had unlimited funds, all the time in the world, and a driver at your disposal to haul your drunk and bloated carcass around town, where would you go and what would you eat?That was my question, put to you, the readers, in planning for the roll-out of my Seattle’s Essential Dishes experiment–an attempt at sketching out the soul of this city entirely in food. And while I got a lot of good feedback from you folks, Mantonat cut right to the core of what I was looking for.”Beer, beer, beer,” he wrote. “Seattle is as much a beer town as it is a coffee town. Hops are the perfect foil for that rich, fatty salmon. Hops cut through those dark wet days and brighten the sunny ones.” Then, after naming a few places where I could get myself loaded, he continued onto Tilth. “I think Tilth also captures the essence of Seattle; a fine balancing act between homey and pedantic, wonderfully prepared and presented food in a casual setting with just a little self-righteousness thrown in. Tilth is like that hot hipster mom who has a great sense of humor but insists on letting you know that her kids wear only hemp clothing.”Which, I believe, may count as the most perfect description of the Tilth vibe I’ve read.Conveniently enough, Tilth is certainly high on my list of places to hit for the Essential Seattle list (though I have yet to hear a suggestion of a single dish which truly carries that casual self-righteousness forward to the table), and as for beer? I actually have a simple pint (or three) at one iconic Seattle location planned for my very first entry. Think you can guess where I’m headed? (If you need a clue, I’ve already written about the place I have in mind–very early on in my time here.)Just gimme “the Estrada”For excellent comment #2, I need only go back to yesterday and my post about Bolivian President Evo Morales telling the world that chicken makes you gay. Absent all the political back-and-forth about the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth versus the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, ignoring the heavyweight social issues that surround third-world economies, indigenous peoples, carbon reduction, global warming and the stigmatization of homosexuals in modern culture, Mantonat cut right to the heart of the debate and skillfully called me out on my obvious bias against Latino men.”I don’t think it’s right to make fun of this man just because he comes from a different culture,” he wrote. “Different cultures value different things; it doesn’t make us better than them. For example, while it is something Westerners have long since disavowed, Evo Morales’ culture still values the Eric Estrada haircut.”Nice…