One of the oddest places in the city, but it was so very cool. Andy's is made of a half dozen or so train cars pressed up next to each other and turned into a restaurant and lounge. Real train cars, with most of their interior fixtures left intact or replicated, and then with tables and a kitchen and a bar put inside. From the moment I walked in, I was impressed. I presume Brandon was, but it's too bad it was just the two of us this night, because it was a great stop.
We went to the Saloon Car, actually two cars with the bar at one end and rows of tables on either side of the central divider, since the cars weren't totally joined, and sat at the bar. The bartender, Ruth, served us up quick and friendly, and a moment later, as I was getting back from a bathroom break, offered to show us around the place. I assumed Brandon had shown her a card, told her the story, but that turned out not to be the case.
The tour took us around to the private meeting room, the Presidential Car which was once used by T. Roosevelt, the Parlor Car with a different, lighter color scheme, the Executive Room in the back, and the Roundhouse Room, also in the back. There was also a Caboose Room in the very back, plus a large kitchen, the main dining cars and an event kitchen. The place was truly huge, and was probably totally well used in the early days, since it's been there from 1949 on.
On the night in question, it was pretty dead, but then they were closing half an hour later, and it's deep Sodo on a Thursday night. There's space in the place for you and your hundred best friends, though, and it's totally worth a trip.
When we got back to our seats, I discovered Brandon hadn't carded her at all, she was just showing us around. So of course we carded her, and she loved the idea. She asked if we had been to Tula's, and when we said it always had a cover so we hadn't been there, she gave us cards good for a free entry on Sundays, when she tends bar there. So we'll be going to Tula's soon, thanks to Ruth.
There was also a rather drunken Mexican guy two seats over from us. It was unclear if he worked there or not (he definitely wasn't working at the time) but he was very unintelligably friendly. He spoke broken, drunken Spanglish, and there was no way to figure out what the hell he was saying, but he smiled a lot and shook our hands as we left, so what more could you ask for?
Ruth wished us the best, we gave the sponsorship to Glen because it was a great place and he was on his last sponsorship, and we headed a bit further south to hit another bar.
Posted by Jason at February 11, 2003 11:39 PM