Built where once Angel's Thai on Broadway was, the Canal is a nice new place. It's been open for only a couple of weeks, but while the sparkle is far from faded, it already looks broken in. The staff is fast and friendly, the look is good, and overall it was pleasing.

Where Angel's had only the smallest of bars in the front, and the entire place looked like it had been there for a great many years (and it had) the Canal looks new and shiny. There's a front seating area that's not very large, but to the right and back, there's the bar. Most of the seating of the place in in the bar area, where eight or nine tables fill the large space. On one side is a raised area with three more tables, but the tables are at normal height. There are cushions on the raised area to sit at, and beneath the tables the floor is at the regular height, so you sit, on the platform, on a cushion, with your legs below the knee in the spaces below the tables. It's interesting.

The bar has about eight stools, and we sat there and, very oddly after more than a month, ordered drinks. We went back a few hundred bars, to Whiskey Coke and Vodka Cran, and then took a look at the menu.

The drinks were pretty tall and slim, the booze decently added. There's not much to say about them, but at least they were acceptable. However, Brandon ordered a plate of their Rock Shrimp Rangoon, and they were delicious. Ready in just a moment, but very fresh and tasty, with a delectable plum sauce, they were perfect bar food.

So while the drinks were nothing special, the food was good and the look of the place is very nice. Location is pleasant, since there's so much so close, but parking is a pain. Overall, the Canal was a good first bar to get back into the drinking with.

(bar visited 5/2/3)

Now that we're done with the quest, and I'm done with not drinking for the month of April, we're going to start visiting new bars as they open. Not all bars, because we've done that, but as many as we can get to, and as many as seem interesting. A new Outback Steakhouse is opening, for instance, but we probably won't go there. There's no real point. But there's a new Thai place where Angel Thai used to be, and we certainly went there; a new fancy bar in the Waterfront Marriott; the new pier 66 bar from the El Gaucho people; and more still to come.

Will we drink at most places that open in the city? Probably. Will we post reviews of these places? Definitely. Will the reviews be a little different? For me, yes, a little. Now that it's not just about having a drink, I'll talk a little more about the places than I have been. The drink's still the thing, of course, but there's more to it.

Look for reviews of new bars to come, if the city keeps up its pace of opening bars, about one a week. There may be gaps followed by several reviews (as now, when we took a month off) but the number should be about constant.

Located at the south end of the new Waterfront Marriott, the Fish Club is a Todd English restaurant. Todd English is a big time celebrity chef, young and with a lot of attitude, but curiously none of that shows up in his establishment. Instead, it's just a restaurant and bar with a nice sort of look, a place you'd be kind of shocked to see attached to the hotel. But then, it fits in the tradition of Dragonfish and the 727, bars far nicer than the very nice but very bland hotels they're attached to.

The bar is at the south end of the Fish Club, and that's where we arrived from. While the restaurant beyond is large, open and not much in the way of decorated, the bar is stylish. It's a large circular bar with what could be an aluminum counter. There's a round blue light, several feet in diameter, above the bar which casts a dim glow over everything. An ice bin set into the bar holds, rather than the seafood you might expect to see in a similar space at a restaurant, bottles of upper middle end spirits, kept cool and visible for the clientele. At the south side of the bar, a few tables rest in the darkness, lit by the lamps in the courtyard area outside.

The bar staff is attractive, all of them dressed in black, and moving quickly to fill drink orders from the restaurant. They do not, however, neglect their bar patrons, and drink orders were quickly taken and filled by our bartender. While Brandon made the long treck to the bathrooms, in the hotel proper, I watched the very generous pour of the drinks, and was suitably pleased. Drinks came with fresh bamboo skewers for the garnishes, twisted and shipped to the Fish Club from a distributor. It was a nice touch.

The drinks, as mentioned, were pleasantly strong, but still had a wonderful flavor. Brandon and I both thought our tonic drinks (him gin, while I had vodka) were excellently proportioned. The menu, when we looked at it, was interesting and seemed appealing, but the prices were a little high for my tastes. We didn't order anything.

Our bartender, Dawn, turned out to have just transfered from the Courtyard, leaving open her shift which was then filled by Brandon's girlfriend Lilly. Which means that Lilly has a better job due to Todd English opening a restaurant. It was kind of peculiar, that here we were being served by the woman whose job Lilly now had. But that's just typical for the quest and now, I suppose, its aftermath. Dawn was very friendly and polite, and she was more than willing to talk about her job and her former job and how in essence she had liked them both.

The prices on the drinks were strange. The bar has no actual well alcohol, so that we got Skyy and Bombay in our drinks. The odd part was that the Bombay was $1.05 more than the Skyy, even though both were filling the "well" slot which is normally the same across the board. The prices were kind of high but not ridiculously so, with the Bombay at 6.50 marking a pretty high water point, but the Skyy of course somewhat cheaper. Still, for a restaurant opened by a celebrity chef, I was expecting somewhat more, which meant the prices seemed almost reasonable.

The nearly cafeterial seating, nicer of course but not at all intimate, left me feeling less than thrilled about the dining area. There were, on the hall leading into the hotel, a number of four person tables that looked out over the Sound, none of them occupied, and if I had my choice, this is where I would sit, away from the noise and the bustle, in a nice atmosphere. I don't know if that's what they're intended for, as I rather think they're meant for spillover, and perhaps for sunset dining. Still, they'd be my choice. Overall, it's a nice new place, but I don't favor it beyond the bar.

(bar visisted 5/2/3)

Where once Chez Gus marked the base of Pier 66, now there is Rippe's, the latest establishment from the people who brought us El Gaucho. The location isn't the best, located as it is right next to the impeccable Waterfront, but it's definitely an improvement over Chez Gus and much worth a visit.

Rippe's is built on much the same lines as the former restaurant, with a narrow track of seating to the right, a bigger dining area to the left, and the bar to the left and behind the seating area. However, the whole place looks better, with a better color palette and more appealing arrangements. The bar itself was only somewhat remodelled, but there is new shelving and a better look overall. Luckily, the animatronic bulldog, still left over from the Seattle Real World, is preserved, and sits by the door as before.

The menu is definitely from the El Gaucho folks, using the same layout and much the same font. The prices, as Rippe's ads claim, are cheaper, and from the smell of it, everything is just as good as you might expect. We only had fries, but they were crisp and tasty.

The bartender was pretty much Brandon's dream girl. Now that he's got a girlfriend, of course, dream girls should pop out of the woodwork. But she was a total bullseyes for him, red head, not too tall, attractive, Jewish, a fan of the Tick, well, pretty much perfect for him. It made him feel a little better that she was at least taken. Oddly enough, once she found out who we were (the 570 bars guys) she got kind of giddy, which is weird since she used to help celebrities in LA with some frequency and didn't get at all flapped (as in, she was unflappable.) But with us, the very minorest of celebrities, she had read the article and thought it was really cool. Which, of course, we loved.

My drink was good, but Brandon got club soda instead of tonic. However, it was all salvaged in that I liked the club soda and gin, and in that there was a gin martini just lying about which Rachel Ann the bartender provided to Brandon when he ordered a gin drink. Lovely, and he was very pleased with that.

Rippe's (pronounced like it had a "y" on the end) got it's name from an old bar of the 20's and 30's that eventually closed to be reborn as (hiss) Von's. Which means this bar is El Gaucho rescuing a good idea from the crap legacy. Huzzah!
It's a good stop, and the pricing is cheaper than a lot of places, and cheaper than you might think.

(bar visited 5/2/3)

In a curious echo of this time last year, I'll be headed to Paris (and other parts of Europe, in my case) just like Brandon did last year. Which means that there won't be any new bars for a goodly while, but that Brandon will have caught up before I'm gone, or I have his consent to cut off the nostril of his choice.

22 days, 29 bar reviews and three new ones. You think he can make it?

I'm hoping for the left nostril, myself.

What were we thinking? Of course service bars (which really means restaurants) are going to be busy on Friday night (and by the same token Saturday night.) These two dining nights are going to be their busiest and here we are, 3 dumbasses who just want a drink and we want them to make it quick. It is no wonder that it took us so long.

That combined with the fact that I kept letting them give me a menu. I feel bad if I don’t at least preserve the illusion that I might be interested in food. Really Jason probably has it right on this one. Just tell them up front and maybe they will serve you quicker. I believe though that if you tell them, they will ignore you more since you are not really going to be making any money for them.

Anyhow, the service bars were all slow as shit and ultimately we only were able to hit 2 of them in a night when we really wanted to hit 4. Oh well, life happens.

-wOOt

All of my bar reviews are up.

I have just updated the graphical Bar list so you can hop around at will.

There is a new Alphabetical Section so that you can more easily find your favorite bar.

There are also new categories called: Jason Reviews and Brandon Reviews. These are the reviews from just that person. Mine should be in order, but in the cases where Jason wrote his out of order, so to will they be out of order there (I believe.)

So with this post the bar quest is offically closed.

Well, not entirely I guess. I do have some new bar entries to post, but don't feel like it yet. There will be some favorites lists coming and some additional journal entries as I gear my mind up towards writing the book about this journey.

Glad you could all be here with us during long strange not nearly drunken enough journey.

--wOOt

So I have officially decided that I will no longer be signing my entries wOOt.

I am tired of it.

--B

I am looking for some new ideas on Best and Worst categories.

Is there a particular Best or Worst you are looking for?

Like Best place to smoke a doob?
or
Worst place to look like a cop?

Give me some suggestions and they will probably make it onto our big list of Best and Worst.

-B

Just last week, Brandon and Lilly tried to head to Fernando's Hideaway, only to discover that it was no more. Empty and vacant. The bar is no more, and the magical tango nights are deceased.

Further, Sorry Charlie's is to be closing within a couple of weeks, so although it didn't really appeal to me, since I know it appealed to a lot of people, this is your last chance to go.