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)

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)

Type: Restaurant
Class: Average

The Blue Canal (aaah, aaah – Reference to the Blue Star in Galaxina. You probably don’t want to know) used to be Angel Thai. It has been seriously remodeled and is now a nicer Chinese restaurant. The bar is dark polished wood and what used to be a light blue motif is now a white motif with dark brown accents. Several Tatami tables sit to one side of the largish dining area. The ceiling is quite high and while I usually like that, it just makes this back room feel … empty.

I recommend sitting up front by the windows. Not only can you watch life go by, but you can also look into the kitchen. Did I mention that I really do like the look of this new place. Unfortunately, since they aren’t a Thai place anymore, they don’t have the glasses full of Trivial Pursuit cards at the bar. This is one of the stranger bar cultural phenomenomas that we have come across.

I ordered some Crab Rangoon like objects (they weren’t exactly right, but the sauce was really tasty.) Our bartender was efficient and the waitress was friendly. All in all the experience was nice, but unmemorable.

I give them a flat but shiny 3 Martini Glasses out of 5.

-B

Type: Hotel
Class: Upscale

This is the new upscale fish restaurant and “theme” place that is part of the newly opened Waterfront Marriott. The Mariott also has a normal hotel bar as well, but we didn’t learn that until we had to walk down the enormously long hallway to go to the bathroom. The hallway is so long that they have a greater at the far end, to point you to the bathroom and to let you know that you are actually at an entrance to this place. This is good since you can’t really see the restaurant from the lobby. Not even by peering down the long hall. You might guess that something was up, but you never could truly be sure.

The bar is shiny and black with a carved out section in the middle, filled with ice, that is used to display high end vodkas. The establishment is very good looking but it is definitely a restaurant first and a drinking establishment second. This is made more apparent by the older and more affluent clientele. The staff was all cute, young, and mostly female.

We got talking to the bartender and it turns out that she used to work at the Courtyard by Marriott. In fact, she just recently left there to take this job. In fact, she is the girl that Lilly (my girlfriend, did I mention) took over for. I had to thank her for getting this new job. Although, considering that she makes an extra $2 an hour here and probably makes a ton more in tips I don’t think she really needed thanking.

I mentioned that the hallway was long right? Well there are tables down the long hallway as well as a couple of fairly secluded tables with a questionable view of the pier (but mostly Alaskan Way.) You could have a fairly quiet and nice dinner or drinks down this hallway. Just don’t expect excellent service cause I can’t imagine it happening.

So the drinks were decent and priced to high, but I would expect nothing less of Todd English. Oh, I should mention that Todd English, the chef, does these sorts of theme restaurants all across the country for big name hotels. The Park Plaza in Boston has one called Bonfire. I wonder what the theme there is. So anyhow, it is kind of pretentious, looks good, and is pricey. It is not really a destination, but if you are in the neighborhood … oh who are we kidding, no one is going to be in the neighborhood of here. I give them 2 and half Martini glasses out of 5, but I didn’t really like out bartender.

-B

Type: Restaurant
Class: Midscale

Owned by the same people as El Gaucho, this place is billed as the Seattle Jeans steakhouse. This is kind of funny to me, since pretty much everywhere is jeans around here if you look techy enough.

Built into the corpse of Chez Gus they have remodeled it beautifully and kept the only interesting thing from Gus. That of course being the mechanical bulldog. It is still cool and still strange. The bar is polished red wood and behind the bar is a classy red headed bartender. If I wasn’t already dating a red head I would have been instantly in love. As it stood I admired her hair quite lovingly. She was fun and sassy and was everything perfect in a bartender.

We got talking about the quest and she was dutifully impressed and a little jealous. After that, the real conversation started. At some point it became apparent that she was a redheaded Jew who was into movies, was up on just about everything and she liked the Tick. I was flabbergasted. It was like they had bottled up all of those weird quirky things that I wanted in a woman and then boom, there she was. The funny thing is, Lilly was all of those things to me first and she is all mine.

Rippe’s is definitely an El Gaucho establishment since the menu looks almost exactly the same (in terms of format.) I hope that food is as good as I plan to come back one of these days.

I recommend Rippe’s since the bartender was excellent, the drinks were good and as usual, they were priced at $5.

-B

Located in the lower level of the former Edmund Meany Hotel (now a Best Western) the District takes over the space that was once Pleiades. The bar has only been open for about a month at this point, but already it shows signs of being a great establishment.

Sunken beneath street level, you enter by a set of stairs from 45th. A softly glowing blue sign at the bottom of the stairs proclaims the bar's name. To the left is a small seating area that is likely used for lunch and for private events, while to the right is the bar itself. Seating is plentiful, with several tables and a long cushioned bench to the left of the bar and several very large and almost swanky booths, along with a few more tables, to the right. At the counter there are another dozen or more bar stools split into smaller groups by cocktails stations.

The booths are soft and plush, with a good angle for reclining, although there aren't enough places to set a drink. These booths lack actual tables, although dazzlingly upholstered ottomans serve as a nice place to set your cell phone, or your feet. Small end tables on either side of the long seats provide for some drink space, but are impossible to reach from the middle of the benches.

The staff is friendly and service is quick, but the bartenders seemed to be doing most of the serving on the Friday we were there, which involved a lot of walking back and forth from behind the bar. This slowed down the drinks a little, since the bar entrance is on the very far end of the lounge from where we were sitting. Only a very small problem, though, and once the place catches on, I'm certain they'll have cocktailers working the floor to cut out the extra distance. For now, newly opened and not yet known, the system works fine.

The drinks were of a good strength, the prices very reasonable, and the 3.25 well drinks featured Smirnoff, Bacardi, and similar mid-shelf brands. Even a call Lemondrop was still under 6 dollars. Happy hour, from 4-7, promised even lower prices on drink specials. There's a full menu designed for a bar crowd available as well, but it doesn't feature happy hour pricing, unfortunately.

The space is very nice looking, a cool, dim lounge with windows high up that let in light but are too high to have to see the U District street life, probably a plus. It lets you keep the illusion that the District is located in some upscale neighborhood. Perhaps in keeping with that upscale illusion, the lounge is smoke-free, a plus to some but something to keep in mind when planning an evening out.

With low prices, a good space, and not yet packed to the gills with college kids, the District comes highly recommended.

(visited 6/6/3)

The newest bar in Fremont, Norm's takes the place of the Seattle Catch Seafood Bistro. A long, narrow space, adjacent to the Ballroom, the name of the place made me expect a fat man to be sitting at the bar drinking beer. However, it was nothing of the sort.

Several tables sit in front of the restaurant on the sidewalk, making Norm's one of the infrequent places in Seattle where you can eat out on the street. The tables were all rather small, just a couple people could sit at each, but inside there was a lot more seating. The bar is on the right, extending much of the way back into the recesses of Norm's, while there are tables, a few of them booths, on the left. It's not a large space, and it was very crowded on the night we visited, but there was no trouble getting seats at the bar.

There was only a single waitress for the entire restaurant, it appeared, so I'm thinking the service would have been kind of slow, but they haven't been open for very long and are probably a little understaffed at times. At the bar, the two bartenders made quick drinks from our orders, and served them up in large bucket glasses. The drinks were of a decent strength, but made with very cheap booze. The prices were acceptable for Fremont.

There were several TVs with the baseball game on them, located about the actual bar area.

Norm's is a smoke free establishment. What's going on with this trend, which I don't really care for, of all the new bars not allowing smoking? Do they actually think the State Legislature will get around to banning it in bars? I'm not sure, but I don't think I like it. For those who dislike smoke, though, Norm's was a minor paradise of clear air.

The food was diner style stuff, a little on the pricey side for what it was, but a little on the cheap side for where it was. Plus, I think from the descriptions on the menu that the quality is a lot higher than just normal diner food.

I don't think I'd give it a second stop, but it might appeal to some.

(visited 6/6/3)

Type: Hotel
Class: Midscale

The District is the hotel bar for the new Best Western in the University District, but you would hardly know it. The place is very spacious, kind of dim, a little bit private, and very nice looking. Along one wall are several large semi-circle high back booths. They are much like the booths at the Standard Café but no where near as comfy.

The bartenders were very friendly and seemed to know their stuff. They must have been plucked from other places. We met up with Melody and Jay and Erin. Jay and Erin don’t really feature highly in this, but they should at least be mentioned.

There is a lot of space down here. Off to one side is a large area that was closed off for some sort of private function. I had picked up Melody so I didn’t sneak for some free grub, but I am fairly sure she could have owned that room if she wanted to. In addition, the bar area reaches further into the back. I think it was for actual dining, but I am not sure.

The food and drink specials looked pretty nice and their prices were reasonable, I believe about $4 although I seem to recall they were better than that. Anyhow, I really liked the District. It is a good chill out place. It may even become popular with the less rambuncous college population. If this happens then this will become a place to visit on a regular basis.

I give the District 3 and a half Martini Glasses out of 5.

-B

Type: Restaurant
Class: Average

Sitting next door to the Ballroom they seemed to get some spill over from people who don’t want to wait in the giant line to get in on this Friday night. This used to the be Seattle Fish Company or some such. This new place is equally “nice” and unthrilling. There seemed to be a lot of regulars already, but I suspect that since the look is close enough to the old place that they just took up their old bar stool.

Norm’s is decent looking menu but it is nothing special. I think that this is the key word for this place. Nothing new, nothing special. It may be the type of place you like and you live close by, but I don’t see it doing a lot of non-local business on its own. Its location next to the Ballroom is genius, but they need some better drink specials to lure in the kids before they disappear into the Ballroom. The other idea would be some quick cheap food available as people spill out. They have a huge opportunity, but they need to leech off of the Ballroom’s popularity like a lamprey.

I give them 2 and a half Martini Glasses out of 5. Nothing wrong, but nothing special.

-B

Type: Neighborhood
Class: Average

The Ould Triangle used to be the Globe, which used to be a tavern. Now they have revamped themselves, remodeled themselves and gotten themselves some booze. Melody now works here and we stopped up to say hi. We had thought they were still beer and wine only, but with the new booze, we just picked up a new place. Excellent.

The bar is dark brown, extremely long, and kind of curved. This bar can probably seat about 20 people, but I don’t think there are that many chairs. A lone pool table takes a large portion of the place by the door. Two real dart boards with chalk boards stand ready for use. This is something you don’t see much. A large screen TV sits at one end of the eating area. I even saw a couple there eating their own food, watching TV, and drinking beer.

In the back, they have a beer garden where the owner is building a fountain to St. Agatha (I would swear he said Marta, but Melody said Agatha.) The fountain isn’t done, but it is going to be cool and strange. Supposedly “they” (probably the Romans) cut off her breasts, but they grew back, put her in a brothel for 10 years, but she remained pure, and eventually cut off her head. She is the patron saint of all sorts of things (like Breast Cancer and Sterility.) It is a wacky story the owner tells. He believes that places should be interesting and characterful. I have to say that I agree.

They have live music almost every night and the drinks are reasonable. I give them 4 and a half Martini Glasses out of 5.

-B

Where there was once Jake's Bar and Grill, there is now Mango's. The new bar is a Tiki themed place, one of a great many that now exist in Seattle. Most recently, prior to Mango's, Culture Club switched over to a tropical/tiki theme, and now yet another bar has fallen to what will likely just be a short trend. They will probably all have to change to something else within a couple of years.

Mango's is almost identical to Jake's. They didn't repaint inside, and they didn't get new furniture. They did put up some bamboo accents around the place, as well as replacing all the staff with new people who wear Hawaiian shirts. A tropical drink menu, a tiki head mug, and hula prints under the glass of the bar-side tables just about complete the changes. Only a few tropical plants, which seemed real, remain to be mentioned.

However, I was never greatly impressed with Jake's in any case, so this change could definitely be for the better. In this case, I don't know that it was. Rather, it's just a lateral switch. Same level of bar quality, different type of bar, barely. The tropical-themed food menu was a bit more expensive than seemed merited, but the drinks, which are really what matter, were well priced. The strength of the drinks was only average, but it suited the price point. A problem arose, which would be easily fixed and is nothing to be concerned about, which was that they had run out of carbonation and needed to change their CO2. My drink was also made with 7 Up instead of Tonic, and flat 7 Up as well, but it tasted fine for that.

The staff was friendly but didn't seem very experienced. It might be that they were all new hires; our waitress seemed very young. The locals seemed like they had been there since Jake's was still in business, and seemed happy to stay, and it definitely has that feel, like you can just stake it out and make it your bar. But not for me.

Jake's wasn't really worth repeat business for someone as far away from it as I am, and Mango's isn't any better, but not any worse, either. It's a new place, though, and it'll likely get better as time goes by and they iron out the kinks.

(bar visited 8/13/3)

Type: Neighborhood
Class: Average

What used to be Jake's bar and grill with the cute irish bartender and the basic restaurant/bar feel has now been Tikified. The place now has a larger older white guy bartending and the whole place now has a strange island feel to it. But this isn't like a cool island theme where they have gone all out. No. This is like the Sims version of a Tiki house. It has all of the same furniture, but you bought it with a Tiki covering and then hung a palm tree on the wall.

They did not repaint it, rather they just put up new pictures and then painted a giant palm tree on the wall. The glass of the tables was lifted and they put a tiki print underneath it, and the glass on the divider wall has been replaced with bamboo.

The drink was the same mediocre drink of the last place and the menu looks fine, but nothing thrilling. As far as I can tell, the only thing that has changed is the menu and scenery. Oh and the cute irish bartender who loved Lord of the Rings. I was in love, very briefly.

A big wOOt goes out to Glen for picking up the sponsorship of this bar. It is only his second in person sponsorship and we are very pleased.

I give Mango's 2 and a half Martini Glasses out of 5

--B

Located only a block away from Bucca di Beppo, the newly constructed Outback Steak House is a two story affair, somewhat different from most Outbacks. However, only somewhat different. Really, they're all pretty much the same.

The doors are opened for you by girls whose only job is to open the doors and say hello, as near as I can tell. Lots of large wooden beams, relatively dim lighting, and enormous spaces, in this case divided between two levels, make up a typical Outback.

The difference here is that the bar is rather small. On Aurora, the Outback has an enormous bar, spread out around a vast horseshoe bar. At South Lake Union, the bar is a typical affair, located against the wall, with perhaps a dozen seats and a half dozen tables.

The waitress was friendly and competent, but more than that, and unusually for an Outback, she was sassy. Attitude is something that is commonly smoothed out by corporate restaurants, but Britney was still possessed of a personality, which was very pleasant.

The drinks were perfectly acceptable, but the real reason for going to Outback is the ice cream. It's incredible, from a company called Blue Bell in Texas, and everyone should have it at least once. Get a specialty drink from the odd drink menu, filled with Australian named drinks that probably would never be drunk in the Southern Hemisphere. But some of them are quite good, and all of them are worth trying.

Outback is Outback, a place with vast portions and Bloomin' Onions, good ice cream and odd specialty drinks. Visit any of them and it's about the same, but at least the South Lake Union spot seemed more like a real bar than most.

(visited 8/13/3)

Taking its name from the old Carnegie Library in which it is set, this rather new restaurant and bar was a curiosity. The building was once, as mentioned, a library, but in layout it looks almost as much like a public school. After passing through a small annex you enter the front room of the restaurant, where there is a hostess station and seating for those waiting for tables. Left and right are large room with semi-circular windows facing out toward the street, while behind the hostess station is the bar area, with several small tables, a four seat bar and the kitchen.

Having just recently opened, and in an odd space as well (another tenant in the building is a kilt company), a crowd was not expected. But Carnegie's was almost dead. It was only an hour before they ostensibly close, and a weeknight, so it was more understandable. But really, it's too bad. The space is attractive, with dark colors, white tables and subtle lighting. The bar is small but fully equipped. And the staff is quick and reasonably friendly.

Sitting at the bar, you can see the entire set up. The well liquors are one step up from the bottom, which would be more than acceptable except that the drinks are in the six dollar range. A bit pricey for the liquor being served. The food menu is nice looking, and the plate of bruschetta ordered turned out to have some interesting options. The bread wasn't very well toasted, though, but that's a minor thing.

Hopefully, this attractive restaurant will be discovered by the local Ballard crowd, because it does have a very nice look, reasonable prices for food and a good looking menu. But I don't think it's worth drinking at, with prices that are higher than expected for the beverages and a small bar area. The bar remains open for an hour or so after the restaurant, business permitting, which it didn't on the night of the visit. I can't see why one would stay longer, but it might happen. The restaurant itself is the attraction here, not the drink.

(bar visited 8/13/3)

It's a nice little bar, just a few tables and the bar itself, with seasonal outdoor seating. But very attractive, with high tables and chairs, candles, red velvet curtains. I've been here a couple times since it opened in the summer after the quest finished, and I like it a lot.

The drink specials change every so often, I was told by the bartender on our first visit, which occurred just after our Tech TV interview (to tell you how long ago it was. Shamefully lazy, I am.) But the ones we tried were all rather interesting--cherry drinks with real cherrys, some form of apple beverage with a very good flavor. I know this is all rather vague, but it was six months ago.

You can also order stuff from the delicious pastry cooler of the B&O next door, which is a wonderful reason for a visit to this swank little joint, if only because the desserts are so very tasty.

The prices on the drinks were a bit high, but I've only ever had house specials, which are always more expensive. So what can you expect?

All in all, a nice little spot.

(visisted 9/03, and again 11/03)

Located in Fremont, a hotbed of bars for a few blocks, Suite G opened last fall and was rapidly visited by us, but then I stopped writing reviews. Which is probably to the advantage of this particular bar, because the first visit was a little rough, but I've been there since with a better experience.

It's a big space, much bigger than you would expect from the frontage, which isn't large at all. Small, in fact. But after a few tables right at the front, you pass the long, broad bar and then enter into the rear space, large enough for a small show, and with plenty of area. Which is good, because Suite G is usually packed with people.

It's a pick up sort of place, like many of the Fremont bars, and it works pretty well from the looks of it. The crowd was mostly young, mostly attractive, and mostly drinking a lot on the nights I've been there.

The wait at the bar can be a bit long. At least in the first few weeks, the bartenders both didn't know, and didn't care, how to make the bar's own specialty drinks, so that they were a wildly mixed bag. I suppose nobody much checks the drink lists, because they just want to get their drink on. On later visits, we avoided the specialty drinks for just that reason, and had no problems.

The prices are what you might expect, pretty high because they know people are coming whatever they charge. Not horribly high, and there have been drink specials available, so it's not too bad.

It's not a place I'd hang out that much, but then, I'm not a 23 year old pretty person with money in my pocket. If I was, I'd be there pretty often, I suppose.

(visited in late September 2003, and again twice in winter)

It's a first. A new bar that only I visited. Oh, well. Brandon can't be everywhere.

So after a very non-drinking fall that I spent pretty much sick all the time with a series of colds I caught at work, it was nice to finally get to a new place. Kai is located just a block from my work, and I went there with my friend and our sponsor Annie to celebrate her new job, which took her away from the bookstore but only actually moved her two blocks south.

Anyway, I'd walked by Kai, and it was just the custest little place. It's a tiny store front converted into a suave little bar with food. There's barely seating for 25, and that counts the bar itself with about a third of the seats. Just two little window side tables (the windows open up and vanish on warm days), four or five more tables in the main area and eight bar seats, with the tiny kitchen in the back.

The drinks are well made, the daily drink specials are well priced with some sort of drink at 3 or fewer dollars, happy hour is good, they have PBR in pints, and the food is pretty tasty, too.

So I like Kai a lot, and I got there after work most Fridays now. I'd like to say you should go there, too, but it's very small, and if you go, I might not be able to get in. Which would make me sad. But it is a great little place.

(First visited at the end of January. Many repeat visits since.)

Matador sits on the corner of Market St. and Ballard Way in Ballard, and you would think that would be a good place to have a bar. But it hasn't been lucky for a whole string of restaurants in the past. However, I think Matador may overcome the curse.

The place is really just a big fishbowl, with every outside wall a window, and nothing far from the windows. With no real curtains or blinds, it's totally open to the street. This is nice on the Ballard Way side, because the bar is against that wall of windows, and all the nice shiny bottles sit there, just behind the glass, making it one of the lovelier window displays I've seen.

I visited the bar with my friend Alpheus who was in from out of town, along with a couple of other bars that same day, and along with my friend Katherine, one of the only people involved in the quest from very early who didn't ever sponsor us. Still no Brandon.

Matador was a nice place. There's a good sized bar half of the restaurant, which was packed the evening we went in, and has been pretty busy whenever I've walked by. The restaurant had just a single vacant table, which we grabbed, and as it was late, pretty much the whole place was the bar. We discovered they have no drink specials in their late night happy hour, but their bar food is half off, so that was nice. The nachos were decent.

However, the drink I had wasn't great. The waitress assured me it would be good (although I didn't ask) and it was...bland. Not terrible, but nothing much. As it turned out, however, it was cheaper than expected, and their well vodka was mid-shelf, so there was really nothing wrong with that at all.

There's a fireplace table in the middle of the bar, but we didn't get to sit at it. It's one of those places with fake coals and a gas grill, one presumes, built in, but it sure looks nice, and warm. Which would have been nice in January when we visited.

Matador was well worth the look in, and I might visit it again. It's a pretty good place.

(visited 1/30/4)

Another bar that I visited with my friend Alpheus, and if we were still on the quest, he would have sponsored it. Oh, why not? He bought, so he's the sponsor for this bar. Even if Brandon wasn't there. Sean was, and Kathryn, and some guy at the bar that he bought a shot for, so that's a lot of buying.

But on to the bar. It didn't have booze while we were on the quest, not the hard stuff, but it does now. Or if it did, it didn't have the right license for it. Whatever the case, there's lots of bottles behind the bar now, and so it does indeed count.

It's a nice neighborhood bar. Ballard Way, where the bar is, actually counts as one of the foremost bar streets in the city. Within half a dozen blocks, there are about 10 bars of various sorts, a couple of them with live music most or many nights, some very blue collar, some hipster, many with rather cheap drinks, at least one with great breakfast food. It's actually pretty damn amazing, and while I'm sure many people know about the Sunset Tavern, Hattie's Hat, or the Lock and Keel, there's a bunch of other bars, too, and it's perfect for a pub crawl.

But back on topic. The Lock and Keel. It's a good-sized bar, with tables in the front, a couple pool tables further back along with more tables, a large and long bar, friendly staff and quite decent drinks. The prices are pretty good as long as you're not buying a round of shots because things like that can really drive up your costs. They have a bar menu for food that goes reasonably late, and a fuller menu earlier, but we were there too late to take advantage. It was the night of the Superbowl when we visited, and the bar was pretty empty, what with everyone have done their drinking earlier in the day, I suspect.

The Chapelle show was on the TV, and I've never seen it before, but it was both funny and kind of offensive. A bold play to show it in the bar, and a good one.

The people in the bar were all very friendly, too. We chatted with all sorts of folks, and we weren't even trying.

It's a good spot, overall, and part of a great street, as I mentioned. Visit Ballard Way, even if it is kind of far out for many of you, and enjoy.

(visited february 1, if i'm not mistaken.)

This little joint opened up not far from my house perhaps 6 months ago, and I read about it in the paper not a couple weeks later, and have been meaning to go by, it being so close, ever since. However, it took running into my old coworker Jeneka (UBS 6/00-12/00) to get me to go.

And to get Brandon to go took the anniversary of the finale. Which we missed by a day, because Brandon was just back from out of town, and was sick, as everyone I know is now when they get back from out of town. Either we Seattle folk all have very weak consititutions, or the rest of world is becoming filthy with viruses, I'm not sure.

So Sean, Brandon and me made our walk over the four blocks to Sambar, which is attached to Le Gourmand, one of the fanciest restaurants in the city that you've never heard. It is, as mentioned, a very small bar, barely the size of a living room, with a handful of tables and an equally tiny outdoor patio area. But instead of seeming cramped, it seems intimate. It's dim, with candlelight that shines of off a few well polished bits of metal but otherwise just makes for nice lighting. The music is subtle and backgroundy, but very pleasant. The staff, comprised of pretty much two people (Jeneka, the bartender who as it turned out had taken a photography class with Brandon, and a back up cocktailer they happened to be training that night) was nice. The drinks were interesting, coming off a very odd specialty drink list. And the small crowd all looked to be enjoying themselves.

That's the good part.

Here's the bad part. The price. We didn't get well drinks, I'll admit. But the specialty drink menu starts at 8 dollars and heads right on up to 11. So I'm not sure what the well price would be, but it's probably more than 6, and maybe 7. Which is about as spendy as you'll find in the city. We also got a very tasty ginger ice cream, very strongly ginger, but it cost 9 dollars for a dish of it, and lacked in presentation. Really tasty, though. But for 9 dollars, I think a dessert should have a little bit of frou frou to it, some sort of twisted cookie, or candied ginger bits, or mint, stuff you don't need or even want but that at least makes you feel like there's a reason for 9 dollars.

So for three drinks, ice cream and tax, it was more than forty dollars. Which is a bit much for a place to hang out at. However, if you're looking for a nice place to take a date, with interesting options, and you don't mind paying for your options, this is probably a good choice. But it's not a casual drink kind of place in my book.

(visited 3/23/4)

So it happens like this: it's a boring night; Brandon, me and Sean sitting around; and we decide to hit some bars. A very familiar feeling, but one that hasn't happened in a good number of months. Sean opts not to join, so it's just Brandon and me. And after we wander the streets looking for a bar we know the location of, but can't actually find, we arrive on 2nd in Belltown, and there's Shorty's.

They used to just have Beer and Pinball, but some months ago, they got liquor to go with their Beer and Pinball. Which is nice, because while I like Beer and Pinball, booze makes just about anything better.

Shorty's in a deep bar, one wall of which is lined first by video games, then tables made of old pinball machines, while the other side is a few tables and the bar. It was packed, vastly packed, with a hipster/punk crowd, far more full than I've seen it on the other days when I've just wandered by the tavern it used to be while going to some more priveledged bar nearby.

The bartenders were kept hopping, and so it took a long time to get our drinks, because they had to do some clean up in the middle of making them. The vodka tonic I ordered had 7-Up instead of tonic, and had barely been introduced to any vodka at all, so that it was pretty much just a 7-Up. From a place filled with punky hipsters, I'd think they would have to have strong drinks, but they didn't at all. Perhaps they've had their liquor license for too short a time to really hit their stride.

In back, where we wandered after getting our sodas, there is the pinball room, which features the geektacular goodness of a Lord of the Rings pinball game that we watched one of the players tilt to get back to ball 1 while keeping his score from ball 3. Poor machine.

We finished the "drinks" quickly and left the place to move on to another bar hopefully more familiar with the uses of alcohol. I'll mention the drink was 3.50, but that's a lot to pay for 7-Up, so skip it, and just stick with Beer. Or go to one of the dozens of other bars within walking distance, any of which will give you a stronger drink. Any.

(visited 4/9/4)

This one feels very much like a do over, because we actually did drink here during the quest, but they didn't have spirits at the time. Beer, however, doesn't count, so we returned after leaving Shorty's and noticing a cocktail sign in the window of the Lava Lounge.

It's the same as it was before, a dim brown spot, with booths and tables on the left side and the bar on the right. The bar is more impressive now, if only because of the alcohol, but other than that it didn't seem much different. There is a little music center at the end of the bar, where there was a DJ playing music that was reasonably background volumed. The place was pretty crowded, so that we ended up sitting in the back at an elevated table with a few stools around it, amidst the low effort tropical island decor of the place.

The bartender was friendly, cute if you like the girl gender and good with silent communication, since it was pretty loud with all the people and the music filling in for any missing noise. She was also fast, and possessed of a generous pouring technique. My drink was much more happy making than that at Shorty's, and not just because it actually had tonic instead of 7-Up. Drinks, at 4 dollars, were at the lower end of the Belltown price range, and left me well satisfied.

It was a nice place to visit when we were on the quest, a good wind down spot with a few friends after Pioneer Square, and it's a pretty good joint now that it has the booze, too, although I think it lost some of that wind-down feel when it added to the beer. There's a very limited bit of outdoor seating in the front, which will be nicer as the weather gets nicer, and gives another reason to visit. Which is something that should be done.

(visited 4/9/4)

Nostalgia surrounds this very new bar. But I'm not certain if most of the clientele got it. Viceroy is an apparently very hot new bar, since it was totally jammed with customers and doing a mess of business. There's no signage on the outside to indicate what the place might be, just the obvious marks of a bar--a patio with a short enclosure and loud people with drinks, and the sounds of merriment from inside. There was a guy checking ID and a rather large bodyguard fellow, so they must get a lot of people going by. Not that there was anything the least bit rowdy inside, the crowd being most young professional types.

The decor is the nostalgia bit. The place is done up like a den from the seventies. There's the walls of books, none of them new, and including the obligatory stack of National Geographics; there's the reel-to-reel player and the old hi-fi; there's the rough brick wall pattern behind the bar, familiar to anyone who has seen a fireplace designed in the seventies; and there's the pleather padded walls in a diamond pattern, all in black with brass rivets the size of a quarter. The whole place screams class, circa 1977. And most of the customers looked to have been born about then, or a bit later, so they probably don't get it.

However, it actually looks really nice. With dim mood lighting, a few plants and sprawling bits of backless furniture, there's a great ambiance to the bar.

The drinks were 5 dollars, not unexpected in a new hot bar, and were about strong enough to justify it. The crowd was talkative, active and enjoying themselves, almost everyone in groups of four or more, and everyone drinking and living it up.

It's a nice little place that will feel eerily familiar if you're of a certain age, and there's nothing wrong with that. Viceroy should have a really good year. I just don't know if it'll go any further than that. So stop in before you miss your chance, cause it's not your average bar.

(visited 4/9/4)

Located in the new Silver Cloud Inn at the south end of Broadway, Cayenne is not what I expected from Silver Cloud. There used to be one such hotel right near my home, years ago, and it was so staid and boring that it lacked any sort of bar facility. Instead, one ends up with Cayenne, which isn't either staid or boring.

The restaurant and bar areas of the space kind of blur together. This must be intentional, because the hostess table is back, immediately, by the bar. There's about a dozen bar seats, and then just behind them, a narrow counter with more seats on either side, and then booths. To get to any other seating, the hostesses have to lead you through this morass of bar-like seating to the further seating areas. I'm certain there's some actual point of distinction, since it's a hotel restaurant, and must be ready to have kids in the place, but if there was, it wasn't very clearly marked.

Anyway, we sat at the bar, which is underlit, made of some sort of bubbly plastic substance, and has various square patches of color that provide for interesting light. There are large cubbies behind the bar for the various types of booze, each one on display, but the displays are not terribly impressive--about six or eight of each type of booze, none of them "featured" by having a majority, and none of the choices so amazing that they deserve to have their own display or anything. It's interesting to look at, kind of artful, but if you give more than a cursory glance, kind of disappointing.

We ordered our wells, when the bartender who was both rather busy and easily distracted could be called to serve us, and they came quickly. Not very good drinks, my vodka tonic for some reason provided with a mint leaf. I suspect it was an aberration, but I can't be certain. We sat and drank for a bit, watched a bit of the game, discussed the next bar to go to, and suddenly there was another round in front of us.

This is a first in all the bars we've been to. The bartender, without asking whether we wanted another round, and without meaning at all to comp us drinks, just served us more. Normally, I wouldn't much complain, because it's a good thing to have more booze. But we had more bars to hit, and we didn't want another mediocre drink from the place.

However, after some discussion, we realized we were both too cowardly to actually point out the error, our cowardice supported by our fondness for more booze. So we drank, and the drinks were both of the stronger and better category, so I guess no complaints in the long run. But it was very presumptous.

The drinks were 4 bucks, not bad for a place that was new and happening (and it was, the crowd was young and well off. I won't say hip, because they weren't. It seems like a get dressed up and start your drinking kind of place.) The second drink was well worth it. They have happy hour specials on both food and drinks, and the food (what little I saw from a distance) doesn't look bad.

It's also now the furthest south spot for a drink on Broadway until you get way out there, like Michael's Pizza.

But there's not too much reason to go back. The Garage is just a block away, after all, and you can get pool, bowling, and outside seating there.

(visited 4/16/4)

Bars in neat locations rule. There aren't many of them in Seattle, but Chapel, a newish bar, certainly qualifies. It's located in a recently closed funeral home, in (you guessed it) the chapel. Which means that inside it's a big vaulted room, with a balcony that used to be, one presumed, the choir loft. The place echoes with conversation, and as it is pretty much always full, it means you can barely hear yourself at the best of times.

Upon entering, you will note a holy water fount. Which is, in keeping with the mood, filled with Chapel matches. A lovely touch, and one that I greatly approve of. Of course, the owners/managers are all going to hell, but then, we'll all be there with them, and at least there will be a cool bar.

Beyond the hell-inducing fount are tables, all of them small, and the bar, which is the very opposite of small. It's nearly five feet high. There are stools which, unlike normal bar stools, even normal height people have to work to get up onto. That's because you're nearly four feet off the floor in these bad boys. And there's no real supports for your feet, so they just dangle out in space. Which is at first rather annoying, but later, a couple of cocktails will take the edge off.

And that's where happy hour comes in. At Chapel, it's from 5 to 8, and you can get any of their "martinis" for 4 bucks. As they regularly cost 6 to 8 dollars, that's a good buy. And, they're good. The Vanilla was especially favored by our little band, which was Brandon, me and, eventually, Clara.

She lives now just a few blocks away from the bar, and so we called, she came out, and thus started a rather long and fun night of bar hopping. But before all that, there is still Chapel to be dealt with.

Sitting on our high posts, it was hard to get the attention of the bar staff (see the aforementioned massive background noise) but they were fast once you got them. Drinks were strong, and in the case of the martinis, well made and thought out. The food is quite good, almost entirely organic and fancy, but still with many meat options, and tasty enough to make you ignore that it's better for you than most of what you eat.

At eight, the lights are dimmed so that it become a big dark cavern with lingering sunlight flitting in from the doors. It was at about this point that we left, gathering matches as we went, and headed down the big stairs. Which are kind of like high schools stairs due to their size and concrete solidity, and also due to the lack of smoking in Chapel (despite the matches) so that smokers were leaning on the balustrades outside, chatting on their cell phones, and effectively advertising that there is a bar here, since it's kind of innocuous otherwise.

Happy hour is a good time at Chapel.

(visited 4/16/4)

It's been .Ing. It's been Cobalt Blue. The latest incarnation of this somewhat cursed spot is Mamounia, which is a Moroccan restaurant. Not that you could tell from outside, because every window is heavily curtained. We weren't even sure it was open, or what the hell it was, except that it had an open sign, and I had seen an ad for the restaurant in the paper earlier in the day while looking for bars to go to.

Did I mention that the ad had said nothing about having a bar? So we didn't know if there was one? But eventually, I prodded Brandon into heading in to find out, and the bar is just to the right of the door, the same place it was for .Ing and Cobalt Blue. Of course.

There wasn't enough room at the bar for three people, because it was pretty full. The former main seating area of the previous bars was now a red-backed (because of all the curtains) area of couches and low tables, where intimate Moraccan dining could occur. Although mostly it looked like drinking, while a (blond, white) belly dancer worked her stuff. The waitress (mousy blond, white) was working hard to keep up with people. The bartender (brunette, white) had her hands full with the bar crowd. The host (Moroccan, and the only one we saw) kind of stood around and did some greeting, but didn't seem to do much to help the overworked staff.

We sat toward the back area, where once there were many low seats in both .Ing and Cobalt blue, but now there's just an extension of the couches and tables motif. It took forever for the waitress to get to us (see above) while the host just ignored us and looked at the belly dancer, who told us that we needed to clap for her. Not in the "let's get some clapping started" kind of way, but in the "hey assholes, here's where you clap at my greatness" kind of way. I didn't like her much. She was okay as a belly dancer, but I've seen much better.

The drinks weren't much to think of. The Moroccan music that played after the belly dancer departed (for all the world just like a stripper leaving stage, which I'm suspecting she was) wasn't very good. But the atmosphere was well set up, with the curtains blocking out the outside world completely. And everyone who worked there was at least dressed in fanciful Middle Eastern garb, whatever their lack of ethnicity.

The check took a while to arrive as well. The drinks weren't cheap, but I guess they weren't too expensive. The food is what intrigues me, and I may go back for that, but based on track record, I should go fast, because Mamounia is not in a good spot.

It may also be spelled Mahmounia, I'm not certain.

(visited 4/16/4)

This place used to be called the Sea Wolf. We came here for an interview with Melanie from the paper.

The name change is by far the biggest difference about the place, from what I saw. Pretty much the same crowd of mostly older gay guys, the same nice and strong drinks at good prices, the same furniture and decor.

Clara, Brandon and I had a drink, sat and talked, I played the little bar-top TaiPai type game, and then an old friend Chuck C. came in and sat with us for a bit. But we had to head out because there was one more bar to hit.

It's the same place as it was, as I said, and that's not a bad thing really, because it didn't do too much wrong. I can't say most people will want to visit, it being the type of bar it is, but it's got good drinks.

(visited 4/16/4)

This is a hot new place in Ballard. Really hot. There's a wait time for tables that can get rather long, because the food is supposed to be truly amazing. Southern Mexican (Oaxacan, specifically) cuisine. And it gets amazing write ups.

Well, we weren't there for food. But even though it was within an hour of closing time, if we had been, we would have been waiting. And there was barely room in the (admittedly tiny) bar, either. The staff was everywhere at once, taking care of the customers, and everyone seemed to be having a great time in the restaurant.

The bar was, as mentioned, very small. Just a few stools and a back counter which emptied just as we arrived. So Clara, Brandon and I laid claim to it. Clara had decided she wanted to sponsor a bar, so she stepped over and ordered the drinks. She wasn't having any more, just a ginger ale. We got the drinks and then realized it was a Mexican place, and we should have chips and salsa. So Brandon got some chips and we went and took advantage of the Salsa bar. Five different types available, or was it six? Well, we took four or so back to the bar. Some were very good. Some were okay. Their heat varied.

At some point Clara's drink was spilled. I know I didn't do it, but I can't recall if it was Brandon's fault or not. In any case, the very nice barman just replaced it with another one, and that was really nice of him.

My drink wasn't so great. Pretty strong, but not so tasty. I guess Vodka tonics aren't the tastiest in any case, so what can you do?

I ended up drinking some salsa too, cause it was hot and tasty and really fluid.

It's not really the place to try to get a drink, because it's so busy, but they are really nice. Eat here, then drink at other places after, it being Old Ballard, which I've already mentioned has a great number of good bars.

Thanks to Clara for our first official post-Quest sponsorship. She rules.

(visisted 4/16/4)

There is a section of the city which is called Little Addis Abbaba because of the very large number of Ethiopians who reside there. There are also a delightful assortment of Ethiopian restaurant/bars there, all of which we visited during the quest. A few other such establishments hide in other parts of the city, one of them being Queen Sheba.

First, it should be noted it's not actually a bar. But it does have liquor, and Ethiopian food does rule, so we decided to go there for a drink. Joined by my brother Damon and his girlfriend Erin (who had never tasted the fine qualities of Ethiopian food) and their roommate Stacey (who has had such food) we traveled to Capitol Hill and entered the restaurant.

It's like a nicer version of all the others, really. A converted house, it would appear, with a very small lowered entryway that serves no purpose I can discern, and then a good number of tables pressed in reasonably closely in the main seating area. There are a few Ethiopian objet scattered through the place, but not much, really. The tables were were seated at featured old newspaper clippings beneath the clear surface, which were interesting to read, as they were all Seattle local things, and it was nice to see a time when a pound of ham was 9 cents.

The food (which is incidental to this review, but we had it, so I'll mention it) was excellent. Not quite Zobel, but still very good. Two combos was enough to feed all five of us.

The drink menu was not exhaustive. My brother attempted to order a Bloody Mary, which I could have told him wouldn't be available, and indeed, it was not. Brandon and I were somewhat saddened to see that our drinks came with ice, and were all mixed together for us, and Brandon didn't even get asked if he wanted Red Label or Black Label whiskey, which was very sad indeed. They were fine drinks, but not what I hope for from an Ethiopian place, which is really to have a very strange drink experience.

It's not a bad stop if you must have Ethiopian food on Capitol Hill, but for my dining and drinking pleasure, I'd just head a mile or so south to Little Addis Ababa and eat at Zobel, cause it's ever so much nicer there.

(visited on 4/27/4)

There used to be a little tavern here called the 7th Avenue, being as it was on 7th only about 15 blocks north of my house. I didn't even know it was there until a month or two into our quest, even though I'd lived that close for three and then some years by that time. At that time I went to visit someone we had met on the quest who worked there a couple nights a week, and it was a nice enough place, but just a beer and wine bar, and I never did go back.

Now there's a full service bar in the same spot. Barking Dog is a good looking place, which makes sense, because they took their time to set up the place. There's a lot of bright wood, curving angles, artfully exposed bolts and big windows. It's bright and open inside, but when it gets dark out, with all those windows just letting in the black, as it were, I'm sure it becomes a dark and moody space. There's a dining area in the front, with a large lobe of seating to one side and then more seats between the bar area and the windows. We sat at one of the several small tables in the bar area, but not at the actual bar, and it was a good spot.

The waitstaff were busy with lunch time diners, even on a Saturday. That probably has a lot to do with the fact that it's a total neighborhood place; neither of the streets that border it are even arterials. We got our drinks and chatted, and looked over their decent beer menu, with their own brews and a good amount of Belgian imports. The food looked decent as it was whisked by us and out into the restaurant. There's really no seperation between the two areas, by the way, just a divider that's not even very high. There's a wall of booze in the bar, and a flat-screen TV over it that was playing sports. But just the one, which was nice.

The drinks were fine. I wouldn't call them exceptional, but at a neighborhood joint that's new, the wells aren't going to be. There was nothing at all wrong with them. The price was fine, and in fact about a half dollar less than I thought they would be, with the bar being so shiny and new.

It's a nice sort of place, but I'm really more a Tin Hat kind of guy, so there's not need to alter my neighborhood bar of choice. Which I hardly ever visit, because I'm a terrible, terrible person.

(visited 5/8/4)

This is the newest bar from the people who bring us the wonder that is El Gaucho. What was formerly Fleming's Steakhouse, an awkward space and not a good bar, has now been replaced by a delightful bar. Brandon, Vince and I got together to have drinks and dinner, because it sounded like an excellent idea, and it was.

The first thing one notices is the vast but appealing proportions of the restaurant. With a small waiting area just inside the doors, and a banquet room to the right, the left is where the eye is drawn, to the high-ceilinged dining room. The bar is first, just past the hostess station, and it's nice, but it's not what you notice. Because there is so much space in the restaurant, the bar and it's small seating area for the moment almost escape notice. Instead, you see the tables, placed with space and thought, and the huge windows that make up the walls, and the fact that this place is a lot bigger than you would have thought if you had visited Fleming's.

The seating is handled well, with the three of us recieving a spacious and attractive booth. Service was friendly and smooth. The drinks were quite decent, but (although it's not the point here) the food was amazing. Alright, I thought my Lobster Risotto was a bit fishy, but my brother Damon loved it the next day. And the Pork Shank was superb, as were the sides. Vince assured us his halibut was incredible.

But on to the drinks and the bar. It's a very attractive bar, well backlit and long, with numerous stools and several small tables. There's a vast assortment of liquor which was a delight to stare at. And our drinks were good, at least mine was, although I was brought a lime which I had asked not to have, but at least it hadn't been squeezed into the drink for me.

The front room man for the restaurant came and chatted with us before we left, which was nice. He seemed to really be working the room, along with the chef, who was out and about several times. The waitstaff were friendly and helpful. Pretty much everything was wonderful (my risotto, in my personal evaluation, excepted).

It's a marvellous place, and you should go there.

(visited 5/12/4)

A relatively new and kind of hard to notice bar in Wallingford. My bus passes by it every day, however, and so I was well aware of this place, but I think most people have no idea it exists. Which is too bad, because it's a nice little place. A narrow store front means that it's probably most people will overlook it, but the facade, in cool colors with a sea monster painted on the window, is an eye catcher.

The space is narrow, with room for the bar and stools, and then tables along the opposite wall. In the back, there is a good amount of area, enough for more tables, including two that hide in partially curtained off nooks. The rear is used for the live music the Sea Monster hosts pretty regularly, and there was a band just getting started as we had our drink. I think they were some form of jazz, and they sounded pretty good.

The bartender might have been the owner, since he was talking about why he quit having ads in the Stranger. He had a good hand with the booze and good patter. The drinks were 5 dollars, pretty strong, and made with attention, as if he actually cared that even the simplest (well) drinks were to your satisfaction, which is unusual.

They have Pabst Blue Ribbon in bottles. Which is the coolest thing.

There's a kitchen, but we didn't look at the menu. They have a little slogan on the front window that changes regularly, saying "Voted Seattle's Best..." One time it was French Toast, which I noticed because I didn't think it had said French Toast before, but then I decided I was wrong. However, I apparently wasn't, as now it reads Kept Secret. And while I think that for the people who have found the Sea Monster Lounge, they might like it to stay a secret, that people should still seek it out, because it's worth a visit.

(visited 6/3/4)

Located in Lower Queen Anne in the old Sorry Charlie's space, this new bar is pretty decent. I didn't much care for Sorry Charlie's, since the piano bar has nothing to offer me, and so, unlike a great many others, I wasn't put out to see that it was going under. Its replacement is a bit of the old and a lot of the new.

The space is still divided, as it was when it was SC's. There's the "main" area, with a bar, tables including booths, a small dance floor and DJ setup, and a piano. Because they still have the same guy in the bar for happy hour every day, and maybe one or two nights a month besides. He still plays the same way as ever. So if you loved him at the old SC's, you can still see him at the Mirabeau room. But everything inside looks, without being, futuristic. From the sheet metal that marks the exterior, to the small tables that are reasonably uncomfortable, to the expansive light rigs, there's a lot of "the future" embraced at the Mirabeau Room. But like I said, none of it actually is that way, it just gives a sort of impression.

On the other side is the lounge. It's rather a lot like it used to be, but the furniture is all newer. Not in appearance, just in age. It's got a lot of red pleather chairs and wood tables, very new but seeming very old. The music from the other side is piped in, quieter which is a good thing.

There's a lot of variety in the staff. Every type and sort seems to be represented, and the clientele much reflects that same eclectic mix. I rather liked that.

The drinks were okay. The prices were okay. But the lounge side was quite nice, and I'd go there again certainly. I know, though I can't recall the hours, that they have a happy hour, and it might be quite a decent thing to head there after work, have a drink, and sit in the lounge side to avoid the piano stylings. Or on the other side, specifically to hear them, whatever suits you best.

(visited 6/3/4)

Since we've been going to bars, but I haven't been keeping notes, I suppose I should just put up reviews as they occur to me.

Which is how I come to Rain, a new Japanese fusion restaurant and lounge where the late Miriani's used to be in Wallingford. The night we arrived, the place was totally packed, which I suppose is not so unusual for a Friday, except that it seemed like it was a very new bar, because I had just seen the Miriani sign a couple weeks earlier. One way or another, there were no tables, and only room at a subsidiary bar. Which is where we sat. The cocktail menu looked good, with various signature drinks that promised to delight.

Brandon was working the tech support phone that night, so I looked over the menu and decided, then brought it out to him and pointed out the couple he might want, and then ordered while he still paced around outside helping an idiot. I got a Wasabi Mary, Brandon got a Green Apple Martini, and they were made with some quickness and great panache.

I just used panache.

We drank, and the drinks were great. The Mary was spicy and zesty and oh so grand, even if it came in a rather small martini glass, but it still packed a kick. The small glass looked really good after so many massively oversized ones. Brandon's drink was also quite tasty from the sample I had. When the time came to pay, the prices, which were really not bad at six bucks for specialty drinks, were not a problem.

They became even less of a problem when our server returned with Brandon's card and said their card reader wasn't working, so the drinks were just on them. He didn't even suggest another method of payment, just gave the drinks out. It turned out it was their first night, and they were still ironing out the kinks, although their bartender didn't need any practice, that was certain. So we chatted for a minute about that, and thanked him for the drinks, and rather happily went on our way.

The food looked rather good, as well, although we got none of it.

Rain was part of a multi-bar night, preceded by Dawgy Style, and followed by Wonder Bar and then two more bars as well. I should put those all up shortly.

This place used to China First on 45th, a long while ago, and was a series of Asian restaurants after China First ditched it. Now, it has become Dawgy Style, which features a lamely drawn but dapper Husky as a mascot. God, it's horrible to look at.

Inside isn't much better. There used to be a lot of tables, but most of them are gone, so that the place looks hollow. There's a couple of pool tables in one annex, a few tables and a big screen TV with console game in another, while the last holds the bar and a few very small, cramped tables. Joining them all is a hostess area, as it might once have been, with a couple dart boards that don't even look like they have lighting near them.

There were a surprising great number of people back at the bar, perhaps as many as fifteen in a rather small area, as well as a couple of people shooting pool, and a good number playing/watching some San Andreas on the TV. I ordered drinks, but forgot to ask for no lime. No worries, however, because my drink didn't have a lime. Neither did Brandon's. I should note, he had ordered a Gin and Tonic, and I had ordered a Vodka Tonic. The drinks were big, but not strong, and could have benefited from the lime to cut the terrible taste of them. We drank, paid and hurried to leave this very odd, very terrible bar. I'm still not sure why anyone was there. The drinks weren't even that cheap, although there is a happy hour that's pretty decent.

The bar hasn't looked open for a week or more now, so it might have gone under, and this entire review might be pointless.

After Dawgy Style, we moved on to Rain, which I reviewed just before this one.

After Rain, we moved on to Wonder Bar, where it was possible that Wolf would meet us, since he was driving out on that very errand at that moment. But Wonder Bar was packed, so we called to head him off and suggest he should meet us at the next place. Brandon got another tech call, so I went in to order, and got us drinks at the bar. It was a music night, with a live Cuban music band, and there was barely room to move past them toward the bar in the rear of the very small Wonder Bar space.

It used to be a coffee shop, a Seattle's Best if I recall rightly, so it's not big at all. There's still a coffee counter, and opposite that in the back is a little closet of a bar that they can barely fit a bartender into to make your drinks. Brandon rejoined me, and we drank in the tiny alcove next to the restrooms, between the bar and the coffee counter.

The drinks were fine, the glasses were good, the music took a break right after we got our cocktails. Prices were fine, as well. But we didn't get a good experience of the bar, because it was so very packed, and we weren't staying for the music, so I can't really say much about Wonder Bar except that it was kind of interesting.

We hurried across the street to our next stop, because Wolf was on his way and all.

This one gets a number because I wrote it down in my book. It's the third to last of the numbered bars, actually.

Lower Queen Anne, and it's a dueling piano bar, where Figaro Bistro used to be. It's not there any more, and now there's two face to face baby grand pianos, and a crowd of people who are somehow drunk enough to enjoy this. Brandon hates these places, of which there was at least one in Boston that his friends used to drag him to. I had only encountered the idea in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, so I thought it wasn't that bad.

I was wrong.

The bar was crowded, and we ended up sitting on two stools at the actual bar, packed in among people who were far younger than I would have thought a dueling piano bar would attract. Meanwhile, the pianists played their competing and alternating songs, taking requests from the crowd. So for the first few one minute snippets, I was amused. But then, as we sipped, and I enjoyed Brandon's discomfort, I realized that these guys were hacks, competent but unthrilling, and that there was no real...anything...in the bar. And I suddenly wanted to leave, to escape this terrible place.

The funny part is, Brandon had moved rather slowly with his drink, realizing, perhaps, that I meant to linger just to torment him. So that now, as I tossed back the rest of my cocktail, he was still nursing his, and the shoe was on the other foot.

Fortunately, as soon as he realized I was done and ready to go, so was he. I was just imagining all that crap about him wanted to stay to make me suffer. We beat a hasty retreat and headed a block away to The Sitting Room.

Lux was the bar after Wonder Bar, and it was here that Wolf met up with us. We got a table in the restaruant area, because the bar is just that, a bar, with stools and not much else. It's a nice looking place though; there was once an Italian restaurant here, but there's not much left of it, leaving a sleek new place with an appealing style. I needed to hit the bathroom, which is located in the main building. Lux is in Wallingford Center, and that used to be a school, so all the restrooms are inside the hallways of the old school, and that's where I had to go. When I returned, the waiter came by and I ordered a drink I had been eying on the menu, only to discover as he walked away that Wolf and Brandon had already ordered drinks for us.

This was to be my downfall.

We also ordered some food, satay and something else, I think, but it was a couple months ago so I don't really recall what the something else was. But the food was delicious. The drinks arrived, and there were two for me, one being a vodka tonic, as per my norm these days, the other being a Key Lime Kazi. This is a Key Lime flavored Kamikaze, that is, a little more mellow than a normal Kazi, with the added bonus of a graham cracker crumbed rim, and it was an excellent drink. As Wolf and Brandon were both driving, it fell to me to drink my other drink, as well, and so I was now at a lot of drinks in a little while, and there would be trouble.

It was my turn to pay for drinks, and so I did, taking a few bucks for food, and then we blithely walked out. I should note that I hadn't gotten my card back yet, or signed, I think, the charge slip, but what did I know about that? I was pretty drunk by this point, so I didn't even notice.

The next day, when I was trying to pay for party supplies, I would notice, and realize that I had no card, altough fortunately I had the cash I had gotten for food and a little more that I had been carrying. Upon calling Lux's number, I discovered that it was the boss's cell phone, and that they would open at 4, he said, and I could pick up my card any time after that. He knew exactly who I was, but then, they hadn't been open more than a month at the time, in November, and can't have had many cards left behind. So I picked up the card, and bought some party booze with it, and all was well, but it was kind of embarrasing. I mean, I'm supposed to be a pro, or something.

The last bar of a short night that still managed to fit in five different places, May is a newish Thai place with a great facade. It's all painted blue, extending up two and a half stories to a pointed roof, and with the eaves of that roof encased in fancy bronze work and topped by a statue of some god or other. The restaurant is the upper floor, with a little deck that will probably be nice for summer eating while the lower floor is the bar, where we went. May was in happy hour mode, as they are for much of the night, so we ordered a bit of food and some drinks. I was going for the specialty drink menu, as I had for much of the night, and tried their Raspberry Mojito.

When the waitress brought it, I gave it a sip, and didn't like it much. She noticed this, and asked if it was okay. I said I didn't like it much, and she immediately asked if I wanted something else. I took her up on it, getting a Lychee fruit based drink that was excellent, as was the food that showed up shortly.

The tables are big booths with wooden and tropical touches, and the lighting is dim but not murky, so that it's a pleasant look suggesting some distant locale in a warmer climate. I liked the place quite a bit, the drink I eventualy settled on was very tasty, the food was good, and May was a nice spot to visit.

Located downtown just opposite the Convention Center, Bambooza was a tease of a bar at first. They were supposed to have a liqour license upon opening, but they didn't. So we waited. And then they were supposed to have one, so they told us, by a certain date, which we showed up after, and all they had was beer and wine. So we left. Finally, we returned, and they had their license, and all was well.

Bambooza is on the corner, and is split into two parts, each one following one of the streets. The larger portion is the restaurant, while the smaller is the bar. We sat there, in a little room with little tables and a really large, nice looking bar, bright and appealing. The tables had nice little Thai accent pieces, sort of, because it's a Thai place, sort of. But the good part was that they brought us a cocktail menu that had something like 200 "martinis" on it, being that all of them were served in martini glasses and now anything at all can apparently be called a martini. I say this not because I wasn't impressed or anything, because I was, and Bambooza did nothing wrong, I just wish some term had been created rather than the bastardization of martini that has occurred.

So we looked through the bewildering array of choices, and ordered some food from the much easier appetizer menu, and then settled on some drink choices. I can't recall, it having been several months since we were there (slackers), what I ordered, but it was damn tasty. And so was Brandon's. And there were numerous choices that seemed equally as appealing, what with there being more than 200 of them.

There was also rather tasty food, which was a good accompaniment.

The servers were pleasant as well, and the service was fast enough, if not perfect. There was something odd about the bathroom, but I can't recall quite what, at this remove, that might have been. Shows me for waiting so long to write the review. I've decided that this was the bar after the last one numbered, and that's probably even right, so it gets a number, and I'll try to figure out all the rest, as well.

After fleeing Chopstix, because of that horrible tinkling noise, we wandered a couple of blocks towards an innocuous little bar called the Sitting Room. When we had visited Chopstix' predecessor, there had been no liqour stronger than wine at the Sitting Room, so they never got a visit from the questing team. But somewhere in the year in between, they, like so many places, got a liqour license. Good thing, too, because it's a good joint I might otherwise never have ended up in.

The lighting was dim but not dark, the setting was attractive while still being a little spare, unlike a lot of places that end up too cluttered. Brandon and I got a table and ordered a couple appetizers and drinks, and chatted about the decor and the adverts for things that were about. The drinks were good, although not terribly cheap, but then, they're at the foot of Queen Anne, so what can one expect? The food was tasty, and in a good nibbly portion.

I'd like to say more, really I would, but we visited the place like 7 months ago, so I can't be much more specific. It was good, though, and I'd go again if I were ever around there, which, really, I'm not. But if I were, you see...

It's a month after the visit to Chopstix and the Sitting Room, and almost a year after we'd been to the bar next door to this one, Outback Steakhouse. But finally we had arrived at Bone Fish. It's part of a chain that's just arriving in the Seattle area, and while it had been part of the little South Lake Union complex from the beginning, their construction time lagged way behind Outback, and so they had opened long after the other chain place. But it was, at last, open, and we were, at last, in the area, so we went for a drink.

They were just about to close for the night, and in fact, the restaurant was closed, the bar lingering for an extra hour. There were three people there, two of whom were employees, the last a guy at the bar at one end, near the TV. We asked if it was still okay to get drinks, and the bartender (whose name was Jody, it would turn out) said that yes, it was, if we didn't want any food. Which we didn't, so all was well.

It was a nice looking bar, for a chain place. Big, wood, lots of bottles, a friendly server, and while the lighting was soft, I think that was as much a reflection of the fact that the restaurant was closed as anything else. Still, it was decent enough.

The drinks were pretty good, actually. We chatted a bit with Jody about Bone Fish, which we didn't really know anything about, and took a look at the menu, which looked interesting and kind of adventuresome, again for a chain. The prices were a little high for my taste, but maybe if I ate there, and liked it, I'd have a different feeling. A bit high to risk on it being crappy chain food, I suppose. But it doesn't really have that vibe.

Anyway, the drinks done, there was little reason to stay, and anyway, they were closing, so we headed out into the night, further into downtown, to check out a couple other bars if we could. We would only get one of them, though, because some people are just bitches about closing early.

After Bone Fish, we headed over to First Avenue just south of Pike Place Market, where there were a couple bars we hadn't been to. One was a Polynesian place that took over for another bar we did drink at, but that was, in the event, closed for the night. We still haven't been there, either, although it's six months later.

The second of the area was at First and Union, and is called, quite simply, Union. It's got a restaurant section along Union, and the bar along First, with an entrance all its own, in addition to blurring into the restaruant near the main, corner doors.

There were several guys there who I guess knew the bartender, but our man was quick enough at getting down to us that it didn't feel like he was involved with his own crew. It's a bar with a lot of street behind it; your back it to big windows, and there's life going on right behind you if you just turn to look. Being lushes, we instead looked at our drinks. We sat and sipped, and I seem to recall that I liked the simple feel of the place, which wasn't particularly fancy, just a clean, modern bar without too much frou-frou, and yet not a spartan, empty look, either.

The drinks weren't bad, the prices were downtown average, anywhere else high, and we tried to hit another couple after but with no success, so that was our night.

It was October, we were going out to a series of places that we thought might have opened, and we were suddenly and without notice in quest mode again. Parking was mechanical, we were on the prowl, everything was in tune. It was kind of odd to have it come from nowhere.

The Apartment was a good little place, a very spartan, very mod place with little tables and a big bar, a host who worked the room pleasantly and a flat screen TV with the movie "The Apartment" playing on it in an endless loop. Brandon had to take a call (doesn't this happen in all my reviews now?) so I ended up holding a little table for us which was within a couple feet of two other occupied little tables. It's that crowded in the bar, but it didn't feel like the other tables were closing in on us, so that was nice.

The staff was attentive, especially, as mentioned, the host, who I suspect was perhaps an owner, and who was very solicitous of everyone, inquiring if they had had a good time. The food looked good on the other tables, even the remnants left, since it seemed everyone else was just about finishing up and getting ready to go. Which was good, because the bar crawling crowd was starting up, and the room was needed.

The drinks were pretty strong, and not all that cheap, but that was okay. I liked the high roof, the clean industrial look, the upper balcony that actually didn't serve a purpose. I liked the place rather a lot, actually.

And then we headed out to hit a couple more bars, and narrowly missed running into Sean, but only missed him for a moment.

We left the Apartment and wandered down the block, to where I had seen that Fandango was no longer there. It was being replaced, I had noted, by a place called Torrero's, and that new bar was now open. So we made our way to it, and stopped in. We sat at the bar, where there were little standup menus and a bigger drink and food menu they brought us, which had a list of a lot of flavors of margaritas. As a result, we thought we might order some, but first we decided to call Sean.

Sean had gone out earlier, to Belltown I knew, so I thought he might be somewhere nearby. Turned out he was barely more than a block away, so he said he'd come and meet us. He had, as it turned out, just barely not gone into the Apartment a few moments before we had, or perhaps even while we were in the bar.

Brandon tried to order a Melon margarita, only to discover that Melon was apparently the one flavor they didn't have. So he had to think again, and eventually got some sort of berry. I ended up deciding on just a plain margarita, which was pretty decent, and the flavors were good too. Because we ended up with two flavors, Sean having arrived while we were waiting for appetizers, so that he had time to get a drink.

The bar is in the front, with windows looking out onto First Avenue, in the same space that the Fandango bar used to be located. It's only changed a little in that part. But the restaurant portion had a notable remodel, with the kitchen opening up, and new tables and booths. It looked pretty nice.

The drinks were good, the prices were decent. The nachoes had too much and too many toppings (who would think you'd complain about that?). We paid up and headed out, picking up chocolate mints. I found mine in my coat pocket a couple months later, and since it was a hard candy, it was still fine. I felt rather old then, finding a hard candy in some random spot. At least it was still wrapped and not lint covered.

We ambled across the street for another replacement bar. At times it seems like the entire Belltown night life economy is based on hopeful new bars that crash under the pressure, but it does make for a varied landscape, at least.

This place used to be the Belltown Pub, but changed owners and names about a year back. The interior was changed some, upgraded a little, but only a little, to take it from neighborhood hangout to sharp neighborhood hangout. The menu shifted a bit, the prices stayed the same, and the mechanical shark that once hung in the rear has vanished for parts unknown. Other than that, there's not too much to report.

Sean, Brandon and I entered, got drinks that were fine, food that was blah at best (appetizers, not real food) and stayed only a little while. The staff was friendly and helpful, which was good. But I don't think it's better than the old version was, although I've been to each only once, so what exactly I can claim to know is uncertain.

Anyway, we drank, we moved on.

After The Belltown, we were headed home, but Brandon wanted to know if we should hit another bar. There was this place he had seen, which was on the north end of Western, before it headed around Queen Anne Hill. Or he thought there was, at least.

Surprise, surprise, we were game for another bar.

So we came to Barocho. It was kind of late, so that when we discovered there was indeed a bar where Brandon thought it was, there were only about half a dozen people in it. It's a Latin bar, and as near as I can tell, everyone there was speaking Spanish except us. Sean knows a little, so he got by, but Brandon and I just sat there in ignorance. Which didn't make it a bad experience.

They had a sign indicating a claim for the best Lemon Drops in Seattle. So Brandon ordered one, and I just had a well drink. The bartender was quick with the drinks, and I must admit, it was a damn fine Lemon Drop. No sugar on the rim, which was a negative, but even without, it was excellent. The menu for food looked good, and better still, there was a nook by the front that was filled with a massive red leatherette couch, more of a daybed almost, which was so comfortable that it was an effort of will to depart it. There was a little quality TV in the nook, and more seating, so it would be a great place for a group of half a dozen to take over and drink in.

The bathroom had a weird sink that was a silver basin on a marble slab that projected from the wall, with a long necked faucet hanging perilously high above it. Very odd to look at, but kind of pretty.

Good marks for the Lemon Drop and the couch, making Barocho a spot to stop at.

Sometimes I like a place, even if it tries too hard. And sometimes, I like a place until it tries too hard. That place, in this case, was the World Beat Cafe.

It was a rainy night in December when Brandon and I came to the bar, a new one I had just read about in the paper that day. It was part of a night of three that we had planned, and so we walked in completely fresh and ready for anything.

Inside, there was a little restaurant portion to the right, and the bar on the left, with a couple of small tables and the bar itself, and a little sub-bar with four seats that we ended up sitting at. The bartender called out that he'd be with us in a moment, and we took that moment to look over the drink menu. Now that we go out less often, we get a lot more specialty drinks, which isn't, I suppose, fair to bars we just got wells in, but then again, a lot of the specialty drinks are really, really underwhelming.

In this case, I got a hot cider-like thing, with whipped cream and tasty goodness. And Brandon was talked into a gin martini sort of thing, with midori, that he didn't like much. Or really, at all, although he didn't hate it. I thought it was tasty, but what do I know?

We also had a meatball sort of appetizer, which was decent, and had a rather good dipping sauce.

How did it try too hard? First, the bartender was all suggestions, which I suppose was alright for having come around the bar to the little sub-bar. A little attention is a good thing. But then, he kept coming back to see if we were good with our drinks, and when it was obvious that Brandon wasn't, he kept talking it up anyway. Saying that it was really popular, that he really liked it, etc, etc. Well, that's all to the good, I guess, but if the customer doesn't like it, it doesn't help to talk it up. And I mean he kept checking up. He was out to see us three or four times, to ask how the food was, how the drink was, how everything was.

So I think I'd like it better if it were busy, so that the bartender were busy. Which he wasn't, not nearly enough.

Oh, well. It's decent looking inside, the drinks were pretty good, the happy hour wasn't so much, the food was okay, and the service was over the top. Nice, but not great. Maybe if they tone it down a little, it'll be worth a visit, but not just yet.

Having managed to place all the other bars, I realized I still hadn't placed or reviewed the second Mojito, even though it's notably more than a year old.

So anyway, here's my review.

It's not the old Mojito, that delightful little place off Lake City Way. Instead, it's the Mojito made in every way grand, bigger, louder, fancier, more popular. It was packed the night we went, so that we barely managed to get seats on the conga drums that serve as bar stools, and it took a while to get our nearly perfect Mojitos. There's a lot of bright color, a lot of bits of polished tile, and a lot of fun. Or at least there was a long while when I was there, and I'm told there still is.

There's dancing some nights, when they stack up tables in the front seating area, by the windows. There's a bigger menu, a bigger bar and many more people than the old Mojito. But the Mojitos are still the same, and that's what matters.

Okay, it's late, and it's short, but that's what I've got.

Just across the rainy street from World Beat Cafe was a near opposite bar. Where WBC was new, it was lived in. Where WBC was obsequious, it was casual. And where WBC was obviously trying to be something, the Ravenna Pub was just being.

It was pretty dark inside, because there was minimal lighting, and there were a lot of tables that didn't have many people at them. A few sat around the edges, drinking and talking, and there were a couple people at the bar. We went there and were served with alacrity by the bartender, who was attentive for a moment, and then moved on to talk with a friend at the bar, and then took more orders from a couple young women who came up.

Curiously enough, I got flirted with by one of the ladies, who gave me eyes. It was flattering, although odd.

The drinks were decent in flavor, strong on the booze end and not too pricey. The bar was that sort of comfortable neighborhood place that everyone should find, and which Ballard has a few of up on 65th, notably the Tin Hat. I rather liked the vibe of the Ravenna Pub, and it's the place I'd hit if I were in the area.

Named after Teddy Roosevelt, and located in Roosevelt, this used to be just a beer/wine place that I visited a few times with people from work. But a while ago they got their liquor license, and now it's a happening place. Before, there would be tables with people hanging out, and a few guys at the bar, but it wouldn't be too crazy. Now, or at least on the night we were there, after hitting two other bars, there was a mass of people. The tables were all full, the pool table with surrounded, the bar was packed, and there were people piled up behind the bar waiting to order.

So we joined the mass, and eventually got drinks. Which were four dollar sorts, and worth it, in that they weren't bad, but nothing remarkable, either. We stood by a pillar where there was enough space for two people, because there were no seats at all, and very little other room, and even though the pillar was kind of in the middle of things, that was the only option. We kept having to step aside to let people by.

We drank up quick, looked for someplace to ditch our glasses and eventually plopped them down on the bar by reaching over various shoulders, and we were out of there. Too much crowd. I guess getting liquor made them a hot spot. Too hot, as it turned out.

Probably fun if you get there in time for a table, but too much for me.

It was strange and yet so very familiar, as I waited in front of the bookstore for Brandon to pull up, and there was Bridgit in the passenger seat. Deja vu, really. And I sat, and we all said hi, and off we went, looking for bars. Bridgit had one she wanted to hit, but there was another I suggested, along the way, which was Voila!, and so that was the first we went to. Along the way, we shared a delightful apple, and drove through the dark Arboretum, and then we were down by Madison Park, and had found our way to the bar. The apple was finished on the street, and as there was no garbage can, we were forced to leave it to fertilize a shrub.

It used to be Gitano, and before that Gypsy (which is just Gitano in a different language, but it was a totally different place) and something else long before that. Now it was Voila!, opened by the same people who had run Figaro Bistro. The space hasn't changed much since Gitano, although there was new paint, and the bar was a little different. It seemed more open, as well, but that might just be false memory, because it's a small space, and it can't be that open anyway.

We sat right at the bar, because there was room for us there and not really anywhere else. The place, although small, was rather full, and the waitstaff was hustling to keep up. As a result they only said hello, and that they would be with us in a moment, and then bustled off. There was a lot of that, as we sat, and the staff hurried to this and that, and we chatted, before we got helped. While normally this might count against them, they had two things going for them, which were that we could see they were really busy, and that we all wanted, I think, to catch up. So we had our chat, and didn't mind at all about the slow service.

I got a vodka tonic, while there was wine for the others (I think...I may be confusing this with the next bar, or there may have been wine at both, which is, I think, the accurate case). We drank and chatted some more, about the bar, about Bridgit and cooking school and marriage and New Orleans and so on, and about nothing in particular as well, which is really why Bridgit was always one of our favorites to go out with, because it was so easily possible to just chat forever with her.

Voila! was nice, a good place to hang out if you weren't in a hurry, and the food was probably rather good, but we didn't get any, because we were saving ourselves for the next bar. I think I might have liked Gitano better, but there's no use crying over lost bars, and Voila! is certainly good enough to visit.

After a time, we were ready to go, because we had another bar to hit, but the staff was still busy, so getting the check took some while. But it was eventually obtained, and then we headed out into the night again, on our way up to Capitol Hill, and the new restaurant/bar Via Tribunali, which will be, if you're clever, your summer lunch spot of choice.

We parked not very far at all from this new bar, just around the corner, which location would turn out later to be rather fortunate. The front of Via Tribunali doesn't look like much--you would think it was the multi-paned glass door of a garage, able to raise and lower with ease, and you'd be right. The space used to house a repair show, some time ago, and the door is still there. Just inside the door is a room of sorts, beyond which is the real wall of Via T. In the summer, the door will likely always be open, and there will be half a dozen tables right out at streetside, which is why I say this will be your summer lunch place is you're clever.

Inside, it's narrow, because it's just a storefront wide. There are tables, the big bar and more tables behind. At the end of the bar, on the bartender side, is the wood-fired pizza oven, so it's warm to sit there, even in the chill of winter. The place was packed again with people, Thursday apparently being a busy night at everyplace we went to. The bartender was friendly, the staff was attractive in a tattoos and piercings way, the crowd was lively and busily stuffing their faces, and all was good.

We crammed in at the actual bar, asking kindly people to scoot down one seat, which they gladly did. People tell me all the time, or rather, I overhear them commenting to each other more often, that Seattle is painfully unfriendly city. Which may be true, but damn we're polite. So there were three seats exactly between the waitress station and the kindly folks, and we sat and looked over a menu while ordering drinks. Again, I was a tonic guy, while Brandon and Bridgit availed themselves of a delightful wine menu. We ordered a meat and cheese assortment, not huge but filled with delightful options, as well as a very thin crust pizza full of goodness. Bridgit is eating meat again, as opposed to her earlier appearances on this site, so she set too with gusto, and everything was quite good, the food, the drink, the wine, the environment. I still like the pizza at La Vita e Bella better, but this was a close second.

By this time, we had recieved our invites to Bridgit's wedding reception. We had all agreed that it was like no time at all had passed since last we had hung out, and as soon as this became clear, we were invited. We had all thought there might be some awkwardness--it had been a long while, and things had been odd for a time--but nothing of the sort. And so we got to look forward to a delightful evening at Campagne, which I've already mentioned elsewhere.

The food being done, the drinks being dry, we decided to move on, and thought that maybe one more bar would be good. But before we made that trip, we rounded the corner back toward the car, and there was Frites, which I've also already talked about, but which was, in every way, a complete delight. Bridgit was planning to go here again, if she could manage it, before departing for New Orleans; I didn't hear if that happened, but I like to think it did.

Via T (as I'm now going to call it full time, because I keep stumbling over the full name) was a delight as well, and in the summer, I intend to find my way to the al fresco seating, and enjoy it often. If I can beat the crowds that will surely be there.

And our third bar was this, the Six Arms. They were once just a tavern, only possessed of wine and beer, but have since, as with so many other places, made the leap to a full bar. Part of the McMennamin's chain of Northwest Eateries, the Six Arms was perhaps the weakest spot of the night. No, wait, not perhaps.

Again, there was a crowd, though as the Six Arms is rather large, it wasn't as packed. Again, we sat at the bar, Bridgit and I leaving a seat for Brandon who was parking the car. I ordered a Bloody Mary, because I felt like it, and regretted this order very shortly. I had taken but a sip by the time Brandon arrived, and then I declared it was perhaps the worst Bloody Mary I'd ever had, and I've had some bad ones. Bridgit took a sip, and agreed at once, and even Brandon, who doesn't like Bloody Marys to begin with, sampled it and declared it awful. So I replaced it with a vodka tonic, and we mentioned that they might want to think about their Bloody Mary mix, and they did nothing about it, but at least I got a better drink out of the deal.

There was a bowl of fruit with a big sign over it saying, "Don't touch the fruit," which of course meant I wanted to, and that Brandon most certainly would touch it, and he did. I applaud him, really, even though at the time, I told him to stop.

We drank, and the only thing I found myself liking about the bar was the fact that the partition between the bar and the restaurant was made of plumbing pipes, of various sorts and looks, laid out on a diagonal within the rectangular outlines, and quite neat. There were faucets in among the piping, and various other accessories, and all in all it was a good partition.

For the rest, I really don't like McMenamin's bars, and this place was no exception. So I won't really go again, although perhaps you might. But I don't recommend it.

And that was our night with Bridgit, which was lovely, and I wish you all the best in New Orleans. I hope you read this.

From the people who brought us the Jitterbug, the Five Spot, Endolyne Joe's (which we haven't been to even though it's more than a year old) and Brandon's least favorite place of all time, Atlas Foods, comes their newest establishment, the Hi Life. Located in the husk of what was once the Ballard Firehouse, a bar I don't miss at all, it's a vast improvement.

The big empty space has now been converted, with restaurant sitting pretty to the left and the cozy bar to the right. Beyond the bar was a large room that had more tables, and I wasn't certain, and I'm still not, whether it was bar seating, or just another space for diners. You didn't have to go through the bar, not really, to get to it, but if you just casually looked, it would totally seem to be an annex to the bar. Who can say?

We sat at the bar, at the end of it close to this annex that perplexed me, and ordered some drinks. We got a bar menu, and then a moment later got our drinks, and then, well, we thought about ordering food. But sadly, for a bit, thinking about it was all we could do. One of the bartenders had just left (gotten off shift, I presume) which left only one woman to boldly hold down the fort, and she was restocking her area and not noticing when we, way at the end, tried to flag her down. Over and over. But a few minutes later, she was there, we ordered a pizza, and it came in like five minutes, so I suppose the haste of the food made up for the slowness of the service. Total wait time was about what it might have been at another bar, I mean.

The drinks were tasty. Not great, but certainly decent for wells. And the price wasn't high, for which I'm happy. The pizza was good, about the same as the recent Via T. experience, although Brandon seemed to like it more. Not the best value, but the crust was made with a special flour, so the bartender told us, and it did have an odd crispiness, not quite crisp enough for a thin crust experience, but more interesting. I know that doesn't make much sense, but go there and try it and it might be more clear. It was odd, but not bad.

Even though it only opened a little while ago, I got the feeling that there were already regulars hanging out at the bar. Which, Ballard being the drinking area that I know it is, shouldn't surprise me at all.

Pretty decent, over all. I still like the Jitterbug better among their places that I've been to, but the Hi Life doesn't shame them at all.

It's funny how things change over the long course of time that I've been at this. Once, a long time, like say in my first hundred bars, I would have really liked the Fox Sports Grill (FSG). But now, I think it's kind of a pit of despair. Located in the hollowed out corpse of Planet Hollywood, FSG was not really at all what we thought it would be. I had pictured a place with a lot of wood, a whole lot of TVs, lots of sports memorabilia and that sort of thing. Oh, and high end pool tables, dart machines, a few Golden Tee games.

Not like that at all.

Instead, you enter on the main floor, from street level, into a smallish room with a few empty tables, obviously meant for the lunch crowd. There's a rather large hostess counter, also abandoned, and in fact it's a little creepy, everything made up as if there should be something there, but there isn't. The creepiness is much disarmed by the sound coming from below--there's an open gallery looking down on the entry of the actual bar, which is beneath street level, and the volume of sound, in the cocktail party chatter and laughter range, was quite high. We descended the stairs, to see another large dining room to the side which was also essentially empty, and then there it was in front of us, the bar.

It was big, and it was packed. Not that there weren't seats, just that it seemed as if everyone had pushed up against the actual bar, a massive structure in the center of the room with an upside down pyramid suspended over it. The waitresses were wearing sports jerseys, and there were a lot of TVs and one pool table, but otherwise it was not at all what I had expected. The crowd was business casual, and I suspect it's a lot of people from neighboring hotels looking for a more exciting stop than the lobby bar. FSG, however, has coopted hotel bar furnishings, so while more exciting, it will still be familiar for the traveler. There was a lot of standing, talking, chattering, desperately making moves going on here, not least in the side lounge we ended up in, where there were large couches and chairs of the hotel style, and a group of five to one side and three to the other. Young, awkward, looking to get drunk and/or know one another, these were the sorts of people you don't expect to see a bar full of in Seattle, at least in a place with no cover. But here they were.

There was loud music, as well. Hits from the eighties, mainly, and this was one of the things that made me think least of the bar. Not the