#2811 #S1357 - Greenlake Ale House, Seattle - 7/3/2015

Greenlake Ale House, Seattle
Before new signage to replace BluWater

Foodie friends may mock me for missing the Outback Steakhouse in my neighborhood, but to me this just illustrates their failure to grasp the gravity of Seattle's Mid-Priced Steak Crisis. Of course you can get a lovely steak at The Met, El Gaucho, Ruth's Chris, etc. etc., but at prices you don't want to pay every day. Steaks at everyday meal prices generally taste like crap, and there are slim pickings in between. Many small western Washington cities have it all over Seattle in this mid-price category -- although one of the lessons we've learned repeatedly on our roadtrips across the state is: Don't order the steak at a place that doesn't specialize in steak.

Jak's in Seattle comes pretty close to filling that gap.  It doesn't have quite as affordable options as the small town steakhouses (or the Outback chain), but there are a couple nice corn-fed Nebraska steak options in the twenty-some dollar range. Greenlake Ale House (not to be confused with the bar of the same name on Aurora Avenue in the 90s) is a new place from the Jak's folks across the street from popular Seattle lake and park, and a tad more casual than Jak's. The bar here is pretty boring, but in addition to the steaks they have several better than average samples of modern American pub food. The hummus, steak salad, and blackened salmon sandwich we had all nicely fit just the mid-range comfort food sort of options we were hoping for.

And I'm still hoping for more options like this. We must not allow a steak gap!

7900 E Green Lake Dr N, Ste 10, Seattle, WA 98103 - (206) 294-5753
Est. 2015 - Building constructed: 1996
Previous bars in this location: Six Degrees, Bluwater Bistro
Web site: greenlakealehouse.com - facebook
Reviews: yelp - tripadvisor - greenlaker - greenlaker - untappd