#1006 #S623 - Avila, Seattle - 3/10/2010

Update: Avila closed in July 2010.

Judging wine bars as simply bars can be a bit problematic. Since I exclude the restaurant/food portion, you're left basically with the ambiance, service, and a tiny fraction of a taste of the wine they have, when you can now get very good wines at virtually any grocery store. And the decor of wine bars is, of course, highly formulaic -- there are going to be servers dressed in black, modern exposed-concrete and steel surfaces, rolled up towels in a basket in the restroom, a touch of abstract art, votive candles on the tables, and small, halogen lamps hanging over the bar.

So setting aside the eclectic and adventurous dinner and appetizer menus at Avila ("AV'-ill-uh"), I'm basically left with a fairly typical wine bar, but with unusually friendly servers (and none of the attitude I've experienced at Smash, just up the road a bit). That makes this a pretty nice little stop if you feel like a couple glasses of wine (and an even better one if you feel like a bite of some interesting food).

1711 N 45th St., Seattle, WA 98103 - (206) 545-7375
avilaseattle.com - seattletimes - thestranger - yelp

#1005 #S622 - Bottleworks, Seattle - 3/10/2010

For a moment I was not sure whether to count Bottleworks as a bar, since it is focused on retail of bottles, and the limited bar area was largely covered in boxes as the staff busily stocked the refrigerators that line the walls and maintain said bottles at temperatures tastefully maintained below the standard grocery store section dedicated primarily to your Bud Light fans picking up a half rack at halftime. But there are some good beers on tap (as well as the great selection of approx. 1,000 bottles to enjoy in the shop, if you'd like). And the table I sat at provided one perhaps the most important feature of all in a bar, which was good conversation -- this one between four people who'd never previously met.

So cheers to Matt ("Vern" to his friends), one of the strangers, who turned out to be the owner, and to cute Emily, and to the bicycling guy whose name I forget. It's a great little place for anyone who likes good beer, and I'll definitely be back.

bottleworksbeerstore.blogspot.com - yelp - bsbrewing - beermapping.com
1710 N 45th St, Seattle, WA 98103 - (206) 633-2437

#1004 #S621 - Blu Water Bistro, Seattle (Greenlake) - (OOO)

Update: This Bluwater Bistro closed in April 2015.



One more bar that I've been to plenty of times but missed from my list.  A nice restaurant with a bar that is fine, but nothing special.







7900 E Green Lake Dr N., Seattle, WA 98103 - (206) 524-3985
Est. May 1, 2002 - Closed April 25, 2015 - Building constructed 1996
bluwaterbistro.com - yelp

#1003 #S620 - Palace Kitchen, Seattle - (OOO)

Another place I've been to many times (the bar, not just the restaurant), but somehow missed on my list.  The Palace Kitchen is, of course, a Tom Douglas place, which means the cocktails are not up to the level of the food, but that's a very high bar (everyone in Seattle already knows about the food at Douglas's places, so no comments necessary on that front).  The bar is pretty much the basics, but it tests your self-discipline with those dang bowls of pistachios sitting around the bar.

2030 5th Ave., Seattle, WA 98121- (206) 448-2001
tomdouglas.com - yelp

#1002 #S619 - Marie Callenders, Seattle - (OOO)

I decided to belatedly add this because Marie's does have a whole separate room for the bar and people clearly go there just for the bar (most dependably one big guy in a hockey shirt who appears to go there every single day). For several years this was a fairly regular haunt for myself and several co-workers at a small software company due to its location (we referred to it as "Murray's," since "Marie's" is not a fit name for a bar). If it's not the most conveniently located bar for you, I really can't think of any other reasons you would go.

9538 1st Ave NE., Seattle, WA 98115 - (206) 526-5785
yelp

#1001 #S618 - Rat & Raven, Seattle - 3/7/2010

The new owners of this space have made some very nice remodeling changes and made a good effort to change the vibe for the better.  It used to be the Emmigrant, supposedly an Irish bar, which was big and boring and suffered enormously by comparison with the Galway Arms right across the street.  The Galway is small and lively, overflowing with interesting people, and remains a bar of considerably more character.  But thanks to the new ownership (expanding from Clever Dunne's on Capitol Hill), the Rat and Raven is now at least a pleasant change of pace.

The R&R now includes a very nice, open, upstairs area, and hosts people playing not only pool and darts, but also shuffleboard, Scrabble and Texas Holdem.  The drinks are unfancy, as you'd expect in the a university district, and the crowd, if not as interesting as across the street, is tad more pleasant than the previous one.


5260 University Way Northeast Seattle, WA 98105 - (206) 524-3166
Est. 2009 - Building constructed: 1926
Previous bars at this location: Irish Emigrant, Century Bar/Cafe/Tavern (Boom Boom Room)
ratandraven
seattleweekly

What's next for Project K-Bar?

Though I have now reached the "K" in "Project K-Bar" (and no, I am not nerdy enough to question whether a K is actually 1024 bars), the project will continue apace.  The next goals are to:

•  Have a drink in every bar in the Seattle city limits
•  Have a drink in 1,000 different Seattle bars

From here on out, each entry in this blog for a Seattle bar will contain, in addition to the total count of bars documented, an #Snnn number indicating the count of Seattle bars.

(Graffiti from the Streamline Tavern)

Identifying and counting all (of what I would count as) bars in Seattle is problematic, but here's my general approach:

• Download the list of all Washington state on-premises liquor licenses (available from the liquor control board here)
• Eliminate all non-Seattle entries
• Eliminate all places that I have already been
• Eliminate all places that I can immediately reject as a "bar" (e.g. for some reason Walmarts have on-premises licenses)
• Determine by visiting each remaining place or other means whether they have an actual bar (as opposed to just restaurants)
• As I approach either goal, download the latest lists of licenses to identify new bars

I've just barely begun this effort, but here are some numbers for the sake of trivia (license info based on December 2009):

• 216 - Number of bars I visited for the first time in 2009
• 617 - Number of the first 1,000 bars in Project K-Bar that are/were in Seattle
• 13,190 - On-premises liquor licenses in Washington state (5,080 off-premises licenses)
• 7,880 - licenses in Washington state that may be bars (this still includes things like private clubs, yacht clubs, legion halls, restaurants that may serve liquor but have no actual bar, and bars that I do not count as "destination bars" such as airport bars, Appleby's, Red Robin, etc.)
• 1,526 - licenses in Seattle that may be bars (see criteria/caveats above)