#1114 #S662 - Brickyard BBQ, Seattle - 5/19/2010

Update: Brickyard BBQ closed in 2012.

In neighborhood bar areas, as in business, it seems to be a general trend that the rich get richer.  For Seattle area bars, the richest for me are Capitol Hill (particularly the stretch around Olive between Broadway and I5), the Georgetown/SoDo area, and California Avenue in West Seattle.  Along the latter, which ranges from great old dives (e.g. Poggie Tavern) to swanky (best represented by the recently demised Ama Ama) to fancy schmancy (e.g. Spring Hill), you can add one of very few barbecue places that really looks and feels like a barbecue place.

The Brickyard BBQ serves quite good Texas-style barbecue in a quirky building (much of it necessitated by quirky building codes) with a decor assembled from various friends, and designed with warm, summer afternoons in mind.  There is currently a fair amount of outdoor seating and a garage door that opens the inner portion in warm weather, and Don Kriley, who co-owns the place with his brother Dan, took me back to see the grassy area in back that they plan to have ready to open this Saturday May 29th with horse shoe pits, fire pits, an outdoor bar, and live music, and I hope to be able to check it out that night.

Thanks to Don's friend David for giving me a bit of history of not only this place, but the Blue Eagle, Alki, and some of the other old bars of West Seattle.  There's not much fancy about the bar or drinks at the Brickyard, but this is place gives me one more reason to look forward to those warm summer days in between the gray ones.


2308 California Avenue Southwest Seattle, WA - (206) 933-3109
Est. 2010 - Closed 2012
brickyardbarbq.com - facebook - urbanspoon - westseattleblog

#1113 #S661 - Tilikum Place Cafe, Seattle - 5/18/2010

Tilikum Place Cafe, Seattle, WA

This is a quite nice, somewhat upscale, cafe just up the street from the (in no way upscale, but excellent) Five Point, on a historic corner in Seattle at the meeting of land claims by founders Arthur Denny, Carson Boren and William Bell (of the "Belltown" neighborhood). The menu comes from a chef, Ba Culbert, who previously worked at the Palace Kitchen and The Ruins, and seems to feature fine takes on European comfort food sorts of dishes.  In the evenings the bar is a  pleasant stop with better than average drinks. Best seats in the house are the left-most bar seats, where one can observe the small but finely-tuned kitchen churning out their great looking dishes.

Meals coming out of the kitchen as viewed from the bar

Fried Brussels Sprout Salad

Pan seared chicken with broccolini, mashed potatoes, sauce Normany

Wild boar meatballs

Savory tart

407 Cedar St, Seattle, WA 98121 - (206) 282-4830                    
Est. October 2008 - Building constructed 1927
Previous bars at this location: None know (printers shop before cafe)
Web site: tilikumplacecafe.com - facebook
Articles:  seattletimes - belltowninseattle - cornichon - the stranger - seattle weekly - yelp

#1112 #S660 - Coldwater Bar & Grill, Seattle - 5/18/2010

Update: Coldwater Grill closed sometime sometime between December 2012 and Feb 2013.

Not particularly interesting in any way.

1900 Fifth Ave, Seattle, Washington 98101 - (206) 256-7697
Est. Feb 2005 - Closed Dec 2012 - Feb 2013 - Building constructed: 1969
Previous bars at this location:  Trader Vic's/The Outrigger, Roy's
coldwaterbarandgrill.com - seattlepi - yelp

#1116 #S664 - BluWater Bistro, Seattle (Leschi) - 5/24/2010

I've had drinks at this location before, but didn't have it on my list, and those visits may all have been in the Leschi Lake Cafe days. So I dropped by on a sunny Monday afternoon, which the weather sites said would be followed by four cloudy rainy days.

This *should* be the best of the three BluWater locations, but unfortunately the patio is not on the water side. It's still a very pleasant location and as with the other locations, the drinks are average and the food is better than average.

102 Lakeside Ave, Seattle, WA 98122 - (206) 328-2233
bluwaterbistro.com - yelp -

#1111 #S659 - Dahlia Lounge, Seattle - 5/17/2010

I'd never had a drink at the actual lounge of the Dahlia Lounge (the food is Tom Douglas -- you know all about that).  The bar doesn't have a lot of character, and this remains much more of a place where you wait for your table than a destination bar.

Nevertheless, the "Thai Basil" cocktail I had was delicious.  "Those are basil seeds, not fish eggs, at the bottom," the bartender noted, apparently anticipating a common assumption.  When the drink is that tasty, I don't really care.

2001 4th Ave, Seattle, WA 98121 - (206) 682-4142
tomdouglas.com - yelp

#1110 #S658 - Blueacre Seafood, Seattle - 5/17/2010

Update: Blueacre Seafood closed in early 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic and announced their permanent closure Nov 18, 2020

The emphasis is on the seafood at Blueacre, the new place from the Steelhead Diner folks in the space of the former Oceanaire.  While I didn't eat, the fellow next to me had one of the most sumptuous looking pieces of salmon I've ever seen.  But the cocktail menu is not a mere afterthought, featuring a number of interesting drinks named for various legal terms -- "Class Action," "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree," "Hostile Witness," etc.  ("Blueacre" is apparently a seafood version of "black acre," a generic sort of "John Doe" term for a property in legal lingo.)

The bartenders seem to vary quite a bit in their knowledge and experience, but I enjoyed my "Tragedy of the Commons" (Buffalo Trace bourbon, velvet falernum, lime, and Peychard's bitters).

1700 7th Ave, Seattle, WA 98101 - (206) 659-0737

Est. 2010 - Closed Nov 18, 2020 - Building constructed: 2000

Previous bars in this location: Oceanaire

blueacreseafood.com - facebook - seattle times - tom douglas - thestranger -

#1109 #S657 - Blu Water Grill, Lake Union, Seattle - 5/17/2010

This was my first visit to this version of the BluWater Bistro (after being to the Leschi restaurant a couple times and the Greenlake version several times). 

I visited on a hazy, weekday afternoon, and after seeing the cabana, I'm eager to check it out on a warm summer evening, even though I suspect it doesn't tend to draw a sort of crowd I prefer.

The cocktails are pedestrian, but the food is pretty good and the view is excellent.

1001 Fairview Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109 - (206) 447-0769

bluwaterbistro.com - thestranger - yelp