#1555 #S921 - Origin, Seattle -9/22/2011

I don't understand why they have a bar at all. Origin is a mediocre Vietnamese restaurant hidden from street view in the middle of a small shopping mall.  Does anybody really go to this bar?  You couldn't tell it from the bartender they hunted down for me, who served me a limp gin and soda when I ordered a gin and tonic.  Unless you have your own project to have a drink at every bar in Seattle, I don't know why you'd bother with the bar here.


1333 5th Ave, Ste 510, Seattle, WA 98101 - (206) 317-2979
Est. Sept. 4, 2011 - Building constructed: 1976
Other bars at this location: Navya Lounge
facebook - yelp

#1554 #S920 - Orcas Landing, Seattle -9/20/2011

Update: Orcas Landing closed in July 2012

This is a new Hillman City bar from Laurie Lusko, the displaced owner of the Beacon Hill Pub (now Bar del Corso).  This night was a slow one and I ate bruschetta and chatted about bars of Seattle past with Mary Lou, who has owned area restaurants and on this night was working for tips for her friend the owner.  There's nothing particularly remarkable about this place, the drinks, or the food, but it seems like a reasonably nice neighborhood joint.

5609 Rainier Ave S, Seattle, WA 98118 - (206) 402-4034
Est. 2011 - Closed: July 2012 - Building constructed: 1915
Other bars at this address:  None known
facebook - seattlemag - seattleweekly - newpubbistro - yelp

#1553 #S919 - Velvet, Seattle -9/14/2011

Velvet is an event space in a 100-year-old wooden warehouse just south of the ballparks.  It is decorated in the style of a 19th century bordello and has a nice big bar and some basic cocktails.  This was the first night of the "Velvet stage," which I think means it was the first night for the Velvet bar (this night featuring the dark neo-cabaret of the Blackmoor Travelling Picture Show).

1701 1st Ave S., Seattle, WA - 206 380-9576           
Est. Sep. 14, 2011 - Building constructed: 1910
velvetstage.com - facebook

#1552 - Hollywood Tavern, Woodinville, WA - 9/17/2011

Update: Alas, the atavistic and almost bewildering joy of turning the bend from the lavish lawns of contemporary Woodinville wineries and stumbling upon this ramshackle dive with the beat up "Tavern" sign turned out to be just too incongruent to last. The sign remains, but the cabin-like space where Mabel Niemen served up Olys to a blue collar crowd is remodeled almost beyond recognition, into an upscale home of modern cuisine served up by Josh Henderson, who first made a name for himself with his Skillet food truck. Beside it stretches a large, new warehouse hosting the Woodinville Whiskey distillery.

To be sure, the drinks and food are light years better, and the space, said to be modeled on Napa Valley's "Taylor’s Refresher" has some nice, quirky touches, including horseshoe throwing in front, and a fire pit patio in back. In addition to the old Tavern sign, there are some references here and there to the old place -- paint-by-number paintings, and a framed tavern token collection. I quite enjoyed my Oil Change (Woodinville Whiskey Rye, Meletti amaro, root beer bitters), and I'm sure there are more nice options among the drinks designed by Maggie Savarino (Madison Park Conservatory). And looking at the dishes of various updated comfort foods being served to folks around us, I looked forward to coming back when I have not just had dinner, and having some Ancho Chile Tots, with their braised pork bits, cilantro, ancho lime crema and toasted pepitas.

If it had to go, I'm glad they preserved as much of it as they did, and that they replaced it with a joint that I want to go to repeatedly. But I will miss the pure impertinence of the old dive around the corner from Chateau St. Michelle.

14508 Woodinville Redmond Rd, Woodinville, WA 98072-9092 - 425 610-7730
Est. Late 1947 - Upscale version est. Nov 12, 2013 - Building constructed: Late 1923
Web site: thehollywoodtavern.com - facebook
Articles: seattletimes - seattlemag - 425magazine - eatinseattle - thestranger - prnewswire - yelp - seattlemet - seattlemet - woodinvillewhiskeyco - woodinvillepatch

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Just around the corner from the courtly wine country of Woodinville, WA is a tiny old bar with a small neon sign reading simply "Tavern."  The place is inexplicably named the Hollywood Tavern, although until the early 90s it was "Mabel's Tavern" and the latter name is still commonly used to clarify the location.  The building opened as The Homestead Grocery (and gas station) in the early 1920s, and in the 40s was sold to Mabel Newman, who converted into a tavern.
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 There's a parking lot where Mabel's house used to be, and the bar itself contains many pieces of paraphernalia from Olympia Beer, the current owner's favorite.  It is a true tavern (no liquor, just beer and wine) and has a pleasant set of old regulars on the stools

14508 Woodinville Redmond Rd, Woodinville, WA 98072-9092 - (425) 488-0630
Articles on old version: woodinville.patch - woodinville.patch - kcls (woodinville history) - yelp

#1551 #S918 - Coterie, Seattle -9/14/2011

Update: On the evening of Sep 29, 2013, Coterie closed as a public bar and was used only for special events for a few years until Cursed Oak opened in its space in November 2016

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There was not a lot of tension over whether I'd like to food or cocktails in this new restaurant in the old location of Restaurant Zoe.  It's another place by Brian McCracken and Dana Tough, after Spur and Tavern Law, my favorite stop for cocktails or fine food in Seattle.  The emphasis is on the bar in those other two, but it's a smaller part of this one.  We had some tasty cod fritters and mac & cheese to go with a Seelback, a sazerac, and a third drink of no name with aquavit and celery bitters (the third came as a challenge to bartender Jerry to make a nice drink with an aquavit base).

It was all very tasty, as I expected.  However if you are looking primarily for a bar, this space is less intimate and darkly comfortable than Spur and Tavern Law, despite an intriguing wall of live ferns.  But it's great to have more options from these two guys.

2137 2nd Ave, Seattle, WA 98121 - (206) 956-8000
Est. Sep 13, 2011 - Building constructed: 1927
Other bars at this location: Restaurant Zoe
thecoterieroom.com - facebook - tossedsaladsandscrambledeggs - seattletimes - seattletimes - eater.com - thestranger - yelp

#1550 #S917 - Bar Del Corso, Seattle - 9/10/2011

I was sad to see the long-running Beacon Hill Pub close before I could ever make it (the owner moved to open Orcas Landing).  But holy smokes, Jerry Corso has turned this into one of the city's best neighborhood pizzerias and restaurants. We sat at the end of the bar and watched delicious looking dish after delicious looking dish coming out.  It's no secret either -- though it is a reasonably sized place, you can expect to have a fairly long wait any day of the week if you go anywhere close to the dinner hour.

But it's worth it.

I put BDC in my personal top 4 pizza stops in Seattle (along with downtown's Serious Pie, Wallingford's Delancey, and West Seattle's Phoenicia).  We had the Salame Piccante pizza (tomato, salame, mozzarella, roasted peppers and grana).  But the salads and appetizers are as good or better.  We enjoyed the Suppli al Telefono (Roman street food: fried risotto balls and mozzarella) and I had the best heirloom tomato / Caprese salad I've ever had in my life (heirloom tomatoes and burrata with extra virgin olive oil, balsamic must, basic and coarse see salt).

The bar is good as well.  I had an Old Perry Manhattan Redux (sweet vermouth, rye whiskey, Angostura bitters), but it is the food that will make you lust to return.



3057 Beacon Ave S, Seattle, WA 98144 - (206) 395-2069
Est. July 12, 2011 - Building constructed: 1926
Other bars at this location: There have been bars her since at least 1939,  and it was the Beacon Hill Pub from at least 1948 until 2010
bardelcorso.com - facebook - seattletimes - seattletimes - seattleweekly - thestranger - eater.com - yelp

#1549 - East Side Bar and Grill, Bellevue, WA - 9/6/2011

Um, no.

625 116th Avenue Northeast, Bellevue, WA 98004-5207 - (425) 455-9444
coasthotels.com - yelp