#1840 - Koral, Bellevue, - 8/14/2011

Owned by the same folks who own Pearl Bar & Dining, this new place in the Bellevue Hyatt aims for "a new American Tavern," with craft cocktails, and "approachable" American regional dishes. (In order to form an opinion, I must come back for more than this quickie bite and drink in their off  hours.)

900 Bellevue Way Northeast #100 Bellevue, WA 98004 - (425) 623-1125
Est. March 1, 2012
Previous bars in this location: Twisted Cork

Web site: koralbellevue.com
Reviews: seattletimes - eatbellevue - gastrolust - yelp - thestranger

#1839 #S1049 - Mutiny Hall, Seattle - 8/13/2012

Update: Mutiny Hall closed May 17, 2014.

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This is another craft beer public house from Seth Howard of downtown's Collins Pub and Lake City's Hudson Pub. This one is very much in the model of Hudson, with a good selection of beers, a woody but fairly plain design, and slightly upscale pub food. With all the places one can get great beers, the attractiveness of this place for me will depend upon the kind of crowd it attracts and vibe they create. During this visit it felt a little lifeless, but they were just getting started, so it remains to be seen if it manages to establish a sort of neighborhood vitality.

1205 Northeast 65th Street Seattle, WA 98115 - (206) 524-5020
Est. Aug 12, 2012 - Building constructed: 1947 - Closed May 17, 2014
Previous bars in this location: None known (previously Jalisco restaurant)
Web site: mutinyhall.com - facebook
Reviews: seattlepi - seattlebeernews - examiner - thrillist - thestranger - yelp - urbanspoon

#1838 - Cloverleaf Tavern, Tacoma, WA - 8/6/2011

 The Cloverleaf is an old neighborhood bar known for its unique pizza, and particularly the thin, compressed shell pizza crust. It's a kind of hybrid of an old dive bar, a sports bar, and the sort of family restaurant that has photos of the long-time customers and colored pictures by kids on the wall. The help are hip and friendly, with a reasonable set of beers on tap. The first time visitor certainly must have the famous pizza, but be prepared to wait 45 minutes for their special special crust to bake.

Their menu describes the ownership history:

"Pat Nolde and Mike Ball started the Cloverleaf Tavern in 1950. Jack Collimum and Al Moody were owners between then and October 1960 when Larry Turco purchased the business. In 1961, Larry brought in the pizza recipe from a business interest he had in Ponders. Larry did well at the Cloverleaf Tavern, but decided to sell to Lennard Manke January 1, 1971. Lennard continued a thriving business until his retirement. He sold the business to [his employee and daughter-in-law] Debbie Manke on January 1, 2004."

6430 6th Avenue Tacoma, WA 98406 - (253) 565-1111
Est. 1950

Web site: cloverleafpizza.com - facebook  
Reviews: seattleweekly - weeklyvolcano - tnt - yelp - tripadvisor

#1837 - Cassidy's Pub, Tacoma, WA - 8/6/2011

Cassidy's Pub and Outdoor Mini-Golf! A dive bar and miniature golf! I love Tacoma!

9621 Portland Avenue East Tacoma, WA 98445 - (253) 531-2251
Previous bars at this location: Brouwer's Tavern (50s-80s), Mae West Pub (80s, 90s)
Reviews: yelp - insiderpages

#1836 - Frosty's, Napavine, WA - 8/6/2011

Frosty's is a big, bustling, barn-like place that has been in Napavine, Washington for a long, long time. The bartender told us that Frosty's has been a bar in its current location and with the name Frosty's since 1901.  I haven't seen any primary sources verifying this, but they have liquor licenses going back to at least 1903 framed right on the wall. The oak back bar itself is said to date to 1902.

The building is roughly split in two with a family restaurant side and a bar side. The food is American pub food, with burgers, salad bar, etc. The bar sometimes features a ghost, which is dressed like an old logger and is presumably an old customer who has found nothing in the afterlife to compare.

113 W Front Ave Napavine, WA 98565 - (360) 262-3980          
Est. 1901

Web site: frostysbarandgrill.com -
Reviews: chronline - yelp

#1835 - Merwin Tap, Woodland, WA - 8/6/2011

The Merwin Tap is one of those places that you assume is a tiny dive from outside, but more capacious -- with an area for live bands -- than expected. It seems like a fairly typical dive bar, although bartender Jen gave us a colorful illustration of some of her experiences with a ghost that frequents the place, and showed us a photo where mysterious faces show up in the window of empty building, over the shoulders of a group shot out front.  She believes the building was constructed in the 1930s.

Ghostly faces in background detail, Merwin Tap photo

134 Davidson Ave Woodland, WA 98674 - (360) 225-7339

#1834 - The Timber Room, Estacada, OR - 8/6/2011

The Timber Room folks do not appear to be big online types, so basically all I know about the place is what I heard from the folks there when we visited. We heard it is now the oldest building in Estacada -- exact age was unknown, but "18-somethin" (the town was founded as a camp for dam workers and incorporated in 1905, but it's possible some structures pre-date that). We heard it used to be the bank, with a whore house upstairs. We heard explanations of some of the history painted on the walls outside, including the naked bikers coming through, the naked horse rider, and one or two people shooting up the place. We heard the room next door used to be the Trails Cafe, but it was now just part of the Timber Room. And we heard that people sing karaoke in the cafe room, while everyone else sits in the room with the bar.

It seems like an interesting place.

397 South Broadway Street, Estacada, OR 97023 - (503) 630-3139
Portland Mercury - Best of Estacada