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Bars where Pete has had a Drink (5,608 bars; 1,754 bars in Seattle) - Click titles below for Lists:


Bars where Pete has had a drink

Friday, June 17, 2011

#1384 #S842 - Empire Pub, Seattle - 3/5/2011

Update: The Empire Pub closed in either 2011 or 2012


The Empire Tavern, named for its old location on Empire Way (before it was changed to Martin Luther King Jr. Way), is a classic neighborhood dive. It's been in the current location for about four years, but has a fine collection of old geezers. The walls are filled with Nascar paraphernalia and completed jigsaw puzzles featuring eagles, turkeys, Mt. Rushmore and Thomas Kincade-like cottages. It's a good place to wear your dirty baseball cap and have a beer and some microwave popcorn.

9501 Rainier Ave, Seattle, Washington 98118 - (206) 725-7714
Est. 1948 or earlier, at 5701 Empire Way (later Martin Luther King Jr Way), forced to move due to Sound Transit construction - Closed 2011 or 2012
Previous bars at this location: None known
Subsequent bars at this location: Souvanny's Restaurant and Lounge
yelp

Sunday, June 05, 2011

#1381 #S839 - Crepe Cafe and Wine Bar - 3/3/2011

Good wine and very good crepes.

2118 NE 65th St, Seattle, WA 98115-6936 - (206) 527-7147
Est. 2005
crepesandwine.com - facebook - thestranger - yelp  

#1380 #S838 - A Caprice Kitchen, Seattle - 2/24/2011

Update:  Caprice Kitchen closed July 9, 2011

There is actually a bar here, and it's a quite pleasant place to have a glass of wine (although it is not open late -- closing by 9pm -- and it is not open Mondays and Tuesdays).  However the focus is clearly on the food and people seem to especially enjoy the weekend brunch.  It is small and fairly intimate, and feels like some little roadside farm cafe where a fine chef moved after getting sick of the city.  There is an emphasis on sustainable, organic, local, and seasonal (hence the "caprice") ingredients.  I've seen some mixed reviews of the food but all the items I have had have been uniformly yummy.

1418 NW 70th St, Seattle, WA 98117 - (206) 371-2886
Est. 2008
capricekitchen.com - thestranger - seattleweekly - yelp

Saturday, June 04, 2011

#1379 #S837 - Tidbit, Seattle - 2/22/2011

Update:  Tidbit closed Aug. 27, 2011

Tidbit has some very good (Spanish and Italian) food, some interesting cocktails, and a pretty amazing happy hour with good wines and $1 (!) well drinks (4-6 and 9-close Tues-Fri).  I tried the "Esta-te" (gin, rum, Triple Sec, vodka, Chinotto, lime, and lemon) and the "Peach Sangria-tini" (Absolut Peach, tempranillo, Triple Sec, orange juice, muddled oranges, limes, lemons).

The actual bar portion of Tidbit is tiny and not easy to sit at.  But it's a fine little stop for tapas, wine, and what has to be the most affordable happy hour drinks on Capitol Hill


1401 Broadway, Seattle, WA 98122 - Tel 206-323-0840
Est. 2007 - Building constructed: 1996
tidbitbistro.com - closureseattletimes - thestranger - yelp

#1378 #S836 - Chen's Village, Seattle - 2/20/2011

Update: Chen's Village closed Dec 28, 2018.

This is a classic old American Chinese place with a lounge attached.  The lounge portion is integrated into the mirrored wall restaurant slightly more here than the typical darkened room in the back or side of the Chinese place. 

Before it became Chen's in 2005, this was the Lee Chee Garden, and before that it hosted a tiki bar. It was the Tiki Hut -- with "exotic beverages" served in the Shell Room lounge -- by 1962 and into the 70s (at one point also know as "Hope's Hut").  In the 80s it was the Blue Hawaiian Restaurant (still featuring the Shell Room) until becomeing Lee Chee in the late 80s.

Rick Anderson writes of more recent days, "The bar tends to attract cops, editors, and other riffraff."  But the only riffraff in the whole place on the Sunday afternoon we dropped in were ourselves.  It serves pretty much the type of Chinese food and cocktails that you would expect.

Update: Around 2015 I started working in a space just a couple blocks from Chen's. Since the photo here was taken, the I and the L had also fallen off the front facade, and hence it was referred to as what sounded like "Chen's Lodge." A few years later, more letters were missing, and I resolved to liberate one of them for myself and the office within the next few days. I was too late though -- two days later 100% of the characters out front, including the numbers of the address, were all gone.

Chen's Village, Seattle, WA

This wasn't entirely unexpected -- Chen's had been literally falling apart for several years. In addition to the letters on the facade, ceiling tiles, garden planter railings, the clock in the bar, and other various parts of the premises were all missing pieces, with no apparent effort to repair or even stem the tide of outflowing chunks of the restaurant. They also stopped investing in frivolities like heating the building, and on cold days the server would arrive at your table with a big puffy coat on underneath her apron. The food was still fine though, but most the orders now appeared to be take-out.

Update: The day after Christmas 2018, the "Vanishing Seattle" Facebook group, and perhaps other outlets, began to spread the news that Chen's would be closing for good that Friday. We stopped in for a nightcap, joining a few regulars who were grumpy that they couldn't get their customary seat at the bar. "No, I'm not scooting," one said, when a friend tried to join the couple to his right. This was the same fellow who told the person next to him earlier that he didn't know the price of vodka, because "I don't drink vodka -- I'm not a white woman on a diet." In between these exchanges, with "Jeopardy" on the television, they argued about the Punic wars and Greek islands.

Scuttlebutt has it that the building is not, as one would suspect, due to be razed soon. "Apparently it’s not being demo’d - the lease has been taken over by a local chef & it’ll be turned into a commercial kitchen" (Vanishing Seattle). It's an oddly shaped space in an oddly placed point in time and location, as the massive tide of development driving by Amazon et. al. just a mile or so to the east has yet to really roll up the narrow shelf of "Interbay," stretching from downtown to Ballard between Elliot Bay and Queen Anne hill. One hopes that the new management makes better progress on remodeling than the lingering mess that used to be The Shanty Cafe just up the street.

544 Elliott Ave W, Seattle, WA 98119-3910 - (206) 281-8838               
Est. 2005 - Closed Dec 28, 2018 - Building constructed: 1936
Previous bars at this location:  The Tiki Hut, Hope's Hut, Blue Hawaii, Lee Chee Garden
newchensvillage.com  - publicola - seattleweekly - rick anderson - yelp  - tikicentral (tiki hut period)