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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

Tuesday, January 08, 2013

#1891 #S1066 - El Quetzal Bar, Seattle - 9/8/2011

The quetzal is a colorful bird that was sacred to ancient Mesoamericans, and the national bird and name of the currency in Guatemala. El Quetzal on Beacon Hill is a bar / gallery from Almendra Sandoval, with a lot of art (much of it erotic) and apparently quite hopping on weekend evenings (gangster rap was lingering from the previous night). It's a very cool, little space and serves some fairly good magaritas.  You can also order some fairly good Mexico City-style street food from the restaurant portion next door.



3209 Beacon Avenue South Seattle, WA 98144 - (206) 329-2970
Est. Jan 29, 2012 - Building constructed: 1927
Previous bars in this location: None known
Web site: facebook
Reviews: seattletimes - thestranger - urbanspoon - yelp - tripadvisor   

#1890 #S1065 - Ambassel Restaurant, Seattle - 9/7/2011

Ambassel is a good Ethiopian restaurant with a small bar that serves very basic drinks and a web site that is a marvel of animated gifts, scrolling text, jumbled frames, and other circa 1996 web design. Some of the staff's understanding of American accents is imperfect so you may need to take care (e.g. the bartender heard our request for "menus" as "Manny's").


1224 East Jefferson Street Seattle, WA 98122 (206) 860-7074
Previous bars in this location: Simon's Place (70s)
Building constructed 1909
Web site: ambasselethiopianrestaurant.com - facebook     
Reviews: yelp

Sunday, January 06, 2013

#1889 #S1064 - Zobel Restaurant, Seattle - 9/7/2011

Zobel ("gathering place" in Amharic), is one of a large number of Ethiopian restaurants in this part of the Central District of Seattle. It was created in 2003 by Enana Kassa, who immigrated from Ethiopia in 1983 and eventually established the smaller Blue Nile in the same area. The food is good and the bar is casual and just the basics.



1219 East Jefferson Street Seattle, WA 98122 - (206) 323-1408
Est. 2003 - Building constructed: 1949
Previous bars in this location: None known
Web site: zobelrestaurant.com - facebook  
Reviews: yelp - urbanspoon

#1888 #S1063 - Kickin Boot Whiskey Kitchen, Seattle - 9/6/2011

Kickin Boot Whiskey Kitchen, Seattle, WA
Update: Kickin Boot closed in October 2017

Try the:  Dark Sparrow

Kickin Boot Whiskey Kitchen is large and instantly popular, and people like to criticize big, popular places. But I'm a fan. The Matador guys (Zak Melang and Nathan Opper) have done a great job of remodeling the 1927 Henry Whyte warehouse, which once hosted Ballard Millwork, Union Wines, and then Olsen Furniture. The place is large, rustic and industrial. It is very pretty, but also rather corporate -- you won't find charming little shabby and personal touches, no items from childhood or inherited from Uncle Hank. In that sense it seems a bit out of place in Ballard and even Seattle -- it immediately feels more like a place in Dallas or Scottsdale.


Nevertheless it is a beautiful setting, and a fine alternative, I believe, to the more hole in the wall sorts of BBQ joints which pepper the Ballard area. The BBQ and choice of 5 sauces at your table are not knock your socks of good, but they are quite adequate. And the cocktails are more than adequate. The horse shoe shaped bar is the center of attention, backed by a giant triangle of whiskey in the large back window. The emphasis, as the name says, is on whiskey, and they have flights for tasting and whiskey (Buffalo Trace) on tap.


Kicking Boot Whiskey Kitchen, Seattle, 
Some BBQ purists may resent that it's an attraction as much or more for socializing and its large patio as it is for its smoked meats or sauces. But I see it as a fine bar and dinner alternative.



5309 22nd Ave NW, Seattle, WA 98107 - (206) 783-2668
Est. Aug 16, 2012 - Building constructed: 1927
Previous bars in this location: None
Web site: kickinboot.com - facebook  
Best Reviews: seattleweekly - thestranger - seattletimes - myballard - building history - seattlemet - seattlemag - thestranger - yelp

#1887 #S1062 - Cafe 56, Seattle - 9/5/2012

Update: Elliot's Seafood Cafe changed its name to Cafe 56 in early 2013.
Update: Cafe 56 is now closed


This is a nice little casual option, particularly on sunny days at the waterfront, to the more formal main restaurant at Elliott's, and I suppose tourists and oyster lovers will enjoy the sidewalk oyster bar. But I shall miss humble Steamer's, where guys who looked like they could have been cooking on some old ship for 40 years pulled hunks of salmon and corn on the cob from under smokey hoods.

1201 Alaskan Way, Seattle, WA 98101 - (206) 623-4340             
Est. 2012
Previous bars in this location: None known
Web site: elliottsoysterhouse.com 
Best Reviews: christinecox - seattlemet - northwestwiningandining - seattleweekly - thrillist - thestranger - yelp - eater

Saturday, January 05, 2013

#1886 #S1061 - Nick's Off Market, Seattle - 9/4/2011

Update: Nick's was further reconfigured into "Eetbar" in 2014, which closed in Nov 2015.

Tonight's dinner has forced me to reshuffle my list of Favorite Sandwiches in Seattle:

1. Crab BLT - Seatown Snackbar
2. Nick's Nitro Prime Dip - Nick's Off Market
3. Cuban Roast - Paseo

NOM is a substantial reconfiguration of the shortlived Amber Den. It is now less of a wine bar, less of a fern bar, more casual, with more beer choices and cocktails. The cocktails and "Northwest comfort food with a twist" are both pretty good, and the Nitro Prime Dip (prime beef, chorizo, red onion, mushrooms, pepperoncinis, pepperjack cheese, chipotle mayo and au jus) is must-try sandwich.


1556 NW 56th St, Seattle, WA 98107 - (206) 783-0131
Est. Aug 1, 2012 - Building constructed: 2000 - Closed 2014
Previous bars in this location: Amber Den
Web site: nicksoffmarket.com - facebook
Best Reviews: myballard - thrillist - bloomspot - eater - thestranger - yelp

#1885 #S1060 - Outlander Brewery and Pub, Seattle - 9/4/2011

Outlander Brewery is an adventuresome nanabrewery with a pub located in a 100-year-old Victorian house in the Fremont neighborhood. Owners Dragan Radulovic and Nigel Lassiter use a 1-barrel brewing system to churn out two kegs at a time of brews like Peanut Butter Stout, Strawberry Wheat,  Vanilla Jasmine Porter, Yam Ale, Chili Amber Ale, Oyster Robust Porter. These are not just names, they are actual ingredients. They also have a monthly poll that allows their customers to select new brews from multiple options.

 Dragan was friendly and engaging from behind the small bar created from an old church door and located in the old house kitchen.  The house has retained the original room structure, and aside from the bar and taps in the kitchen appear very much like your grandmother might still live there. It's a great fit for Fremont and a very nice stop for beer lovers.




225 N 36th St, Seattle, WA 98103 - (206) 486-4088             
Est. Aug 3, 2012 - Building constructed: 1900 or earlier
Previous bars in this location: None known
Web site: outlanderbrewing.com - facebook
Best Reviews: thestranger - fueledbybeer - sauced - seattlebeernews - thrillist - yelp

#1884 #S1059 - Add-A-Ball Arcade, Seattle - 9/4/2011

"We weren’t going for the creepy-uncle’s-rumpus-room feel," Add-a-Ball owner Travis Echert told Komo News, "But, that’s kind of what happened." Travis and his Partner Brad Johnson used to run ADD Motorworks here, fixing scooters in a basement space off an alley in the building that hosts the Piece of Mind head shop. Parties and pin-ball tournaments evidently led to converting to a new business that hosts vintages pin-ball and video games for the over 21 crowd along with beer. The games are mixed in with funky garage items, old board games, piles of spark plugs, and oddities.

I had a pleasant chat with Brad and customer Meredith at the 2-seat bar with 2 taps and a decent choice of beer in cans. Brad was in the midst of expanding to their second location, John John's Game Room on Capitol Hill. I'm not much of a gamer myself, but it is a cool little hangout.



315 N 36th St, Unit 2B, Seattle, WA 98103 - (206) 696-1613
Est. Dec 2011 - Building constructed: 1900 or earlier
Previous bars in this location: None known
Web site: add-a-ball.com - facebook
Best Reviews: komonews - fremontuniverse - fremocentrist - thrillist - skill-shot - findwell - yelp

#1883 #S1058 - Tin Lizzie Lounge, Seattle - 9/3/2011

The Tin Lizzie lounge is a darkly attractive bar created in the historic Marqueen Hotel on lower Queen Anne, across from the street from Toulouse Petit, in a building where the Seattle Engineering School used to retrain blacksmiths to work at the Ford assembly plant on Lake Union. It has a pressed tin roofs, ornate antiques, and multiple semi-private rooms off the main space. It has been positioned as hub for fine cocktails with a speakeasy vibe, although the bartenders don't have the craft cocktail chops that one usually finds in such places. But it is definitely one of the most pleasant drinking spaces in the city.



600 Queen Anne Avenue North, Seattle, WA, 98109, USA - 206.282.7407
Est. Aug 8, 2012 - Building constructed: 1918  
Previous bars in this location: None known
Web site: marqueen.com - facebook
Reviews: seattletimes - eater.com - yelp

#1882 #S1057 - Fogon Cocina Mexicana, Seattle - 9/3/2011

Noel Cortez and Jose Ambriz, whose families come from Michoacán, Mexico and run the Mi Tierra restaurants in Monroe and Woodinville, are having a go in this tough luck Capitol Hill space with Fogon ("stove"). They provide everyone a complementary tostada at the start, as other Mexican places provide chips, and follow that with some nice Michoacán entrees and tasty margaritas.




crab and shrimp enchiladas, Fogon Cocina Mexicana, Seattle


600 East Pine Street Seattle, Washington 98122 - (206) 320-7777
Est. 2012 - Building constructed 2001
Previous bars in this location: Kiki, Kurrent
Web site: fogonseattle.com - facebook
Reviews: thestranger - capitolhillseattle - yelp - urbanspoon 

#1881 #S1056 - Vessel, Seattle - 9/2/2011

Update: This version of Vessel closed Sep 27, 2013


Like the previous location, Vessel starts with an encumbrance to my affections, as I do not prefer cold, modernist decor in bars -- I wince a bit when I see lots of light, big windows, prominent shiny metals and bright colors. But of course the reason for going to Vessel is the cocktails, and while the decor and service may vary, the cocktails at the place are a continual joy.

For people outside the areas of Seattle and/or the craft cocktail movement, Vessel was a seminal bar for craft cocktails in the area. While you could find great cocktails in a small number of other locations before 2006, Vessel was a place that *preached* great cocktails. You didn't have to be in some tiny coterie of cocktail devotees (that included a tiny minority of bartenders), nor to luck into the rare meeting with a mixologist knowledgeable and patient enough to invest time exploring how your uneducated tastes might best navigate finely made drinks. At Vessel, you *were* going to get a great cocktail, regardless of all other circumstances. And if you wanted vodka, you were out of luck.

Indeed, probably the greatest value that Jamie Boudreau, Jim Romdall, et. al. provided with Vessel was not the individual, carefully crafted cocktails themselves, but rather in spreading the fact that there *are* great cocktails -- a fact that had somehow eluded 99.9% of bar goers heretofore. The rotating bartenders would explore your tastes, create a drink with a manifest precision and care, and they did so not in some secretive back alley hangout, but virtually pressed against the windows of a downtown space next to the 5th Avenue Theater where they snagged your attention like a Macy's Christmas window display.

In December 2010, this original vessel lost its lease and closed shop. The much anticipated new location is in a space of significance to long-time Seattleites, as it housed the original El Gaucho Steakhouse from 1953 to 1985. Owner Jim Romdall had more freedom to design in this space, and one of the ways he took advantage of this was to make multiple decisions that increased the connection between customers and the centers of attention behind the bar. (When one couldn't find a space at the tiny number of seats at the old bar, you sometimes found yourself in an upstairs room that felt a bit like the kids' table at Thanksgiving dinner.) The owners manage a rotating lineup of 25 crackerjack bartenders.

Although I may generally despair of big, bright windows in bars, it is rather nifty that people on the street can see through these into "The Lab," where bartenders experiment with various ingredients and techniques, and pursue the contemporary holy grail of perfect ice. Inside a "Clinebell" machine churns out 300-lb blocks of crystal clear frozen water that is then reduced with chainsaws, band saws, and chipping tools into the ideal spheres or other shapes to balance coldness and dilution. Due to the success of the movement that they helped precipitate, the current Vessel is not quite as essential and unique as the original, but it remains a fantastic place to explore and experience the art of the cocktail.


624 Olive Way Seattle, WA 98101 - (206) 623-3325
Est. Aug 28, 2012 (October 2006 in previous location) - Building constructed: year
Previous bars in this location: El Gaucho
Web site: vesselseattle.com - facebook
Best Reviews: seattlemet - seriouseats - seattleweekly - eater.com - yelp - thestranger

#1880 #S1055 - Rocco's, Seattle - 9/2/2013

Rocco's does not serve my favorite pizza in town, but they are the prettiest. And in addition to their better than average pizza, they provide some quite good craft cocktails. Rocco's is new from Jesus Escobar, the owner of Noc Noc, squeezed into the former space of Dope Burger and Noodle Bar in the same larger structure as the Lava Lounge.  Like many of the other old spaces in this stretch, it is narrow and long. They have done a great job in remodeling the place, with darkened, exposed brick, romantic lighting, old neon beer signs, various celebrity icon portraits, and patches of succulents growing in frames on the walls. The tables were made by the owner from wood pulled from the 1911 ceiling.

One of their more interesting drinking options is a selection of shrubs -- drinking vinegars infused with fruit juices and herbs, with addition bitters and ingredients that you apportion and mix yourself. It is open late for Belltown drinking nights, and seems positioned to do very well in the area without catering too much to the sorts of Belltown crowds you'd prefer to avoid.



2228 2nd Ave, Seattle, WA 98121 - (206) 448-2625
Est. August 22, 2012 - Building constructed: 1911
Previous bars in this location: Dope Burger
Web site: roccosseattle.com - facebook
Best Reviews: seattletimes - thrillist - seattlepi - thestranger - yelp - seattleweekly

Friday, January 04, 2013

#1879 #S1054 - Fumaca Brazilian Steakhouse, Seattle - 9/2/2011

Update: Fumaca closed in June 2014. The building is slated for demolition.

Meat Heaven.

Fumaça (Portuguese for "smoke") was created by some of the crew that worked at the Ipanema Brazilian Grill at the top of the Harbor Steps, and the Amazon Grill in Bellevue.  They even offered to recognize gift certificates issued by the ownership of those restaurants in their own place, built in basically the same model. The owners are Columbian and Puerto Rican, and feature Brazilian "rodizio", Puerto Rican "sazon", and Peruvian ceviche.

Of course you must have the rodizio here.  It is not super cheap ($24 for lunch and $40 for dinner), but it is well worth it if you are hungry.  The salad bar sorts of offerings, from artisan cheeses, to various fruits and vegetables, beans, etc. are probably worth the price alone, but the stars are the charcoal grilled meats, continuously brought to your table on stakes by "gauchos."

The bar is not particularly special, but you can have a nice caipirinha as you recover from your food coma.


101 Denny Way, Seattle, WA 98109 - (206) 453-4366
Est. Aug 28, 2012 - Building constructed: 1926
Previous bars in this location: Whym, Blush Lounge, 101 Lounge
Web site: fumacaseattle.com - facebook
Best Reviews: seattletimes - thrillist - eater.com - yelp - thestranger