#2025 #1109 - Mamnoon, Seattle - 1/24/2013

Mamnoon ("thankful") comes from ex-Microsofties and first-time restauranteurs Wassef and Racha Haroun, and serves excellent Syrian and Lebanese dishes with find cocktails devised by Andrew Bohrer. Ordering by the numbers, the Mamnoon #1 (High West oat whiskey, Araku coffee liqueur, cardamom bitters) was good and the Mamnoon #5 (Jonny Drum Bourbon, fig paste, bitters, Nux Alpina walnut liqueur) was excellent.

It's a unique and first rate restaurant stop, but this blog focuses on bars, it is not an ideal stop as for just cocktails, despite the quality drinks. The lounge area is rather cut off -- not just from the diners but from the actual service bar creating the drinks, and it feels significantly lower energy than the open dining portions of the restaurant. So go when you are in the mood for a very different sort of meal, and enjoy the cocktails; but if you are going out just for a drink, I would continue on to Still Liquor, just around the corner on Minor.

1508 Melrose Ave, Seattle, WA 98122 - (206) 906-9606
Est. Nov 20, 2012 - Building constructed: 1928
Previous bars in this location: None known
Web site: mamnoonrestaurant.com - facebook  
Reviews: seattlemet - seattletimes - seattlemag - seattleweekly - capitolhillseattle - surlygourmand - yelp

#2024 #1108 - Duos, Seattle - 1/22/2013

Update: The Duos Lounge closed December 20, 2014

---

A new restaurant and lounge from a somewhat upscale catering company, the Duos Lounge features tastay small plates and cocktails. I was not strongly impressed by the latter, but I did have a very pleasant chat with the bartender, and I did very much enjoy my three small plates: Manchego Pisto and corn dogs (with Chipotle honey mustard), with an apple and walnut salad.

2940 SW Avalon Way Seattle, WA 98126 - (206) 452-2452
Est. Jan 3, 2013 - Building constructed: 1947
Previous bars in this location: Cafe Revo, Avalon
Web site: duoslounge.com - facebook
Reviews: thrillist - yelp

#2023 #1107 - Shanik, Seattle - 1/21/2013

Shanik, Seattle

Update: Shanik closed March 21, 2015

Shanik ("SHAW-nuk") is a new Indian restaurant in South Lake Union from Meeru Dhalwala, the owner of Vancouver BC's much celebrated Vij's. The food is very good -- a shift further from traditional preparations than Vij's, from what I have heard. However, the pretty bar at the rear is wine and beer only and basically just a waiting area for the restaurant. I would like to see it grow into something more -- I liked the food quite a bit, but this is a bar blog, and it's almost to be expected now that any high reputation restaurant with a bar at all is going to have to feature some pretty solid craft cocktail options. At least for now it is a good place for dinner, but you'll want to slip over to Re:public for a nightcap.

Shanik, Seattle

Shanik, Seattle

500 Terry Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109 - (206) 486-6884              
Est. Dec 5, 2012 - Closed Mar 21, 2015 - Building constructed 2011
Previous bars in this location: None known
Web site: shanikrestaurant.com
Best Reviews: thestranger - seattlemet - seattlemag - seattleweekly - seattletimes - nytimes - seattlemag - gastrolust - bizjournals - seriouseats - seattleweekly - yelp

#2022 - Fiesta Del Mar, Burien, WA - 1/20/2013

This bar location does not have genial history. Over the years as the Bull Pen Tavern II, the Flame Tavern, and various sports bars it has been known for drunkeness and violence, including the murder of a bouncer with an assault rifle, and, most notoriously, as the last place one Brenda Ball was seen before she died at the hands of Ted Bundy. So perhaps one should admire anyone with the chutzpah to try and clean it up and make a decent go of it here.

Sal Hernandez and Jose Baries are giving it a go -- commissioning ocean-themed murals around the exterior and interior of the building, and serving Mexican seafood, along with margaritas, mariachi bands, and salsa dancing. On this lazy Sunday evening it was not possible to tell how they are doing -- with Mexican karaoke blasting in the nearly empty, cavernous space. The lackluster food and margaritas are not likely to draw me back soon, but it may be a hopping place on a Friday or Saturday night, and I wish them good luck.

12803 Ambaum Boulevard Southwest Burien, WA 98146 - (206) 466-5251
Est. October 2011 - Building constructed: 1928
Previous bars in this location: Bull Pen Tavern II, Flame Inn Tavern, Mario's Sports Bar, MVP Sports Club, Twigg's Sports Bar
Web site: facebook
Reviews: b-townblog - yelp

#2021 - Elmer's Pub, Burien, WA - 1/20/2013

Elmer's is large and bright and has a rock stage, but on this Sunday evening I believe I was the only customer under the age of 70. The location appears to have hosted the Burien Tavern from at least the 40s to 80s, and become Elmer's sometime around 1990? It is purportedly cleaned-up by new owners who took over last year, and is said to be popular with bikers -- though the crowd I saw were more likely to have rolled up on their Rascal scooters.

15027 Ambaum Blvd SW, Burien, WA 98166 - (206) 439-1007
Previous bars at this location: The Burien Tavern (listed at 15029), Bartenetti Burien Tavern and Pizza
Web site:  facebook
Reviews: seattleweekly - thestranger - yelp

#2020 - Poker Pete's Pizza, Kalama, WA - 1/20/2013

Had a nice chat  here with Bob, a local who commutes to Portland.

168 North 1st Street Kalama, WA 98625 - (360) 673-3240
Reviews: urbanspoon  - yelp

#2019 - Chinook Room, Columbia Inn, Kalama, WA - 1/20/2013

Overheard in the Chinook Room:

"He falls down and gets a 15-yard penalty. I don't think that boy should even be playing ball. Tom Brady is the biggest, little sissy."
"Bill, sometimes you are the biggest dumbshit."

The Columbia Inn and Chinook Room sports bar in back are more interesting on the outside than the inside. The food, drinks, and decor are bland, but you tend to stop for the cool signage and the charming little town.

The population of Kalama peaked in 1874, booming and then declining as the Northern Pacific Railroad created a terminus there, then moved their headquarters to Tacoma. From the 1880s to 1908, the second largest ferry in the world took train cars across the Columbia River from Kalama to Oregon. The ferry is gone but port-related businesses still employ about 1,000 people from the area (the current population of Kalama is around 2,500).

 In 1962, Elvis stayed at the adjacent motel, while driving from L.A. to Seattle to film "It Happened at the World's Fair." A sign on the side of the restaurant notes this and a visit from Jack Benny.

698 Northeast Frontage Road, Kalama, WA - (360) 673-7600
Reviews: yelp - elvishistory