#2166 - Kapowsin Ale House and Grill, Kapowsin, WA - 5/17/2013

In the early part of the 20th century, with the Kapowsin Lumber Company operating on the north side of the lake, the population of Kapowsin was around 10,000.  It's now closer to 300, the mill long shut down, and just a few vestiges of a town remaining. Since 1959 the Kapowsin Tavern has been there, now the Kapowsin Ale House and Grill. It's a solid middle-of-nowhere bar, with years of oddball items collected on the walls, food that is good enough, hosting locals, fishermen and bikers. Apparently it is also the sort of place where if you get drunk and aim a gun at the bartender, you'll be taken out by someone chucking a pool ball at your head.

I was informed that this was a Christmas gift from a patron,
and that it is "a cartridge in a pear tree."  Kapowsin Ale House

14912 Kapowsin Hwy E, Kapowsin, WA - (360) 879-5333
Est. 1959 - Building constructed: 1959
Web site: facebook
Reviews: crankydaves - yelp - thenewstribune - tooie haugen

#2165 - Wagon Wheel Restaurant and Lounge, South Prairie, WA - 5/17/2013

It's 1:00pm on a Friday afternoon, and the back bar in the Wagon Wheel restaurant is rocking. It is near full, 15 to 20 people, which is enough to make it feel fairly packed in the tiny bar space behind the cafe in this town of less than 500 people. Some of the conversations are loud and rollicking. It's a working man's crowd, notwithstanding the number of people kicked back sipping beer in the middle of a weekday (blue collar white people a world away from the diverse, martini-glass toting hipsters in the stock image on their web site). One of the older patrons feels comfortable peppering his conversation with a kind of use of the n-word you're not likely to hear in a city bar.

It seems like a fairly typical small town dive, with a customers in baseball caps, plaid shirts and coveralls, mountain landscapes painted on a saw blade and a milk can, pulltabs and bingo nights, and an old west cowboy shootout painted on one the doors. Some posts on the Facebook page point out that back in the 70s the place was owned by Betty and Eldon Gadberry, and the performing "Gadberry Family" would play things like old Hank Williams tunes and Suzy Q. From the moment I passed the conestoga wagon wheels embedded in the flagstone out front, it all seemed to so perfectly fit the image of a quaint old timey cafe and dive bar that I was fairly surprised to see that current owner Donna regularly hosts punk shows by bands like Violent Occurrence, Americommies, and Judas Fucking Kryst. I'm reminded again that you can't really know a bar unless you visit it at least on one lazy afternoon and one busy weekend night.

I chat with Jean the bartender and customer Jeannie. One of them tells me that the place dates back to 1930, and indeed that's when the Pierce County tax records say the joint was constructed. Of course they would not have had a liquor license or openly operating bar at that time, but I'd guess the bar was added shortly after prohibition ended.

Maybe I'll come across more information on the bar portion some day. Or maybe I'll just come back for a night of Judas Fucking Kryst.

121 State Route 162 West, South Prairie, WA - (360) 897-9987             
Est. 1930s? - Building constructed: 1930
Web site: wagonwheelrestaurantandlounge.com - facebook
Reviews: bikerfriendlybar

#2164 - Topside Bar and Grill, Steilacoom, WA - 5/17/2013

Steilacoom is a small town on the southern Puget Sound that was the first town incorporated in what would become the state of Washington (1854). There's not much doing in Steilacoom these days, but there are some excellent views of the sound, and one of them is from the patio of the Topside. They serve good pub food, 17 rotating taps of good beer, and have some surprisingly good cocktails for a small-town bar. I talked to John O'Reilly, the owner and bartender who recommended Uncle Val's Gin. John worked as a bartender when this space was beer mecca Jake's Bar & Bistro, and the Puget Sound area owes him thanks for reviving one of the more pleasant settings in the state to enjoy some fish and chips and a beer.

215 Wilkes St, Steilacoom, WA 98388 - (253) 212-3690
Est. March 23, 2012
Previous bars in this location: Jake's Bar & Bistro
Web site: topsidebarandgrill.com - facebook
Reviews: thenewstribune - southpugetsoundnews - yelp

#2163 #S1148 - The Lodge, Seattle - 5/12/2013

This version of Kirkland's "The Lodge Sports Grille" sits near the city's stadiums and can be a nice place to catch a game or, if you have tickets, a pre-game drink or meal. It really depends on the event and the crowd size, but the tons of pretty cedar and fir and the large stone fireplace can provide a nice little respite from city hub-bub (not to mention the thoroughly unpleasant "Tiki Bob's" which preceded them in this space). They serve a pretty broad, standard set of contemporary sports pub food (burgers, steaks, flatbreads, salads, etc.) and have a good selection of 70 beers on tap.

166 S King St, Seattle, WA 98104 - (206) 538-0000
Est. May 9, 2013 - Building constructed: 1907
Previous bars in this location: Tiki Bob's Cantina
Web site: thelodgesportsgrille.com - facebook
Reviews: yelp - taplister - thestranger

#2162 #S1147 - Lost Lake Cafe and Lounge, Seattle - 5/11/2013

Like the "instant dives" that various places are trying to create today, Lost Lake is an attempt to create an instantly old diner, along the lines of the venerable 5 Point, which one of the Lost Lake owners purchased in 2009, with a twist of Twin Peaks style small town mid-century diner. They serve food for 24 hours and booze for almost 24 hours (the lounge closes at 2am and re-opens at 6am). It is owned by Dave Meinert (5 Point) and Jason Lajeunesse (Neumos, Big Mario's), and promises the stiffest drinks on Capitol Hill. As if to get a head start on a dissolute edginess, it was constructed in the former location of a gay bathhouse, and it collected a lot of hype when a self righteous Google Glass user was refused service unless he removed them, commencing an online war of overwrought words.

It is a pretty place -- a bit too pretty and too new to have the sort of soul of the places that served as its models -- but it also fills its chosen niche nicely. Seattle has only a handful of 24-hour restaurants, and it is a near perfect venue and comfort food menu for a stop after closing down some of the bars and clubs on the Capitol Hill. Everything points to financial success and a long, successful run serving local hipsters. But one gets the sense that it will never feel genuine unless it also draws in a small but faithful crowd of grizzled, elderly regulars, like every one of the great old places that it imitates.

1505 10th Ave, Seattle, WA 98122 - (206) 323-5678
Est. May 8, 2013 - Building constructed: 1910
Previous bars in this location: None known
Web site: lostlakecafe.com - facebook
Articles ranked: seattletimes - capitolhillseattle - seattlemet - thrillist - seattlemag - thestranger - eater - yelp

#2161 - Marianna Ristoraunte, Renton, WA - 5/7/2013

"Beware Sal" says a sign in the bar. "Sal" is Salvatore Lembo, a partner in Marianna, and the person who trained primary owner Santiago Potenciano. Lembo, from Sicily, owns a winery in Tuscany and for two decades ran Firenze Ristorante Italiano in Bellevue. Potenciano, from Mexico, learned the trade starting as a busboy, learning Italian wine and food from Lembo and then travels to Italy. Potenciano then opened his own place, Vino Ristorante Italiano, in Renton. Marianna is basically an expansion of that place.

The northern Italian menu looks very good, but I only had time for a cocktail after dinner elsewhere in town. The bar is not particularly remarkable, and the restaurant is the focus here.

I learned about Lembo and Potenciano only after my visit here, but my curiosity was piqued by the "Beware Sal" sign. "He's tri-polar," the bartender explained. "But what would Italian food be without that passion?" Then he answered his own question, disdainfully concluding "It would be French food."

310 Wells Ave S, Renton, WA 98057 - (425) 271-7042
Est. Jan 2013
Web site: vinorestorante.com - facebook
Reviews: rentonreporter - yelp - urbanspoon

#2160 - Uncle Mo's Snappy Inn, Renton, WA - 5/7/2013

The Snappy Tavern has been in this address since at least the 1940s, although the current building dates back to 1954. Maurice "Uncle Mo" Leclech has owned it for many years now, and remodeled and expanded the place into Uncle Mo's Snappy Inn. It is now a fairly typical suburban neighborhood bar, with pull tabs, karaoke, jello shots, and cheap drinks.

321 Williams Ave S, Renton, WA 98057 - (425) 917-3130
Web site: facebook
Reviews: thepicaroon - yelp - seattletimes - patch