Wherever you direct your gaze at Capitol Cider, fusty old oil paintings glower over you. One on its own would be gloomy, but the whole lot together turns this newish gluten-free-food-and-cider joint into a masterpiece amusement park. Baudrillard would pee himself. An illustrated menu provides an explanation for it all: “Created by artists from the Aristides Atelier at Gage Academy of Art, Capitol Hill.” Gainsborough, Homer, Stuart, they’re all here. Sort of. The copies are quite good. Grilled quail with wilted cabbage and roasted grapes sounds good, too. (Capitol Cider, 818 E Pike St, seattleciderbar.com, 4 pm–2 am)

Jen Graves (The Stranger’s former arts critic) mostly writes about things you approach with your eyeballs. But she’s also a history nerd interested in anything that needs more talking about, from male...