The Stranger, Seattle's Only Newspaper: Restaurants

The Happiest Hour

editor@thestranger.com (Marti Jonjak) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0800

Dinette on Capitol Hill by Marti Jonjak Description: A ridiculously charming Capitol Hill eatery and bar, whose mint blue walls are adorned with antique tea trays and swirling metallic stencils. The draw: Dinette's selection of fancy-schmancy toast, which gets its very own section on the dinner menu. (During happy hour, the toast special of the day is $3.) Toast in literature: The profound: "Some idiot had stupidly put [the toaster dial] on light. There was no point in doing that, because when it was turned to light…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

One-Man Show

editor@thestranger.com (Bethany Jean Clement) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0800

Castleberry's at the Summit Is a Beautiful, Anti-Fancy Thing by Bethany Jean Clement Nick Castleberry just wants to make good food for regular people. The Summit Public House is a good place where regular people hang out—a bar with a tiny kitchen with, until recently, no one in it. Man, meet kitchen; kitchen, man. In a world—even mid-recession—of elaborate plans and build-outs and delays, the meeting of a man and a kitchen that need each other is a beautiful thing. The people needed the man in the kitchen, too. From The Stranger's online…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Questionland Experts: Thanksgiving Edition

editor@thestranger.com — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0800

Get Your Thanksgiving Questions Answered By Seattle's Food Experts]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Bar Exam

editor@thestranger.com (Bethany Jean Clement) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0800

Smash Putt! Possibly Dangerous, Very Loud, and Fun as Hell by Bethany Jean Clement Smash Putt—also known as "Miniature Golf Apocalypse!"—is awesome in the sense that it truly inspires awe. Housed in the abandoned warehouse just south of Lark on 12th Avenue, this is putt-putt golf on (metaphorical) crank: nine holes of mechanized controlled chaos, with golfers enjoying a (real) full bar. It is possibly actually dangerous, intermittently earsplitting, and fun as hell. Everybody's favorite hole—skip this paragraph if you would like to experience it for yourself, spoiler-free—is the Driving Range. Eye protection is…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

The Happiest Hour

editor@thestranger.com (Marti Jonjak) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0800

Hunt Club at Sorrento Hotel by Marti Jonjak Description: A dark and classy lounge located at First Hill's luxurious Sorrento Hotel. Notable guests of the Hunt Club: Dan Aykroyd. About that: He was just there a few weeks ago. He ordered Cristal. Notable guests of the Sorrento: A lady ghost. About that: According to legend, she was formerly a prostitute slain by a male lover in the 1930s, and she mostly hangs out in the stairwell between the sixth and seventh floors. But perhaps it is also she…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Screaming Green

editor@thestranger.com (David Schmader) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0800

Chaco Canyon Cafe's Hardcore Organics by David Schmader Located in northwestern New Mexico on the Colorado Plateau, the Chaco Canyon gained fame as the cultural hub of the Ancient Pueblo Peoples. From 900–1150 A.D., they outfitted the region with a wealth of ambitious architecture, including 15 major complexes of wood-and-sandstone dwellings that remained North America's largest buildings until the 19th century. Located in the northwest corner of Seattle's University District, the Chaco Canyon Cafe mimics its namesake in its creation of an ambitious new world, but this endeavor…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Bar Exam

editor@thestranger.com (Bethany Jean Clement) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0800

Dogs Are Practically Required at Norm's by Bethany Jean Clement At Norm's Eatery & Alehouse in Fremont, dogs are not only welcome, they're practically required. While the place is famous locally on a number of counts—for packed Thursday trivia nights, for mind-controlling house-made potato chips, and for 40-ounce PBRs (formerly served in paper bags, now in little insulated jackets with the Norm's insignia on them)—the raison d'être is clearly canine. A statue of a dog wearing a scarf greets you at the door. More 3-D dog renderings sit and stay…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

The Happiest Hour

editor@thestranger.com (Marti Jonjak) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0800

Ballard's Waterwheel Lounge by Marti Jonjak Description: A divey sports bar in Ballard. Waterwheels, a brief summary: Originally designed to harness the energy of flowing rivers, today they are the focal element crucial to Bob Ross–style paintings and jigsaw puzzles collected by grandmothers everywhere. Endearing Waterwheel Lounge traits: The folksy wilderness mural out front; the mini-library, caringly stocked with several forgotten favorites (including a Fantasy Football Digest from 1989); the warped sense of intimacy gained by exploring the medicine cabinet in the ladies' room (it contains…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Pizza, Porn, Tattoos, and Tacos

editor@thestranger.com (Laurel Miller) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0800

White Center's Got a Lot Going for It by Laurel Miller Do I want a "Two Meats" pizza with pepperoni and Italian sausage, or am I more in the mood for... Transsexual Beef Cocks? Decisions, decisions. I was in White Center to check out Proletariat Pizza (9622 16th Ave SW, 432-9765), the newest addition to the neighborhood's ethnically schizoid food scene. While the neighborhood is still rife with La Raza–decaled lowriders and do-rag-wearing Gs, it gets a bad rap (a store employee, when asked if he thought the area was scary,…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Bar Exam

editor@thestranger.com (Bethany Jean Clement) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0800

Pasties at Pampas: Burlesque at Seattle's Poshest Cabaret by Bethany Jean Clement The posh Pampas Room—pronounced "pamp-as," not "pompous"—is the lounge adjunct of Belltown steak house El Gaucho. Those entering from Wall Street descend a long, carpeted stairway directly into the lap of luxury, where the bar curves off into infinity in the soothing dim. (The stairs are precipitous, but the distinct impression is that should you fall, you'd be cushioned by big wads of unseen money.) The room itself only nods to art-deco swank, but it feels as rich as the…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

The Happiest Hour

editor@thestranger.com (Marti Jonjak) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Long Provincial Vietnamese Restaurant and Jelly Bar by Marti Jonjak Location: An elegant eatery and lounge in Belltown. Decor: On display in the Jelly Bar, a tank of jellyfish casually launching themselves through the murky green water. Complicated upkeep requirements: Long's previous jellyfish neglected their own eating habits, so today's batch is force-fed shrimp paste via a baster injection, resulting in a jarringly intimate feeding ritual that is probably just as awkward and embarrassing for the jellyfish as it is for the administrator. Happy hours: Sun–Thurs 4–6 pm and 10…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Doing It for the People

editor@thestranger.com (Bethany Jean Clement) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

The Many Charms of Citizen by Bethany Jean Clement Citizen is a minor miracle located on the east flank of lower Queen Anne. The tiny new cafe and wine purveyor and creperie may be found a block behind the mammoth new QFC on Mercer. There's not much else around: Laredos, a midrange Mexican place, is marooned nearby (where mod-and-pale Veil failed to thrive), a Domino's and teriyaki are on the corner. It's a pocket of the city that's hard by Aurora, close to Seattle Center, but it feels like…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Bar Exam

editor@thestranger.com (Bethany Jean Clement) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Spirits and Ghosts at Capitol Hill's Chapel by Bethany Jean Clement The bar Chapel on Capitol Hill hasn't always been a place for spirits of the drinking kind. The gorgeous room—leaded glass windows and enormous mirrors, ornate dark woodwork, vaulted ceiling, antique fixtures—was built in the 1920s as the chapel for the adjoining Butterworth's Mortuary. Here the living ushered souls to the other side, contemplating their time on this earth, mourning their departure. The blank eyes of Chapel's windowpanes have looked upon much death where people now toast to life, celebrating…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Chow Bio

editor@thestranger.com (Steven Blum) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Dani Cone of High 5 Pie and Fuel Coffee by Steven Blum Before opening Fuel, you were a barista for 17 years. What's kept you around coffee for so long? I just love it. It's such a trite answer, but it's true. I started as a barista at a very young age, and ever since then I've had a coffee job. I've actually been a barista for closer to 18 years. Jesus Christ. You're also responsible for the book Tall Skinny Bitter: Notes from the Center of Coffee Culture, about all the…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

The Happiest Hour

editor@thestranger.com (Marti Jonjak) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Calamity Jane's in Georgetown by Marti Jonjak Description: A bar and restaurant with an understated Old West theme occupying an antiquated building in Georgetown. Bonus: The lovely back patio, adorned with tall trees and wagon wheels. About Calamity Jane, the person, not the place: She was a celebrity cowgirl and trick shooter who wore men's clothing, associated with Wild Bill Hickok, and smoked cigars while chewing tobacco. Further proof of Calamity Jane's badassery: She slept peacefully in clouds of flies. In James D. McLaird's biography, a bewildered…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Cafe Nordo Is Not Dinner Theater

editor@thestranger.com (Thadius Van Landingham III) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

What Is Cafe Nordo (and Who Is Its Mystery Superchef)? by Thadius Van Landingham III Sometimes, Chef Nordo Lefesczki wants you to enjoy your food. Sometimes he doesn't. Sometimes he and his Seattle collaborators, Terry Podgorski and Erin Brindley (writer and director, respectively; both of the late, great Circus Contraption), want you to understand what they're talking about; sometimes they don't. When he forces you to drink your soup like a college-bar shot, tasting next to nothing in the instant it takes to pass from lips to gullet, he's forcing you to eat too fast.…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Bar Exam

editor@thestranger.com (Bethany Jean Clement) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

The Chow-Chao Controversy by Bethany Jean Clement Chao Bistro—that's pronounced "chow," not like the beginning of the word "chaos"—opened to name-related controversy on Capitol Hill a month ago. The Pan-Asian bar and restaurant is located in the space formerly known as Sammie Sue's, 1200 Bistro, and (most recently, and very briefly) Pike's Bar & Grill. The ownership is also involved in the Belltown clubs Venom (known for fog-machine spumes and leg-humping dance-floor action) and Amber (known as premier hunting grounds for heterosexual young urban professionals). Chao's sign…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Chow Bio

editor@thestranger.com (Steven Blum) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Billy Beckett at Bastille by Steven Blum So you're the bartender at the cavernous new bar at Bastille. What's the ideal bartender–drunkard relationship? I'm different things to different people. If someone's having relationship trouble, I try to give the soundest advice I can. If it's a loss in the family, I try to relate it to something that's happened to me. I'm a pragmatic kind of psychologist. If you're getting speeding tickets and hate your landlord, I would recommend you stop speeding and move away from your…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

The Happiest Hour

editor@thestranger.com (Marti Jonjak) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Solo in Lower Queen Anne by Marti Jonjak Location: Just north of Seattle Center, in the ground-level retail space of a Lower Queen Anne residential building. Decor: A stylishly mismatched collection of furniture, seemingly culled from various hotel lobbies. Not to be confused with: Xolo, which is short for Xoloitzcuintle, aka the Mexican hairless dog. Freakishly adorable Xolo duties of yesteryear: In ancient times, Xolos served as living medicinal heating pads, with their warm bodies draped over aching body parts. Happy hours: Tues–Sat 5–7 pm, Sun–Mon 5 pm–1:30…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Special Menu

editor@thestranger.com (Lindy West) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

How to Not Be Stupid at Dim Sum at Chiang's Gourmet by Lindy West Even though I am a hungry, city-dwelling, curious, and open-minded eater, the foods I put in my mouth almost never surprise me. (Surprise me in a good way, I mean—one always finds the rogue toe bone in the goulash from time to time!) And I'm especially never ever surprised by the foods at my favorite restaurants, where the well-worn menus are as familiar as a fire sandwich to a salamander. But, SURPRISE! It happened. A bit of history. You might…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Bar Exam

editor@thestranger.com (Bethany Jean Clement) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Sazerac's Happy Hour Is Pretty Much Insane by Bethany Jean Clement A discussion of downtown's Sazerac must begin with the light fixtures. The word "fixtures" does not do justice to the lighting situation in Sazerac's soaring airspace; these are sculptures, apparently in the medium of giant pieces of fruit leather. They were installed in the Sazerac remodel of January 2008, an effort that changed the determinedly upscale-"fun!" interior to a dramatic-chic hodgepodge that's less dated by at least 10 years. Progress! The overwrought and overthought decor bothers exactly no one at…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Chow Bio

editor@thestranger.com (Steven Blum) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Justin Taft of Citizen by Steven Blum So you're co-owner and head chef of the new Citizen in Lower Queen Anne. How does it feel? Kind of like I just had a baby. You think about it constantly and you care about it constantly. Like when a spider dangled over the alarm detector at the Hangar Cafe—my first restaurant—I had to wake up in the middle of the night and talk to all the police who showed up. You know, you wake up in the middle of…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

The Happiest Hour

editor@thestranger.com (Marti Jonjak) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Smash Wine Bar & Bistro by Marti Jonjak Description: Smash is a wine bar and eatery that occupies the ground-level retail space of a residential building in Wallingford. Let's play a game!: Each of the next three sections has three wine-tasting terms actually used by sommeliers and one fictional term. Can you spot the fake? Wine-flavor nuances: Buttery, salami sandwich, bubble gum, concrete. Spoiled-wine characteristics: Thrift-store wig, Band-Aids, sweaty saddle, kerosene. Wine-body descriptors: Angular, chewy, nervous, pointy. Phony answers: Salami sandwich, thrift-store wig, pointy. Happy hours: Mon–Fri 5–6:30…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Waiting for Delancey

editor@thestranger.com (Bethany Jean Clement) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

The Newest Pizza in Seattle Is Also the Best by Bethany Jean Clement It's true: Delancey is out in the middle of nowhere in the hinterlands of Ballard, and the dining room can be very loud, and the bar seating can be too hot, and sometimes the wait is two hours long, and they don't do takeout, and they don't take reservations (except for parties of six or more). It's also true: The pizza at Delancey is SO GOOD—made so right, with mindfulness and careful technique and beautiful ingredients and purity of heart—that…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Bar Exam

editor@thestranger.com (Bethany Jean Clement) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Getting into Someone's Pants at Dilettante's Chocolate Martini Bar by Bethany Jean Clement The people of Seattle have been romancing one another at Dilettante on Broadway for decades, but since the chocolatier/cafe moved one block north, hopeful pants-getters-into have an extra advantage: Dilettante's Chocolate Martini Bar. One night last weekend, a man and a woman sat as close to each other as legally possible, drinking the bar's namesake drinks and staring into each other's eyes from a distance of approximately four inches. (The signature Ephemere Martini is the house chocolate-truffle sauce and "a…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]