Bar Exam

Popular Thai restaurant Chantanee moved from a strip mall to one of
the expressionless towers of all-grown-up downtown Bellevue earlier
this year. With the move came the installation of Naga lounge, which
Seattle bartenders say is one excellent reason to go to the
Eastside. (One of their own, Andrew Bohrer, a founder of the
Washington State Bartenders Guild and former Vessel barkeep, runs the
Naga bar program.)

First you have to get there. Street parking does not exist, and the
signs in the parking garage are liars—”Lobby,” in at least one
case, leads to the great outdoors. The building watches glassily while
you circumnavigate it on foot (on Saturday evening, the lobby is locked
up tight). Head southwest, persevere, and rest assured that you are
not a complete idiot: Due to mass confusion, Chantanee’s website
features a “How to Drive In and Park” video.

Here you are, at last. Naga’s the darker corner of the space, which
is overdesigned but inoffensively so. The floor is polished dyed
concrete, the ceiling has many sweeping decorative elements, back-lit
panels make silhouettes of twiggy bamboo. The food is above-par
Thai standards, with the menu most noteworthy for being large and heavy
and silk-padded. It is not, however, so silk-padded as to prevent its
large heaviness from making a nerve-shattering sound when the server
drops one on a place setting. (An apology and, eventually, a
complimentary dish of Snoqualmie Gourmet coconut ice cream ensued. While it was delicious, nothing soothes shattered nerves like a
free drink.)

Subsequent service was flawless to the point of pomp, with
compliments on cocktail choices, murmured updates about the progress of
orders, and even slight bows. A little theater is fitting: All drinks
are $11, and the massive list includes the creator’s name, year of
creation, and ingredients for each. A question about the Domaine de
Canton (a French ginger/cognac liqueur) contained in the Debonaire
cocktail yielded the satisfied response, “You won’t find that
anywhere else.” The list’s description, “sweet, heat, and scotch,”
was a bit off; the Debonaire was surprisingly mild. A mint julep (god
bless John Davis and the year 1803) was served properly, a snow cone of
ice topping a silver cup.

The house original Jacob’s Thai Smash represented the successful
distillation of every Thai flavor into a drink approximating a
much-needed slap across the face. Another original, “A.t.o.t.l.w.,”
introduced the recently repopularized Last Word to coconut puree and
pineapple, resulting in a highly tropical concoction that the untrained
palate might take for a plain old piña colada. (An odd
oversight: This drink’s straw was too short for its vintage tiki cup.)
The half-dozen tiki drinks are available giant-sized in skull-shaped
bowls for $25. If only light rail went directly to Chantanee.