Place: Viceroy, 2332 Second Avenue
Time: 9:30 pm
When this retro-chic Belltown cocktail lounge opened last year, I appreciated the dÊcor (Rat Pack swank with a mod edge) and understood the intent (an upscale watering hole catering to a white-collar crowd rather than the scruffy hipster cognoscenti), but whenever I stopped in during the crowded, post-work happy hours, I found it depressing to watch packs of aggressive businessmen hit on indifferent young women. It's unclear whether the scene has evolved or the later hour on weeknights draws a different crowd, but when I slide into a sleek bar seat on a drizzly Tuesday evening, I'm pleasantly surprised by a number of factors. For starters, the drink menu is quite appealing, particularly the Diablo (Hornitos tequila, crème de cassis, lemon juice, and ginger beer, garnished with candied ginger) and the James Joyce (a Jameson-whiskey-based concoction served with a bar copy of Ulysses "upon request"). What's more, the bar is buzzing, but not overcrowded, and the patrons are a mix of casually dressed couples and relaxed and well-mannered single guys. I chat quietly with KEXP DJ Greg Vandi and watch a couple of sharply dressed thirtysomething women clutching boutique bags sigh heavily and sink into the cube-shaped leather couch near the bar, flush-faced and visibly ready for a post-shopping cocktail. Shortly after my photographer and I cozy up on our own slice of couch, we are joined by a rambunctious young gay boy wearing a slim-fitting shirt emblazoned with an image of Dolly Parton--an icon whose concert he's clearly looking forward to attending. "Fuck yeah," he declares in a sassy, queeny drawl, "I've got 11th row seats. If I get to meet Dolly, I'll kiss her little tootsies! She knows the pain of the everyday man!" Amen, sister. HANNAH LEVIN
