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Bastille Day Celebrations Around Seattle

Oh, happy francophiles. Food and drink specials abound next Thursday, July 14.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jul 08, 2011 at 10:52AM 0 Comments

On Thursday, Seattle honors French Independence by eating lots of frites.

Photo: Bastille via Facebook

Can you picture a bunch of Parisians standing around the Weber on the fourth of July eating Oscar Mayers and potato salad, stars and stripes decorating their plastic cups of macro-brewed Colorado lager?

Me neither. Only in America do we so zealously celebrate other nations’ independence days as if they were our own. It’s kind of cute, when you think about it.

Here in Seattle, we are particularly fond of Bastille Day, or La Fete Nationale as it’s called in France. What we do is crowd into French cafes and restaurants, which then feed us discounted food and plenty of alcoholic beverage.

This Thursday, July 14 is Bastille Day 2011. Here are places to party like it was your people that overpowered the famous prison in 1789, closing the doors on Louis the 16th and the whole Ancien Regime thing.

Bastille in Ballard is opening up its beer garden starting at 4:30pm on Thursday. Pints of Kronenbourg are $3 and there will be oysters, charcuterie, and wine for $5. I’ve also heard tell of a bocce ball tournament.

Meanwhile, in Pike Place Market, there is Cafe Campagne and its famously festive Bastille Day party. Five dollar food specials include garlic sausage sandwiches, brie or ham en baguette, and the cafe’s always-amazing fries with aioli.

Le Pichet’s party runs from 6pm to midnight on Thursday and will include live music from Le Quartet (7-9pm) and Bastille-Day stalwarts The Djangomatics (10pm-midnight). Again, Parisian street food is on the menu. That menu isn’t quite finalized but owner Jim Drohman says there will be sandwiches—pork shoulder and roasted pepper with sheep’s milk cheese among them—a pissaladiere, and sweet crepes. Sister restaurant Cafe Presse on the hill will operate as usual on Bastille Day—if you want the party, go downtown.

Luc in Madison Park has drink specials on Thursday: Lillet, pastis, and rose are $5 and wines from Vacqueyras in the southern Rhone are $6. Food specials include a honey-roasted duck breast, a salad Nicoise, and a strawberry shortcake.

Michael Mina’s Downtown sensation RN74 is currently running a Twitter promotion to get people amped on its Bastille Day celebration. If you tweet the following: “#BastilleDay party @rn74seattle on July 14 with awesome food and drink specials” you are eligible to win a free wine dinner. If you just want to go to the party, well, I hear there are going to be “awesome food and drink specials.”

Finally, ViaVita Café and Wine Bar in Bellevue is celebrating with a five-course meal—pate de lapin, coq au vin, etc. That’s $55, a $20 wine pairing is also available. Call 425-449-8917 to reserve.

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Tags: Bellevue, Downtown, Wine, Pike Place Market, Street Food, Food Events and Festivals, Ballard, Bastille Day, Downtown Seattle Restaurants

Drink Mixers from Sambar, Barrio, Vito’s, Sun Liquor, and Serafina Compete in Iron Bartender

Sign up to judge drinks from very good tenders. Then go early so you can hear Shelby Earl.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on May 04, 2011 at 08:19AM 0 Comments

Don’t be frightened by this image—I’m confident nobody will ask you to drink Malibu rum at the Iron Bartender comp. I just thought it was a funny.

Courtesy: nightlifedenver.com

On May 29, Serafina in Eastlake is hosting a cocktail competition called Iron Bartender and instead of inviting a panel of judges, the restaurant is putting the decision in the hands of guests.

You pay $75, you watch as five tenders create cocktails to pair with five dishes, you drink the drinks and eat the food. Then you decide who wins. The “iron” part refers to the fact that bartenders must include a secret ingredient in the cocktail, just like the chefs do on Iron Chef.

Here’s who is competing: Chelsea Anderson from Sun Liquor, MacGregor Boswell from Serafina, Jay Kuehner from Sambar, Jared Scarr of Cicchetti and Vito’s, and Casey Robinson, who runs the bar show at Barrio. Serafina bar manager Chris Bollenbacher will be the emcee.

The competition begins at 4pm on the 29th, but it’s just one piece of an all-day party celebrating the restaurant’s 20th anniversary.

Last night, I popped by Serafina for a press event aimed at drumming up buzz for all this. Here’s what I learned: you should definitely show up at 2pm to see a performance by Shelby Earl, a singer/songwriter who is also a server at the restaurant. Her voice is quite beautiful. You needn’t take my word for that, however, I’ve included a video below in which she sings one of the world’s great songs.

For more details on the Sera party, head here.

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Tags: Eastlake, Drinking Events, Food Events and Festivals, Cocktail Competitions, Bar Events