An HH for Eastsiders with homemade chips and good $3 pints.
Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Aug 16, 2010 at 09:03AM
View of Lot No 3 from mezzanine.
• HOURS: Daily 4-6pm
• PRICES: Daily Draught $3, Select Cocktails $7; Food Specials $1-$3.50.
Lot No 3 in Bellevue is the new bar from the Heavy Restaurant Group, the people who brought you all those Purple Cafe and Wine Bars along with the two Barrios.
The decor at Lot No 3 is one I would describe as Pottery Bar Speakeasy. By this I mean that if Pottery Bar had a line of furniture and accessories called “Speakeasy-Style Bar,” this is the stuff it would sell. An old (or old-looking) music stand grasps the menu near the doors, there’s a big chalkboard with the bar offerings, the black stools seem modeled after those of an antique apothecary, and so on.
Another way I might describe it is Purple Cafe and Wine Bar for Boys, by which I mean it is the yang to its sister restaurant’s ying, with a black-and-brown, masculine palette (two caramel-colored leather couches would look lovely amidst the crystal sherry bottles and rare volumes in my fantasy home library), and an emphasis on whiskey, beer, and meaty comfort food.
Let’s talk about the food. The food is generally good. I am a fan of the sweet onion dip ($3.50) which comes with a heap of housemade kettle chips. The dip is white as a fresh snow; it looks like cottage cheese but don’t worry, it is not. As it turns out, it is on an entirely different and far fattier planet than cottage cheese. I like an onion dip that tastes almost frighteningly, ferally even, of that allium, and this one really delivers. The chips themselves are thin, wispy, and oblong. Some of them have curled into themselves, forming strange little blossomy-looking things. Seek these blossoms out amidst the flat chips, as they make for especially good scooping into the dip.
You can get a soft pretzel for $2.50; unfortunately this pretzel is accompanied by the housemade mustard, which is watery and yuck. There are three types of slider—duck confit, blt, and short rib. Each slider is $3. Other offerings include “devil’ish” eggs for $2.50—they’re stuffed with smoke salmon and chive—and a $2.50 bowl of popcorn.
A daily draught is $3.00. Last time I went it was Pike’s Dry Wit, which is a beer I rather enjoy. It’s what you might call a wine-drinker’s beer, in that it is, as its name indicates, dry on the palate. If dry is your thing, oh happy day. But if you like a wallop of sweetness in your wit, maybe opt for a cocktail instead.
A Manhattan with rye or bourbon is $7 during HH, as is a Jack Rose (Laird’s apple brandy, grenadine, and lime) and a seventh heaven (gin, maraschino, grapefruit). Helmed by tried-and-absolutely-true barman Casey Robison, Lot No 3’s booze program focuses on classic cocktails. “Drinks from before prohibition,” as one very nice young server explained to me. “We’re bringing them back!”
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Tags:
Happy Hour,
Bellevue,
Cocktails,
Bartenders,
Slider Watch
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