Sauced

Not Everyone Is Happy about the Happy Hour Trend

Apparently industry people despise it.

Posted by: Seattle Met Staff on Oct 20, 2011 at 09:45AM 1 Comments

Cheers to happy hour. Or not?

As part of Seattle Met ‘s Best Restaurants feature, we asked dozens of Seattle chefs and restaurateurs to give us their take on trends, customers, competition—pretty much everything under the restaurant sun. What we got was an earful of juicy insider insight. We’ll be posting some of the responses in the coming weeks.

Happy hour is a topic near and dear to this blog. It’s an occasion to get tips while sampling a plate of this and a swill of that. What’s not to love? If you’re on the industry end of things, a lot, apparently. When asked to name the worst recent bar and restaurant trend, right there at the top was happy hour. (So was bacon cocktails, but who can argue with that? Not us.) When pressed further on the topic, those polled responded with “You have to do it to survive,” “dumbed-down menus, " or "great if you’re single, twentysomething, or looking to get laid.”

What else topped their list? More choice responses below:

“The food truck thing.”
“Anything to do with foam.”
“Cheap at all costs: It limits how we can treat our employees.”
“Chefs who open so many restaurants they can’t focus on one in particular.”
“Deification of chefs.”
“‘I’m a foodie’ is one of the most annoying things I’ve ever heard in my life.”
“Pork belly is played out. I mean, I have it on my menu right now but I think it’s definitely past its prime.”
“Reconstituted olives that look like eyeballs.”

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Tags: Happy Hour

Tonight: Everything Half Off at Moe Bar HH to Celebrate Amanda Knox Acquittal

A native daughter goes free, a local bar celebrates.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Oct 03, 2011 at 01:29PM 0 Comments

Have a pint for Amanda tonight at Moe Bar.

A momentous news day for Seattle and the world.

Foxy Knoxy is coming home.

To celebrate, Moe Bar will be offering “EVERYTHING” for half its usual price during happy hour, according to this tweet.

Happy hour at Moe Bar lasts from 3 to 7pm daily.

I will update here if and when I hear of other celebrations around town tonight or later on in the week.

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Tags: Happy Hour, Seattle in the News

Happy Hour News: Combos at Samurai Noodle, Late Night Tequila Shots at Little Water Cantina

The latest in HHs around Seattle.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Sep 15, 2011 at 09:45AM 0 Comments

The bar at Little Water Cantina

Photo: Little Water Cantina via Facebook

First of all, there’s the happy hour at the upstairs bar at Madison Park Conservatory, which MP residents in particular should be tickled by.

But also, I wanted to call your attention to some other happy hour situations that may not be on your radar.

Joining Poppy and Panevino in the category of Best HHs on Broadway is Samurai Noodle. All three locations of the ramen restaurant offer HH from 3 to 6pm daily; on Capitol Hill the discount menu features three separate combos at three price points: $5, $8, and $12. Visit their site for details.

The Broadway noodlery also has a number of sake options and a menu of sake cocktails offered at the bargain price of $3.50. Sapporo, Manny’s, and Mac and Jack’s are on tap.

Meanwhile over in Eastlake, Little Water Cantina has added a weekend happy hour to compliment its 4–6pm deals Tuesday through Thursday. Saturdays and Sundays, it is serving the full menu until 10pm, then turning things over to an HH selection that includes—oh lordy—$2 El Jimador tequila shots. (At least you’ll be shooting the good stuff, since Casa Herradura, which makes El Jimador, went back to using 100-percent agave in 2007. Word to the wise: When a bar offers specials on shots of tequilas marked “mixto,” it’s basically trying to kill you by way of hangover. Still, even if it’s the pure stuff you’re shooting after 10pm on a Saturday, please take a cab home.)

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Tags: Happy Hour, Eastlake, Capitol Hill, Madison Park, Seattle Happy Hours

Update on Skillet HH Cocktails

Here’s what’s in ’em.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Aug 01, 2011 at 04:50PM 0 Comments

This is a photo of a Manhattan cocktails with some books and things around it.

Photo: Cocktailia.com

Skillet bartender Jeff Greer finally woke up and told me what was in those happy hour cocktails. If you want one for $7, you have until 6pm today. If you can’t get there in time—I hear traffic downtown is a beyotch right now—the late-night HH starts at 10pm.

DRINKS

Marching Bands of Manhattan: rye whiskey, orange bitters, sweet vermouth, fernet branca

Alison Road: gin, elderflower, celery bitters, lime juice, absinthe washed glass

The Baptist: bourbon, Canton ginger liqueur, angostura bitters, burlesque bitters, ginger beer

Violet Femme: vodka, rosemary syrup, lemon juice, creme de violette

Greer says the last drink is the invention of Nathan Weber.

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Tags: Happy Hour, Cocktails, Capitol Hill, Seattle Happy Hours

New Bar: Phinney Market Pub and Eatery

Opening late this summer, the neighborhood hangout will offer morning-to-night service and a kid corral.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jul 13, 2011 at 10:39AM 9 Comments

Phinney Market Pub and Eatery will open in August.

Photo: Phinney Market Pub via Facebook

Named for the shuttered market that formerly occupied the same space at 5918 Phinney Ave N, the Phinney Market Pub and Eatery (first mentioned on the Phinneywood blog in March) will open late this summer. It’s the first restaurant project from Phinney residents Caleb and Jaimee Papineau, according to Mercia Sheets, the pub’s chef.

The plan is to create a neighborhood hangout with a play section for the kiddies—young folk being so abundant in Phinney Ridge—but with upscale offerings too: On top of burgers and steaks, the dinner menu includes dishes like pea shoot risotto with chicken, an almond-crusted salmon with honey-lavender beurre blanc, and grilled balsamic tofu with grilled veggies and quinoa. A daily specials board will focus on local ingredients and give Sheets the chance to dabble and experiment.

Sheets moved to Seattle for the gig—she has toiled in a number of Spokane kitchens. Among them: Madeleine’s, Palm Court in the Daveport Hotel, and Luna Restaurant. Sheets says the pub will be open seven days a week, with espresso and pastries in the morning, lunch and dinner services, and a bar menu available from 3 to 5pm and 10 to close daily. When it opens, the Phinney Market Pub will offer beer and wine only: 10 taps and an “extensive” wine lists with Northwest and old world bottles. Down the road, Sheets says, the bar program will include spirits and cocktails as well.

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Tags: Happy Hour, Phinney Ridge, Bar Openings

One Night Only: Tommy Gun Extends Happy Hour, Discounts Drinks

The new-ish Capitol Hill bar breaks out the bargains on Friday, July 8.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jul 07, 2011 at 10:47AM 0 Comments

The taps at Tommy Gun

Photo: Tommy Gun via Facebook

Tommy Gun is the Capitol Hill bar from the folks that brought us Bottleneck Lounge. If you haven’t been yet, no time like the present. And by present I actually mean future. But near future.

You see, tomorrow, Friday, July 8, Tommy Gun will be extending happy hour until 8pm in honor of its new cocktail menu, which debuts the same day.

And the bar is also discounting all 10 drinks on this new menu by $2. This discount joins the regular HH bargains—$3.50 well drinks and draft beers. (Under normal circumstances, HH runs Monday through Friday from 5pm to 7pm.)

Presiding over the cocktail team at Tommy Gun is bartender Sean Johnson. He and his colleagues have created a list that includes nice things like mole bitters and red wine floats. I confess I have not had the chance to partake, but it looks like a good opportunity has just presented itself.

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Tags: Happy Hour, Capitol Hill, New Cocktail Menus, One Night Only, Tommy Gun

Delicatus: Happy Hour Oasis in Pioneer Square

The deli brings a much-needed evening snack spot to the club-and-dive neighborhood.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jun 24, 2011 at 11:08AM 3 Comments

Delicatus, a Pioneer Square deli, doubles as a tasty snack destination in the early evening.

Photo: Delicatus

• HOURS: 4:30-6:30pm Monday through Saturday
• PRICES: Tap beers $3, Wines by the glass $5, $1 off cocktails

At lunchtime, it’s not unusual to encounter a line stretching out the door of Delicatus sandwich shop in Pioneer Square. There’s good reason for this—a lot of people work in and around the area, and the best of Delicatus’ sandwiches are also among the best in town. It’s not exactly a neighborhood secret.

A perhaps lesser known attraction at the year-old deli is happy hour, offered from 4:30 to 6:30 Monday through Saturday. Part-owner Mike Klotz says HH attracts ferry riders who grab a belt and a bite before their vessels chug up to Pier 53, along with lunch regulars who meet for a drink after work. It’s also a favorite among the people who live in Pioneer Square, who have no doubt built up a resistance to the charms of the dirty-tap dives and touristy clubs that dominate the neighborhood. “I could have done a $5 well thing,” says Klotz. “But there’s plenty of that crap around here.”

The bar at Delicatus—one of those pioneer-times wooden jobbies with a mirror lining the back—is small. But happy hour is on offer throughout the restaurant, including a skinny stretch of mezzanine above and a small dining area downstairs with a banquette lining one wall.

There are drink specials: $3 beers, $5 wines by the glass, and cocktails discounted $1. And Delicatus serves, in addition to its full sandwich menu, a selection of small plates. This evening fare, which includes sliders, bruschetta, and charcuterie and cheese plates, is available through 9pm in summer.

Next Wednesday, says Klotz, Delicatus will begin offering HH on an outdoor patio out front. Reason enough to let a few boats go by before heading home.

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Tags: Happy Hour, Pioneer Square, Sandwiches

One Night Only: Golden Beetle Extends Happy Hour

…and presents its summer cocktail menu.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jun 14, 2011 at 10:44AM 0 Comments

Photo: Lucas Anderson

Bargain at the Beetle: Golden Beetle extends HH this Thursday.

Okay don’t get too excited. Golden Beetle is only extending its happy hour until 7pm on Thursday, June 16th, so you still have to get there kinda early. But typically the menu only runs from 5-6pm and then again from 10-11pm, so this is your chance to try those $3 snacks (chicken wings, herbed falafel, za’atar-enhanced French fries) in a more leisurely manner.

Maria Hines’ Market Street restaurant recently opened its outdoor patio. Weather permitting, that may be the spot to sip on one of the cocktails from the new summer menu—geeks: I’ve provided it in full below because I love you. All drinks are $10.

Now, here’s that menu:

Cypress Cooler
Vodka, Mint Shrub, Soda

Two O’Clock
Gordon’s Gin, Gran Classico, Grapefruit, Pink Peppercorn, Cucumber Dry Soda

Wandering Gethsemane
Olive Oil Infused Gin, Black Pepper Syrup, Lemon, Dill

Hammock Dazed
Voyager Gin, Arak Razzouk, Watermelon, Cilantro

Pegu Club #2
Gin, Angostura, Lime, Simple Syrup

Burn Notice
Novo Fogo Aged Cachaca, Cointreau, Pineapple, Chili

Choppy Waters
Linie Aquavit, Ramazzotti, Celery Bitters,
Old Seattle Lager

Swashbuckling Sangaree
Flor de Caña Aged Rum, Simple Syrup, Lemon,
GB Spice Bitters, Port

Kirsch Sour
Bulliet Bourbon, Kirschwasser, Cherry

The Old Razz
Ransom Old Tom Gin, Ramazzotti, Cardamom

GB Perfect Summer Manhattan
Russel’s Reserve 6yr Rye, Punt e Mes, Dolin Blanc, House Orange Bitters.

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Tags: Happy Hour, Ballard, One Night Only

Happy Hour News: Three HHs to Consider

Four dollar bites at Smith, the newish app menu at the Sorrento, and a $6 prawn cocktail (!) at a steakhouse chain downtown.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jun 13, 2011 at 02:40PM 0 Comments

Pisco sour at Smith.

1. After Dan Savage offered up the opinion on Friday’s SLOG that Smith should be listed among Food and Wine’s Top 100 American Bars based on its pisco sour alone, I thought: “This I gotta try.” Then I did.

The drink was totally respectable though it was a little more diluted than what’s optimal and could have been a bit more limey, for sure. That makes me sound like a jerk but remember, this was the grounds by which we were supposed to be selecting one of the Top Bars in America. And remember too that America is a very large country with an awful lots of bars. That said, it’s highly likely that most of those bars could not make a pisco sour anywhere near as pleasant as Smith’s.

While I was there, I noticed the happy hour menu of $4 bites served between 4 and 6pm. I don’t know about you, but these are exactly the sort of HH snacks I’m hoping to see on a menu: zucchini and English pea fritters with tzatziki, fried chickpeas with cumin and sea salt, radishes with homemade butter and baguette, marinated olives, and ricotta and white cherry crostini. It was too late to try them with my p-sour, but if they taste as good as they sound, I may have to second Savage’s nomination.

2. A few months back, the Hunt Club at the Sorrento changed its chef once more. With new dishes came a new happy hour menu available in the restaurant and the Fireside Room next door. HH is daily from 4 to 6pm and 10pm to close. Wines by the glass are half off, bottled beers are $3.50 and there’s a 30 percent discount on apps. I have tried the whole menu at this point and was most happy with the prime rib sliders—which are bigger than what’s typically considered a slider, piled high with slices of steak and rendered crunchy with a scattering of fried shallots. Those come three to a plate. The fried polenta is less delicious.

3. Finally, word comes today that the Capital Grille has changed up its happy hour. It’s from 3 to 6pm on weekdays in the restaurant’s lounge and features $6 wines by the glass, a $6 vodka cocktail, and $6 snacks: mini tenderloin sandwiches, calamari with peppers, prawn cocktail, miniature Lobster and dungeness crab burgers, and other things. A $6 prawn cocktail? This is something that will require investigation.

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Tags: Happy Hour, Downtown, Cocktails, Capitol Hill, First Hill

Get Ready for Late-Night Happy Hour at Skillet Diner

Because it’s totally going to happen.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jun 06, 2011 at 10:53AM 0 Comments

Skillet Diner

Photo: Facebook

The happy hour menu at Skillet Diner has not been set, but here is what I got out of owner Joshua Henderson: It will start in July and will include a menu of discounted drinks and small plates. That menu will be available Sunday through Thursday from 10pm to midnight, and Friday and Saturday from 10pm to 2am.

If you haven’t yet visited the brick-and-mortar version of Skillet Street Food, you should. It is a place of treats. There is Chuckanut beer served in mason jars, a hella-gooey grilled cheese that’s rendered both savory and sweet with bacon jam, and a Caesar salad made with kale and garnished with a silvery boqueron. There are milkshakes and there are waffles topped with fried eggs and pork belly and…I mean, it’s pretty much exactly what you want—especially if you’re working a bit of a buzz.

A word of advice if you go for dinner: It can get busy, and Skillet doesn’t take reservations. However, you can call ahead and ask to have your name added to a list so that once you arrive you will wait less time for your grilled cheese. Friends: you must try that grilled cheese.

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Tags: Happy Hour

Happy Hour of the Week: Seatown Seabar

A TDR bar that’s exactly right for a sunny spring evening.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on May 13, 2011 at 12:35PM 0 Comments

Oysters at Seatown

Photo: Facebook

• HOURS: 3-6pm daily
• PRICES: Tap beers $4, tap wines $6. Small plates $1-$12

On a bright spring evening, Seatown Seabar feels like precisely the best place to be in Seattle.

From the vantage point of the bar you can take it all in: servers shucking big, bumpy oysters and toasting half-lemons with creme-brule torches, bartenders straining tawny concoctions into cocktail glasses, and their customers beyond them, chatty and buzzy and pleased with themselves for scoring a spot at this Sound-view boasting, bustling creation just north of Pike Place Market.

The first time I encountered this fetching scene, I was surprised. Last time I had been to the Tom Douglas restaurant, it had been a gray, wet winter afternoon, and Seabar felt grim. Its back of the house, on that occasion, seemed rather too exposed, like when you visit a sick friend and get a look at her indoors-only sweatpants. The design—big open bar claiming most of the floor space, tables framing it on three sides, two walls of windows—makes it feels more like a sun porch than an enclosed room. Whatever mood is created by the climatological conditions outside becomes magnified inside, setting the tone for the meal.

But back to happy hour: The menu focuses on smoked and cured fish ($6-$8, or $12 for a sampler). There’s trout, sturgeon, ling cod, and king salmon—if you’re sharing that salmon, prepare to fight over it. All of these come with slices of baguette, so no need to order bread separately. Also on each plate: plugra, a French-style butter sprinkled with black lava salt, and a tomato-parsley salad. The idea is to combine these things to create wee fishy sandwiches.

There’s also a cheese plate with Tin Willow Tomme from Black Sheep Creamery, and rotating oysters for $1 a pop. The suggested pairing for the oysters is a 2009 Michel Delhommeau muscadet, an uncomplicated wine with the right acidity for the occasion. But to my mind the perfect Seatown Seabar drink is Syncline’s unassailable rose, which the restaurant keeps on tap. A little spicy with a lovely dry finish, it’s a great food wine whose pretty pinkness only enhances the happy factor of a sunny evening at Seatown Seabar.

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Tags: Happy Hour, Pike Place Market, Keg Wine, Seattle Happy Hours

Coa Is Coming to Maple Leaf

Tequila bars abound in this town, here comes one more.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Apr 14, 2011 at 12:18PM 6 Comments

Buenos dias, Coa.

Photo: puertovallartavideo.com

When it opens in mid-May, Coa, a Mexican restaurant and tequileria in the Maple Leaf neighborhood, will be the latest in a string of local establishments specializing in agave spirits.

According to the bar’s website (and also Wikipedia), the word coa means hoe—it refers specifically to a hoe used to harvest agave. Yup, you heard me. The bar’s name means hoe. And I have a feeling some of its clientele might find that fact hilarious. They might even call it Hoe Bar, if they’re really immature. Hoe Bar Coa will house over 50 types of tequila plus straightforward Mexican food (tacos, mole, carne asada).

Other somewhat recently opened tequila spots: Poquitos on Capitol Hill, Milagro Cantina in Kirkland, and Bandolero in Greenlake. Bandolero has a tequila club you can join—the idea is to eventually drink 60 shots of tequila. The bar keeps a punch card on hand to track your progress, and every tenth shot only costs you a penny. A less precarious proposal: signing up for one of the tequila classes held intermittently at Barrio Bellevue.

Happy hour is a hallmark of local tequila joints like Cactus, Matador, the Saint, Bandolero, Milagro…I could go on. Coa will join this illustrious crew; press materials promise an “extended happy hour.”

I foresee more $5 margaritas in your future, Seattle.

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Tags: Happy Hour, Tequila, Bar Openings, Coming Soon