Sauced

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

Sake! Bento! Tampopo!

Saké Nomi screens the ultimate foodie film next Tuesday.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on May 16, 2011 at 08:36AM 0 Comments

Watch Tampopo while you sip sake and eat bento next Tuesday.

I called into Saké Nomi yesterday to get details on its plan to screen the movie Tampopo next Tuesday, May 24.

The deal is this: the film—more on that in a minute—will be shown on the big flat screen behind the bar at the Pioneer Square sake emporium beginning at 6:30pm.

The situation will accommodate 15 to 20 people. All of these people need to RSVP by Friday, May 20 or earlier so that the store can order them bento boxes from Indigo Bento, which cost $16.50.

To those of you who haven’t seen Tampopo, and also to those of you who have seen it but want to see it again and are frustrated by its unavailability on Netflix: here’s your chance. This movie is amazing. Made in 1985, it’s basically deceased director Jûzô Itami’s love song to food with lots of little interwoven stories that center around a noodle shop (the owner is named Tampopo). You’ll laugh, you’ll crave noodles, you may feel a little embarrassed watching sex scenes with strangers. We’re Americans, that happens to us. But no matter! Just drink a little more sake to loosen you up. It will be available by the glass.

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Tags: Pioneer Square, Film, Sake

Sake Tasting Party at Saké Nomi in Pioneer Square

Fifteen sakes plus Japanese Street Food from Umami Kushi at the Seattle sake shop this Friday.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Feb 23, 2011 at 09:13AM 0 Comments

School yourself on sake while munching on meat sticks this Friday in Pioneer Square.

Photo courtesy Open Kyoto

Premium sakes are more popular than ever in the United States, and yet far too few of us really know one from the other.

It’s probably time to change that, and here’s a good place to start.

Saké Nomi is hosting a bunch of Japanese sake brewers this Friday, February 25—it’s your chance to try 15 different sakes and learn about how and where they are made.

Sweetening the deal are snacks from Harold Fields, the chef from Umami Kushi, a Seattle-based yakitori catering company. So expect a lot of tasty skewered meats.

The tasting begins at 5pm and ends at 8, though there are promises of an after party.

Space is limited to 50 people and tickets cost $25 per person. Call Saké Nomi to reserve.

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Tags: Tastings and Classes, Pioneer Square, Wine Tastings, Seattle Sake Events

Happy Hour of the Week: Cafe Paloma

Wine, small plates, and a word of warning.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on May 25, 2010 at 03:27PM 0 Comments

• HOURS: Mon-Fri 4-6pm
• PRICES: $5 small plates and $5 house red and white wine

It was 5:30pm on a weekday. I arrived at Cafe Paloma, a little Lebanese place in Pioneer Square, to partake of the happy hour. A chalkboard near the door said HH lasts from 4 to 6pm, Monday through Friday.

I’d been here many times for weekday lunches—I love Lebanese food—and always wanted to try it chilled out, like the wine-swigging tourists lounging in their bistro chairs like so many expats in a Hemingway novel. What a perfect happy hour place, I’d think to myself, while lunching on lemony lentil soup or a piquantly dressed green salad studded with feta and chunks of tomato.

But here is the thing: Cafe Paloma only serves dinner on Thursdays and Fridays. So every other day it closes at 6pm. What I’m saying here is that Monday through Wednesday, when happy hour is over, the whole show is over. Meaning if you arrive at 5:30, this might happen to you:

I placed my happy hour order after I was seated; it appeared around 5:45. Just before she brought it to me, I heard my server tell a companion on the other side of the divide from the dining room that she hoped to catch a 6:10 bus, followed by something semi-audible about her son.

I gulped a little wine and baba ghanoush (which was fluffy and a little earthy—footy, almost, but in a good way). Guiltily, I imagined her young child alone on some daycare steps waiting for her, elbows on his little thighs, chin cupped warily in palms. He could be 17 for all I know, but I imagined him to be around five, with his mother’s big brown eyes. The eggplant dip landed with a thud in my stomach, and next thing I knew I was begging for the check. By 6pm I was out the door, heaps of hummus and baba left on the table beside my hastily paid tab.

Paloma is a great spot, a sweet little gem in a neighborhood that needs them. And the people that run it are so clearly lovely. Still and all, I don’t want you thinking you’re going to relax there and instead you end up awkwardly gulleting vegetarian dips as the little hand clicks towards six. That’s not fun. So if you go, go early or go on nights when dinner is served or ask a lot of questions before you sit down.

If you get the all clear, don’t miss the velvety textured hummus, that ethereal/barnyardy baba, or the red pepper dip. Just make sure you have time to eat them.

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Tags: Happy Hour, Pioneer Square

Dive Bar Happy Hours

Five Points announces new HH, Owl and Thistle’s old HH is still good stuff.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Mar 10, 2010 at 10:01AM 0 Comments

The Five Points Cafe recently announced a new happy hour. It’s 4 to 6pm on weekdays and begins Friday, March 12. Deals include a cheeseburger and fries for $2.50, $3 deep-fried Beecher’s cheese curds (hmmm, at that price, I wonder how they compare to Steelhead’s), and calamari for $3.50. Well drinks are also $3.50 while domestic draft beers are $2 and microbrews cost $3.

Another good dive-bar happy hour is that at Owl N Thistle. I’d always thought of the out-of-the-way basement bar on Post Ave as a sleepy lunch spot, but it comes alive at HH. Bud and Bud light are $2 a pint, micros and well drinks are $3. You can get fries or soup for $2.25, a burger, beef stew, hummus platter, or spinach and artichoke dip for $2.95. Fish and chips are $3.50.

But what really recommends Owl N Thistle is that the staff is generally welcoming to everyone and the customers tend to be pretty mellow. I’ve been in dive bars in Seattle where juiced-up bartenders wielded insane accusations at customers for no reason, and others where customers drank too much and put the staff in the unfortunate position of giving them the boot. I’ve also been at dive bars where the bartender would only serve his friends and/or was obnoxious to everyone whose clothing didn’t reflect die-hard death metal fandom. There seems to be a minimum of such bad energy at ONT, and the service is always friendly, casual, and slightly inattentive. (This isn’t Canlis after all, no one needs to put your napkin on your lap.) That’s the way it should be at a proper dive, and the reason I suggest it to you.

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Tags: Happy Hour, Beer, Pioneer Square, Dive Bars